 Photo credit: Horia Varlan Joshua 8: 1-2 "Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." (Emphasis mine).
Have you ever wanted to do something and the Lord says to you, 'wait'. Or, 'not yet'? A while ago, I wrote about how during the wait, God's doing something significant that we may not be seeing with our natural eye. Sometimes we may think that because it's taking so long or because we don't see what we are thinking it should be like, that its reason to settle for something less, but we all know that that's not what God wants for our lives, He wants to give us His best. We know that there are many reasons He asks us to wait, but because we are His child, waiting is for our benefit, and it creates opportunity for a new thing in our lives, and all to the glory of God. Amen. I had the opportunity to read this verse in the Book of Joshua. This verse became important after reading Chapters 6 and 7, which I recommend you read as well to get the full context. Briefly, in Chapters 6 and 7, the Lord had told Joshua that he had delivered Jericho into his hands (i.e. given him the city). He was then commanded to march around the city once with all the armed men, for 6 days. On the 7th day, they were to march around the city 7 times. In Joshua 6:18 the Lord says to Joshua to keep away from the devoted things as it would bring trouble. Later in Chapter 7 we see that a guy named Achan had hopped on along and taken that which was devoted, when it wasn't the time to. We know it wasn't the time to take these ''good things'' from the land yet, as in Chapter 8, from what the Lord says to Joshua after He tells him to go into another city: "Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.... You shall do to Ai and its kind as you did to Jericho (the place of the previous battle), except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves..." (Joshua 8:1-2). The New Living Translation says, "But this time you may keep the plunder and livestock for yourselves...." But this time... This time. The event of going into another city had occurred before, but it was this time, it was thee time. This particular time. Outside of that time was the wrong time. Waiting. It can be a tough one eh? We all make mistakes and may do something we're not supposed to at the appointed time. Even if you're a leader, you're going to make mistakes. It's just about being real with yourself and not allowing yourself or others put you on an untouchable pedestal. It's about how we handle it after the mistake that counts, i.e. did we learn something, did we grow from it? Are we getting closer to God now because of it? Are we now ready to do what God's asking us to do? etc. I've already told you about how I started this whole website and went ahead of God, put all these sections to the website and I was all super jolly about it, only to have Him ask me to only start with one blog post. *Ouch* :) I smile about it now, but yes it was majorly humbling at the time. I can only boast in the Lord: but since then, I've never had to sit down and think: "what is the next blog post going to be?" but more of waiting on God until He told me what to say next; He's had the lead. It's a waiting process as well because I would sometimes see other sites doing 'more' stuff or had more sections, but had to wait on God's voice, and then proceed. Not only that, but we don't know other people's story or journey as they did their work, so it's unfair to judge by what the human eye can see. Amen. :) God's timing is so perfect, when you see it happening, you'll be so content that you'll forget about past experiences or wonder why you went ahead before! He has it all under control. Waiting on God teaches us to submit to Him, and to let Him take the lead. This time, the Israelites had the joy (hallelujah!) of carrying the plunder and livestock, as the Lord said they could do. You too, will be able to enjoy what He's asking you to do. He had opened the door to enjoy this wonderful gift. Let's remember that when God says 'not yet', it's 'not yet'. When He says 'go', 'go'. There's a time for everything :) So here are the questions: Is the Lord telling you to go? Is He telling you that NOW is the right time? Enter the doors to which He is telling you to go. Why don't you have a nice heart to heart with the Lord tonight? He's with you all the way, as He's leading you to go where you wants you to go. Amen!
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Hey Fam! You might be wondering what Scripture is for? (I.e. what is the text in the Bible actually for?) Well, hopefully this verse can help us learn some more!  Photo Credit: Kevin Dooley "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" -2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV) It is breathed out by God. How amazing is that! It can be used for a number of things: to teach, to reproof, to correct, and train in righteousness. It does this for a number of things: 1. For Profit :) It is to profit you. It's not here to condemn you or 'catch' you at every mistake. If anything, any type of 'catching' is for good discipline, as the Lord says, He disciplines those He loves (Proverbs 3:12). We may not like it at the time, but in the end we'll rejoice and know why! (Remember how God is sovereign?) We also remember that God only knows how to give good gifts to His children, so He won't let anything fall by you or come to you that's not going to profit you or the situation (and even if the enemy tries anything, God will still use it for good: "all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them"-Romans 8:28). 2. So we may be complete, equipped for every good work. This reminds me of David, who, before he was to go face Goliath the giant, acknowledged that the armor Saul gave him (although seemingly strong from the outside) was not what he was used to (1 Samuel: 17:39). In that moment, and instead, David used what was in front of him, and what he knew best). Connecting this in the context of The Bible, the Word is what is in front of us, and from it we have our own armor that has been proved to work best (Ephesians 6:10-18). Fam, along the way, it will help us make good choices, especially for that good work ;-) "Oh breath of God come breathe within." Maybe this song from Hillsong will guide you as well :) Prayer: Thank you God that Your Word is this powerful! I know that you will guide me throughout the way, but help me to soak up in Scripture so I may be diligent, equipped, complete for every good work. Thank you Father, thank you. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.
P.S. Will you read your Bible like a love letter to you? Try it this week! I encourage you! :) Tell me how it goes! God bless you!  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.
 I read John 15:11-24 this morning as part of my devotional. John 15:11-24 is about the Prodigal son. "ahhh.." you say.. You seem to know this one...you say... At first I also thought, 'not this story again!' As I've read it plenty times over. Buttttt God does a new thing like always, and gives us new insight in a passage that we would've read over and over and over! Amen and glory to that!! :) So here it goes! The passage says: 11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate." (From the New International Version). I felt like the Lord said that it can be seen from the point of view of being about Jesus, that once upon a time, we went away from the Father (since the beginning in the garden), but we were found again via the blood of Jesus (redeemed, rather!) Jesus built the bridge that enables us to crossover to go to the Father (God). It is now possible to have the choice to go to back to the Father. Oh how wonderful it that? So wonderful!! So wonderful. Let's look at the text a bit more closely, and see what it's saying to us: After squandering everything at this point,the son began to be in need (verse 14). Have you ever gasped for air? Like in a swimming pool and you want to get back to the top? Or you ran a distance and were out of breath that you needed to stop to catch the next one? That's what I'm guessing the son felt like at this point: in need to breath properly again, without gasping. Verse 17 says he came to his senses. It finally hit him. It was a heart moment. It finally clicked. *click!* He had a moment of enlightenment, a moment of humility, all intertwined to make one. It all starts in the head and heart, then slowly shifts towards our facial expression, which changes to that of sorrow, mimicking the inside process. It's a moment of realization, that through it all, we had hurt God, and the people around us. We see that after this moment, the son decides that he will go back to his Father (verse 18). He says Father. He acknowledges His Father. He knows that he can apologize to Mr. & Ms such and such too, but at this point, it's all about God, the Father. We're reminded of David, who said, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight" Psalm 51:4. He realizes that it was the Father, all along, who was the beginning and end of life, streams of living water, peace, comfort, and breath. And in abundance. Verse 18 says that he set out, meaning, he took action. Action. Then he got up and went to his Father (verse 20). More action. Yesterday I read a quote that said, "If there were a thousand steps between us and God, He will take all but one. He will leave the final one to us. The decision is ours." (Author Unknown) (it was in the context of running to God as our refuge :) He wants us to take that leap of faith towards Him, knowing that His arms are always wide open, when we choose to come to Him. Verse 20 says it was to his Father that he went to. Not people. His Father :) And what did his Father do? He had compassion (verse 20) on his son, onto his most precious child :) Amen ♡ He even ran to His son (verse 20). Running. He even threw His arms around him (verse 20). No, He didn't nonchalantly touch him, even though just a touch from God is greater than anything in this world, but instead He THREW His arms. He THREW them...do you get it? I can't get enough! :) He's like: "my son! You're back! You're back!! Welcome back!! You came back! To me! To me! Your Father! I love You, son...I love you. My son..." And when you think that that was it, It says, 'and kissed him' (verse 20). How wonderful is that? Amazing. But then...the Father says 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him." (verse 22). You see, that verse starts with the word, 'BUT'. I mean...come on, how amazing can He get? The son goes humbly before the Father to ask for forgiveness, and I can only imagine he's in tears, and in ragged clothes. Since he was feeding the pigs, he probably smells really bad, is very muddy, but could care less to ask for a place to shower because he's running back, as he is, running from a journey of turmoil, leaving it all behind, all in the past, ready to set forth a new path, even if he has to start from the bottom because he knows that his Father's place is much better than anything that's out there. Just like David said, "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." Psalm 84:10 That sentence begins with 'But'. 'But' means that the son was probably expecting an alternate response. It can only be that reason isn't it? That a moment were it was meant to be a point of shame and condemnation, the Father does everything but. He does that which is contrary to it, to that point that He doesn't waste a minute in saying, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him." (verse 22). Shout it on the rooftops! The son is back! He's back! Amen! Amen! Hallelujah! He's back Abba, He's back to You! This is similar to The Parable of the Lost Coin in Luke 15:8-10, which says, “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (NIV) Amen! Like this picture, when Jesus sees you, He takes His robe off, and exchanges His for yours.  It says, we have been declared righteous by faith! Amen! (Romans 5:1) All rights accredited to Google Images And the Father wasn't done yet, He says, "Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet" (Verse 20). A ring on a hand was a mark of wealth and dignity. A ring was seen as a sign of favor, just like in Genesis 41:39-43 (where Pharaoh was speaking to Joseph. You can read the story of Joseph in Genesis 37). Genesis 41:39-43 says, "Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my place., and all my people are to submit to your orders...."I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck." We also see this in Esther 8:2, where "The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai." To 'present' something is to give something to someone officially or formally. He didn't fling it. No. He gratefully presented it. Honorably, and respectfully. A signet ring looks like this:  In Haggai 2:20, The Lord tells Zerubbabel (the governor of Judah) that He will make him like His signet ring, because He had chosen him. We now see this great significance our Father puts on His children. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9 In Luke 15: 23, the Father gives orders to bring the fattened calf and to have it killed. He says, "Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." So they began to celebrate (Verse 23-24). Son, daughter, God has chosen you too. You are His. Begin to Celebrate.   
I feel like the Lord is teaching me lately about not working so hard.
I'm not saying that one shouldn't work...but I'm saying, in the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42, I can officially introduce myself as...Martha. So hi, I'm Martha. No, not from the Brady Bunch, just good 'ol Martha, from the Biblical.....Bunch... I won't lie, this transition is not a smooth one, but by God's grace, I'm learning. One area pertaining to working played out in front of me recently: My mom got a tape measure to measure her waist. She was holding it in her hand and said to me that she was told that it was good to start measuring 2 cm from the belly button. She decided to take a guess of where 2 cm was by using her hand. Eventually she said, okay, I'll just estimate. I watched her and said, "how about using the tape measure in your hand to measure 2 cm?" She didn't get it at first and then she started laughing and realized that she could've just done that from the beginning. It reminded me of the story of the Widow's Oil in 2 Kings 4:10. Elisha heard the cry of the lady: "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha responded: “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” The lady said, “Your servant has nothing there at all, except a small jar of olive oil.” Elisha tells the lady to go around asking the neighbors for empty jars. He tells her to pour the oil in the jars until they are filled. When all the jars were filled, the oil stopped. She told Elisha, and he instructed her to sell the oil, to pay her debts, and that her and her sons could live on what was left. So what's the connection between my mom and the Widow's oil? Well, both of them had something in front of them that they could use in order to profit. God has already placed something in front of you for profit, He has already given you a gift, an instrument, a book, a person, talent...etc. just something or even things, in order for you to use. I was trying to go around me and I would think, "okay, so, next task I have to do is this and that!" and I would be so tired and warned out! Not a good idea! Of course we have to be hard workers, but if God has given you the resources, (even if it's a "little bit" like the oil) we can be sure enough to rest that when we take hold of it, He will supply us with the direction, process, and we can start to see more coming out when we invest in the little that we have. He never intends for us to be burned out, worried, and warned out about nothing, when really He can do it all for us! For me, what's in front of me is the Word of God. I feel like that's my starting point :-) How about you? What's your starting point? Why don't you pray and ask God what's in front of you so you can start taking advantage of the great things He has given you! Remember that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Amen!  Sometimes we go through a period of hardships.
Christ came to set you free. He came to tell you that He loves you so much that He wanted to die for you and free you from bondage. The enemy can sometimes come in and try to "take" that away from you, but you can hit him back with these truths: by knowing who you are in Christ! Amen. You are: -Declared Righteous and not guilty in Christ Jesus You were made righteous by FAITH. "It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. If God's promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless." Romans 4:13-14 "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." Hebrews 9:15 "But [Jesus] has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:26b -Declared permanent access to God's presence through Jesus Christ You can approach God with anything! "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16 "Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." -Hebrews 10:19 - 22 -Declared freedom from a guilty conscience When shame, guilt, comes your way, hand it over to Christ, He paid for it all and it's His. "Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." -Hebrews 10:19 - 22 "This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper." Hebrews 9:9 -Declared acceptance by God "Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Hebrews 10:9-10 "For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary." Hebrews 10:14-18 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." Ephesians 1:4 "Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault." Colossians 1:22 
Jesus feeds the five thousand.
Jesus feeds the five thousand in Matthew 14: 13 - 21. "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. "Bring them here to me," He said. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. I cried out to God today, life had been so rough for me. As I walked He reminded me of this story, and said, "remember the five thousand..." Jesus fed five thousand people out of five loaves of bread and two fish. You see, some weeks ago, I had to come to Him in repentance of some sins, and I was so lost, I was so lost without Him. My life had taken a different turn, and I couldn't do it without Him. With tendencies to try to live life "perfectly", I knew He wanted me to realize that I couldn't work for my salvation and that it was already done for at the cross: "But now He has appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Hebrews 9:26b Where does the story of the five loaves of bread come into this? Well, Jesus said, "come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 That's for everyone. He said He wanted me to come to Him, that He is able to feed me. He didn't say to me, "Tawana, come to me when you have cleaned up your act." No, He said, "Just as you are, just as you are crying, just as you are." I felt like I had to have this cleaned up heart, this cleaned up act before I prayed to Him, but that's not what He wants. He came to die for a reason, so we wouldn't have to work for our salvation or work to gain His approval. It can only be a lie from the devil to think that we can attain some right standing with God in one way or another for it says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with five loaves made sense to me now: I can come to Him with the little that I have and say, "Jesus, this is all I have, this is all I have, take it from me please, take it," and He will change it. He will change it. If it's something bad I'm giving to Him, He'll wash it away, He'll wash it away, He is able. If it's something good that I'm giving Him , He will multiply it, He will give me the amount that I need, He's so generous. "They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over..." Matthew 14: 20 "But He said to me, 'My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me...For when I am weak, then I am strong" -2 Corinthians 12:9 - 10 God wants you to come to Him with all of your problems, your situations. He doesn't want you to be working for your salvation or to think that you can attain anything. He is the only one who can fix them for you and do it for you. Don't be embarrassed about coming to Him, He wants you to know that He cares for you and nothing is too big or too bad for Him to take. He is, in fact, God. And He loves you and wants you to come close to Him. Genesis 1:1-2 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."
There was nothing desirable to be seen in the world. The earth was formless and empty, just like us. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. It goes against God's nature for Him to create such a world, so we assume that from the first sentence something happened in the earth for it to get that way (as we later read, satan was already a fallen angel and kicked out of eden so he was probably roaming around destroying things as usual). We're like that description. We're like that before God enters our life. Satan took us and trashed us, he used us and "destroyed us..." ...but know that God's Spirit is hovering you. He wants you. He wants you and wants to complete you. Now you might be wondering, why doesn't He just complete me then? Well, in the same heart beat, He can, but He wants you to accept that invitation, to say yes. Will you let Him into your house? Will you let Him enter? The enemy forced himself a long time ago, very ungentleman-like right? But we have a God who's knocking, and asking. All I know is that He wants to put Light in you. And Light will create a pathway for so more... Say yes to God. Jesus loves you very much. Wow it's been a while!
God's been doing great things and He is so faithful! I just want to let you know that whatever God's doing in your life, He is going to bless it! Amen! So today I was scanning through my journal and I stopped at when I wrote down Genesis 3:11 and right away the title "who are you listening to" came to me. Friend, who are you listening to? Are you listening to somebody else today who's not God's voice? Are you listening to someone who isn't a voice to be trusted? God's telling you to stop right now. Right now. Genesis 3:11 says, "who told you that you were naked? Have you EATEN from the TREE that I COMMANDED you not to eat from?" What are you eating? Are you eating from television? From videos? From celebrities? Are you eating from people who God says 'no' to? It's time to re-assess who you spend time with. These "things" will benefit you for a while, but in the long run, they'll destroy you. Don't believe the lies of the enemy. The enemy is INDIRECTLY telling you to 'stop right now' that your purpose isn't good enough, and that YOU'RE not good enough. Tell him that you are, tell Him that God loves you and that you are good enough. Tell him that God's gifts and CALLING are irrevocable (Romans 11:29), so we can CHOOSE to STOP right now and make a u-turn and head back to God. Tell him you can do it without the lies and that you don't need momentary pleasures. Amen. The enemy has a plan for you, just as GOD has a plan for you, but we have to CHOOSE whom we're LISTENING to. God loves you very much and wants to see you prosper, but for now, please ask yourself: Who are you listening to? God bless you. "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." -Matthew 18:20
I don't want to give you false hope and say that everything will work out in 2 seconds flat, but it WILL work out and you WILL be freed. The length of time solely depends on how much is needed to be done (i.e. how many soul ties you have) or how strong they are, and other details that pertain to your life. Of course I never discount God's miraculous healing at any time and any amount, so all I'll say is: wait in expectation, a great thing is about to happen. I mentioned the above verse because I STRONGLY advise you to: 1. JOIN with 2 or 3 other people to PRAY. I pray that you seek godly counsel. People of prayer, people who are MATURE in Christ and know about the spiritual realm and are fully CONTENT in helping you BREAK the chains. If you go with someone who's not fully involved in helping you, it's not going to really be a battle, so you need people who are going to fight with you in the spiritual realm. I encourage you to seek people you TRUST, but if you don't know anybody yet, ask your pastor about the prayer team, and their gifting if necessary, and also pray for God to lead you to the right people. 2. Be OPEN with those people. They need to know everything. They will help you IDENTIFY what is in your life that needs to be taken out (e.g. if it's a spirit of greed or a generational curse etc.) It doesn't matter how humiliating or scarring it might've been, there's nothing that Jesus hasn't heard about and that He doesn't' know about and didn't die for, He's ready to hear you say it and come to Him for healing. Also in this case, if they're going to help you break the soul ties and move on, you'd have to confess any activity you might've done, or what was done to you and so forth, out loud. It might lead to a lot of forgiveness as well and proclaiming all these things, but it has to be spoken out loud. These people will be praying for you and with you whilst you do this so you can break the chains. 3. FAST. It might seem like the first two would've done it all, but if let's say the people spend an hour with you, you'd still need to go back and talk to God. It's now more about anticipating a breakthrough in your life. I would STRONGLY suggest three days fasting (morning to 5 or 6pm), but like I said, it also depends on your conviction as well. 4. Exchange other things for PRAYER. It will be time to sacrifice. I once read that in order for you to know that you're being deceived or that things are not in line, you'd have to be so FILLED with the light that you can IDENTIFY what's NOT of light. It might take time, but start filling yourself with light and also reading about the area you're going through (e.g. how break soul ties or how they are formed etc.) Get knowledgeable about it because one day God's going to use you to help somebody else. 5. MOVE ON. Literary move on. You're ready for a new life. No more connections with the past. Clean your room, clean your closet, clean your boxes. It's time to get rid of all things that come from those soul ties. It's time to move on. When I think of this part, what comes to mind is Luke 17:32. Luke 17:32 has one line and it says: "Remember Lot's wife!" Now, you know that if there's an exclamation mark it means something. It's very important that you remember her. If you don't know the story, Lot, and his wife were escaping Sodom and Gomorroh which was a place full of sin and God had rained down burning sulfur to destroy it. God told them that whatever they did, NOT to look back. Lot's wife, looked back, and she turned into a PILLAR of SALT (Genesis 19:26). Remember Lot's wife. Don't look back. Once you're done, you're done. You might be "tempted" to go back there, but don't look back. If you want an accountability partner, I encourage you to get one, otherwise keep praying for God to take that urge away and any pull as it was a soul tie that needed removing. It later on says in that passage: if you CLING to your LIFE, you will LOSE it, and if you let your life GO, you will SAVE it (v.33) Jesus want's to take it all from you. He wants to save you. It's a process, but it is one that is worth it. God bless you in your process and journey of removing soul ties! God wants to see you healed and He loves you very much! I'll be praying for you as well. God bless you! In Christ we pray, Amen. |
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