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!