"love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for" So, in Part I of 'Saying I'm Sorry', we spoke about marriage and we also spoke about saying 'I'm sorry,' in that particular context. It was seen that we first say 'sorry' to Our Father, who knows us. I'd like to say, Thank the LORD that He STILL LOVES US even though He knows the very depths and darkness of our hearts. Isn't that reason ALONE to apologize to HIM FIRST? If anything, He should be the only One, ….but we still have reality to deal with. =) =) We also spoke about how your wife or husband may be upset with you for something you did, and so the next step is apologizing to them. With that said, it will take courage, but saying 'I'm sorry' in that aspect, is the first step to reconciling with them. Other Steps Include: 1. As you are now clean before God, go BACK to God, to ask for the next steps. HE will tell you what your next steps are. Sit before Him and wait for His answer as you are restoring your position or your marriage. 2. I would encourage you to watch the movie 'Fireproof' (2008), directed by Alex Kendrick. I highly recommend it as its worth your time. I believe that this is an investment that can truly impact your life. You can also buy 'The Love Dare Book', which you'll also see is in association with the movie. Go through the book and be intentional about it. This situation is of course between you and God, so see as fit, and according to the Holy Spirit's guidance. 3. Go out and love your wife, your children, whom ever has been hurt from this. Also see what the needed steps are. What practical steps do you ensure that it doesn't happen again? Will you be chatting with so-and-so online? Ask yourself these questions, journal these out maybe. It's good to be prepared and ready to give an answer to not only yourself, but your significant other to show that you have thought about how to improve. As said before, overall, it will be more of a concerted effort for the resolution, but doing your part is also a start, and a very big start. 4. As you do this, you may think that nothing is happening or they don't believe you've 'changed that fast', well, that's where God plays HIS part. TRUST Him to change their hearts and to bless you both as you continue this process of moving on. God has so much in store for you guys. 5. Continue. Don't give up. You'll get there, just don't give up. 6. It's worth fighting for. Remember your ministry. Remember your start. Remember the good times. Remember why you fell in love in the first place. God's got it. Just trust in Him. I once heard someone say, "the end of me is the beginning of God". I know that you may be sick of this, you're tied down and don't have the time…but it's in these moments when we throw our hands up in the air that God takes us up into His arms, and gives us wings to fly instead. So stand strong and never give up, it's worth fighting for. Marriage is a gift from God. <3 Remember, if it were the other way round in your situation, you'd be worth fighting for. Never give up.  I woke up the other day, feeling led to write down the next topic for the the blog. I felt that there was a stronghold on marriages in a particular city. I pray that strongholds may be broken in that city, in Jesus' Name (I also encourage you to pray for marriages all around the world in Jesus Name). The other point was the general sense of those who were failing to say, 'I'm Sorry'. I pondered these things, and asked the Lord what He wanted me to write, but at first only got the notion that He wanted to say that people need to start saying 'sorry' (as we know, it's often more of a pride element when we don't acknowledge what we've done and then apologize). Later on in the day, I thought of the song, 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word' by Blue & Elton John. The lyrics say: "What do I do to make you want me? What have I got to do to be heard? What do I say when it's all over? And sorry seems to be the hardest word" Sometimes we don't need to do a whole lot of STUFF to impress someone (Emphasis on sometimes. Let's apply things to our own situations instead! Lol!). Or sometimes we can try to "figure it out" or fix it on our own. Instead, sorry, would be what is needed in that circumstance, at least as a genuine start. The actions and "figuring it out" can follow after. Let me tell you a little secret: collaborative effort is always best. Never try to do it on your own as if the person doesn't exist and will exist when you figure it all out. Just say sorry and then with God's help, move on to the next step. =) Now, you might be saying, "Grr! So what if that person doesn't want to hear what I have to say!?" The song identifies with that aspect, noting: "It's sad, so sad Why can't we talk it over?" As said above, sometimes when we've hurt someone and want to say 'sorry', or have said 'sorry', they might not want to hear it or want to talk about it any more because of the hurt. Instead they may need time, and want to see actions. "So what do I do in the mean time? Sing this sad song?" :) No. But thank God for Redemption. Thank God it starts with Him. =) Like David, who humbled himself and went to God: "Against you, you only, have I sinned…"-Psalm 51:4 …we go to that place, and talk with God. Side Note: Once we are forgiven, it is FINISHED. In other words, God remembers it no more. That means, any time after that, if you're still reminded of that sin, then its either our flesh, or the devil. Solutions? Well, there are many, but we take steps to make sure it doesn't come to our mind over and over by using Scripture, and also taking practical steps (more on this in Part II, coming soon!). Remember that we are promised once and for all that: "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" -Romans 8:1 Thus, just like David did in his redemption process, GET UP AND WALK. Continue and sin no more by the Power of the Holy Spirit. God's with you all the way. Don't give up.  At my church we are studying the Book of Nehemiah, which is quite interesting to say the least! Something struck out to me as I re-read Chapter 5. Chapter 5 is about Nehemiah trying to help the poor. Long story short, Nehemiah calls a meeting to accuse the nobles and officials because they were exacting usury from their own countrymen. Fortunately the meeting is successful and an agreement to stop the usury is reached. Nehemiah later says that he was appointed to be governor in the Land of Judah but neither he nor his brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. He says, however, the earlier governors who preceded him had placed a heavy burden on the people and took pieces of silver from them as well as their daily food and wine. The former governors' assistants had also taken advantage of the people, but out of reverence of God, Nehemiah did not act like that. What stood out to me were verses 15-16, which said, "But the earlier governors – those proceeding me – placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from [the Jews ]and in addition to food and wine. Their assignments also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence of God I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work of this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land" (Emphasis mine). Amen! Nehemiah chose not to do the things that were around him. Fam, at times we will be faced with challenges were it seems like EVERYONE is doing "it" ("it" meaning, anything like usury, debauchery, malice, drinking, clubbing, etc.) But we won't have to do it because we are different. We're Christ's :) It reminded me of Daniel 3, where King Nebuchadnezzar made a ninety-feet-tall image of gold, and summoned all the people to bow down to it when they heard a sound (Daniel 3:5). The people bowed, but Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah chose not to bow down with the others because they feared God. At times, we will be faced with an opportunity were EVERYONE (or it seems like everyone, or it just might be everyone in your group or city) is going clubbing or doing whatever, but you won't be going clubbing, because you'll be choosing to be faithful to God. Of course it's hard to see "a lot people doing these things", and as cliché as it may sound, it's not easy, but it will be worth it. I remember when I first got Saved (when I first became a Christian), I was still clubbing until God asked me to surrender that part of my life to Him. I had made so many friends from all this going out, but my Abba said to me one night, "Tawana, you have one foot and hand in the world, and the other hand and foot on Me." I was stuck and didn't know what to say. I even spoke to someone about this, asked them for prayer about what God was asking me to do (I'll explain later why it really wasn't about clubbing, and why I took it to wise counsel for prayer ;-) God was faithful and reminded me a few times before I surrendered and wanted Him instead of this "stuff!" You see, what was underneath was more of a fear of "is He going to catch me when I let go of these things?" I didn't know what to expect and that's where the fear came from. God wanted me to know that I could FULLY trust Him, and that I had to unfold my tightly gripped fingers, and hold onto Him instead. And surely He was faithful, and most of all, He caught me. As I surrendered to Him, the journey of going deeper in the Bible began. As I started spending time with God, I'd go back to my room after class and read and study the Bible. The Lord was faithful to me through it all because He would speak to me as I read His Word. I started off using a Bible plan on YouVersion, which was great because it had a nice commentary to accompany the study, and as a new Christian I really really needed that! :) Even though it seemed like "everyone" else was out "having a good time" with these things, He wanted to tell me that He loved me and that I didn't need all these types of things. With His faithfulness, spending time with Him was priceless compared to the things I had oh so "missed out on." Did temptations come? Of course! But we keep going regardless of every fiery dart that comes our way. Even though people around me were still clubbing, I didn't do that because I wanted to honor God. He wanted me to honor Him with my life so that He could honor me. He wanted me to be His. Now, I won't sit here and say it was so easy and perfect and la la la...it wasn't, but it was worth it. I did lose "friends", but really, as the quotation marks express, were they really friends if they weren't excited to see me read the Bible or stop the things that drew me away from God? True friends stayed as I grew deeper in the Lord, and new ones came along as well. Whatever we give up on for the sake of Christ, Our Greatest Friend replaces with even greater. "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." -Matthew 19:26 My point is this: Serving God is going to come with costs. Losing others will come as well, but that's because God created us to be holy and consecrated for His use, not Holy and "available for all extra things around us". For His use, because we are His. It may sound like: "wow, I will be restricted from xyz" etc, but I pray for grace and revelation for us to always look at it this way: 1. We're human, so we will have random moments of "oh...If only I were doing xyz or going to xyz", or moments of "this is hard work!" So I pray for grace to take us by storm when these moments come. 2. To always remember that we are not doing this alone. Jesus promised that He would ask the Father, and He would give us another Advocate, who will never leave us - John 14:16. And that when the Father sends the Advocate as Jesus' representative--that is, the Holy Spirit--We will be taught everything, and will be reminded of everything Jesus has told us. - John 14:26. So we're not alone in this. And also... 3. Remember whose you are and who your Daddy is. He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lord, the Great Redeemer, Provider, El-Shaddai....and if He is all these things, as a daughter or son, we become heirs, princesses, princes, a royal priesthood and so forth! Side Note: This just reminds me of Proverbs 31 where King Lamuel's mother tells him that it is not for kings to drink wine and rulers to crave beer because they might drink and forget what the law says. She wanted to say that because he was of king value, and didn't need to be involved in things that could potentially bring his value down! When one is a king (small k), they don't have to do these things, because they are precious and would now have a different focus in life. That's why King Lemuel's mother is saying: "give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more" (Proverbs 31:6). Her advice to her son was, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy" (verse 8-9): Now this was King Lamuel's royal duty, not the former. We, as royal priesthoods, should also seek the best, and to "do the best" in terms of being empowered by Our Abba, Your Daddy, who is in Heaven, who Has said that "everything is yours." Fam, remember this: It may not be easy for us in our own strength, but it's easy for God. He wants to see us holy, consecrated, and set aside, all for His glory! RememberHe loves you very much <3 Always In Jesus Name, Amen! :) A Few Items on the List: 1. If you would like to receive a newsletter with new posts, encouragement, and updates, you may subscribe here. 2. I would love to join you in prayer to our Wonderful God! If you have any prayer requests, please send them here.
 Fam, I have a question. Do you think God sustains you? To be sovereign means to have unlimited control over all. I'm currently learning about God's Sovereignty, and how Sovereign He is over all. I can't remember the exact moment that prompted it, but it was some time during the oh so fabulous storm I went through, which taught me to just seek out God in terms of knowing that He truly is Sovereign and that I did not need to fear. I had written on my Facebook page some time during that time, that nothing created could limit God, nor His plan/purpose for our life. God created all things, so how can anything possibly overcome Him? And we are His aren't we? So if we are His, how can anything possibly overcome us with the power that is within us? Didn't death lose it's sting centuries ago? It lost it's sting. I feel like someone needs to be encouraged about this, and so do I! :) Sometimes we forget that God has power. Unlimited power. Sovereignty, rule over all things. I say this because we're human, and we go through life, often forgetting whose we are, needing to be reminded over and over again...but that's life, isn't it? So here's another reminder, family: He's in control. "In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will." -Ephesians 1:11 (Emphasis mine). The verse says ''for the purpose of His will"...it's HIS Will, and HIS plan, so He's in control. We are also promised that: "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right Hand of the Majesty in Heaven." Hebrews 1:3 (Emphasis mine). To sustain is to strengthen or support physically or mentally. Fam, do you think God sustains you? To sustain is to also bear the weight without breaking or falling. I said, it is to bear the weight. Without breaking, or falling. Hebrews 1:3 also mentions how Jesus is the exact representation of God. They are One. That's how Sovereign God is. He is able to come to earth, conquer death, and rise on the third day so He could break the curse, and call us His own. He wants us to trust Him, know Him, not just every day, but every moment of the day that we're in as well. It also says that He sustains all things by His powerful word (i.e. His command, His voice) Fam, His commands, his word sustains all things. Philippians 3:20-21 says that "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body." (Emphasis mine). "So how is Jesus able to save me?" you ask? See, He, (Jesus) is able to do what the above verse says because He is the exact representation of God, and thus He has been given the power that can bring everything under His control. Note, it says that "by the power that enables Him to..." Key word: Enables. There is a story about the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 where Jesus tells the paralytic: "Son, your sins are forgiven." After He says that, the pharisees think in their hearts: "Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” It then says, "Immediately Jesus knew in his Spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them,“Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?" -Mark 2:8-9 In those days, it was possible for people to "perform" (for a lack of a better word) healing practices, but it would have been an abomination for someone to go around saying, "you are forgiven" because it would mean that they were implying that they were God. You see, If Jesus was not the Son of God, He would not have been given (enabled to have) the power to heal by God's grace. Jesus showed that not only was He able to forgive the man's sins, but AFTER he forgave Him, He could still miraculously heal him because His Father had enabled Him to do it. Right after verse 10, it says, "But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” Mark 2:10-12 (Emphasis mine). My point is this: Jesus, being One with God, is our Savior at all times, and He has the authority on earth, which mirrors Philippians 3:21 where it says, that He also has the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control. His Sovereignty is powerful. My friends, it is powerful, powerful indeed. Side note for those needing extra encouragement :) The other day, I prayed and heard God say, "Best Friends." Best Friends. Remember that He is our Friend, a Friend that sticks closer than a brother. So no matter what, through the highs and lows, He is there, sticking closer than a brother. A Few Items on the List: 1. If you would like to receive a newsletter with new posts, encouragement, and updates, you may subscribe here. 2. I would love to join you in prayer to our Wonderful God! If you have any prayer requests, please send them here. 3. If you have some time, please check out this lovely lyric video of a lovely song by Francesca Battistelli. Speak to your Abba and say, "Lord, Write your story on my heart..I surrender to You, let your Will be done, I'm all Yours Abba, All yours. Amen :-) "
"And you also were included in Christ when you head the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation. Having believed in Him you were marked in Him with a seal, the Promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession –to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:13 -14 Fam, the battles will come and go, and the enemy will try to tell you that 'you're not Saved' or 'you're alone in all this', and any other lie that he can conjure up to help you lose hope. But we know that there is always hope. In Christ Jesus, there is always hope. Amen. We are promised in His Mighty Word, of who we are, and WHOSE we are. He shows us when we're lost, and when we are tired, that we are His, Predestined, Saved, Loved, and having believed in Him, MARKED, for life. Not for now, but life. WE are His :) Amen! "He chose us in Him before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight." Ephesians 1:4 He chose us in Him, and in Him alone. "In LOVE He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will" -Ephesians 1:5. When people are adopted, it is impossible to un-adopt them. It's not even legal to do that. Adoption means that He can't give us up. Ever. So you think, why isn't He here then? I assure you, He also hears your cries. "The Lord is King for ever and ever, the nations will perish from His land. You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more" Psalm 10:16-18 Amen! Amen. You are protected. Your Father is your protector, your voice, your portion and your strength. I had been through a storm, and my Abba wanted to remind me that I was His, and I need not believe the lies of the enemy. At times we may not feel Him, but He is still there. It's not based on feelings, but really knowing who our Abba is. Who He says He is, and how He faithfully continues to show us this by reaching out to us everyday. During a storm we can often forget this because we are caught up in the moment. As I read this verse the other day, I felt my Abba say to me: "I adopted you when you were 19" (As some of you may know, I became a Christian at 19). Friend, you were forever welcomed into the family of God when you became a Christian, the heavens celebrated like no other, and nothing, no one, no circumstance, can ever take that way. Remember whose you are and that you are forever is. "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand" |
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