October 2018 – A Girl’s Blog

Who are you? Who am I?

As I was reading the book of Genesis the night before that, I came across the chapter where Jacob is fleeing from his father in law Laban. However, it wasn’t until the next morning when I was on my twitter about to post something that a tweet from Beth Moore caught my attention.

Like I said I had read the night before that chapter from Genesis, however, in my search of the covenants that God made with various characters throughout the Bible, I did not pay attention to the word and God was speaking to me through it. A lot of times we are mistreated, judged, belittle, put to the side in our own churches or family; maybe because your opinions are not the same as everyone else. People of higher standing, closest to you or even pastors nowadays; want sheep, friends or family members that don’t ask questions but that instead, they will follow blindly or jump when they say jump. Knowledge and wisdom are powerful but not the type of power where you control people but where no one will be able to fool you and lead you in a different direction then what God intended.

At this moment in life, as I was speaking to my mother and I was telling her, that I’m feeling stuck. I have not seen growth within me in a couple of months and that is not what I want for my relationship with God. I want to be covered from head to toe with his presence, it’s my deepest desire to be used by him. I have let circumstances and people affect my way of having a deeper relationship with God. I’m craving something more from God. I want my relationship with God to become deeper than before.

Genesis 31:12

And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.

Jacob was a thief and a liar, and, God still remembered him. He was being treated unfairly by his father in law and God was seeing the injustice in what Laban was doing, he multiplied the injustice into a blessing as Jacob left with more than half of Laban riches. You and I might have been a robbers, murderers, adulterers, prostitutes, hypocrites, terrorists, sinners of much more but when we came to the path of God and we repented with a sincere repentance all injustice that might be thrown or has been thrown at us because of our past; or different point of views God will turn it into blessing in a blink of an eye. We are not our past but instead, God sees who we can be in him.

Exhort 🤔or Love💕?

Hi,on today’s blog, I will be speaking about something that I have been struggling with within me and in my ministry. This topic has been in my mind to blog about for a long time but I just never felt that it was time yet and yesterday while I was watching a Christian blogger; God was speaking to my life.

John 13:35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.³⁵By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another

In the book of John, Jesus left us this commandment to love one another as he has loved us. But if we ask ourselves this question, do we really love one another? I’m asking myself and wondering if I really love my brethren, family, and friends or it’s just a fleeting feeling of attachment. To love like Jesus loves we need to show compassion, mercy, kindness, trust but most of all have a deep love for God. However, Christians or believers(myself included) we have a bad habit of thinking that exhorting or saying what we think is right that’s how you show love. Unfortunately, we have a rep as critics and hypocrites; and that’s not because of God but because in our human thinking we impose our views and rules in each other.

Jesus never imposed rules upon us but he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” He gave us the option to follow him and he gave us salvation by his sacrifice; through this, he has saved millions upon millions of lives. Now let’s ask ourselves this question, how many lives have we brought to Jesus.? One thing is to exhort in love and another is to impose your views. To exhort in love, you have to show mercy, kindness but most of all love to the person you will be exhorting. The book of Matthews deals with the exhortation topic by saying this,

15. If your brother or sister sins,go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.¹⁶But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector

I’m learning to keep quiet and pray before going to someone and exhort or give advice to. Why? well not everyone will be comfortable with the idea of someone else coming up to you and telling you what you are doing wrong. I know I’m the first one that will have a dumbstruck face and be thinking ” did she/he really said that to me” why? because as humans we have faults and sometimes one of those faults is pride. To speak with love I got to be filled with God’s love myself. If I’m going to exhort someone I got to show fruits myself first. The word says that by their fruits you should know them.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

One thing is to be tactful in the way you exhort and another is covering someone’s sin, there is a difference. I have made changes in my life this year that have brought a different view from last year. However, I was not showing the fruits of God’s love on my friends or family member’s or ministry-wise. I thought I knew better, however, God confronted me because I was seeing a decrease in many areas instead of an increase in his presence. Maybe; many of the things that were wrong could have been changed if I had just opened up my eyes to what God wanted to show me. God is a God of love, and every word that comes of my mouth or yours represents him. Maybe it’s the time to let God guide instead of thinking we know best. I don’t know about you but I will try my best. Shalom🌸🕊💕

A sincere repentance

In the New Testament we are introduced to a complex character named Judah Iscariot. He is the predestined person who would commit the ultimate betrayal by selling Jesus Christ for a few coins. Judah is a character that is complicated for me as I was never able to grasp his intentions. In the book of Mark we are given the list of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, however, it’s until the book of John that we are given knowledge about this disciple.

He is described as the betrayer of Jesus Christ but also as the treasurer of the money for Jesus ministry. It was during the anointing at Bethany where; Mary the sister of Lazarus anoints(cleans) Jesus feet with an expensive perfume that its cost would have been a years income at that time and dried them with her hair. The Bible is pretty spot on when it says that “from the heart speaks the mouth” and we can see the truth in this verses,

5. Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor? 6.” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box, and he used to take what was put in it.”

In Judah’s heart above any other feeling was greed for the money. His lack of love for the poor or needy but instead his desire for more money was his downfall later on. Judah’s small failings lead to open doors for bigger and evil influences that destroyed his life. Jesus in the book of John identified his betrayer in the washing of his feet and the last supper.

John 13:11

For he knew who would betray him; therefore he said, ” You are not all clean”.

The disciple Judah at the last supper after Jesus Christ said “it is to he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it” and who else than Iscariot. It is stated in the Bible that Satan entered him and after being given the bread. Judah had the possibility of being saved as the rest of the disciples, however, his greed for the money and him not having a true repentance led him to commit suicide by hanging himself.

In the book of Matthew and Acts, the Bible gives us details of what happened to him after the betrayal. In verse 3 of chapter 27 of Matthews the Bible says that Judah was remorseful after seeing that he was condemned but it doesn’t say that he had repentance in his heart and wanted to change his way. God works in a sincere heart, in a heart that is open to change. Our iniquities and sin is forgotten when we open up our heart to God and allow him to visit and change us.

In today’s service God restored a family and spoke to a youth that visited us; knowing what transpired it makes me want to work more for God. Let us have a heart full of repentance so that the Holy Spirit may work in our lives.

P.S. I hope that you like the new post for the series Called with a Purpose. See you guys, in the next post. shalom🕊🕊🕊

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31