Lessons in Children

Hello world and God bless!

It reads in Psalms 127:3 ” Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Children being the blessing that they are, when it comes to parenting we are not provided a worldly manual on how to raise them properly. In place of a manual, who is it that we look to and figure out how to raise our children? For a lot of us we rely on our parents whether through open communication or the instincts they provided to us through their example.

What is important for us to remember when we embark on the adventure of parenthood is that all of us have more than one father. We have to remember that there is a manual other than the one given to us by our parents and that is the one given to us by our Father in heaven. It says in 2Timothy 3:14-17 “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The Lord is telling us here what we need to know in order to be teachers, ministers and examples to our children. It is in scripture and faith that we are able to raise them and guide their path to the Lord. We have the responsibility not only to raise our children in righteousness but we are commanded to bring our children to God. It says in Psalms 78:1-8 “Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them to their children ,That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments; And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

Here we are told as parents our highest calling is teach our children of God. To educate them about sins including our own and the need for repentance to God. So often as parents we hide our failures but in doing so we deny ourselves and our children of the valuable lessons they bring. Our children can learn from our mistakes and use those lessons to navigate a truer path to righteousness. In order to bring this generation closer to God then we have to set an example that is consistent with the teachings of the Lord.

It reads in Isaiah 38:19 “The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.” Now that we understand the commandment to bring our children to God we must understand how to keep Him present in our everyday parenting. It reads in Proverbs 20:7 “The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.” What the Lord is telling us is how we conduct ourselves sets the example that our children learn from. It is essential that when we are instructing our children in the ways of righteousness that we are conscious of our own actions. In this scripture we are told in order to guide the path of our children we must examine our own path and make certain that our beliefs, values and choices are in line with the instruction of God.

It says in Romans 2:21-22 “You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, Do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?” Here the Lord is telling us not to be a hypocrite in our teachings. This is not to say if we sin that we should not teach against sin. This scripture is meant to remind us that as teachers we are not to hide our own imperfections from our children but remain conscious of them during our instruction. When teaching our children about sin we need to be honest and forthcoming with regard to our own sins and do not hold them to a different standard than we have for ourselves. It is important that our children do not feel alone in sin and more importantly that they do not feel lost in sin.

The approach to discipline is one of the hardest tasks as parents we are faced with. We have to maintain the careful balance of teaching our children valuable lessons through discipline and at the same time keeping their respect. We are told in Proverbs 23:13-14 “Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell.” First I would like to point out that the word rod is used here, but we have to remain conscious of the times it was written so we must see the word rod as a metaphor. The word rod can be methods of correction that will not seriously harm our children either physically or mentally.

It goes on to say in Colossians 3:21 “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” This may be a little confusing on one hand the Lord is telling us to discipline our children and on the other He is telling me not to provoke them. Is this possible? What God is saying to us is that when our children do not fully understand their offense, discipline and path to repentance that our actions toward them can be misunderstood as provocation and can bring forth their anger or discouragement. When our children have a complete understanding of their discipline they are more likely to respect it.

Let us keep in mind what it says in Proverbs 14:17 “A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, And a man of wicked intentions is hated.” Here we are reminded in order for our children to learn the lesson we are trying to teach them we have to use patience and restraint when we discipline our children, not fear. Parenting with fear may bring submission but it will not establish trust, respect or obedience. Fear will bring forth negative emotions like anger and hatred that will drive a wedge between us and our children. Fear breeds mistrust between parents and children which makes us outsiders in their lives. How then as outsiders can we expect to make a positive impact in their lives? How can we then present to our children our beliefs, values and standards when they don’t respect us?

It reads in Proverbs 13:24 “He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.” The Lord tells us here that we have to be consistent with our discipline. To address our children’s mistakes timely and that we are not to procrastinate for one lesson and punctual for another. We must remain consistent with our teachings throughout our children’s lives. Our lessons must reflect to our children and ourselves that we are inferior only to God, this way all of us can find comfort, not discouragement. The only way to bring forth a positive change and establish trust is to make the Lord the center of our relationships with our children. It says in Ephesians 6:4 “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

The most important thing that the Lord is telling us is that our children need to look to Him in times of need and celebration as we do and it is our responsibility to show them the way. It reads in 2Timothy 2:23-26 “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” Here the Lord has given all of us parents a blue-print of how to parent our children and provided us with the understanding we need to take the initial steps in bringing our children to Him. God is stressing that in order to succeed with our children we have to be patient, humble and to remain calm while teaching our children.

It reads in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Here we are given insight on what our efforts will accomplish in our children’s lives. Our time, patience and understanding that we provide to our children is not necessarily for their present as much as it is to prepare them for what is to come. It is not an easy thing to have our efforts realized when our children are older however when it happens, it is a testament to parents on how well we guided them to the Lord. It says in Proverbs 17:6 “Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father.” This scripture is reinforced in Psalms 103:17 “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, On those who fear Him, his righteousness to children’s children.” These scriptures shows us the impact we have in the lives of our children and our grand-children and in so many ways they are a reflection of us. Our choices and influence can reach for generations so let’s ask ourselves what glory do we want God and the world to see in our children?

We need to remind our children of the mercies of the Lord, how to seek Him out in prayer, learn from Him in scripture and repent our sins in order to receive His forgiveness. Let us continue to ask ourselves: Is the standard we are living by worthy of our children? May we continue to recognize our imperfections so that pride may never inhibit our learning or teaching. As parents we need to stay true to ourselves and teach our children the good and the bad in ourselves and the world. We need to let our qualities shine above everything else and in times of trial look to our Lord for guidance and comfort. It reads in Psalms 78:72 “So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.” Here God has provided us a simple foundation for how to start raising our children.

Let us pray, Lord in heaven help us in our triumphs, sadness, pride, frustrations and emotions we experience as parents. Help guide us in the adversities we face in raising our children and guide us to the gentleness, patience, consistency, love, righteousness, integrity and faith we need to bring our children to You. Amen

Lessons in Marriage

Hello world and God bless!

We are told by the world that a successful marriage includes love, trust, respect, sacrifice, compromise and committment however the world does not tell us when these attributes are present or how to maintain them. As a result there are many marriages in the world that are entered into out of obligation, convenience, monetary gain, security and impulsiveness.

The only way to recognize and maintain the core values of a successful marriage is to have God at its foundation. Marriage is a sacred union that is blessed by God and carries with it a committment and dedication that is not to be entered into lightly. In this lesson I wanted to learn what marriage means to God and what His expectations are of me inside my marriage so that my marriage may receive His blessings.

It reads in Proverbs 18:22 “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.” Many of us have learned that we can find a spouse and it is a blessing, however this is only the beginning of having a successful marriage. I then asked myself what does God say we need in order to make our marriages successful? In this study of scripture I found it helpful to start with the beginning.

I had previously believed that in order to have a successful marriage that there had to be two independent people who have enriching lives without each other and decide to share their lives together. It reads in Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” After reading this passage I asked myself what the words one flesh meant to me? It says to me that when we are married we are no longer independent people in prayer, faith and our path to eternal life. What God sees once we are married is one flesh for the remainder of our journey. This same scripture from Genesis was repeated by Jesus in Matthew 19:5. Then Jesus added in Matthew 19:6 “So then they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

This concept was difficult to grasp since my whole spiritual path thus far had mostly included myself and God. I then asked how do we combine our faith with that of our spouse? How do we forego our individuality to become one in the eyes of the Lord? It says in 1Corinthians 7:2-5 “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due to her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

Here through Paul, the Lord provides us instructions that are a basis of a successful marriage. This passage gives us insight of how to become one and completely dedicate ourselves to our spouses. To not engage in behavior that would deprive each other of our needs that include emotional, spiritual and physical. It also warns if we deprive our spouses of their needs we open them and ourselves to temptation. It reads in 1Peter 3:1-2 “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.” In this scripture we have an example of how the conduct of one spouse can bring favor from the other spouse by being an example of the behavior that God wants in our marriages.

I learned long ago that marriages that do not have a strong spiritual foundation are left vulnerable to Satan and his temptations. It says in 1Peter 3:7 “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”

I was in an unsuccessful marriage where the spiritual side of it was not nurtured until it was too late. The Lord was not a part of it for many years and it was only in our final year that we took the time to explore the spiritual side. Throughout my marriage I felt there was always something missing and the obvious had escaped me for to long. We were both stubborn in many ways and perhaps we felt that things weren’t more than we could deal with or we could figure out our marriage ourselves. We decided to seek the advice of a marriage counselor in hopes that they could bring to life our issues and possible solutions. The counseling sessions were unsuccessful for many reasons. Part of it was that I still felt that we could do it on our own and felt strongly we were doing the best we could with what we had. I did not believe that they could give us any insight or helpful suggestions we haven’t tried or could afford.

It says in Proverbs 13:18 “Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, But he who regards a rebuke will be honored.” In this scripture the Lord is telling me that I could experience poverty in a variety of ways if I am not open to or let pride make me feel above correction. God also tells me good things will come to me once I am able to accept correction. Another reason the counselor did not work for us is because no where in our sessions were we brought closer to God. We then decided to attend a Christian retreat for married couples and took away from it the importance of having God in our marriage. In the following months there was still some awkwardness with our pursuit of spirituality as a couple.

I then asked myself how often had we prayed together other than blessing a meal? When had we been hand in hand asking God for help in our marriage? I asked myself why are we sometimes so quick to rely on counselors, therapists and ourselves instead of God? Why do we have so much fear in coming together as one and placing our marriage in the hands of God? The answers were that we never came together as one flesh in prayer, scripture and fellowship. Our faith had remained an individual pursuit although we learned at the retreat the importance of God in our marriage. The fact of the matter was we had not learned the expectations that God had for us in our marriage, so we remained entrenched in our ways and our attempts were feeble in bringing Him into our marriage. The fact that together we lacked the trust in each other to become one and in turn lacked the faith to place our marriage in the hands of God. Our inability to bring the Lord into our marriage and keep Him there had left us vulnerable to the smoke screen of Satan. What is it that we feel is more important than to have God in our marriages?

It reads in 1Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In this scripture we are reminded of the importance to provide for those we love. When we hear the word “provide” our thoughts tend to go to material things such as food, clothing and shelter. It is true that we are charged to financially provide for our spouses, however our charge is far greater than this provision alone.

How many of us take pride in providing financially and believe that this is our only calling? How is it that we can find comfort in the fact that we provide material things and believe this to be an acceptable expression of love even amidst our other short-comings? It reads in Ephesians 5:28-29 “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.” Here the Lord tells us how we love our spouses gives us insight to how we feel about ourselves. When we express our love to our spouse and it is kind, loyal, truthful, confident and strong it shows us that we posses these qualities within us and that enables us to love ourselves in the same way.

If we continue to allow our expression of love to only include the pursuit of material provisions, than that is what will end up making us feel loved. In turn, greater will our need be to amass material possessions and end up working longer hours and continue to put our greed before God and our spouse. It reads in 1Peter 3:3-4 ” Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing the gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” We need to be more than a paycheck in our marriages and in the end if we deprive our marriages of the essential spiritual and emotional love needed, we will fail to bring forth true happiness. Let us provide to our spouse in every way and most importantly bring the Lord into our marriages so we can succeed in loving our spouse and ourselves. It reads in Ephesians 5:33 “Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

In talking with married couples and in my own experience I heard of many ways that temptation can creep into a marriage and effect its core values. One way it can start is with thoughts of what life would be like if we were living a different life other than the one we are in. For some this may be an image of life with a different spouse, in another job, making more money or living in another place. Many of us entertain the illusions of freedom that we felt our life had before we married or we rely on some form of crutch that we believe gets us through the tough times. While inside our marriages why do we explore the grass is always greener mentality?

When reflecting on our lives before marriage most times we run off a list of the happy, carefree and successful experiences. Rarely do we resurface the lonely, desperate and miserable times we encountered on our path to marriage. It reads in Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” In this scripture the Lord brings us back to what is most important in both our lives and our marriages which is to be aware of the blessings we receive and to find comfort that He will always be with us if only we reach out to Him.

Let us always remember that mentally placing ourselves in a different life or a life under different circumstances can breed bitterness toward ourselves and our spouses. We are reminded in Colossians 3:18-19 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.” Many of us that are consumed by what we don’t have become closed off to communication, let pride convince us that we are somehow less of a provider and believe we are deserving of a life different from our own. Before we know it we can find ourselves in a world of frustration remaining blind to the blessings God has given us. This frustration can lead us to a marriage of monotony and tolerance instead of happiness and love. A big part of this is trusting our spouse with our thoughts and more importantly our fears so together as one flesh we can talk to God and bear them together. We are reminded of this in Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

What happens when we feel lost in our marriages and do not communicate with our spouses? Many of us end up feeling trapped inside of our marriages and feel the need to escape them in some way. These escapes may include alcohol, drugs, gambling, violence, excessive television and infidelity. All of these crutches or so-called escapes are temptations that will always carry with them regret. So why are we drawn to these temptations and at times in our marriage animatedly justify and rationalize succumbing to them?

It reads in 1Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” The Lord is telling us is that through Him we have all the self-control we will ever need. God can bring into our marriages the love, communication, forgiveness and understanding that will strengthen us in the face of strife. It is ourselves that stands in the way of using our faith when we are confronted with temptation. It is our refusal to completely trust our spouses by joining as one and relying on each other in our times of need that prevent us from bringing God into marriages.

For so long many of us have put our marriages second in our lives. We have passionately dedicated ourselves to our careers, hobbies, parenting and friendships and somehow we struggle bringing that same dedication into our marriages? Is it because we have seen the benefits of that dedication with the raise on our paychecks, a series of promotions, the pride when that classic car has been restored, when our children are successful and when we feel refreshed after a night out with friends. Now why is it we don’t bring that same dedication and work ethic our marriages?

The most common reason is not that we are lazy, it is that we can bring this same effort to our marriages as we do our individual interests but we feel the benefits are uncertain. This uncertainty can always be traced back to fear. Fear from a lingering heartbreak, change, giving of oneself, trusting another completely or losing our sense of individuality just to name a few. This is where God will make a difference in our marriages through prayer, scripture and fellowship. It reads in Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

We can no longer remain so comfortable in our marriages where we stop trying. We have to dedicate ourselves to our spouses and as one continue to rely on the Lord for the guidance we need. This level of committment is what the Lord has asked of us and through Him we will see the happiness we all want in our marriages.

In a marriage sometimes we feel we lose an element of control in our lives because there are now two people in one flesh and we often times have no insight of our spouses reactions. It says in Proverbs 17:14 “The beginning of strife is like releasing water; Therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts.” What we have to become aware of is what the strife in our life is so we can avoid the contentions in our marriages. The number one cause of strife in marriages are financially related. Whether we unable to pay our bills, go on vacation, afford our basic needs or we are in danger of losing the material possessions we have accumulated. It says in 1Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

There are times where we feel that once we can afford to get away or reduce the stress of not being able to pay our bills then there will be more intimacy and happiness in our marriages. What then happens is we get stuck in a future world that doesn’t exist and ignore the present by putting off our happiness till we can afford it. It reads in 1Timothy 6:7-8 “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” In this scripture we are reminded not to let worry keep us and our spouses from finding happiness together. We can’t afford to let the world determine our moments of happiness any longer.

There is so much joy to be had in our marriages if we only get out of our own way and let ourselves experience it. Let us be joyful in an unexpected dance with our spouse to a song on the radio, a candlelight chat, a walk under the stars or in whatever ways allows us to spend time together in the present. Let us together in prayer ask God to help us express our love for each other and enjoy the happiness that follows it every day.

Let us pray please turn to Romans 12:9-13 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another in brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.” May we continue to love, honor and cherish each other for better or for worse for richer or poorer in sickness and in health till death due us part. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lessons in Faith

 

Hello world and God bless!

Faith is commonly believed to be built on the unknown and that God is beyond our senses. Worldly faith is defined as “a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.” I found this interesting when the definition of proof is “evidence or argument establishing or helping to establish a fact or the truth of a statement.” As a Christian I know that there is nothing within faith that is based on apprehension or the unknown. The power of God is documented in the bible and I have witnessed His divine miracles in my life and in the lives of others. I have both seen and heard how worship, scripture, fellowship, prayer and faith in God has changed lives for the better.

We are told in Romans 8:24-25 “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” All we have to do to confirm the existence of God is to wake up in the morning. Then take a look around and perhaps it will be next to us in bed, in the room down the hall, in the sky above or merely in a breath of air, we are given the evidence of a blessing from God. Have any of us ever marveled at the complexity of nature and how every existence relies on each other inside this amazing harmony?

Please open your bible to Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Faith is not a leap after all, but it is an awakening to the miracles of God that are all around us all the time. Faith is the power within our spirit that allows us to seek the will of God, harmonize with our surroundings and unveil this shroud of darkness called doubt. Doubt oppresses so many of us and keeps us blind to our true purpose which is the one God has for our life. When we let doubt into our lives it can consume us and bring into our lives worry, stress, fear, anxiety and confusion. When we are consumed with doubt we dwell on our tribulations and relentlessly play out in our thoughts the unknown outcomes.

Many of us do not realize that all of these emotions birthed from doubt stand in the way of our joy in the everyday blessings we receive from God. Why do we feel that doubt is serving a purpose in our lives? Jesus says in Matthew 6:26-27 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Even knowing this why do we feel that we have little say in the outcome of our troubles? Why is it we do not completely trust that God will listen to us and deliver the outcome that is best for our spiritual growth? Have any of us ever prayed to the Lord with doubt in our hearts and still carried the hope that He will look past our doubt and help us anyway?

I believe if we examine our lives there will be more than one occasion where God has helped us even in the face of our doubts because of the love He has for us. After we are made aware of the blessings of God how many of us still find that doubt creeps into our lives? It reads in James 1:5-6 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” Let us all remember the blessings we have received in the face of our doubts and find comfort in our trust in the Lord. If doubt should enter our lives let us dismiss it with our faith, so in each day we can find joy in the gifts that God has given us.

The Lord wants our faith in Him to grow, to have a relationship with Him, rely on Him and give Him the opportunity to positively impact our lives as any good father would. Expressing our faith can bring us into the light of God where He can open our eyes and we can better understand the purpose that He has for our lives. It reads in Proverbs 20:24 “A man’s steps are of the Lord; How then can a man understand his own way?” Faith is a living connection with God that has to be nurtured through scripture, fellowship and prayer.

There are many ways that God brings us closer to Him and gives us lessons in faith however it is inside our tribulations that we have the greatest opportunity to grow our faith. The Lord knows that we most often rely on our faith during times of tribulation and He knows these are opportunities to help us to grow in our faith. God wants us to reach out to Him in order to experience His power through our faith, feel what it is like to be guided by His light, receive His inspiration and be delivered by His strength in our times of need. It reads in Psalms 50:15 “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me.” Within these troubling times our faith is tested the most and at the same time we are also given the greatest opportunity to grow in it. These moments however can carry with them the greatest confusion, sorrow, fear, anxiety and despair we have ever felt in our lives. We often times wrongfully place blame on the Lord for our tribulations because inside our confusion we do not understand their purpose. Ironically, the Lord is the only one who can deliver us the peace and understanding on the other side of our tribulations. It reads in 1Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

Inside tribulation we are placed at a crossroads where the choices we make during times of great vulnerability will define who we are as a child of God. I ask, will we humble ourselves before the Lord, reach out to Him in prayer, scripture and fellowship? Will we ask God for help or will we stay overwhelmed by our tribulations and lash out into the darkness at an unseen enemy? Do we trust that God will comfort us and guide us to the answers we seek or do we abandon hope and drown ourselves in a sea of despair?

It says in Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” In this scripture we are reminded to be thankful to for tribulation because it can bring us closer to God, grow our faith and in itself is a teacher. We are taught that the choices we make in the moments of our greatest need define our character and that there is always help from God if we choose to seek it in faith.

As a child of God are we willing to accept that our lives are one of service to His will? Can we part with our obsessive need to control our lives and the lives of others? God in His love and infinite wisdom has given those of us with faith, the gift of eternal life so that we may rise above our worldly tribulations and answer His call to a short lifetime of service. So we should ask of ourselves do we rejoice in His glory and serve His will or do we remain blind to our purpose and short-sighted inside our worldly lives? It says in 2Corinthians 4:17-18 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Let us ask ourselves with everything we know about the Lord to be true why do we still question our faith? In the face of tribulation why do we seek out worry, assume the worst, wallow in self-pity and let our fear comfort us? Within asking these questions I am reminded of a man who was an eye-witness to the miracles of Jesus. A man who directly heard the ministry of our Lord by being a disciple of His and he was considered strong in his faith. This man was called Peter. It tells us in Matthew 26:33-35 “Peter answered and said to Him, Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble. Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to Him, Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You! And so said all the disciples.” Later we learn that Peter had questioned his faith and denied Jesus three times. It reads in Matthew 26:75 “And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, Before the rooster crows three times. So he went out and wept bitterly.” Peter along with the other disciples testified that his faith was unshakeable. When the moment of truth came when his faith was questioned fear gripped him and Peter weakened. This scripture shows us how powerful fear is when it grips us and how inside fear even the strongest in faith can question it. We are also reminded in the study of Peter that even though fear got the best of him he did not give up and give yield to Satan. On the other side of his tribulation Peter wept and found that his faith had grown stronger and he continued in his purpose to minister the word of the Lord. We are reminded of how the Lord helps us in Psalms 37:23-24 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.”
I would like for everyone to read the following scripture Matthew 26:36-46 “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me. He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done. And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

What we have read in this passage is that while in the flesh the Lord Jesus Himself was fearful in the face of tribulation. The tribulation of being tortured and crucified would be enough to strike fear into heart of any man though Jesus also had the uncertainty of what could happen when He placed the sins of the world upon Himself. The Lord provided us in His example of what to do when we experience fear because of our tribulations. When the soul of Jesus had become sorrowful and distressed the first thing He did was pray. He prayed to God telling Him that He was fearful and asked God if it was indeed His will for this to happen? Jesus prayed this prayer three times and God answered Him with silence. Jesus learned that this was indeed God’s will and went on and faced his betrayer. Even though the Lord Jesus was fearful He never questioned His faith and was all the while committed to the will of God. The Lord has gone through tribulation as we go through it and He tells us in Revelations 2:10 “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

There will be many times in our lives where we will fear our tribulations and remain uncertain of what God’s purpose is. In these moments Jesus has shown us the way to find peace for our souls, and this is through prayer. The Lord has shown us that in our moment of fear that we need to pray to Him and let Him know that we are afraid. Christ has taught us that in times of need we have to rely on our faith and trust Him to guide our way. Even though fearful, the faith of the Lord Jesus never faltered in His times of tribulation and He wants us to do the same. Jesus always trusted in the will of God and followed it to His purpose. The purpose of Jesus Christ was revealed to us on the other side of His tribulations with His resurrection, the forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

We are reminded of this when Jesus tells us in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We need to admit to ourselves that we do not know the purpose of our tribulations, only God does. We must realize that we are loved by our God and if we trust in Him, stay strong in our faith and hopeful in our resolve we will better serve Him. Let us accept our purpose and rejoice in our opportunity to serve the Lord with our lives. May we not occupy our thoughts with needless worries of the world, remain strong in our faith and resist the temptations of sin. Let us follow the example the Lord has given us and trust in Him by putting our lives in His capable hands.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:31-34 “Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about it’s own things. Sufficient for the day is it’s own trouble.”

In closing I am hopeful that we all can grow in our faith and learn to embrace tribulation as a teacher of a lesson we need to learn. That we can trust in the Lord knowing that He will provide us with purpose, peace and understanding on the other side of our tribulations. Let us turn to our faith and pray to the Lord in times of need, knowing that He loves us and can help us through our moments of despair. May we all remember that we are here in the service of the will of God and that He will answer our prayers though not always in the ways we imagine.

It says in 2Corinthians 4:7-10 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”

Let us pray and turn to 2Corinthians 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.” We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Lessons in Repentance

Hello world and God bless!

Repentance is an act that expresses to God our humility, faith, integrity, sincerity, obedience and acceptance. The greatest burden known to man has always been the burden of sin. God’s greatest gift to man is His only begotten son Jesus Christ who sacrificed Himself in order to bless us with the ability to repent of our sins and within the act of repenting, our sins would be forgiven of us. In this divine act of love Jesus opened to us the kingdom of heaven by lifting from us the burden of sin and placing it on himself. It reads in Acts 11:18 “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Now that our sins can be forgiven, the Lord calls us to repent by humbling ourselves before him, expressing our fear of  Him, accepting that we are imperfect and that we desire His mercy through His forgiveness. We must learn to take responsibility for our sins and express to God our commitment to change by opening our hearts to the Lord with complete vulnerability and ask Him in earnest for the absolution of our sins.

Please open your bible to Acts 17:30-31 “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by Man whom He has ordained, He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

In this scripture through Paul the Lord tells us that we can receive his forgiveness through repentance and stresses to us the importance not to reprieve because His return is near. I then asked myself how can I apply this scripture to my daily life? While searching my soul I wanted to clarify what repentance meant to me. There were times before I became a Christian that I was cloaked in ignorance and skeptical of repentance. I felt that it was to easy for one to be forgiven of their sins. I felt that God should measure each sin by its severity, similar to that of the laws of man. For example, in order to receive God’s forgiveness it should be harder for one who committed murder than one who committed theft. Little did I know that I was trying to assume the role of God and in my arrogance was criticizing Him and His laws. I did not know or understand what repentance was to God and I did not seek out guidance through prayer, scripture or fellowship; therefore I was coming from a place ignorance. I did not trust the Lord to be fair and just with His judgement of a penitent heart. This realization made me feel extremely guilty because I had perceived myself worthy to measure sin, burdened myself with His judgements and all the while I was shrouded in hypocrisy.

Once I became a Christian I wanted to know what God expects of me when I repent my sins, in order to receive His forgiveness. It says in Matthew 3:8 “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” In this scripture the Lord tells us His expectation and reminds us of why we should fear questioning Him. God wants us to know that when we seek absolution from Him, that He sees all and knows if a man is truly penitent. In this scripture we also receive from God both a warning and a comfort. Our warning is if there is no truth in our repentance we will not see favor in the eyes of God. If we then seek out His forgiveness and we feel we are above repentance or are not truly repentant, we then patronize the Almighty and become subject to His wrath. The comfort comes to us by trusting that the Lord sees into our hearts and is just in all that He does so we can rid our lives of  the self-inflicted burden to judge sin for ourselves. It reads in 2Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

In order to accept responsibility for our sins we have to recognize sin when it presents itself in our lives. We cannot let our rationalizations cloak our sins anymore and we can’t justify them with excuses. At times we perceive ourselves as powerless against sin by accepting sins we feel are necessary to effectively live in our society. For example, the invention of the “acceptable” sin called the white lie. This sin has been given a measure of acceptance by us and continually feeds on our insecurities and also requires our repentance. It reads in Proverbs 28:13 “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” Then we have the sins in our lives we feel are significant that can consume our hearts with guilt and negatively affect our lives in ways we can’t even imagine. This guilt, caused by sin can cast us into a darkness, where we feel hopelessness, fear, anger and hatred that may cause us to want to hurt ourselves or others. The Lord has mercifully given us repentance to help us in these times of need and guides us into his light so our healing can begin.

We must realize that we will always have the love of God in our life to make us whole and only when we have accepted His love can we recognize our sins regardless of their worldly significance.  As Jesus says in Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” To repent our sins is a path not only to the Lord’s forgiveness, it is a path to forgive oneself. Repenting expresses our humility; in that we admit to ourselves that we cannot battle sin by ourselves and that we need the Lord with us. We need God to bring our sins out of the darkness of our minds and into His light where they become truly visible to us. Only then can our sins be stripped of their worldly denials and rationalizations that accompany them so we can stop lying to ourselves and assume responsibility for them. When we are enveloped in the love of God our sins are truly visible to us and we can seek forgiveness from the Lord and ourselves. It reads in Proverbs 16:6 “In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.”

God has given all of us the gift of repentance regardless of the nature of our sin. We must remember that no spirit with sin enters the kingdom of heaven; however, because the Lord loves us so much He made it possible for us, mere humans to receive the most amazing gift ever known, that of everlasting life. God placed our sins unto Himself by sacrificing Himself so that with repentance we can have eternal life. It reads in 2Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Here the Lord has affirmed his promise to us and given us the understanding of how to do right by Him, ourselves and each other by repenting. God has told us that we can better serve Him and has shown us the way in scripture. The Lord tells us to accept that we are imperfect, that we are all sinners and that we need to be better in serving Him. The Lord wants us to free ourselves from the burden of sin and fill our hearts with the desire to change our lives with the repentance of our sins. God wants us to seek out His love through prayer, scripture and fellowship and He will guide us to salvation. Let us all obey our God by accepting our need for change and with a humble and sincere heart pray to the Lord and repent our sins so that they can be forgiven. It reads in Psalms 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

It is my greatest wish that we all express our love and appreciation to the Lord for the sacrifice He made to free us all from sin. To show God that we are obedient to Him by doing what He has asked us to do. To thank the Lord by celebrating His divine gift of repentance, for He celebrates it also. Jesus says in Luke 15:7 “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” The Lord reminds us here that He came to the earth to call all the sinners to repent and then sacrificed Himself for our sins so we could repent and show our love for God and be are celebrated in His kingdom.

In closing the love of our God is tireless for us and we must be tireless in our love for Him. As Christians the Lord has called us to another purpose beyond our own repentance. We are instructed in scripture to make it known to our brethren the gift of repentance, so that they may receive eternal life. Jesus tells us in Luke 24:46-48 “Then He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.” The Lord in His infinite wisdom has also told us how we are to approach our brethren in 2Timothy 2:24-26 “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those in opposition if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

The ending prayer today is a scripture that I feel encompasses this lesson well and really speaks to me. Let us pray: Psalms 25:1-21 “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; According to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodnesses’ sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, To such as Keep His covenant and testimonies. For Your name’s sake, O Lord Pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, And his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net. Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses! Look on my affliction and my pain, And forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many; And they hate me with cruel hatred. Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.”  We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Lessons in Humility

Hello world and God bless!

Humility; what an amazing word that encompasses one of the most defining acts we as humans can express. To admit to ourselves that we are in need of light to show us the way. A way of reminding ourselves that we are not alone and to open our eyes to the love that Christ has for us. An act that can give us the clarity we need in order for our true purpose to reveal itself. The step in our journey that will bring us out of darkness so we can wrap ourself in God’s light. To rid ourselves of our obsessive need to control everything and hand our lives over to the Lord and trust in his wisdom. As it reads in James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Please open your bible to Psalms 25:9 “The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.”

In this scripture we learn in the simplest of terms what we need to do to learn the way of God. I first asked myself, “What does this scripture mean to me and how can I apply it to my daily life?” I focused on the way I have been living my life up till now and put my decisions under scrutiny. This turned out to be a serious wake-up call when I realized the silk-screen that surrounded me the majority of my life. It was amazing the lack of control and the ignorance I experienced thinking that I always knew what was best for me and my family. I wasted so many years of my life stumbling around in the dark, convinced I knew what I was doing and that I was just taking a scenic route to my purpose. When I look at the series of bad decisions I made, I chalked them up to bad luck or a rough patch in my unguided quest for purpose; it is a wonder I ever learned. The fact that I was so entrenched in my own stubbornness, convinced that I did not need any help from God, family or anyone for that matter, worked to my detriment. Then in the moment when I lost hope, gave in and conceded to life’s tribulations, I was humbled enough to receive the Lord and his scripture. In this moment late in my life, I finally gained some understanding and felt I took the first steps toward my true purpose.

This scripture encompasses my path to humility: Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble comes wisdom.” It is my hope that all of us can find a path to humility before experiencing the ruin of pride. We need to cast out our foolish pride and come to the realization that without God in our life, we lack the wisdom, understanding and guidance needed to know our true purpose. We have to accept the fact that we have found comfort in a false sense of security that leads us to believe we alone control our lives. All the blessings in our life come from God. Sometimes he touches our lives directly and sometimes he works through others although He is the only one who can give our life meaning. It reads in 1Peter 5:5-6 “Likewise you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

There are times we ask ourselves what does it mean to humble ourselves before the Lord? First let’s take a look at pride and how it stands in our path to humility before God. We pride ourselves in many things our looks, material possessions, lifestyles, judgements, accomplishments, families, religion, careers and opinions. We place different personal values on these worldly prides as if they belong to us and we credit ourselves with their orchestration. How often do we credit the Lord with these blessings, knowing that without His divine intervention none of them would have been possible? When will we realize that we are the vessels of God and we are not worthy of our own existence? We are guided in James 1:19-26 “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror; for he observes himself goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” This scripture speaks to humility without even mentioning the word and is part of our guidance to humbling ourselves. Here the Lord talks against being impulsive; to slow ourselves down and take time to think about what He wants from us. To accept the need for guidance, prayer and scripture to be of the Lord, before our tongues and anger deceive us. God tells us to put our pride away from us so we can receive Him into our lives and life everlasting. God reminds us to open ourselves up so He can work through us and not to covet the worldly because we will lose ourselves in it and it will all go away. The Lord inspires our humility and tells us if we walk in the way of him, we will be blessed in all that we do. How amazing would that be if all our works were blessed? We are told by God that we are to remain humble in our works, do not seek out the attention of others through our worldly prides and to help those in need without praise. It reads in Proverbs 27:2 “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.”

Let’s not be confused. Ambition can be a good thing when we use it as fuel to do what is good in the sight of the Lord. With ambition we can provide for our families and communities in so many ways because it pushes us to do more. God wants us to use our ambition to serve Him and to love and provide for one another; however when ambition turns into blind ambition, God is taken out of the equation. Once this happens our direction is lost, for then we boast with pride in our worldly deeds and we cease to be a doer of Him. It says in Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” In this scripture we are told to give the glory of our blessings to God and we will be of Him to do so. Most of the time we end up glorifying ourselves for our blessings. For example: I worked very hard for that raise, I just bought a Mercedes with all the fixings, I was brilliant in my athletic performance and I volunteer every Saturday at the soup kitchen…why don’t you?

All to often we feel that we know what is good for us, how to take care of our families, the ways of the Lord and we refuse help from others and the guidance from God because of our pride. It reads in Proverbs 26:12 “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Many times we find our ambition being blinded in the pursuit of money and a career. We generally begin our pursuit with good intentions like, I just want to be able to pay my bills on time or I am tired of clipping coupons. We then work twice as hard and take on that extra overtime in our efforts to get that raise. When we get our raise and the bills are paid, it doesn’t stop there. We continue our pursuits, for example, a vacation for the family, a new car, that big screen TV or an investment property. So we try to move up in the world to that higher level position to make more money and we end up with the added perks of more hours and a cell phone that never sleeps. Finally our pursuits seem to peak with I need a bigger house, a pool, more property, another car, a college degree and private schools for the kids. There is one thing all of these pursuits have in common and that is God is not in any of them. Who has found that once we get to the point where the bills are paid more are added? Once we get that promotion we don’t have time to take that vacation, watch TV, swim in the pool. When we do make time and manage to get away from work, we end up on our cell phone with the office, so we don’t fall behind.

It reads in James 1:7-9 “For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.” This scripture is reinforced in Proverbs 16:19 “Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Now I ask that we look back on our lives. Ask ourselves at what point in your life were we most humble? When was love most abundant in our life? At what point was our faith the strongest and we sought the Lord’s guidance through prayer and scripture? The Lord needs to be with us every step of the way so that He can help us resist our pride and grow closer to him. God has shown us the way to bring change into our lives by humbling ourselves before him thus removing pride from our lives, trusting in the wisdom of the Lord to guide our steps, give Him praise in knowing all blessings come from him and give all our cares unto Him knowing He has the wisdom.

I would like to end our lesson in humility with this passage and prayer. It reads in Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God.”
Let us pray: Lord give us the perseverance to be your humble servants worthy of your grace. Please provide us with the patience we need to rid our lives of our foolish pride. Help us to recognize when Satan tries to distance us from You by tempting us with worldly things. Let us never forget You are always there for us and may we always remember to praise Your name for the many blessings in our lives. We pray this to in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Lessons in Judgement

Hello world and God bless!

Within the writing of the previous segment on forgiveness I referenced judgement and how it is important for us not to judge one another, so I was inspired to write this lesson. This lesson turned out to be very self-revealing which in turn stirred up a variety of emotions along the way. All of us have had experiences with judging and being judged. Some of us including myself would say we spent the majority of our lives on the receiving end of judgement; however it can be a humbling experience to learn how much time we spend in the judgement seat. Long before I became a Christian I became aware of all the pain, guilt, insecurity, anger and resentment that receiving judgement and judging another can bring so I made many efforts to rid my life of it.  When I became a Christian my resolve for this change, to reserve my judgements, has been strengthened by the Lord, through prayer, repentance and scripture. I pray to God that one day all of us will be entirely free of judgement so we can greater serve him and each other. It reads in Psalms 50:8 “Let the heavens declare His righteousness. For God Himself is Judge.”

Please open your bible to Romans 14:10-13 “But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ. For it is written; As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.”

“Judgement of each other” (Segment 1)

In this scripture through Paul the Lord gives us our instructions when it comes to judgement of one another. I first looked at myself and asked how I can apply this scripture to my daily life. I thought about the judgements I have made in the past and remembered what it feels like to be judged. I have judged people by their, clothing, housing, transportation, speech, lifestyle, religion, race and finances sometimes without even thinking about it. Most of these judgements I have looked at as harmless or considered them growing pains. The times that another had trespassed against me or I witnessed a trespass were the times I delivered my harshest judgements. When I made these harsh judgements at the time I felt self-righteous and justified; however looking back at the aftermath of all my judgements all they ever brought me was sorrow, anger, hate, wrath and non-forgiveness. When others I had trespassed against were harshly judging me oddly enough the same emotions followed. These were fearful realizations for me because the thought that my judgements seemed so engraved in me, that at times I didn’t even know I was making them.

Then I read where Jesus says in Matthew 7:1-5 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgements you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” The words that Jesus spoke had taken the breath out of me, knowing that every time I judged someone else I was a hypocrite! Jesus with emotion told us that at no time are our judgements justified because all of us have sinned. Only those without sin are qualified to judge, which rules out myself and all of humanity. The most important lesson here is that Jesus gives us specific instructions of what we need to do when we feel the temptation to judge another. We are to look at ourselves before we judge another and if we are without sin then we should feel free to judge and keeping in mind the Lord will judge us all. None of us wants to be a hypocrite in the eyes of the Lord, so what can we do to change and rid our lives of judgement?

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons we judge each other; we are dissatisfied with our own lives, so judging another life makes us believe we feel better about ours, we want to inflict emotional or physical pain on another because we believe it makes us more righteous, and we believe by judging or exposing another’s sins we will mask our own. At times in our lives our judgements of others seemed to be factors in defining ourselves, especially but not limited to our adolescent years. As humans we have an instinct to surround ourselves with those who tend to be like ourselves. As adolescents these groups are generally called cliques, as adults our views have broadened so we  accept more people into our lives, but we still find the same concepts within groups of friends, coworkers and congregations. These groups generally have assigned to them a stereotype or what the outside world believes the group’s activities are. Within these groups we are all dealing constantly with judgement, whether it is from other groups, the outside world or each other.

There are times when we are made to feel that we have to believe, act, dress, talk, look or express ourselves a certain way to feel accepted and thus help define ourselves in the process. Sometimes we are the focus of judgement from others and sometimes we are the ones serving judgement and in neither scenario have I felt good about the result of my judgements. It reads in James 2:12-13 ” So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgement without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement.”

Let us all reflect on a time when we gave another mercy instead of judgement and try to remember how that made us feel and just as important how did it make the other person feel.  Who here has felt the peace, love, happiness, and understanding that came from an act of mercy? Now on the flip side who has felt peace, love, happiness and understanding in an act of judgement? There are times we make judgements that are considered harmless judgements like; look at how that person is dressed they must shop at the second-hand store, the Jones’ got a new SUV must be nice to be a snob and have money, they must be so embarrassed driving that car around. We are told in Romans 14:3 “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.”

There are also times we make what we consider more serious judgements like; they stole my car, they deserved to get hurt in that crash, that person committed adultery and they deserved the violence they received, that homosexual is an abomination and they deserve discrimination or there is no doubt that they are guilty because we can tell by their clothing, by where they live, and by their facial expressions that they deserve the sentence they received. It is truly exhausting harboring all the emotions that come from judgement like hate, anger, disgust and loathing. All this for a burden that is not ours to bear and the Lord has told us it is not of him to judge. It reads in Romans 2:1-6 “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgement of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgement of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds.”

This scripture tells us if the one I am judging has committed murder and I have committed adultery that I am not righteous in my judgement. Sin is sin and those of the world may see a difference between murder and adultery but God does not. So if I judge the murderer I will condemn myself and I will surely be judged by God for my adultery. In the process of judging another we make ourselves ungrateful for the gifts of God.

There was a time somewhere in the course of humanity that we had deemed ourselves worthy to exercise the judgements of God. It reads in Genesis 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Judgement has been around so long that it seems engraved in us and as Christians it is our responsibility to hold ourselves accountable and break free of our judgement. Today with each judgement we deem ourselves wiser than the Lord and take another bite of fruit.

It reads in James 4:11-12 “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” In this scripture the Lord is reminding us that it is not our place or is it our burden to judge one another and that judgement is His and His alone. God is telling us clearly that when we judge one another we speak evil not only of our brethren but of Him as well.

Often times as Christians we sit in judgement to make ourselves feel better by mentally judging another and deeming them unworthy of fellowship. We think because we believe a certain way or our faith does not align with another that we will be tainted by the non-believer and led astray. What does that say of the strength of our faith and the firmness of our beliefs? We need to trust in ourselves enough to know that our faith can’t be shaken and within our fellowship with a non-believer we will be an example of God’s love and may yet lead another out of the darkness. It says in Psalms 75:7 “But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.” This scripture tells us not to decide for ourselves the worth of another for the sake of our self-esteem or our fellowships and that only God decides our worth. Many of us Christians look at non-believers and people of other religions as ignorant, unworthy of fellowship and treat them as lepers. We often times forget that we were once considered the non-believers or Gentiles before we were blessed with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, ministry and scripture. As infants how many of us were born with our faith, our relationship with God and our knowledge of scripture? As Christians we should look upon non-believers as infants and guide them with the same patience as we would our own child; give them room to make their own choices and mistakes, be a guiding light in times of need and never consider abandonment as an option.

As it reads in James 2:1-4 “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, You sit here in a good place, and say to the poor man you stand there, or, sit here at my footstool, have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

When we are of the world we will have to make judgements while on a jury or if we are an elected judge in the process of law and order. Jesus says in John 7:24 ” Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement.” Here Jesus understands that on earth there are many who do not fear or believe in God and there are those who do not hold themselves accountable to God’s law, or would continue to commit sin if given the opportunity. Jesus knows to prevent a world of mass chaos, fear and retribution we had to establish a form of order where judgements by a jury and/or the elected judge must be made. When we are in these roles it is vital that we remain personally detached and proceed with a righteous judgement, this way our judgements as a jury or elected judge remain of the world and do not bring forth dangerous emotions; like hate, fear, and disgust that could consume us and make us vulnerable to Satan.

It reads in 1Corinthians 4:3-5 “But with me it is a very small thing to that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” Here Paul brings relief to many on all sides of worldly judgement and helps to make clear the judgement we should fear. If we are the ones judging in a human court we have to take comfort in that the judgement rendered even though flawed there will also be a righteous judgement given by the Lord that lasts for all eternity; however those of us judging in a human court must keep our judgements of the world and not of our spirit because we too will face the Lord.

For the one facing judgement in the human court though the verdict may be flawed the only judgement that matters is the one of the Lord that determines eternity. The Lord knows everything there will be no justifying, rationalizing or deceiving God on the day of our judgement. God wants us to remember that our lifetime here on earth is like a droplet in a never-ending ocean in comparison to eternity. As it reads in 2Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” If there comes a time a judgement must be rendered here on earth for those of us who are of Him, the Lord wants us first to go to our ministers and together ask Him for his guidance before we rely on the order of the world. Second God wants for those of us who are of Him to settle our differences amongst each other and as a last resort approach the order of the world. Paul tells us this in 1Corinthians 6:4-6 “If then you have judgements concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this is your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers.”

In closing it is the responsibility of all Christians to understand judgement, reserve our judgements and further the understanding of our brethren on judgement. It reads in Acts 10:42 “And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.”

Let us pray; Dear Lord help us find the will to accept the change needed in our lives. Help us to remove the burden of judgement that we placed upon ourselves and continue trusting in you. Pick us up when we stumble on our path to change and guide us with your abundant wisdom. We pray to you in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.

Lessons in Forgiveness

Hello world and God bless!

It came to me at the end of the segment on love where I was discussing love for your enemy. In order to love your enemy you must forgive them. As it reads in Proverbs 19:11 “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.”

Forgiveness, I feel is a divine act that allows us to forego our self-love and take the necessary step to being able to love our enemy. Forgiveness is an expression of our soul and a representation of the love of God. There are many types of forgiveness and these I feel are the most important; forgiving others for transgressions against you, receiving forgiveness from those in which you have transgressed, forgiving oneself and the forgiveness that comes from the Lord.

“Forgiving each other” (Segment 1)

Please open your bible to Colossians 3:12-13 “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do.”

In the scripture above through Paul, the Lord has shown us the way of forgiveness. These are our instructions of how to express God’s love for us and our love for each other through the act of forgiveness. I first asked myself what does this scripture mean to me and how can I apply it to my daily life. During my reflections on forgiveness I experienced a flood of emotions that I did not expect and it took me some time to understand them. I experienced hesitation, fear, anger, resentment, frustration and I seemed mad at myself for invading my own privacy. These feelings I was having are conduits for Satan to help him drive a wedge between myself and God. In fear of being consumed by these emotions I continued my reflections to find out what the Devil did not want me to know. Throughout my life experiences I have treated my forgiveness as something that needed to be earned or something I needed to earn from someone else. In no scripture did I find that forgiveness from each other had to be earned to be given or to be received. Instead I found to forgive one another for their transgressions is of God and to deny forgiveness is of the world. Jesus tells us in John 20:21-23 “So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you! As the father has sent me, I also send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any they are retained.” In this scripture it is said that those who have received the Holy Spirit have the ability to forgive sins of others and the ability to retain the sins of others while of the world. This was concerning to me because in no other passage did God mention the retention of sin and the absence of forgiveness.

Then I came across this passage that explains what could happen when forgiveness is lacking; In 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 “Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” Here in this scripture is a warning, that it is a tremendous responsibility to withhold forgiveness from another and risk making ourselves vulnerable to the will of Satan and that it is in the way of the Lord to forgive. When I think about why we would withhold our forgiveness, these reasons come to mind?

Reasons such as fear, wrath, hatred, sorrow, and distress all of which create emotions that the Devil uses to consume us. Then there is the fact that not one of these reasons I could justify to the Lord, because none of them are of him. As we are reminded in Psalms 37:8 “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.”

When asking others about forgiveness one of the most common reactions given is that forgiveness is to be measured. For example if someone close to us makes public a secret of ours, that is a forgivable trespass but if someone kills a family member of ours while driving drunk that person may never be forgiven. Another common reaction is, forgiveness is simple on paper but is not always realistic for the world we live in because with a confession carries a consequence. There is one thing these reactions have in common, fear accompanies both reactions. The fear we could lose our families because of the confession of adultery, fear of dishonoring the dead or condoning destructive behavior, fear that a confession could result in a legal judgement or incarceration and fear of opening festering mental wounds from the past are just some of the fears we let in the way of forgiveness.

Fear has made forgiveness a private affair; where we give forgiveness to those who are not even in our presence. We pretend to make ourselves feel better by mentally projecting the forgiveness in hopes that it will consume our spirit. How many times has someone approached us and looked us square in the eye, confessed, asked for our forgiveness and we said I forgive you? How many times have we looked someone square in the eye, confessed and asked if they would forgive us? As it says in 1John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” Here the Lord is telling us to think outside of our bubble, he is giving us a glimpse at the bigger picture, He is reminding us not to imprison our spirit in the ways of the world and lose sight of the eternal reward of everlasting life. God is reminding us that the more like him that we strive to be the closer to eternal life we are. In this scripture the Lord has removed our worldly fears that accompany forgiveness. We are free to confess our trespasses, grant our forgiveness and fulfill our spirit by witnessing the honest emotion that comes from forgiveness. We don’t have to concern ourselves with the consequences of the world because they are not of God and that the gift of everlasting life is of Him. As it reads in Psalms 28:13 ” He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” Here God tells us within the acts of our confessions we will receive our forgiveness.

After learning this, many of our hearts may still be hardened and many of us may still be unwilling to forgive those who have trespassed against them. We often times withhold our forgiveness because we rationalize, for example; time will help us find our mercy to forgive, maybe with enough effort the transgressor will prove themselves worthy of forgiveness or the transgressor is not now and not ever going to be worthy of forgiveness. Let us read Acts 7:57-60 “Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” In this scripture Stephen did not rationalize; in time I will come to forgive them, eventually they will prove themselves worthy of my forgiveness, nor did he see them as unworthy of forgiveness even when they were inflicting pain upon him one could only imagine. Instead Stephen in his last moments had every opportunity to retort his beliefs, express anger to his attackers, promise them the wrath of God, but he didn’t, he forgave his attackers and asked the Lord to forgive them also. Stephen understood that what was happening to him was of the world and not of God. In his death Stephen kept his actions of God, knowing the gift of eternal salvation awaited him.

It reads in Luke 23:33-34 “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and one on the left. Then Jesus said Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Here the Lord Jesus is the example of forgiveness for us. After being beaten, whipped, ridiculed, crowned with thorns, physically exhausted and nailed to a cross by the people in front of him chose this moment of extreme agony to forgive them and ask God the Father to forgive them also. This gives new meaning to forgive each other as Christ forgave you doesn’t it.

I then ask of you, what is it in us that makes us believe that if we deny our forgiveness for a transgression we are more righteous? What makes us feel we cause the transgressor additional suffering by withholding forgiveness? Why is it that we burden ourselves with the judgement of our trespassers? Jesus says in Luke 6:37-38 “Judge not and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you.” The most important message in this scripture is that our ability to forgive does not only free the one who receives it, but also sets free the one who grants it. The Lord is also telling us that it is of the world for us to judge the trespasser and it is not of God. We must not burden ourselves and trust the judgement of our trespassers to the most qualified, the Lord our God.

As it reads in Romans 12:19 “Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
What changes can we make to transition our acts of forgiveness to be like that of God? What must we do to sort through our anger, resentment, wrath and find a place of understanding where we can forgive? What must we do to unload these feelings of fear, guilt and despair to seek the forgiveness of another? We must realize that we are carrying a burden of great proportion to have these intense emotions swirling around us, in which are making us vulnerable to Satan’s advances.

In Proverbs 6:24 “He who hates, disguises it with his lips, and lays up deceit within himself.” This scripture reminds us the power of hate and what it can do to us once we are consumed by it. To avoid the Devil and being consumed by our hate for another or the hate for oneself, we must turn to the Lord. God wants to show us the way and be the light in our darkest moments. He wants to hear our humility when we ask for the strength to confess our trespasses and learn to forgive as He does. The Lord not only works His own miracles he also works them through others. It reads in Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Here we are reminded to share our burdens with each other as well as give them unto the Lord. Through our processes of forgiveness and while dwelling on our transgressions we can feel lost and alone. In these times we must rely on our faith to guide us. Faith will allow us to trust that the Lord will lead us to the right scripture, soften our hearts to forgive, soften the heart of the one we seek forgiveness, bring us to that understanding ear in time of need and make the unlikely, likely.

In this scripture Paul reminds us of what God wants from us in our forgiveness: Ephesians 4:30-32 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” This is a powerful scripture because it tells us that the Lord will grieve for us in the times we are consumed by bitterness, wrath and anger. We have a choice to walk in the way of the Lord’s and surround ourselves with his love and envelop another it by being kind, tenderhearted and forgiving. The Lord knows the freedoms, happiness, relief and contentment that we will find on the other side of forgiveness and He wants to help us. All he asks of us is to seek him out and follow his instructions so we learn to be of Him.

Jesus tells us in Mark 11:25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” I implore you as I implore myself that we all find a way through our faith, fellowships, prayers and scriptures to forgive one another in the way that the Lord our God intended so that we may receive his forgiveness and the gift of everlasting life. It seems fitting to end this lesson with the Lord’s prayer please turn to Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father who art in heaven.
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.