Beautifully You

You are unique, set apart, and have purpose in Jesus. We do not need titles to affirm who Jesus called us to be or what He has called us to do, In the end it is all for His Glory. But if we seek after the title, long for the acknowledgement, or demand the respect we will find ourselves lacking every time. Drop the title seeking and seek to do the Lord's Will. Stay focused you can do this.
1 Peter 2:9-10

"In His JOY!"

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Bang goes the dynamite

Being prideful is like igniting a stick of dynamite and using it as candle to light up a dark room. It will give off a faint light so we could see but it is only a matter of time before it blows up in our face.
#BeHumble
Proverbs 11:2, 16:8, 18:12

"In His JOY!"

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Go Tell It on the mountain

Testimonies are meant to bear witness to the truth not glorify the person giving it. So when we share our testimony about Christ it is to reveal the truth of Jesus and not to brag on ourselves.
John 8:39, Psalm 71:15-18

"In His JOY!"

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Blessed to bless

Miracles and blessings are not all about you. The Lord knows His Children have needs, He is not blind to it. Yet He tells us not to worry about the needs we have and seek Him. We can become s transfixed on ourselves that we use prayer and scripture only to satisfy our physical needs and desires and neglect to pray for the spiritual needs. Lest we forget the Great Commission is about expanding God's Kingdom not our wallet, business, agenda, etc. It is a call to do His Will on Earth as He has decreed in Heaven. This does not mean we should not bring our needs before the Father. But it does mean that the Great Commission is not about the "big payout" we should expect from God just because we are a Christian. Our "best day yet" is when we live with Christ in Heaven not when we get our financial break through, our health improves, or we get promoted at work. We make more money in a year then Jesus did in His Lifetime on Earth but we find ourselves easily complaining about momentary discomfort. How much stuff do we really need? Jesus' baby crib was an animal trough while ours was top of the line Babies R' Us model. He was not rolling on 24's, He rolling on donkey hooves. Yet He did not let His poverty or lack of resources stop Him from proclaiming God's Word. He did not preach about cashing in on God and living comfortable. He was more concerned with the end of man (eternity) as opposed the mist of air we call life (temporary). When we become focused on serving Jesus we will not use prayer or the scriptures as a means of being served by Him. No servant is served by the King. He is not a genie who grants temporary wishes. Nor does He find pleasure when we use the scriptures like they are lotto numbers that helps us hit the prosperity jackpot. He is God and desires to save all mankind. Let's be about the Father's Business and not our own agenda and help others know the Hope of Glory, Jesus Christ.
Matthew 6:7-11,19-34, 28:18-20, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Corinthians 1:22-23

"In His JOY!"

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You like Me....you really like me

Saying and believing "God cannot use someone like me, after all I have done" is a self manufactured lie and it denies the power of Christ. Through the blood Christ bleed for us our consciences are cleared, we are forgiven, and, we can now serve Jesus fully without the guilt of past holding us back. Press forward do not shrink back.
Hebrews 9:14, Philippians 3:13-14

"In His JOY!"

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"Ballad of a Stingy Christian"

The more and more I try to hold on the more I lose my grip. The more I try to hold on the more strength I lose and the more rest escapes. The tighter I hold on, the more I compromise to strengthen my grip. The more I tell myself "If you let go of this thing it will fall apart, no one will be able to fix it!" the more I watch it fall apart. Tears burst out my eyes like a failed damn, my sanity leaves me, sweat pours over me like a shower because I am losing my grip. I cry out to God,"How can you let this happen don't you see what's going on!? My world is shredding at the seams. Why won't you help?". God simply replies,"Let go, I can handle it". I yell,"No you can't, only I can. Only I can fix this broken family, only I can save this horrid world, only I can heal the pain I feel, end the addictions I face, and save the marriage that's lost." God says,"Any solution you find will only be temporary. You are here on this Earth for a moment and then you disappear like the snow of winters past, gone and soon to be replaced by another. The more you try to save it the more you will lose it. But I AM, the Eternal One, First and Last, Beginning and End. There is none like me nor will there ever be. What I decree will stand forever. What I build will never fall. I do not weaken or falter in strength. But as long as you hold on to it the more of it you will lose. But when you give it to me I will never lose it. Do you trust me?" I said, "Yes I do, but...." God stopped me and said,"No buts, if you desire to save your life you will lose it but if you're willing to lose it for my sake and give me control you will find something far better. You will find My JOY, My Peace, My Gift of Life, My Comfort, and My Strength. I will give you all of this in place of what you lose.". I said, "Lord how much of my life do you want?" The Lord said,"I want it all! I want your worry over your marriage, your future fears for your children, your plans, your money woes, your will, your addictions and hang ups, I want all of you, let me have it all." I relented and said,"Take it Lord, take all of me and leave only you!" As I let go of my grip my tears were replaced with His JOY! My agony was overcome by His Unfathomable Peace, My weakened body was renewed with His Strength. My worries were replaced by trust in Him. My focus shifted from my problems to His Will. The person who I was no longer existed, I was made new. I saw as He saw, I loved as He loved, and all I wanted was to please Him. I wondered what took me so long to let go. Why did waste so much time? But I understood, my stingy pride lies to me. It beckons me to never let go because when I humble myself to God I kill my pride. I can see my pride for the liar it is and I now see how my adversary has used it against me. Now I know that fight I my must face daily. But this is I fight I will win through humility because I choose to lose my life knowing God has already won mine!
Matthew 16:24-25, 1 Peter 5:6-11, Isaiah 40:28-31, 61:1-3

"In His JOY!"

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Let your life speak for it's self, stop bragging about it.

We study God's Word not to brag about our knowledge of it but to grow in spiritual maturity and become closer to Christ.
Psalms 1:2-4, 119:27

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"You donkey!"

Never be impressed that God is speaking through you, but be impressed that your name is written in Heaven. Be impressed because an Immortal God allowed mortal men to kill Him. And God only did this because you were not fit to be the sacrifice that would guarantee you could be with God for all eternity. If He can you use a donkey He can use anyone but it took a God dying for you to truly live. Although it is awesome for God to use us never lose sight of the true miracle of salvation, stay humble friends.

Numbers 22:28, Luke 10:20

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"In His JOY!"

"Wait I'm not Lord"

If we choose to disobey God we are arrogantly taking the title "Lord" from Jesus and crowning ourselves as Lord of our life. Obedience is not optional. Either we will submit to His Lordship or we will be resistant and walk in pride, warning pride and arrogance are the prelude to our demise.

Proverbs 16:18, Daniel 4:27-33

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"In His JOY"

"I-know-it-all-idis"

Proverbs 19:20

My generation is often described in with one word that begins with an "e", can you guess what it is? People from my generation would say it's "empowered", "energetic", "entrepreneur", or even "educated". But it is neither, we are often called "entitled". Because we are often thought of as people who feel entitled to everything but act as if we have to earn nothing. And it is true, we can carry "The World Owes Me" persona and we expect unearned respect, promotions, authority, and power. We even feel entitled to blessings from Jesus because we are special. This carry's over in how we treat the generations before us, we find ourselves treating those older than us with no honor and no respect. It creates friction because we think that the older generation knows nothing but we walk as if we know everything. If you look at the teen movies that became popular in our generation and are popular now they all carry the same theme "Daddy wants his son to do what he says, but the son rebels and breaks away because he is own man at the rip old age of 18 and he has life all figured out", "The daughter falls in love with the rebel from school, the overbearing mother, who has repressed her own sinful desires since high school, holds her back but the daughter and the rebel get married and run off in the sunset with no money, job, or place to live."

The truth is entitlement is a fancy way to say "I am prideful." Make no mistake about it that God opposes the prideful but His Grace is given to the humble (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). Humility is the only cure for the case of "I-know-it-all-idis". The generations before us can teach us decades of wisdom. A couple celebrating 30 years of marriage can teach so much to newly weds. A manager at your job who has been in the career field for 20 years can offer insight to a new employee but it takes us being humble enough to admit that we need help. We must willing say, "I know nothing, will you teach me, mentor me, help, show me the way". I see young prideful preachers close their ears to anyone offering help. My generation tends to look at the older generation in judgement. Thoughts like "They think they know everything", They are always trying to control my life", or "They are so old-fashioned" run through our heads. But listen, the truth is, they have been where we have not, lived our dream, done what we are hoping to do, and could write a book about it. 

But lack of humility we lead you to a place where God will humble you (Matthew 23:12). If you fail to show honor, humility, and respect to someone older than you or even someone who has authority over you how do you expect to show it to God? God does require us to honor those in higher positions than us as well as those who are older than us (Leviticus 19:32, Romans 13:7). When we learn to stand on the shoulders of those who came before us by allowing them to mentor us and learn from their wisdom we will grow. Pride will only bring you disgrace but humility will bring you wisdom (Proverbs 11:2). And you cannot expect anyone to honor you if fail to show humility (Proverbs 15:33).

This is not a knock against my generation and this is not to say that you are not due honor nor that you have nothing to offer. It is simply to say this, learn from those who have gone before you. Stand on their shoulders and let them lift you up with their wisdom. You can do this!

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"In His JOY!"

"Are you King Herod?"

Matthew 2:1-12, 16-18

At the time of Jesus Birth, some wise from the east came to Jerusalem seeking to find Him. They desired to worship Him (whom they called King of the Jews) and inquired of King Herod (the king appointed by Rome) as to the whereabouts of the child ( Matthew 2:1-3). King Herod along with all of Jerusalem panicked at this news (Matthew 2:3). The king gathered his advisers around him and asked where the child was born, they told the king Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And even gave him the scriptural reference. They explained to the King that this child was to rule over the Jews and be Shepherd to God's People (Matthew 2:5-6). He then met with the wise men and told to go and find the child so he may worship him as well. Although his motives were to kill the child and stay ruler over Jerusalem (Matthew 2:16-18). The wise men however just wanted to worship Jesus and at the very sight of Him their hearts burst with JOY ( Matthew 2:9-12)!

When Herod found out that there was a new king and ruler of Jerusalem, he allowed his pride to get the better of him. He could not bow his knee to another king. He was unwilling to relinquish his power and authority to someone else. His pride blinded him to the truth. Jesus was not here to take his throne, influence, power, or authority. On the contrary Jesus here to give him eternal life and take away his sins (John 1:29, John 3:16). He concept of the purpose of Jesus was misunderstood and his advisers did a poor job of explain the purpose of Jesus. If he had accepted Jesus in his life, Herod would have come to know the same JOY! that wise men experienced when they worshiped Jesus. The awe and amazement of Jesus would have transformed his life and outlook. But pride brought all this to a stretching halt.

What about you? Are you refusing to accept Jesus because of your pride. Are you saying to yourself "Nobody rules me, I'm the boss of my life!" Funny how we will submit to people who pay us, people who have authority over us, or even people who we fear. But we won't submit to Jesus. All we are doing is recreating what Herod did and missing out on a "golden" opportunity. We must cast aside our pride and accept Jesus. It is a choice you will never regret. Stay focused, you can do this!

In His JOY!

"GIVE ME...GIVE ME...GIVE ME!!!"

Philippians 2:1-11

I want to preface this by saying being obedient to Lord is only possible through the power of His Spirit.

Obedience to the Lord is something we all should seek to do.  We should want  to please God with how we conduct our lives and the contents of our hearts.  But sometimes we are obedient to God because we are seeking the reward of obedience and not to please Him, this ought not be.  Seeking a blessing because of your obedience is not true obedience rather is trying to bribe God. And God cannot be bribed (Deuteronomy 10:17).  It's like saying "God I will read Your Word if you give me a new job."  It just does not work.  Not only is this selfish it is prideful because we are telling God we will do His Will only if He fulfills our desires.

When we read Philippians 2 we find Paul discussing humility (Philippians 2:1-6).  When we arrive to verses 7 through 11 Paul focuses on the life of Jesus an example of humility. Jesus willing appeared as a slave as opposed to appearing as a royal king (Philippians 2:7).  But He humbled Himself more still  by becoming obedient until death  (Philippians 2:8).  Jesus was not looking at what God could do for Him or what God would reward Him with.  Jesus was only concerned about doing God's Will.  He just wanted to please His Father.  He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that Lord's Will be done despite how He felt (Matthew 26:39, 42).  Jesus only wanted to please Father and do His Will because His love for God outweighed the desires of to do His Will.  This is how we respond in regards to God's Will.  Obedience should come from a heart that wants to please God and not from a heart that seeks rewards.


The true blessing in obedience is being obedient and not the reward to come.  When we focus on the reward we will only have peace and joy when we get the reward we want.  But if we the reward of our obedience does not meet our expectations we can easily become bitter and anger at God.  Although our bitterness and anger stem from our selfish heart.  We are simply mad because we did not get what we wanted so now we are throwing a tantrum like an undisciplined child.    But when we focus on pleasing God our joy is complete because we know we have pleased the Father.   God did reward Jesus for His obedience (Philippians 2:9-11) but that is not why Jesus did it.  He died for us and was obedient until death so that we may come to know God and be forgiven for our sins.  It is my prayer that we can model this in our walk with Christ.  That we will walk in obedience to God not because we want something in return but because we simply please the Lord.  Stay focused you can do this.


In His JOY!

"We all are important not just the VIP!"

1 Corinthians 12 - 13

God has a calling on each and everyone of our lives. And these callings are wonderful gifts from God that we use to bring Him Glory and Honor. But sometimes we let these gifts divide us because we assume that one gift is more valuable than another. The Pastor is no more important than the church goer, The Actor is not more important than their fan, The Worker is not more important than the employee, etc. 

It is easy to miss the point of 1 Corinthians 13 if you don't read 1 C

orinthians 12. Paul was stating that gifts are great but they are to be used to build the Body of Christ and not divide it. All gifts and callings are equally important and one is not greater than the other. And regardless of how talented you think you are or actually are, if you lack love you gift is worthless.

We are one body united in the Lord with one goal and that is bring God glory and lead others to Him. If we are looking down on others it because we are not looking up to Jesus. We are bound in the unity of God's Love. Love is the most excellent way. Stay focused, you can do this.

"In His JOY!"