Alive

 

10/10/2012

Alive

Genesis 1:27-28, So God created man in His own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female.

Each and every one of us was created in Gods image. Regardless of the situations you are in or what lifestyle you choose God created you. Although we do make bad choices, (I can attest to that) God already knew before you were born the decisions you were going to make and how He was going to see you through them.  The way he sees you through some of the roughest or what you think is the “end of the world circumstances”, is by sending the right people into your life at the right time. You may think it is a coincidence but He already knew what was going to happen.

We need to stop going day to day worrying about bills and cars and materialistic things that are around us. We need to focus more on where God is taking us from and where He wants us to be.  We as a society get too wrapped up in when this bill is due and I have this appointment this day I have to go to the grocery store and get this or I have a pta meeting at the school. What about the appointments that God has predestined?  There may be someone at the doctors’ office that is going through a far more detrimental situation than you and you may be the one God sent to counsel them. Or it could be someone sending you a text or calling you and you haven’t talk to them in weeks. Maybe God is sending them to you because you have been in the exact same situation as them and you can give them sound advice on how to come out on top. Or it could be that God is sending someone into your life to help you. We need to wake up and open our eyes and hearts to the people God is sending into our lives. . God has a purpose and a plan for everyone. (Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

We need to start living and I don’t mean living to make sure all the bills are paid. Yes it is important to have your household in order but the only way that is truly going to happen is if you first let God be the head of the household. In order to live you must first die. In the bible it talks about dying to sin and being alive in Christ, Romans 6:1-8, what shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin: how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with. that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

Begin to start living your life the way God intended. Matthew 7:7-11 Ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be opened. Which of you if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish will you give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those that ask him! All you have to do is first believe but most importantly have faith that God will see you through. It states all you have to do is ask and it shall be given to you knock and the door shall be open.  

Don’t look at every trial or tribulation that comes your way as the devil attacking you. If you begin to look at it that way then you are giving satan the power he wants. The more you speak about your health problems the worse they become. The more you say I’m broke the broker you will become. The words that you choose have a serious impact not only on your physical life but also your spiritual one. The more you complain and the less you praise God for what he has done, the more you are giving satan control over your life. Just like if you come to a road block in your life where it seems everything is full speed ahead. You just got a job offer or you realized what you want to go to school for. So you go to accept the job offer and it was given to someone else, or you apply to school and you don’t qualify for grants or loans. Don’t look at it as if the devil is blocking you from achieving what God has for you, but look at it as a road block set up by God to say no you can’t go that way yet you’re not ready. By God putting road blocks in our lives he sees what will happen if we continue down the path we are on. He just gave you an escape route; He saw the enemy setting up a trap. So instead of sitting back and complaining sit back and thank God for saving you from something you weren’t ready to handle.

My Purpose

I came to the realization the other day that I find myself living my life to achieve the things I want and not for what God wants. Far too often we want something so badly that it manifests itself into a need that we fabricated not a need God wants for us. So I am trusting Him to guide me and to fulfill His purpose for my life.

I have been hiding in what I would like to call my comfort zone/my little box. I have stepped outside of it a little, but i find myself reeling myself back in. I trust God fully but i find it hard sometimes to trust myself with what God wants for my life and what he has called me to do.  I know God won't give me more than I can bare and He hasn't called me to do something He knows I can't do. But I am still scared. I have dreams and goals but I have been putting them on hold because I don't know what the outcome will be. I have been praying that this fear will be lifted. I can say that it is being lifted daily. I find myself becoming more confident in who I am in Christ. That He will not leave my side that He will always be with me regardless of circumstances. I am beginning to finally find who God wants me to be even though I knew all along I am humbling myself before Him and letting Him take control of my life. I have officially put my life on Autopilot and God is at the wheel.
I have gone through so much with me behind the wheel I don't think there is enough time in a single day to write it all. Ive had ups and downs. Trials after trials. Failed relationships. I even turned away from God for a moment, but I came back to Him because I know my life cannot be whole without Him. There was always a void in my life growing up and I never realized what it was until I came to know God. What was missing was the unconditional love. The knowing that everything is already taken care of. That even though I may fall He is going to be there to lift me up again.
I know I am called to work with the youth of our world. I know specifically that I am to work with  juvenile delinquents especially those who are just coming out of juvenile hall. I want to be able to minister to them to let them know that even though the world has turned its back on them God is still there. I was one of those juvenile delinquents. I was in juvy not just once but three times. I became a ward of the state at the age of 14 until the time I was 15 1/2. My mother gave up her parental rights because I was uncontrollable. The first time I got out of juvy, I didn't know who to turn to, to talk about why I was taking off from home or why I was drinking and doing drugs, I just wanted to reach out and tell someone that I needed to be loved that I needed the support of my family. I thought they didn't care I thought they didn't want me around. I didn't tell them until about 7 years ago when I was baptized that I finally found what I was searching for all those years when I was taking off from home. I was searching for a fulfillment in my life for a purpose for me to get up every morning, and I found that in Jesus. I found the unconditional love of a Father. Of someone who will always be there for me especially when I fall and get back up again.  This is what I want to show them, that they are loved regardless of the circumstances. When you are in juvy it is very difficult to talk to anyone about what you are going through. There are no counselors unless you get a court appointed one that has a caseload so heavy that they actually need someone to counsel them. You might get lucky and have one of the gideons come into the facility and give you a bible that has psalms, proverbs, and the new testament in it. you may even get a pastor to come and visit but that is not a weekly thing it is maybe once a month or once every 3 months depending on the facility.I want to give them a structured environment where they can feel free to express themselves with their God given talents. A place where they can learn life skills. A place that is full of Love not just what I am able to show them but what God can give them. So this is my ultimate goal to either work in a place like this or to open up a facility and running it. It has been placed on my heart for the past 7 years and I am ready to work my way towards this. I am going to start school in June for Criminal Justice Administrative Human Services. Long title I know but it will give me the background I need in order to know the justice system and also i will be able to get grants to achieve my goal. God has given me this calling and I am trusting Him fully to see that I will not waiver from my decision to pursue this.
I am moving Forward!!!

I ask that you will lift me up in prayer that I continue to follow the path God has for me and not to lead my life the way i want to but the way He wants me to. I also ask that you pray for my health for I have found that since I took this step forward I have been getting attacked physically.

The Battle Is the Lords

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”  Ephesians 6:12-13 NKJV

No matter what we go through daily we must remember that the battle is not ours it is the Lords. I know I have been going through many trials these past few weeks and I am finding myself being constantly reminded that the battle is not mine. I often want to fight and take these trials head on because I am hard headed yes but I am also determined to come out on top, BUT I found that going into it in the physical sense isn't necessarily the right option. So how does one prepare to go into battle in the spiritual sense rather than the physical? For starters prayer is always helpful. It helps you clear your mind from the clutter that has bogged you down all day as well as you gain a closer relationship with God. I try to pray daily in the morning and at night. These past 2 months I have found myself being woken up at all hours of the night and a person will come to mind and it is laid on my heart that I should pray for them. Do I know their circumstances at that point? No I do not, But does that  mean God won't  use your faith to pray for someone who is struggling? This is a way that you begin to prepare for battle whether it is you who is going into battle or it is the person who you are praying for. One of the most important things to remember is that  God has given us authority to speak and believe what we can achieve not by sight or might but by His spirit (Authority Karen Clark-Sheard). If we believe the battle is won then it is. It is when we begin to doubt that more battles or trials come our way because the devil sees a weakness and will prey on it. We need to guard our hearts and our minds to know what is right and what is the will of God. Far too often and I am included something or someone comes along that seems is in your best interest but in the end it is a facade. A wolf in sheeps clothing. We need to remember that the devil knows the word. Often times people will come into your life "preaching" the word but are they living their lives according to the word? Yes we are sinners we arent perfect and we will backslide from time to time but does that mean that God doesn't love us? No it doesn't, God loves us so much there are no words to describe it. He gave His only son so that we will be saved. He didn't have to do that. He could have treated us like the townspeople in Sodom and Gomorrah. We often (and yes I am part of the we, ) look back at our past and try to figure out what happened. Don't be like Lots wife and look back at once was and be turned into a pillar of salt. In other words don't look back over your sinful past or go back to it because it will only lead to death. It is in the past for a reason. Another way to prepare for battle is by reading the bible.I dont't mean reading a scripture here and there but doing a thorough study. I am in the process of doing another study on the book Isaiah. There is a scripture that speaks to my heart and I feel this is my passage in the bible it is Isaiah 54:1-8. 1"Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman that of her who has a husband," says the Lord 2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread out the the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. 4"Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. you will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. 5 For your Maker is your husband the Lord Almighty is His name the Holy one of Israel is your Redeemer He is called the God of all the earth.6 The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit a wife who married young only to be rejected," says your God 7 "For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back 8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, BUT with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you says the Lord your Redeemer. This may not speak to your heart the way it does mine, BUT I lived with the shame and the hurt of my youth for almost 10 years before I found this scripture. That was a spiritual battle I was in because I knew God forgave me for what I did I believed it in my heart but my mind was telling me different. Ever get that before? Where you know what you did was wrong you asked for forgiveness and then theres that voice. That says how can he forgive you for that or for this?  That's when it is important to have scripture to back you. If you have forgiven those that came against you and in return asked for forgiveness for the things you have done then God will forgive you Mark 11:26. The final two things that are the most important to going into battle spiritually is Fully trusting and Believing in God that he will see you through.
I know I am tying two topics into one but in all honesty you can not fully go into battle spiritually if you are not spiritually sound. Meaning have you asked for forgiveness are you able to humble yourself completely before God without regret or sorrow? One scripture that really comes to mind when speaking about battles is Deuteronomy 20:1-4 NIV  ¹ When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. ² When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. ³ He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. ⁴ For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”  Another Scripture that comes to mind is Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.There have been alot of battles in the physical sense that are in the bible. Almost all of the battles occurred in the valley. Is this a coincidence to our everyday lives no its not. It is in the valleys that we are tested that we have many trials and battles come at us. In the old testament you will read about battles and when the battles were fought the leaders of the two sides would go down off of the mountain top into the valley to meet and discuss whether or not they wanted to battle. Then the two leaders would go back up out of the valley to relay the message to their armies.. Then they would go back down into the valley to fight.. One thing you have to remember is that the winning army rose up out of the valley and went back up to the mountain top because there was nothing but death left in the valley. When we are victorious with our battles there is no longer a need to go back down into the valley.. God brought us out victoriously for a reason. He is with us every second hour minute nano second of the day, we just have to say Lord here I am I am going through it and I need you now. Does He already know we need Him of course He does but he doesn't get tired of His children asking Him for help. When you are on an uphill climb and you feel you can't make it to the top know that God is there to carry you if you fall. He is there with you every step of the way every trial that comes our way He is with us. I pray that we as Christians will begin to see our worth that We will continue to seek God daily. We may fall and "backslide" but Romans 3:23 states For ALL have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. No one is perfect  not you, your pastor, your wife, husband, children, boss etc..NO One is perfect except For God. I leave you with this song...