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Become Even More Undignified Than This

20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” ~ 2 Samuel 6:20-22

A lot of times pride will stop us from praising God. We’re so caught up in what people will think, that we stop caring about what God thinks. We’d rather please humans than please God. God desires us to give Him our very best. He desires us to give Him our everything, but how can we do that when we’re focused on what the person next to us will think? David, the King of Israel, didn’t care what anyone said, not even his wife. David said he would make himself more undignified than this.

See, we get caught up with how we will look to people. Or how we will come across to people. We say, ‘oh I don’t want to turn them off from our church,’ but really we’re saying, ‘I don’t want to offend their religious spirit, it is better we offend God and not give Him our everything.’ Too often we allow the spirit of religion and pride to overtake us. We have to make a stand as David did, we have to decide who we’re doing all of this for. Who we’re celebrating before. Bringing praises to. We need to make a stand before man and before God. We have to choose who we’re going to worry about offending.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Become Even More Undignified Than This.

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Be Unoffended

“4 And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’” ~ Matthew 11:4-6

Blessed is the one who is not offended by me. It’s hard to believe that people would be offended by Jesus. I mean He’s doing all these miracles, healing the sick, the blind, the deaf, the mute, He even raises the dead, how can people be offended by Him?

But people are offended by Him today as well. People are offended by anyone who calls out their sin. People are offended by anyone who can do things they cannot. People are offended by anyone who is righteous if they are not. People are offended by others who are blessed, financially and favorably. People are offended by things they do not understand. God said the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Therefore how can they understand Jesus, when they have no knowledge because they have no fear. They have no regard for the things of God, so they are offended by those who do.

We are also offended by the amount of time that we are in trials and tribulations because we don’t deserve this. We’re good Christians. Here’s the thing. John the Baptist was a great prophet, what does this have to do with anything? This was when John was imprisoned in Galilee, during that time, Jesus was preaching in Galilee, but He never released John from his cell. In fact, John was eventually beheaded by the same man that put him in prison. Jesus is also saying here, don’t be offended by what I do. Trial and tribulation comes, but the Son of Man is not to always intervene. We will receive our reward after the trial, whether on Earth or in Eternity. Which is why He says, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” It’s a hard pill to swallow, but when it goes down, great things happen.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Unoffended.

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Worship Away The Pain

19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions, and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request, they served him food, and he ate. ~ 2 Samuel 12:19-20

Because of David’s sin, his son died as a baby. David could have closed up and drawn into himself, but instead, when the news was told to him, he went and prepared himself that he would be accepted before the LORD and he worshiped. He went to God even when it was God who took his child, He still went back to God. He didn’t get angry at God. He didn’t rebel against God. He humbled Himself before God and worshiped. When we worship, we release pain. Regret. Sorrow. Anger. We release emotions that hold us back, and we give them to God.

How often can we say we bring our pain, sorrows, and hurt to God? More times than not, we go to friends. Family. Alcohol. Drugs. Facebook. Instagram. Snapchat. We go to social media more than we go to God. Why is that? The majority of the time, we don’t want to let go of our pain. We want to hold on to the pain, post on social media unnecessary TMI posts all to get sympathy and pity. We don’t want to release the pain, we want to gain recognition that we have it hard, that it’s such a difficult thing to overcome. Now I’m not saying, never talk to another person about your problems, or never share on social media your trials. I’m saying go to God first, worship, release that hurt and pain, then go to trusted friends and family. Go to them not seeking pity, but seeking to build each other up. Use social media to tell the world it’s possible to overcome, not woe is me. Worship changes things, don’t neglect a time of worship!

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Worship Away The Pain!

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Bring Your Best

22 And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the Lord—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.” 23 Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.” 24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” ~ 1 Chronicles 21:22-24

How often do we bring offerings that cost us nothing, and expect God to move mountains for us? We don’t want to be uncomfortable or be put out in order to give God what He deserves. We will settle for less than the very minimum so that we can ease our conscience and continue on with our lives. We expect God to do great things for us, to have mercy on us, to show us favor and grace, yet we never want to step out and give God our best. We never want to sacrifice our flesh for God. Sacrifice our time. Sacrifice our food. Our music. We want our cake and eat it too.

Stop settling for the bare minimum. You want to see great things happen? Then you need to do great things. You need to sacrifice your time. Your food. Your flesh. Your music. You have to bring your very best when you come before the altar of God. Don’t be fooled by the idea that God is just a genie waiting for you to make a request. Sure He desires you to come before Him, to make your requests known to Him, but not empty-handed. Not without bringing something first for Him. Bring your offerings and sacrifices that cost you something.

Too often we are like Cain, we bring whatever falls off the tree and expect God to be excited and thankful for some dropped fruit. We need to be like Abel, who brought his very best. He brought the first and gave it to God. We see the Abels of the world being accepted, and we become envious. Instead of us giving our best and doing what we know we need to do, we focus on the Abels, and we try to destroy them, in turn destroying ourselves. Don’t look at others and their rewards, you never know what they sacrificed to get it. Bring your own sacrifices, your own offerings to the Altar of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Bring Your Best.

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Understand Authority

5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. ~ Matthew 8:5-13

The Centurion didn’t personally know Jesus. He didn’t sit and have multiple conversations with Jesus. He only knew of His power. He knew of His authority. He understood His authority. Why? Because the Centurion had authority as well, so he knew how it worked. Before even meeting Jesus, he had faith because he understood authority.

Do we understand authority? Or does doubt overcome us, by squashing our faith? We read scriptures about Jesus’ name. We hear stories of the miraculous still being done in today’s world by the authority of His name. But we doubt. We don’t believe that these things are possible, yet we know Him. We allow our religiosity to get in the way and blind us from the relationship. The relationship didn’t suddenly weaken because the apostles died. The relationship didn’t suddenly dry up because the Bible was finally finished. The relationship still has the potential of being strong. Stronger than ever.

God promised in the last days He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. If Jesus was coming soon 2,000 years ago, would it be crazy to believe that these are the last days now? Why would we doubt that greatness can happen in our time? Jesus said we would do what He did and more. So why do we settle for nothing? Why do we settle for no miracles?

The faith of a mustard seed could cause a mountain to jump. Strengthen your faith for the impossible to happen. Strengthen your faith to do what not even Jesus did. It’s not pride, because it’s not by our power. It’s His power. It’s by the Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus. We just have to stop looking at the Bible as a historical document from the past, and start looking at it as a blueprint to the beginning of the future. Just because something wasn’t recorded in the Bible, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible to achieve. You have to build your faith, not your religion.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Understand Authority

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Seek The Right Counsel

“1 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, 2 and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. 3 And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. 4 And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. 5 And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. 6 And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. 7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 8 So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.” ~ Genesis 41:1-8

Just like Pharaoh sought the answer to his dreams from magicians and wise men, we seek counsel from everyone who is not God. We always go searching for answers in places where answers cannot be found.

We seek out counsel from ungodly people, from people who are not believers, from people who are spiritually asleep, when the true answer can only come from God. Just as the magicians and wise men had no answer for Pharaoh, neither do the people who we seek and ask. The only one who can help us with our troubles, the only one who can show us the truth is God.

And just as God spoke through Joseph, He still speaks through other people as well. He may not answer you directly, but He will answer you, you just have to be listening to the right source of information. God will never leave you hanging. He will never leave you on read. He will never abandon you. God won’t always show up the way you expect. Sometimes He’ll show up in the most unexpected way or place, but He promises that His sheep know His voice. We are His sheep, and He is our Shepherd, trust that you know His voice.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek The Right Counsel.

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Hold To The Promise

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” ~ Proverbs 22:6

Train your child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they won’t depart from it. From a young age teach your children to honor, respect, follow, serve, and fear God, and when they are old, they will continue in those ways. Teach them to read the Bible. Teach them to memorize scripture. Teach them to stand up for what is right. Teach them to believe in themselves. Teach them to trust God. Teach them to have respect for all people. Teach them to value life. And when they’re grown and move out, they won’t stray from those teachings.

If you’ve done that and your child seems farther from God than ever before, don’t be discouraged, hold to this promise. They may be going through a time of rebellion or straying from the path, but if you continue in prayer and faith, your child will return to the Truth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hold To The Promise.

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Test Your Faith

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” ~ Daniel 3:16-18

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the statue set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. That took a whole ‘nother level of faith to stand in front of the fiery furnace, feel the heat resonating off of it, and still refuse to bow to the statue. That’s faith to the death. Do we have that kind of faith today? Do we have the faith to say, “I know you’re capable, but even if you don’t my hope is in you alone”?

Who does your hope lie in? Where do you place your trust? If you don’t get that promotion, are you still going to put your trust in God? If you don’t get that job you want, are you still going to put your trust in God? If you’re held at gunpoint and told to deny that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, are you still going to trust in God? Times are coming when our faith is going to be tested beyond what we can imagine. We think that because we live in societies that are free, that freedom will always be there. We think that because we live in societies that still hold to the traditions of religion, that religion won’t be changed. We live in little bubbles that never test our faith, so our faith never grows.

Imagine if tomorrow the world completely lost its mind and got rid of all religions except one false one. Imagine if they built a statue and told you to bow to it or lose your life. Would you be able to stand? Would you be like those three young Hebrew boys, or would you give in to fear because your faith wasn’t strong enough? Take the time of freedom to build your faith because no one knows what tomorrow may bring. Jesus said we would see tribulation like never before, is the Church ready for this? Or have we become so lukewarm we no longer hold to what Jesus said, but to what we feel we deserve to happen.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Test Your Faith.

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Have Faith

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hand.” ~ 1 Samuel 17:45-47

The battle belongs to the LORD. David knew who he served. How? Because he had quiet time. He killed the lion. He killed the bear. He knew who God was, is, and is to come. David didn’t look at the size of the giant or his weapons. He looked at the LORD and saw how glorious, all-powerful, and amazing He is. He had faith.

We look at our giants, and we look at their weapons, but we never look at God. We forget who God is because we don’t take the time to build a strong, steady relationship with Him. We don’t take the time to become friends of God. David was so close to God that when he saw a giant who was raised to fight, he didn’t shudder, he didn’t doubt, he didn’t cower in fear, he stood strong. He stood proud. He stood in the power of Almighty God. Sometimes we allow our heads to get too big for our britches. If David had stood before Goliath and said, “I killed the lion. I killed the bear. And I can kill you.” Who knows how this story would have ended. David didn’t walk in his own strength but in the strength of Almighty God. He knew who God was, and he knew what God could do through him. He had faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Have Faith.

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Grow Your Faith

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” ~ Hebrews 11:1

We always speak on faith, but do we actually know what faith is? Hebrews 11:1 defines faith for us, but do we truly understand it? Faith is knowing that what you hoped for, what you prayed for, will come to pass. It’s the conviction of things not seen. Even though we have never seen Christ in the flesh, we have a conviction that He was, He is, and He will be. That’s what faith is. Faith is knowing that something is true, without actually having to see it with your own two eyes.

Faith is what draws us closer to God because through faith, we are saved. Through faith, we are redeemed. Through faith, we are healed. Through faith, we seek. Through faith, we draw near. Faith is our connection to God. Faith is believing without seeing. But how can you do that? How can you believe without seeing? You stop doubting and start trusting. You stop saying that the branch can hold you, and you walk out on to the branch confident it can hold you. You stop holding back from serving God wholeheartedly, and you allow yourself to jump in headfirst. Read your Bible, pray, worship, and hear the Word of The LORD. That’s how you build a relationship with God, which is the only way you can grow your faith.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Grow Your Faith.

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