Praise Session

I just want to take this blog and give God the glory and praise He is due. I am so humbled by all my blessings right now. Obedience is the key. Not questions. Lately, I have been giving my problems completely to God. Which has been hard for me because I am the type that has to always have a back up plan. Praise be to God that He has shown me the right way. I completely let go. I no longer wonder, if I give this amount away, how will I get my bills paid? I no longer wonder, if I take on this large project Lord how will things come together? Instead I say thank you God for this opportunity. Thank you Lord that you have blessed me without me having to do a thing but believe. My family needed a new stove. I prayed to God for it. I gave to church my tithe when I could've been saving. But I believe in what the Bible says. Over the course of a few weeks, I was given a new stove, new furniture, new clothes and coats for my kids, new microwave, lamps, blankets and bunkbeds! Believe me when I say, this woman came to me and my husband and asked us to write a list of things we needed. I didn't indicate that I needed anything to anyone but the Lord and neither did my husband. I know now never to worry whether me or my family will be taken care of. If I truly believe the love God has for us I will not doubt again. Hallelujah!

He is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to His works in us! (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Hate your job?

Did you know that God cares about your job performance? I was thinking about this while working my new job as an admissions advisor. I am currently in the works of starting my own magazine and has become very preoccupied with that. I have been letting things lapse a bit while taking care of other business. This job isn't my dream, this isn't exactly where I want to be right now so I guess I don't have to really worry about it too much, right? Then the scripture Colossians 3:23-24 came to me during one of my personal Bible studies. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for me, since you know that you will receive an inheritance form the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." If I let this job, I was blessed with after being out of work for such a long time, lapse then why would God trust me with anything bigger or better? If you hate what you do, change your attitude. When you stop complaining and hating, you open yourself up for God to do His works in your life. Praise God for those long hours. Thank God for that small paycheck. Put your all into it and God will bless you with something better. He will make a way for you. Genesis 21:22 says that "God is with you in everything that you do." So pray before you do that report. Or praise when filling that shipment order. Whatever you do allow God to establish the work of your hands. (Psalm 90:17)

Pray it off

Really quick, I was blog surfing and noticed many bloggers get really disturbed by comments. why? I have had the worst thrown at me for my viewpoints (well, not on this blog so far) and I have no problem. I think it's because I have the ability to let things go easily. As the young kids say these days, "shake it off" If it's something that effects me at all, I pray about it. I ask God to open their heart and mine. Sometimes God shows me that He was using them to open my eyes on something. So my readers, feel free to disagree. If I need to clarify I will. If not, no problem, I'll pray.

My Second Love

I just created a new blog! It is going to be family based. I truly believe God has called us to love Him first and our family second. This blog will detail my family trials and thoughts. Please visit http://thesecondlove.blogspot.com Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas!

Cost of My Oil

The room grew still As she made her way to Jesus, She stumbled throuh the tears That make her blind She felt such pain Some spoke in anger Heard folks whisper There's no place here for her kind until on she came Through the shame that flushed her face until at last she knelt before his feet And though she spoke no words Everything she said was heard As she poured her love for the master From her box of Alabaster And I've come to pour My praise on Him like oil From Mary's Alabaster Box Don't be angry if I wash His feet with my tears And I dry them with my hair You weren't there the night He found me You did not feel what I felt When He wrapped His loving arms around me And you don't know the cost Of the oil in my Alabaster box

For those who don't know, the above is lyrics from CeCe Winans, a gospel singer's, Alabaster box. I was thinking about this song while listening to it the other day and thought how true it is. That people don't know what other Christians have been through and how much God has forgiven them. We tend to look at others and see what they are doing wrong or has done wrong and then criticize when they speak of the love they have for God or that they go to church. Hypocrites! we may think and shake our heads silently glad we aren't like them. But actually we are. Jesus died for our sins as well as theirs. God sees all sins as the same. He doesn't see one sin worst then the other. Sin equals death.(Ezekial 18:4, Romans 6:23) Jesus is the way from that death, plain and simple. But some religious people want to make it more complicated then that. They want people to be condemned and jump through hoops to become saved. It just doesn't seem fair, right? Who cares what seems fair to you. God is in charge. He controls what goes on. He says who deserves punishment and who doesn't. David cheated with Bathsheba, He murdered her husband. He then asked for forgiveness but the child that Bathsheba was carrying died. And despite his grief David praised God. and God in turn blessed them with a child that grew to be one of the wisest people in the Bible.(2nd Samuel 11 and 12:1-24) We can help each other as Christians and pray for them but we are not called to judge. Remember what God has commanded you, Love Him with everything and love each other.

Quotable

"Spirituality is not superiority. It (being a Christian) doesn't mean we are better then someone else. We are better then the devil (Acts 2:21) We are better than our circumstances(John 16:33) and we are better then our past(2nd Corinthians 5:17) But we are not called by God to be better then others. When you are trying to be superior to others you are in the flesh."

-Pastor Gregory Dickow

"Therefore you are inexcusable , o man whosoever you are that judge:for wherein you judge one another, you condemn yourself; for you that judge do the same things." Romans 2:1

"Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:10

anyone with publishing experience?

I feel God calling me to start my own Christian magazine. But I don't know exactly where to start. Is there anyone with experience that can throw a few pointers my way? e-mail me telika8@elitemail.org

Am I naive?

Some would say that I am naive to expect people to look pass others faults and simply love them. That I sound like a child when I insist that people not focus on politics or what ones political beliefs are but on their love for Jesus Christ. Even some shake their heads when I mention letting your problems and the world problems go and simply pray and believe that God will take care of it all.

I think this is exactly what Christ meant in Matthew 18:3-4, when He asks us to become like little children to receive the kingdom of Heaven. He continues to teach that if we must humble ourselves like little children. I believe most adults think too much. We try to add to scripture and reason with our lives. We try to explain away why we must worry and scream and be stressed out when we come to problems in our lives. I look at my children and see exactly what Christ meant. They blindly obey me. What I teach them now they know as truth and they don't question me. That is how God desires us to be with Him! He wants us to not question when he tells us to tithe before we pay the bills. He wants us not to shake our heads and reason with Him when He asks us to love someone who has different beliefs then us. God controls this world and He has plans. He has blessings for all of us. But to receive these blessings, to receive the kingdom we must train ourselves to become His children.

So, if thinking like a child of God is naive then that's fine with me.

Morning Epiphany

God had really opened my eyes to something this morning. It hit me like a brick in the face.

Lately I have been having problems with my husband and our communication. Toward me he has been really bitter and coldhearted. I have been wondering, why has he been acting like this? He no longer acts the way he used to; sweet kisses for no reason, going out of his way to do things for me, saying "I love you" out of the blue. I have been praying about this and trying not to let it anger me, even though it has.

And then this morning while riding to work, I was spiritually grabbed until my eyes were shaken open. I realized how hurtful I am with my words. Whenever I am angry, and me and my husband fight, I would allow myself to get into the flesh and say the most hurtful things. Later I would repent to God and apologize to my husband, but I realized that that wasn't good enough that my words have had a lasting effect. I realized the worst of our problems began after we had got into the most awful fight. We made up, but I believe that the things I said are still with him.

All I can do now is pray that my husband is healed from it. We as women tend to blame our husbands for our marriages going sour but we have to realize that sometimes it's us . We need to look at ourselves and ask, what have we done and what can we do to go about things differently in our marriage? I praise God for this insight. I can't wait to go home tonight and tell my husband all about this. I know that no amount of words can make up for the hurt I caused but I can ask God to change me.

"Death and Life are in the power of the tongue.." Psalm 18:21