He is our peace

We have peace about the situation not because we are hopeful about the outcome but because we trust God will work it out for His Glory.
Philippians 4:6-7

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable. 

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Shake it don't let it shake you

We can allow ourselves to shaken by the situation or we can shake the situation through a prayer of faith that God will do what He Wills in the situation even if it seems impossible.
Matthew 17:15-20

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable. 

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com

"We become beautiful when finally deal with our ugly"

We can only hide who we are for so long. There will always come a time when what we are secretly dealing with will come out and we will have to either face it or deny it. But one day we will have to make that choice, until that time we tend to mask it with our outward actions. We tell someone who hurt us "I forgive you and I love you" but inwardly we say "How could you, I hate you with all my being." We go to church faithfully and never miss a service all the while our marriage is falling apart because of the affair we have had for the past 5 years. We smile and tell everyone that we are "Blessed and Highly Favored" even though secretly we are struggling with depression, anxiety, and fear. We quote scripture like a champ but fail to live up to those very same scriptures we confess. We have done everything by the book from birth till now, but we are struggling not to walk in pride. We hide our jealousy of the success of others in false support. We claim to have it all together but we really are discombobulated do to the current circumstances of our lives. Take your pick or insert whatever you will right here, but all of us in some part of our lives (no matter how big or small) are dealing with some issue whether we care to admit or not.

But the truth is God sees it all. The affair and the child that was conceived in it, our marital problems due to our spouses being more tentative to work/church as opposed to us, addiction to drugs/alcohol, our late night obsessions with sexual sin, lying on our taxes, falsely accusing others to hide what we have done, night terrors/post traumatic stress from past events, etc. He sees it all and is well aware it and yet despite the ugly beast that we keep hidden deep inside of us God stands faithfully by our side imploring us to turn towards Him so He can remove the pain of sin, the hurt of our struggles, and the fear that says "I can't let go of this because I don't know what will happen next"

Understand this God wants our ashes so He can give us His Beauty. He takes His Word and cuts us to the core by revealing to us who we really are. His Word shades light on our dark secrets. His Word makes it very clear that we cannot hide from God no matter what we try (Psalm 139:1-8). We cannot hide what we are dealing with from our Lord. In His presence we often find ourselves like The Prophet Isaiah who realized he was a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:1-5) but when He accepted God's Grace and chose to walk in His way, Isaiah became whole (Isaiah 6:6-9).

Even against this some of us rebel, we seek God's Word to make us feel good about our hidden struggles as opposed to seeking it out to change our hearts to a heart that seeks after God. Some of us would rather stay as we are because we are to afraid of what we would have to give up if allowed God to change us. We cry out how much we love Him but we cry even louder inwardly to hold on to pain, sin, pride, etc.

Masking our ugliness with accumulation of wealth, things, or people will never satisfy us. High church attendance will not make us a better person. Following religious doctrine will not bring us one step closer to God. But allowing God's Word (through the power of His Spirit) to transform your heart will. Accepting Him as Savior is great but following Him as Lord is grand. When our heart changes and is more like Him our actions will always follow suit. But we willing to admit our fault in God's presence as we read His Word.

This means we are not reading God's Word to prove our actions are just, we are reading His Word to change our hearts. God's Word is not meant to be used as a sword to kill our brethren, it is a tool used to restore or save a life (you can tweet that!). It also means when other confront us about an issue we are dealing with you do not yell back "Don't Judge me you hypocrite" nor do we say "Well you are just as sinful because you....." No we accept Godly accountability with thanksgiving but we reject worldly judgement with grace.

I pray this lengthy post was a blessing you. Stay focused you can do this!


Hebrews 4:12-16, Psalm 139:1-8, Isaiah 61:1-3


"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be accountable.

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com

Everybody plays the fool...except God!

Actions speak louder then words but our hearts reveal the true intent behind our actions. We can fool others but we cannot fool God.
Proverbs 21:2, Luke 18:9-14

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable. 

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/

You are loved!

Even in your lowest sin, you were still worth the sacrifice of Christ Life. Yeah, He loves you that much!
John 3:16, Romans 5:6-11
#RealLove #YouWereWorthIt
#YouAreLoved

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable. 

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/

"Jesus is more than just my homeboy"

Philippians 1:12

Lazarus was Jesus friend. We do not know how close they were but the Word makes it clear that Jesus loved Lazarus as well his sisters Martha and Mary (John 11:5). Lazarus seemed to live a good life and his relationship with Jesus did not cause a stir among the Jews. The Pharisees seemed to have no quarrel with Lazarus. Because if they did, the professional mourners would not have shown up for the funereal. Instead the mockers would have attended and celebrated Lazarus' death with laughter.

Jesus loved Lazarus so much that He let Lazarus die....wait what? Jesus let His friend, who He loved die. And not only did He let Him die but He took His sweet precious time to go help (John 11:6). And His only reason was "It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it (John 11:4)". Is this how Jesus treats His friends? Yep, He uses His friends to bring God glory even if it costs them their lives.

But what was the purpose of the death and resurrection of Lazarus? It caused a division in the community. It also revealed everyone's heart. Some of the Jews became believers (John 11:45) while others saw it as a threat to their control over the people and resolved to kill Jesus (John 11:48,53).

It does not end there, more and more people began to believe on the account of Lazarus. And this lead to a plot to kill Lazarus (John 12:9-11).

This story is a parallel to the lives of disciples of Christ. When we are a friend of the Lord we are truly an enemy of the world. They consider us their enemy only because our lives help bring others to Christ and that is in direct opposition to the plan of the enemy. The enemy is here only to steal, kill, and destroy but we are here being used by God to lead the lost to Christ that they may live an abundant life in Jesus (John 10:10). The devil is so opposed to the message of the Gospel that he desires to take our life because he is a murder, he desires to spread lies to unbelievers because he is a liar and wants to suppress the truth (John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4). But the message of the Gospel is so important that God is willing to let us die so others may believe, Lazarus is the perfect example.

We all need to understand that the goal of persecution is our death. But the Goal of God is for the lost to accept Him and believe in Him even if it means our death. But we rejoice because if we live die it is to our gain (we will be in Heaven) but if we live we have more opportunity to share the Gospel (Philippians 1:12,21). Regardless of the outcome we know that God will take care of those He loves and He is willing to let us experience loss of life it means that others will see it and come to know Him. Stay focused, you can do this.

Read The Word, Share The Gospel, Stay Accountable.

"In His JOY!"

Who is Lord

Why do we confess Jesus as Lord with our mouth but live as if we lord by our lifestyles? If believe He is Lord than our actions should line up with His Word.

Luke 6:46, James 4:14-26

"In His JOY!"

Read the Word, Share the Gospel, Be Accountable. 

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/