Tag: Food For Growth

John 15:1-2 CSB

[1]  I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. [2] Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.

As I continue my journey, I found focusing on myself and less on others an instrumental part of growth. Now, on the surface, that sounds selfish, so let me further explain. When things happened, such as an argument or hurt feelings, or any negative situation, when I prayed about it or thought about it, everything was focused on what the other person did to me and their behavior. This just caused more and more resentment and anger in me. Why? Because I was focusing on that person and their actions instead of focusing on myself.

See, you can’t control how someone else will act, respond, or even treat you. You have no control over anyone but yourself. So, instead of my thoughts and prayers focused and centered around the other person, I make myself the center. If I’m hurting, I say, “LORD, I’m hurting. Please comfort me.” If I’m angry, I breathe in then out and say, “LORD, I’m angry. Please calm my spirit.” I don’t focus on how I’ve been wronged or mistreated. Instead, I focus on moving forward and the first step is fixing my mood. So that’s exactly what I do.

The more I do this, the more I feel genuine joy, peace, and comfort. Why? Because I’m no longer dwelling on how I’ve been wronged. Instead, I’m turning the other cheek, forgiving, letting go, and moving forward. Matter-of-fact, I find myself not getting angry, upset, annoyed, frustrated, or hurt by things people do that used to really bother me. The more I focus on me, the more God fixes me. The more God fixes me, the more I feel His love, and in return, the more I love. The more I love Him, the more I love life, and the more I love those around me.

This life we have is very short. It can all be over in the blink of an eye, so don’t live it focusing on the wrong that’s been done to you. Use it to focus on yourself and how you can love so that your life might consist of more love, joy, and peace.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Shift The Focus To Yourself.

[13] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”  [14] Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.  [15] Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” [16] But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 
(James 4:13-16) CSB

I bet you did not realize that God considered it boasting to say that you’re going to do such and such, in such and such place, at such and such time.

God considers it boasting because you’re actually bragging that that is what you’re going to do. When in reality, God holds your very breath in His hands. It is only by His tender mercy and His great grace that we are even saved.

Jesus gave up all of heaven and was obedient to the Father. Now, He expects us to be submissive and to be obedient to Him as well. So, the next time you’re talking about a future event, you need to say, “If God is willing.”

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. ~ 1 Peter 2:11-12

Peter writes, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles…” A sojourner is one who is just passing through. For them, it’s just a short stay, like a vacation or a short stopover. That is who we Christians are. We are aliens here on this earth because we are not of this world; we have been redeemed out of the world by the blood of the Lamb. So, we live like this is not our home because it is not. John said that this world is passing away along with its desires (1 John 2:17). This world is temporary; therefore, we Christians do not get attached to this world. We do not love the things of this, nor do we put our hope in the things of this world. We put our hope in Jesus. We look to Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Our focus is on doing God’s will because there are greater things in store for those who put their faith, trust, and hope in Jesus.

The world’s passions are passing away, John said, that is why Peter encourages us to abstain from the passions of the flesh, because the passions of the flesh come from the passions of this world, and they wage war against our soul. Meaning that they separate us from our Savior. The passions of the flesh causes us to stray and wander away from the will of our God. We don’t partake in the things of the flesh because they defile us. Rather, we keep our conduct honorable and pleasing to God. We keep our deeds good, walking righteously with our God. And even though evildoers may slander us, they cannot deny our good deeds, they may hate us for our good deeds, but they cannot deny our good deeds and will glorify God on the day of His visitation.

There is coming a day when Jesus will break the eastern sky on His way back to get us, and His return is very near. Therefore, we must hold on to the things of God so that unbelievers will see our good works and glorify our God on that day. So, be encouraged, Jesus loves you. He is coming back for you. He will not leave you here forever but will come and take you to be with Him so that where He is, there we will be also, forever and ever.

Father, thank You for loving me. Thank You for always watching over me. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to die for me. Help me to do good deeds and act pleasing and according to Your will, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Proverbs 28:27 CSB

[27] The one who gives to the poor will not be in need, but one who turns his eyes away will receive many curses.

I heard a preacher once say that giving to the poor doesn’t come with any increase or a blessing, but only tithe does. Now, I’m not anti-tithe. I tithe every month faithfully, as I believe all believers should, but I do have a problem with this teaching. Everything we do has either a reward or a punishment that we can expect in return. Each and every action we make is sowing seeds. When we give to God, we’re sowing seeds of obedience, and we will reap a reward. When we give to those in need, we’re sowing seeds of charity, and we will reap a reward. When we’re stingy with our money and we don’t give to anyone, not even God we are sowing seeds of selfishness.

Each seed bares a tree of either blessings or curses. Yes, there is a blessing that comes when you tithe, but there is a blessing that comes with giving to those in need as well. The LORD blesses those who want to be a blessing to others. Our cup doesn’t pour over just so that we can’t contain it and it goes to waste, but so that we can bless others around us as well.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Sow Seeds of Blessings.

Ezekiel 9:3-7 CSB

[3] Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherub where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man clothed in linen and carrying writing equipment. [4] “Pass throughout the city of Jerusalem,” the Lord said to him, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the detestable practices committed in it.” [5] He spoke to the others in my hearing: “Pass through the city after him and start killing; do not show pity or spare them! [6] Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, as well as the children and older women, but do not come near anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple. [7] Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out killing people in the city.

If you’ve been in the church for a little bit, you’ll hear the words “Age of Accountability.” It’s the idea that children are spared by age, regardless of actions or beliefs because they don’t know any better. This Age of Accountability can be anywhere from 7-12 years of age. Here’s the thing though, no where in Scripture will you find any verse in support of this belief.

When the LORD saw the defilement of His people and He was prepared to pour out His wrath on them, what did He do? He killed all who didn’t groan over the detestable practices committed by others. This wasn’t just any random action, this is a foreshadowing of the coming end. When God will separate those who follow Him from those who do not. And who is still judged? Children.

Now, children could mean any age under the age of an adult, right? God uses the Hebrew word “טַף (ṭǎp̄)” which means: little children, e., offspring that are young and not yet able to easily walk long distances, nor fully developed in their moral values.

These are children of all ages. According to The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Press, 2017, normally) prepubescent person of either sex; in rare cases extending to adolescence. These are children before the ages of 11,12, and 13. God didn’t spare them. Why? Because “… man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Therefore, the LORD can see what is in the hearts of all. He can see whether there is evil or there is good. Whether there is righteousness or unrighteousness. Darkness or Light. God sees all and nothing is hidden from Him.

Therefore, raise up your children in the right way. Prepare them for trying times so that they might love good and not evil. So that they might rejoice in all Truth. Don’t wait for them to grow older after they’ve lived their lives however they wanted for so many years. You raise them up as a child so that they might have a firm foundation to fall back onto.

¹ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ~ Genesis 1:1

There is only one God, and there is only one beginning. The word translated beginning is the Hebrew word (rē(ʾ)·šîṯ), which means, what is first. When the Bible says in the beginning, it is referring to the beginning of all things, and not the beginning of God. God, Himself, has no beginning. He always was and always will be. Now, concerning the beginning of all created things, there is only one beginning for us, when God said let there be, even for light. God did not create something and then it all went bad, and then He had to start all over again. If so, there would be two beginnings, but as it is, there is only one beginning. That is why God said that In the Beginning, God Created … There were six literal 24-hour days where God created everything that was created in the heavens and on the earth.

Therefore, before God created the heavens and the earth, there was nothing except God Himself. God spoke everything into being. He spoke, and it was. When it came to man on the sixth day, however, God got His hands dirty, so to speak, as He knelt and took dirt and made a mud man. Shaped him into what we see here and then breathed the breath of life into him, and he became a living being. God is the beginning of all things and the end of all things. All things were created by Him, and for Him, and in Him all things consist. We are His, and now, through the cross, He is ours.

Father, thank You for molding us into Your image and likeness. Thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your only begotten Son to die on the cross of Calvary to redeem us from death caused by sin. Help me to live for You in this New Year so that whatever I do and whatever I say may all be pleasing to You, O LORD, my God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Proverbs 21:9, 19 CSB
[9] Better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.
[19] Better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

I saw a short (a video that lasts a minute or less) the other day with a woman saying that one of the most demonic phrases we have today is “happy wife, happy life.” Now, personally, when I heard that, I thought that was an odd phrase to choose as the most demonic, but I tried to hear her out. She went on to say that you’re speaking things over your life, and now you’re walking on eggshells around your wife. And I thought, that’s not at all what that saying or phrase means.

“Happy wife, happy life” means that as a husband, if you take care of your wife, she will take care of you. I heard a man put it this way “Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of [poop]!”

In other words, if you have a happy wife, then you will have a happy life. The Bible confirms this by saying that a man who finds a wife finds a good thing. But it doesn’t just stop there because it clarifies what kind of wife. A happy wife because a grumpy, nagging, angry wife is worse than living alone in the wilderness. What’s Solomon saying? I believe he’s saying happy wife, happy life. That encompasses different things.

You and your wife have to be in love. Today, love is defined by saying “love is love” therefore, we never truly know what love is. We can’t define it. We can’t explain it. We don’t truly know what it is. We believe it’s something we can fall in and out of, when in actuality love is a house you enter in and then commit to never leave.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay In The House.

² The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. ~ Isaiah 9:2

During this Christmas season, when we are surrounded by the lights on the trees, homes, and bushes, let us not forget the true Light of Christmas. Jesus came to earth to be the Light of the World. He came first to the Jews to honor His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then, He shone His light into the entire world. His coming wasn’t just for the Jews but for all of mankind. All of us were once walking in darkness, but now, all of us have been given the opportunity to see the Light of Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look To The True Light.