One With Him

Perseverance 2 Luke 21:19 – By your endurance, you shall win souls. Okay, so pretty straight forward. Let’s start with endurance. What does endurance mean? To me, it means someone who doesn’t give up or give in. God talks about endurance a handful of times thought the bible.  If we persevere through our trials and tribulations then that ultimately becomes our testimony. Through our life story, God can radically use it in order to win souls to Christ. In 1 Corinthians 4:13 it says, “If anyone’s which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.” This to me, really just confirms that my reward is not only a crown, but I get to see all the faces of people of who God used me to impact. Moral of the story, if we persevere in the race for Christ, we will be able to win souls for His kingdom. I really think that this verse is awesome. God is just so good! He wants to use me! Me! I was talking to God and I was just like, “God, you want to use me in order for you to turn others

Perseverance 1 Luke 8:11-15 – This is the meaning of the parable; the seed is God’s word. The Seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away for their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face and temptation. The seeds that fall among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represents honest, good hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest. This whole passage basically is the observations. It’s talking about 4 different kinds of people and what happens after they hear the word of God. The f

Faith 5 Mark 10:47-49 – And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David have mercy on me!” Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer, Rise, He is calling you.” Imagine this, you’re sitting far off in the street, and all of a sudden, you hear a blind man calling out to Jesus. He’s yelling so loud that the people around him seem to become almost annoyed with him. They are telling him to be silent. But he’s not worried about them, or what they are saying. He calls out even louder this time, “Jesus! Have mercy on me!” When Jesus realizes He’s being called on that He was being called, He Stopped. In that moment, He recognizes the cry of a person in desperation. He calls out to the Him. And let me tell you, here is where I laughed. I can imagine the look on the peop

Faith 4 Luke 8:22-25 – “Now I happened, on a certain day, that He got into the boat with His disciples. And said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and they were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying too one another, “who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, they obey Him!” Looking at this, right off the bat I notice that the disciples are in the midst of a crisis. Imagine it, you’re sitting in the boat, and the huge storm roles in.  All around you, you’re seeing waves crashing over you and water is starting to overtake the boat. That to me signifies, the world crashing

Faith 3 Matthew 8:8-10 – The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, “Go,” and he goes; and to another, “come,” and he comes; and to my servant, “do this” and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.” This centurion was a man with much power. He literally had a legion of soldiers underneath his command at the time. He defiantly knew what it was like to be in control and was a superior to the people [T1]   . But there was something different about this individual. He was smart. He knew that there was nothing he could do with his earthly authority that could have healed his servant.  So he went to the only person he knew that could fix his problem. Jesus. And Jesus alone had the sup

Faith Hebrews 11:6 – it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that He rewarder those who sincerely seek him.               Reading over Hebrews 11, and its main focus point is on the topic, “Faith.” When you just stop and think it’s clearly stated. You cannot please God without faith. Like, how can I please you, Father, if I don’t have faith in who you are as my maker? All these people in Hebrews are being led by faith. They literally are relying on God’s promise alone and having no idea what’s coming around the corner. They were obedient to the calling of Christ. It pleases God that we are faithful to His calling in our lives. I like think that our obedience is a sweet fragrance unto Him in the heavens. Pleasing the Lord is what I was put on this world to do. I was created to spread the love of Christ to whoever would receive it. This verse makes a good application in my life. I must always follow Christ with

Faith Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Through faith, I am given a promise. A promise that God will reveal himself to me if I remain faithful.  When I ponder on the word “faith”, it really makes me think of believing in something that is unseen. Believing in the unseen, can be hard sometimes for me. But my God reminds me time, after time, after time that if I seek him whole heartedly, He will gladly reveal himself to me. I must “look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith” to keep guiding me. It’s not even just a hope, it’s a promise to those who believe. (Hebrews 12:2a)  Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world, His attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that we are without excuse.” His attributes are seen through the hearts of his people. Even though it’s hard for me to trust him at times, I have faith that he will hol

Wisdom 5 Ephesians 5:15-17 – See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. If we walk by godly wisdom, then it will help us determine what our purpose is. But there’s a few curve balls to this. Right here in this verse, it’s basically promising us that there are going to be hard days ahead. There is nothing we can do to prevent them but to stay faithful in your calling. The verse goes on and says, “Therefore.” Now this is a very important transition word. It letting us know that the next portion has something significant to say to us. And that is, DO NOT BE UNWISE. Plan and simple. Don’t do it. The bible tells us on many occasions to not be wise in your own worldly eyes. It also tells us that a fool will look at the world with his own eyes and not through the eyes of Christ. That is definitely a dangerous place to be. I bet your wondering what t

Wisdom 4 2 Corinthians 1:12 – We can say with confidence and a clear conscious that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We depended on God’s grace, not on our worldly wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially towards you.   This verse is a good example of what it looks like to be a living representation of what God’s grace can look like. Through Him, we are allowed to freely live out life with a clear conscious. Basically, what means is that we are free from any guilt and shame we might have. He empties us out in order to and fills us with His prefect holiness and genuineness. We depend on God’s grace alone to get us to the end of everything that comes about in our life. Literally it’s that simple, depend on God’s grace. Do not lean on your own understanding. By God’s grace, we are able represent ourselves as a living vessel. So often times the world tells me that I need to live in the world and act li

Wisdom 3 James 1:5 – If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach. Here, God is telling us that if you or I are lacking in wisdom, all we have to do is ask for it to be given to us! It’s literally that simple, ask. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and he who seeks finds, knock, and it will be open to you.” So often times we feel like we have to do something for God to obtain wisdom from Him. Or, we might feel like we have to jump through hoops in order for Him to give it to us. But that’s not how our good Fathers works. He says it’s freely given to those who come and knock on the door.  I believe that God wants to bless us through our persistence in asking. He gives us the chance to open up the blinds and allows us to look at all the wonderful scenery that is before us. The scenery shows us a better understanding to who He is and what He wants to do through us. In Matt 7:8, it continues on s

Wisdom 2 Psalms 111:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; All those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. Psalms is telling us that in order to obtain wisdom, we must first fear the Lord.  What is fear?  My mom told me that fear is almost like having healthy respect for God. With that, the Bible tells us that our fear should be clean and pure. (Psalms 19:9) It also says that if we fear God, we shall not want for anything (psalms 34:9). If we fear the Lord, it brings protections and provision. (Prov 29:25) We are called to, “The fear of God and obey his commandments (Ecc 12:13).  We are also heard by God because of our godly fear. “If we walk in fear of God and comfort in the Holy Spirit.” I say “If” a lot because it’s a choice. We can choose to fear Him or we would lack in knowledge and fear and be a fool. But this is when I ask, why wouldn’t we want to fear Him? For Jeremiah 10:7 says, “Who would not fear You (God), O King of the n

Wisdom 1 James 3:13-17 – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. James here is laying out a guild line to what some of the characteristics for wisdom look like. First of all, he starts by calling out the generation to see who has what it takes to walk with wisdom and understanding.  He ventures on by saying when we are called to a task, that we do it with a genuine heart. But if we do things out of vicious spite, or just doing it to get all the glory then we need to check out hearts. Beca