From the Inside- Out

So tonight at work I was cleaning and I love just spending time with Jesus while I am at work. Anyways I was cleaning the sinks in the bathroom and He gave me this coolest analogy. That something won't get clean if you just spray cleaner on it, you have to actually put manual labor into get the dirt off. The cleaner is suppose to help the dirt come off but if you don't help the chemicals cut deep then they just sit on top of the gunk. Then God told me this, it is the exact same with God's love on our hearts. Lets face it our hearts are dirty, sinful, unclean. The only solution is for the blood of Jesus for our hearts to be coated in. But what if there is a little more to being a "christian" than just having our hearts coated in his blood? I believe there is more, we have to work at making our hearts pure and clean again, we cannot just let this love sit there and think it is going to take all the gunk, crap, sin out of our lives if we just sit and do nothing. God gives us His love as a gift what we need to do with it is learn to apply it to our lives and get that gunk off our hearts. To say God I am tired of this sin in my life help me learn to get rid of it. To get humbled before God and say I need help, I need you to be that wash rag in my life to help get the dirt and scum off. The more we learn to rely upon God and His help on cleaning us up the more we will learn to trust him. Because I think we get this mindset saying God I don't want help cleaning my heart up because I am scared what you might see in there, what lies I have kept hidden and on and on... But truth be told GOD ALREADY KNOWS what is in your heart. It hurts him to see his children living with fear, past regrets, and deep hidden parts of our heart. He wants us to have it clean because it is a process that starts from the inside out, if we can get our hearts clean, then our mind will be clean then our thoughts will be clean and eventually move on the outside where people can see, that they changed, different, holy. I want my heart to be clean I am tired of just say I am Christian because Christ's blood covers me I want it to be more I want to be clean, I want my heart to be pure. Matthew 5:8~Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. When we let God clean our hearts we shall see amazing wonders and miracles happen in our lives but not only our others around us. I know I am ready for purity and to be clean of sin. So God do your will in me...

God Bless

Behind Stone Walls

Church most of you go to one, whether it is a Sunday service or a Wednesday service or both. Well usually the church service is in a building right? And we sometimes just get into the "motions" of things on church days we often say just another church service. Well to be honest walls don't make up the church, it is the people. We all look at that new person in the back or question why isn't that person worshiping like me? We get caught up in our momentary thoughts about others who enter church wearing those short shorts. But why are we looking at them let alone, thinking about our thoughts in our heads about those people? Because they are our family. Our heaven bound family. We so often get caught up in what we know church looks like or the presence of God is suppose to "feel" like that we forget the definition of love of a Godly love. To love our brothers and sisters as Christ would have. We all go to church to encounter the love of Jesus and love on our church family, we shouldn't go just because someone else goes there, or we feel we have to because that is the right "Christian" thing to do. We should go to learn how to be a family, even when we struggle with sin to know that we can go to church and feel accepted and loved and supported when we are struggling. I mean isn't that what Jesus would have done? He wouldn't reject someone for being honest. I think so often in the church ( I have done this ) we put on a "happy" mask and when the pastor asks does any one need prayer, we feed ourselves that lie oh I am perfectly fine I don't need any prayers at the moment, even though after church you go home get into a fight with your family, go to that familiar website and ect... We think I just come to church to say I know Jesus. But if we are called to be a family with God as our father why don't we show our true colors at church, why don't we have the guts to admit what we are struggling with and seek help? We all have dealt with this lie, I cannot tell because I am ashamed, or how would they know what I am dealing with. I think everyone has dealt with sin and we all have screwed up at some point but God's love is still sufficient and if church is suppose to be the place where we can encounter God's love then why do we hide in our turtle shells of a "religious" mind set. I think if the body of Christ each Sunday said I need help I am struggling with this, truth be told I think we would have more support than ever, if we lay down our high pride picket fences and say, NO this is my sister or brother in Christ and if they are struggling the least I can do is pray for them and help them see the God I have seen in my "struggles". The more we learn to love our family I also think the less people we will see "leave" the church, because they didn't find that satisfaction with the love. Don't we get it the church isn't about the best worship team, or the coolest sound equipment, or even how many people can you cram in the building it is all about love. God is love so if we love then we are showing the people who God is. We weren't called to just sit in a chair and listen and look at our watch and think "hmm I wonder what is for lunch" no we were called to love. Love our heaven bound family, support them and reassurance them when faith gets a little cloudy. To see beyond that "religious" mindset. I know God is doing an incredible work in me lately and this city and to the church. I want to just love people and let the love of God come and touch our hearts. So I am going to challenge you to try something new this week at church, go sit with someone you have never met and get to know them.

God Bless

A Starry Gaze

Lately for the past 3 night I have been going out on my porch and just worshiping under the stars, asking God to speak to me. Because I honestly believe there is something so divine and so unique about worshiping out side in stead of being contained. I asked God tonight what he wanted to talk to me about and he said his fatherly figure in my life. We all have fathers, weather they are in our lives or have passed on or who is are perfect "fairy-tale" of a dad nothing will ever compare to the kind of father our God is. God has been speaking to me lately that he is my heavenly papa. He is the one that sees me as his daughter. He said to me tonight that He is proud of me, that no matter what I do his love won't ever change. Do we get that picture HIS LOVE WON'T EVER CHANGE no matter what we do, his love won't change. And that is a promise and God has never broken any of His promises. I think so often we say but God our earthly father gets so enraged when we screw up that "he" holds it above my head till I can finally earn his love again. It is such a twisted mindset to look at our God with that view. Because I know I sure have done it and still will probably struggle with it to not compare my earthly father figure to my heavenly one. My heavenly father says He will never harm me or forsake and never abandon me. He says His grace and His mercies are new each morning, He says I am worth HIS son dying for me. He is up in heaven telling everyone that He is pleased with me that I don't have to work to get to a certain level with His love, He isn't ever going to tell me oh that was good but you can do better. He is proud, and that makes my heart smile to know that I can be who I am and He will except me for that, that I don't have to have it all together, I don't have to be perfect but I can be myself. I know that God is that same way with all of you, He isn't asking for you to be perfect, isn't asking for us to have it all together but to seek him fully with no questions just a child like faith. To just trust him because ALL of our days are ORDAINED in front of Him, that He is in control and we are not. To cry out to Him and truly say God I need you. He will embrace you like a Papa. He won't ever let go or tell you to stop talking but rather He says won't you talk to me more? This season I am going through has been about trust and now seeing God as my heavenly father, there are times where he is a lover, a friend, a standard but right now He is my father. He will sustain me with His love. And to know that His love is enough His Love is my portion it is all I need. All I need is Him and my soul will be satisfied. And to be honest to fully grasp the concept that His love isn't some kind of fairy tale but a truth. A solid unshakable truth that covers us from head to foot , and is so deep and wide. That nothing will ever be able to separate us from His great love. His fatherly love. His love for all His children young or old. And what the cool thing is, is He has such a Hope and passion for us and in us. He longs for us to seek His face, longs for us to call upon Him for when we call He will answer, never will you get the voice mail of God. He is always there and He won't ever leave us or forsake. I am blessed to know He is showing me this season and I am excited to where He is going to take me next.

God Bless

Strength, Hope and Thoughts

Strong, steadfast, preserve, endure, and on and on it goes. Those are all word we have heard at some point in life, weather it us running a race and the coach says keep going you got it, or when life gets rough there is always that one person who say you can find the strength to see beyond this situation. But what about what Jesus is saying? I know every day He is telling us that we have the strength to rise above and live up to his standard. Lately he has been telling me to rely upon his strength and only what he thinks. Because really it does only matter what he thinks and if we actually listened to what He says we wouldn't find ourselves in sin. We would actually love that person that just cut us off in traffic, we would look in the mirror and boldly say I am beautiful because God created me and He makes no flaws in his creations. And depression and sadness won't over take us because if God says we will find strength to rise upon the wings of eagles He means that. Over ANY SITUATION to find his strength and rise above it. Now that is way easier said than done. But to rely on God and say YOU are my strength and in you I find peace and hope. I was reading through psalms tonight and many verse go along the line of " God under your wings I find refuge, in you I find my strength" It is in Him we will find our strength not part of Him, not once a week but In His presence every day, every hour we will find our strength through his amazing power and love. I want to have a heart like David (in psalms) to rise above my situations my pain and say God you are bigger than this, you are my portion my life and my hope. To realize that He won't ever leave us or abandon us but fully support us through everything. Every failure and every success. I know I don't want to have my strength on something that in the end might fail me, Jesus will never fail me it says that in the bible so why not just let Him be my strength in the times of trouble. Because we cannot and will never be able to do anything in our "own" strength, and if we look at it that way that is the spirit of pride hate to break it to you but we all have pride issues. It is only through Jesus and His STRENGTH that we will be able to overcome and make the right choice when temptation is sitting right in front of us. Strength that is what I long for and our God is so good he says asks and you shall receive. So I don't know about you but I am so ready to rely upon God's strength for the situations that look troubling to my physical eyes but hope rising for my faith eyes.

God Bless