Jesus

Generation

Beth Moore is someone else I have been listening to recently. One of her messages, consequently. was about purpose and why it is so crucial that we don’t give up. I have mentioned it before in prior posts, but I want to reiterate it again. Simply put, your God-given purpose was chosen for this generation AND generations to come.

As any other person, there are things that you don’t understand or know why it happened, but we serve a God of the future and your story will be one to impact generations to come. God knows what He is doing and has an amazing plan for you and men. There is a reason He chose to put you in the family He did, gave you the personality, the talents and skills, the money or lack thereof; there is a reason He chose for you to grow up in the environment in the country or city, and a reason for the time which you were born. As Mordecai explained to Esther, you are here for such a time as this to impact this generation.

You are here immediately for this generation, as was said about David (Act 13:36). David served his generation. There are people that only you can reach, only you can connect with, only you can relate to, and as you do so, your service will touch generation to come. So be encouraged and know that God is working through generation. Stay focused and keep your eyes on the cross because your purpose I can guarantee is so much greater than your life; with God working through, what you do for this generation will last even after you pass, because the purposes of His heart continues throughout the generations (Psalm 33:11).

Make your story tell of God’s greatness and faithfulness so that future generations can praise His name (Psalm 102:18). Even more on a family basis living a Christ-centered life of purpose, your descendants will be blessed (Psalm 112:2). All in all, God’s calling on your life is so much bigger than you, thus, it’s imperative we live with conviction and purpose, because our children, grandchildren, and great-grands depends on it as well as their generations.

If we can come in accordance and seek God’s face and start fulfilling the great commission in whatever manifestation He led us as individuals, that’s how we receive the favor and blessings of God (Psalm 24:6). So live a life of purpose, believing God is sovereign and has a plan, even when it makes no type of sense the things you have to go through, know He wants to do in you something great, because this generation depends on it. Don’t lost faith. Keep praying. Keep seeking. Keep pressing. Keep trusting. Keep believing.

Ear

Every now and then you hear a word that rocks your world and today was that day. I’ve been hearing a lot of good stuff mind you, but this particular word stuck out to me. I was listening to Joann Rosario speak on the benefits of a true worshipper. The title alone is so significant to me, because a life of a true worshipper is mindful of what they say and do, for they understand their purpose is to ultimately honor Yahweh.

Nonetheless, one of the ear 2benefits she explained, was that true and sincere worshippers have the ear of God. That blew my mind for a minute, because of the beauty in knowing that when we are in tune with God, He listens to us. Whoa! It seems so simple, but just think about it. The God of the universes takes the time out to pay attention and desires to hear what I have to say or ask for. What?!  That is incredible if you ask me.

The stipulation however, is found in her correlating verse John 9:31

Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.

God listens to us when we take our responsibility in our relationship with Him. He has to be able to trust us. Which means that our lives need to reflect the Jesus we claim to follow in word and deed. Yes, we mess up daily, but living a life of deliberate sin and not making honest and intentional strives to cultivate our walk with Him, God can’t and won’t bless our life the way He wants to.

So I encourage to live a life of purpose that will grant you the ear of God, so that He can hear your every cry, your every tear, your every burden, your every desire. He wants to listen to you, let Him…but don’t bring no mess.

Crazy Stuff

Recently, the women’s Bible study at my church is focused on “The Bibdavidle” television series, and may I say, I did watch it back in the spring and it was really good. Anyway, today’s lesson was focused on the story of David and Goliath and we watched that particular clip from the series. Now, David and Goliath is one of the most familiar and prominent stories in and out of the church, so it’s not as if I had never heard it before or heard it used in whatever form of analogy, quite the opposite. Still the great thing about Scripture, is that the more you read, the more God reveals to you, and tonight was no different.

As I was watching the clip where David volunteered to fight Goliath and just about everyone, the Israelites included, thought he was out of his mind, but that’s when I begin to think. Whenever God calls us to go up against our Goliath as he begins to orchestrate the purpose He has for us, we should do it with a smile and with great expectation, because the moment God uses something so small to accomplish a task so big, He must be ready to do a miracle.

On the flip side, you may not be the David in a situation, but you do begin to see God just doing crazy stuff that makes no type of sense, things that seem so small and insignificant to carry out the greatest of tasks in the midst of other more logical possibilities, anticipate that God is about to do something more than amazing. When you see him bless 5 stones, as a believer in Yahweh. we should smile understanding that God is about to move in an marvelous, miraculous. and incredible way.

As the people laughed and questioned what David was doing, remember that God enjoys proving Himself, so stay faithful and trust God even if all you have is 5 loaves and 2 fish, and watch Him multiply to feed 15,000, or if all you have is 5 stones, watch God use one to kill your giant and ultimately defeat whatever army is against you.

When you walk in purpose, God will lead you to do some crazy stuff and or will allow you to see Him doing some off the wall things. Don’t fret. God likes to show off. So let Him.

Ugly

So I started speaking about it on Facebook, but this is the better medium to get out all I wanted to say. Anyway, today has been very dramatic for me, although it is more internal than external, specifically because nothing happened to me directly. Still, my heart is heavy.

As you may have heard, the new Miss America is Indian. Yesterday I saw her and I thought she was pretty and kept it moving on to the next story. Then today, I hear that her ethnicity is some big controversy and people are calling her Arab. First of all she she is Indian (whether that is India-American or Native American I don’t know), which means she is NOT Arab, but even if she is, so what!. It’s disheartening to see the hatred people have in their hearts even in this day and age just because of skin-color. I’ll be honest and say that I am very sensitive, so to be her or any celebrity at that I can understand why so many succumb to drugs, alcohol, and move from one bed to the next so quickly. People are mean and ruthless and whoever said “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words do not hurt me,” was disillusioned. Words penetrate deeper and hang around longer than any punch or bullet. All in all, the heart of the matter is the heart of the matter, and some people are so lost in their own bitterness, hate, and ignorance it’s discouraging.

Then on top of that, very rarely do I watch the news, if for no other reason, it’s 97% negative and national or local, given the area I live in, and it’s easy to get depressed just hearing all the conspiracies, violence, wars, death, broken children, and so forth. This world is so dark, just considering all that is going on in Syria and then the Navy Base, things are chaotic and and just crazy, so much in so it’s hard to live and feel safe.

Also, I have already done a study on world religions, but today I was in a class of the same thing. The Bible talks about the wide and windy road that many travel, but there are few on the straight and narrow. Today that truth was again magnified, in that so many are lost and blinded. The enemy, the Father of Lies as Jesus called him, is on the prowl as he has been since the garden. He is pouring his lies into whoever chooses to listen. As an Angel of Light as Paul calls him, some of his lies sound so close to truth, but as children of God we have to be equipped enough to know his lie and know the truth of God’s Word, but most importantly be able to share it with others.

More heartbreaking than those, are all the stories I’ve read about, seen, and heard about children and youth, between abuse, abortion, suicide, teen pregnancy, lack of educational resources, and the filth in a lot of mainstream media, television and music. One could easily say my generation and the one behind me is dying emotionally, mentally, and physically. These young lives are conditioned to feel they aren’t loveable, they aren’t worth anything, they don’t matter, they have no purpose in life, and they look for truth, belonging, and love in all the wrong places. Their dreams are laughed at and trampled upon and aren’t given a chance to succeed or the hope of a bright and meaningful future.

This world is dark and this world is ugly, which only makes Jesus breathtakingly beautiful. Purpose, love, acceptance, and identity come from Christ alone. As one of my favorite songs says “Jesus is the answer for the world today,” and that’s what purpose is all about. It’s about a willing heart of a person making him or herself available to use the gifts,talents, dreams, and visions the Lord has given specifically to you to share and promote the light and beauty of Jesus Christ. So if you are reading this, know that the world so eagerly needs you and that your purpose is bigger than life. If you allow Him, God will take the very least you may have and do something remarkably wonderful if you say yes. The harvest, just from what I said prior, is plenty, your purpose is to be a laborer in whatever form God wills to gather the harvest for His kingdom. Wake up!! There is no time to waste on frivolous things and matters that won’t matter one year from now. We can’t live selfishly because this world is perishing right under our noses and for those of us that know the love of Jesus, it is sin for us to do nothing about it! The world is eagerly waiting for the sons and daughters of God to stand up and rise up (Romans 8:19). We have the remedy to the world’s sickness, so go give it away.

So I encourage you, live on purpose. Speak on purpose. Learn on purpose. Share on purpose. Give on purpose. Love on purpose. Do on purpose. Be on purpose. There is no better time than now.

I pray God burden’s your heart for the condition of the world and your respective communities.

Withdrawal & Sacrifice

So, this will be rather short, but I still feel like I need to say it fully. So lately I’ve been feeling so far from God, and I began to realize the truth of working for Jesus, without really spending time with Him just for the sake of our relationship. Many times those lines are blurred and with all the other day-to-day activities it’s easy to fall asleep. As  a result, it was like I have been through a withdrawal, I just felt bad and at times I wasn’t sure which what to do to get back. Jesus, as cliché as it sounds, is my drug and when I was low as I was, my whole being changed, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually concerning several different things. In the midst, I became sensitive to certain things that I was watching. Meaning, I have Netflix and one of my favorite shows from growing up that I was faithfully attending was “Xena: Warrior Princess.” However, that show was full of non-Christian deities and philosophies that was just not cool, so much in so, one of the last episodes I watched, my spirit was telling me to turn it off because it was very very ritualistic and demonic and just not healthy…and I could feel it. I felt weird but I have to admit I wanted to watch it, because like I said, it’s a favorite of mine. However, I was feeling so detached that I had to turn it off and not long after, I wasn’t feeling as nearly as bad and I don’t plan to watch it again.

Furthermore, I am a huuuuuuuge fan of  “Law & Order: SVU” and again, Netflix has the first 12 seasons and I am halfway through season 11. Long story short, after Xena, I picked back up on “SVU.” It was cool, but the show is dark, to be completely honest and some of the principles aren’t necessarily Biblical, and almost every “Christian” character is bonafide psycho which bothers me, but that’s another story. Anyway, still going through my withdrawal, as of yesterday I think, I decided to take a break from watching it. It was so much negativity that was pouring into my spirit and I needed to release. So I’ve been on my Amazon Cloud Player listening to my Worship 2.0 playlist, 7 of my all time favorite worship songs. The list has been on repeat. When I say I feel so much better, feeding that into my spirit and making and effort get back in tune via other measures, may I say the sacrifice was so worth it. Not saying that I would’ve expected different, but when we are living a life of purpose, we have to be mindful and conscious of the things we watch and listen to, because it can put us in  a weird place and we can lose focus like I did. Withdrawal is no joke, but I love it because you can never get too much Jesus, who is the ultimate high, and without my fix, I am no good.

So I encourage you, every bit of whatever you may feel the Lord is pushing you to sacrifice (music, tv show, relationship, shopping habits, etc.), listen. The reward is far far far greater, no matter how big or small. Even if it is small, if you let it fester, it can become a bigger issue than you wanted. Feed your spirit and not your flesh. Fulfilling your purpose depends on it.