The Joy of The Lord is your strength

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Neh 8:10

On this Christian walk we sometimes get lost in the whole nothing is going right, why do i struggle so much mentality. Jesus did say that many are called but few are chosen, and that this pathway we walk is narrow not wide, which signifies a struggle. But today i want to remind you that, there is something else! Joy in the Lord! 

now reading verse 9-11 you see it is a time of rejoicing, as the wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. After all the persecution and problems that were faced it was now time to give God thanks and rejoice over this great victory. Ezra the priest and Levites said This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law Neh 8:9. When i see weep, i am thinking of weeping in joy, because if you have read the book of Nehemiah you see it was not easy to get this build in motion. They struggled hard. What really popped out to me was what Nehemiah said in verse 10 "do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength! Brethren there is unthinkable joy in the Lord, this walk is not just about struggling, God wants us to be happy and joyous, the bible says that all the people went and celebrated with Great joy. Some may say how could they? they faced mockery, armed raids, even a ruse to draw them out of the city, and a hired prophet to foretell his death?! That seems like alot of opposition to me. But because God was in the mix nothing could harm this great body of people. It's the same thing today. God has got us in every situation and trial we go through know that God is keeping you! I've had the experience where an unimaginable joy just randomly fills my soul, and its because of Gods love for us! He wants me and you to be happy, so next time you come out of a iffy situation give thanks to Lord. He will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build! Neh 2:20

The Joy of the Lord, it is your Strength!! 

God bless

Here's my leftovers

When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 1:8 (NIV)

In the old testament it was necessary to offer sacrifices for many different reasons, For example a thanksgiving offer and most important sin offerings. And we obviously know as it says many times in the bible. the offering given had to be perfect without spot or wrinkle, because God is perfection. 
Deut 17:1 Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.
As we can see God did not take pleasure in just any kind of offering. In The New Testament Jesus died for us being the ultimate sacrifice, so now we do not give offerings of animals anymore. But there is one offering we still give, what may that be you ask? Ourselves! 
Lately i have been reading a great book by an author named Francis Chan, and the book is called Crazy Love. one chapter that really convicted me was called "serving leftovers to a Holy God" as i read through this chapter i started to think about myself, and how i do this to God Sometimes. You know those times where you say you're going to study the word or worship, maybe even fast but a whole bunch of things come up, and you just end up praying to God for a few minuites and maybe read 1 scripture? yeah, those are the times we give leftovers to a Holy God! But Malachi says it's an abomination unto God (KJV) He takes no pleasure in it, God even goes as far to say 
“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
What i see right there is that God hates void less worship, This is a big deal to God, the one who died for us we give 10 minutes of our day or an hour and expect to be exponentially blessed? No! God does not take joy in this, we have to do better, and i am pointing a finger at myself because i know i do this all the time. Saints this is a huge problem and its constant, I want to remind us that God is more important then everything else in this world. Many know that i love cars, but cars wont get me into Heaven. Maybe you have interests in other things sports, fashion etc etc, and nothing is wrong with that, but when it takes place over God, that is a problem. I just want to say let us be mindful of how we use our time, God deserves more. This is not an easy task, it is hard. Jesus even said "The road is narrow and few will actually find it" I am thinking to myself as i write this, i have to apply this to my life!  if we just take little steps at time we can do it! god will help us. I pray this word will help us all to give more to our God.

Be Blessed.

Here's my leftovers

When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 1:8 (NIV)

In the old testament it was necessary to offer sacrifices for many different reasons, For example a thanksgiving offer and most important sin offerings. And we obviously know as it says many times in the bible. the offering given had to be perfect without spot or wrinkle, because God is perfection. 
Deut 17:1 Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.
As we can see God did not take pleasure in just any kind of offering. In The New Testament Jesus died for us being the ultimate sacrifice, so now we do not give offerings of animals anymore. But there is one offering we still give, what may that be you ask? Ourselves! 
Lately i have been reading a great book by an author named Francis Chan, and the book is called Crazy Love. one chapter that really convicted me was called "serving leftovers to a Holy God" as i read through this chapter i started to think about myself, and how i do this to God Sometimes. You know those times where you say you're going to study the word or worship, maybe even fast but a whole bunch of things come up, and you just end up praying to God for a few minuites and maybe read 1 scripture? yeah, those are the times we give leftovers to a Holy God! But Malachi says it's an abomination unto God (KJV) He takes no pleasure in it, God even goes as far to say 
“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
What i see right there is that God hates void less worship, This is a big deal to God, the one who died for us we give 10 minutes of our day or an hour and expect to be exponentially blessed? No! God does not take joy in this, we have to do better, and i am pointing a finger at myself because i know i do this all the time. Saints this is a huge problem and its constant, I want to remind us that God is more important then everything else in this world. Many know that i love cars, but cars wont get me into Heaven. Maybe you have interests in other things sports, fashion etc etc, and nothing is wrong with that, but when it takes place over God, that is a problem. I just want to say let us be mindful of how we use our time, God deserves more. This is not an easy task, it is hard. Jesus even said "The road is narrow and few will actually find it" I am thinking to myself as i write this, i have to apply this to my life!  if we just take little steps at time we can do it! god will help us. I pray this word will help us all to give more to our God.

Be Blessed.

Sometimes it's hard to love

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love 1 John 4:8

Love in the Bible is very important, the whole concept of God dieing for us is based firstly with love! It is very important, the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and secondly love thy neighbor like thyself. I myself find it very easy to love God knowing what he has done for me, and what he continuously is doing in my life and i am sure many will agree 100%. But one thing i struggle with is loving others as God would ought me too, another thing we all struggle with. 

There is always going to be that one person you never want to be around or deal with. it seems like everything that person does irritates you, even their very breathing! Now some may not want to admit but i believe we all have that one person that gets on our last nerve. The easy thing is usally to avoid people that annoy you, but i realized that if you do that you will always have this problem unless you deal with it. This is not something we can do on our own, because our love is flawed, this is why we need Gods help to love those that use and abuse us. I believe this matter needed to be addressed as i myself realize it is a problem in my life and also others. How can we say we love God, but hate our fellow brother or sister or anyone in general. if we have any speck of hate in us we are none of Gods as 1 john 4:20 says. 

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 

When we come to the realization that we have an issue with someone, it needs to addressed, if you can go to that person then by all means speak to them about, but sometimes that will not work. The next best thing if not better thing to do is get on your knees and start praying to God about it. As we pray to God about said person God will do his part, and by the time you know it, you will actually be able to love the individual, and not feel a certain ways when  you're in their presence. This process takes time, especially if they have hurt you in a certain way. But God will fix the problem. I pray this word will help us all to love one another a bit more, and love our enemys even more! 

God Bless!

The Christmas Spirit?

As Christmas ends everything goes back to normal. But lets back track a bit. By November most people have Christmas on their minds and is preparing for it. Most are joyful, much more appreciative, and love is flowing, Then i started to think to myself, "what happened?" After Christmas day everyone goes back to their normal self. Not many want to give or sacrifice for others anymore. 

As i grew older i really started to look into this whole Christmas thing, and i realized for one it is designed to make you broke! Not just that but it's a man made holiday, that really does not glorify God in anyway. Think about it. Why is it fare that we all get gifts, but we give God nothing at all, when he is "supposedly" to be the center of this holiday? I don't think this is right at all, and some may not agree with me, and that is fine. I just wanted to get this point across. There is nothing wrong with being joyful and loving over the holidays, but what i was thinking, why can't we be like this everyday of the year? From January  1st to December 31st, that would be a blessing in so much ways! People would be always ready and willing to give and love would be everywhere, but then i thought to myself again! The only way that will happen is if we all serve God! No holiday can do what God can to an individual, and that's where i would like to urge us all to be mindful of how we act towards one another everyday of the year. There is always an opportunity to give to others, not just on Christmas day. God gave us the ultimate gift, himself, so that we as sinners could be set free. What we can give will never compare to what God has given us, but we can give our love and if need be our resources to those who really need it. 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV

God bless, and be safe over the holidays!

God will preserve us!

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:17-18

Sometimes people say we should not beat up on ourselves when we sin, i agree with this to an extent, knowing that our sins are under the blood. But there is one thing we can not do, let that saying be a cop out every time we sin. and not actually change (repent) As human beings we are very imperfect. Even God said that he understands our frame, he pitys us! Psalm 103:14

I believe as Christians we should never let a wronging pass us. Every time we sin, we separate ourselves from the presence of the Lord! We need to confess all of our sins to the master so that we may walk rightly with him. 

The other day i was thinking, to climb up a ladder takes perseverance, determination, strength, willpower, motivation and so much more. but to fall down the ladder it takes nothing at all, but some little slip. Just like it is so easy to do wrong then Good. living this life requires hard effort and definitely God, for without him we can not make it. My prayer today is that we never let any past, present, or future mistakes hold us back. The devil will try in anyway to snuff out our fire and passion for God. Saints Be encouraged, The Lord shall keep us, and bring us through!

God Bless.

Speechless.

Do you not know, have you not heard. The Lord is the everlasting God, he will not grow tired or wearied and his understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:31

This is one of my favorite Bible scriptures. It pretty much sums up Gods mighty character in one verse. Further up in Isaiah 40 the word says again "do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? He sits enthroned above the circle of earth Is 40:20-21 This chapter echoes Gods perfection, as i read the chapter i was amazed, and it caused to look at God differently, at one point i was thinking how can i put what i am thinking in words, this is just to awesome to even mix my thoughts in with it... but i would like to leave just one thing with you. Nothing can or ever will compare to the glory of God, nor can we put him in a box. he can not be contained for he reigns supreme over the world! "who can fathom the spirit of the Lord or instruct the Lord as his Counselor?" Is 40:13

If you have time take a read of Isaiah 40, you will be blessed immensely, stay strong and be encouraged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a7RCVDiPb0 This song can give you a better idea of how i feel

Godbless!