Tag: Spiritual

Posted on

Don’t Waste This Birthday

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. ~ 2 Chronicles 7:13-15

15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. ~ Matthew 7:15-20

250 years ago, a new country was born. One built on the belief that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness by their Creator. Men and women willingly gave up their status, wealth, homes, and their very lives in order to ensure that the United States of America would be free from the tyranny of the British crown. 250 years later, there are those who try their best to take these rights away from us each and every day, as they pretend to be acting in our best interests.

They say they are for the people, yet do their best to take away the rights of the people. America wasn’t built in one day. It wasn’t just born out of thin air. It was built on the sacrifice of the brave men and women who wanted a better life for themselves, their children, and their children’s children. They were willing to lose everything, as long as it meant they had freedom. Today, we desire the opposite. We’re willing to sacrifice our freedom for the sake of convenience and empty promises.

The world has dramatically changed in the past 250 years. We’ve become comfortable in our privileges and rights. We’ve become spiritually dead because we don’t know what it’s like to not have the freedom of religion. The freedom of assembly. The freedom of speech. So, we’ve become docile to the point of deep slumber. And as we’ve slept, the wolves have descended. They’re wide awake, taking away everything from us. Even the simplest of things such as the right to collect rainwater.

The enemy will continue to run rampant, as long as the Church remains asleep. As long as we refuse to do anything. 250 years ago, our forefathers risked their lives and all that they had; what are we willing to risk to defend our freedoms? To ensure that our children and our children’s children grow up in a better world than we did? Will we get up a little earlier in the morning to pray? Will we spend a little extra time in our Bibles seeking wisdom from God? Will we begin to spiritually invade the enemy’s camp through prayer, fasting, worship, and time with our God?

Today is America’s 250th birthday. It’s a day that we remember, celebrate, and commemorate the birth of this beautiful nation, but let it also be a day of prayer that it might remember its God and renew its dedication to Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Waste This Birthday.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Seek Out Knowledge

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. ~ Hosea 4:6

3 [Jesus] answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” ~ Matthew 15:3

The more negative comments we receive on our website, the more I realize that the source of these comments is from a place of ignorance. One of the biggest problems in the Church is one that plagued ancient Israel as well, the lack of knowledge. We go based on human tradition instead of the Word of God. Instead of studying the Word of God to show ourselves approved, we ignore Bible verses and stories because they contradict what our tradition says. It contradicts our preconceived notions.

God looked out over His people and said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” I don’t think today is any different. Actually, I think it’s worse. The Bible is accessible in paper and digital form. It is translated into hundreds of languages. There’s really no excuse why we should remain willfully ignorant about the things of God.

So, what’s holding us back? Is it spiritual laziness? Pride, because we don’t want to be wrong? What’s keeping us from growing in the faith? The book of Hebrews chastises the Hebrew people by saying, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food” (Hebrews 5:12). The Hebrew people had been separated and made special because of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God made Himself known to them. Gave them promises. Gave them revelation and prophecy that He didn’t give to others, yet when the Messiah came, they missed Him. When the Holy Spirit came, they didn’t grow.

The Church has been given so much opportunity to grow. We’ve had revival after revival, yet we drop the ball and remain on milk. We rarely ever make it to solid food. To meat. Why? Ask yourself, what’s holding you back? What’s keeping you from growing in the faith?

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James 1:5

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek Out Knowledge.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Cast The First Stone

38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. ~ Luke 6:38

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” ~ Matthew 25:31-46

I watched a short of a guy who dumpster-dives behind large companies like GameStop, Goodwill, Lowe’s, Burlington Coat Factory, etc. In the video, he showed the dumpster outside of Bath and Body Works. There were two large garbage bags full of unsold soaps, lotions, candles, etc., but when he opened the bags, he found that every single soap and lotion had been emptied out into the bags, and the candles were all destroyed. Instead of Bath and Body Works donating the unsold items or even just leaving them in the bags and not destroying them, they made sure no one could use them. There are homeless shelters, women’s shelters, and other non-profits that could have put those items to good use.

Bath and Body Works is a multi-billion-dollar company. If you go on their website and look at their “Values” page, the first thing you see is the statement “Because doing the right thing is our thing,” yet they destroy perfectly good products that didn’t sell instead of donating them to those in need. If you keep reading, you’ll see the statements “Be Generous” and “Be Accountable,” yet they don’t care about those in need in their own communities.

It’s easy to make all of these statements online, but it’s much harder to put them into practice when Mammon is your god. See, Mammon is just money-hungry, obsessed greed. The kind of greed that would rather throw away than let someone else benefit from it. The kind of greed that doesn’t care about those in need. We, as Christians, are called to not overlook those in need in our communities. We’re to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and help the needy.

We don’t have to go without in order to give, because the LORD promised to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. So, when you see someone in need, don’t be like these big corporations that only talk the talk but don’t actually walk the walk. Give a dollar to the beggar on the street, or better yet, offer to buy them a hot meal. Donate something you no longer use to a non-profit that helps your community, or a few spare dollars. Be Christ to the world, and maybe with these small little actions we can see an extreme change just like Christ saw. Just like the early Church saw.

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.

Mother Theresa

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cast The First Stone.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Fight The Cravings

Numbers 11:4-6 ESV

[4] Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. [6] But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

Whenever we read about the Israelites leaving Egypt and going into the wilderness, we often judge them. We look at them without sympathy, not realizing that we, the Church, are very similar to them, almost no different at all. Today, we aren’t being delivered from physical slavery, but spiritual slavery, and yet even after freedom, we willingly return to slavery because it’s easier.

Here’s what I mean. This life is hard. There are obstacles, hills, valleys, enemies, and once you follow Christ, you have your flesh against you as well. No longer do you have the meats, spices, fish, herbs, and other cravings you did while in slavery. Instead, now you have to fight those cravings. You have to go through a time of detox as the desires try to overtake you. It’s difficult. The length of the detox from these things you previously indulged in is uncertain. It feels like it’ll never end. Like you will never have peace or satisfaction again.

So, many of us return to slavery. We return to a life that leads to death as long as our flesh is satisfied. We, the Church today, are no different than the Israelites after leaving Egypt. Only 2 from that generation made it into the Promised Land, and our generation of the Church is prophesied to be spit out of the mouth of Christ. Those are discouraging odds, unless we decide to make a change today. Unless we decide to give up our cravings for the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. It isn’t easy, but the cravings of the world will die and no longer have its grip on you like it once did. How? By crucifying your flesh daily. By building your Spirit-Man through prayer, fasting, worship, and reading your Bible. And when the Good LORD returns for His people, you will enter a Promised Land like never before.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fight The Cravings.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Pray For Their Deliverance

23 One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. ~ Proverbs 29:23

The more you post online, the more trolls you will attract. Why? Because whenever you begin to succeed in something (regardless of what it is), the enemy tries to attack you and tear you down. The enemy doesn’t want you to succeed in anything. He came to steal, kill, and destroy. That is his nature. So, he uses people around you or even complete strangers in order to try to stop you from moving forward and growing. Today, I was hit with two insulting and rude comments. I usually ignore them and go about my day, but recently I decided that ignoring is just enabling, so I started calling out bad behavior.

One responded out of anger and was so full of hatred that it was actually blatant that he didn’t just hate me, but hated God as well. The other responded as if they were trying to help, be encouraging, and support us, while throwing in more and more subtle insults as they shifted the blame. The more they commented, the more I recognized the real issue: they’re a narcissist who hates to be corrected. These are the kind that are the most dangerous.

They will insult you and then pretend it’s all jokes. If you correct them, they will not only lash out but also blame you all while playing the victim. So, what are we to do? Correct and place them before, but always be careful to correct in love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray For Their Deliverance.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Keep Standing

Revelation 3:15-16 NKJV

[15] I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. [16] So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

I watched a video the other day of men who had been standing for over a decade straight. They refused to sit down. One man’s feet had gone black and were swollen large. Others would come and clean them for him and put ointment and treatment on them. The reason for refusing to sit? The believed they will see their god Shiva, and that is their hearts’ desire.

They’re willing to give up everything, including their very limbs for the sake of possibly seeing their god. Our God dwells in us, gave up His life for us, yet we won’t even sacrifice a little “me time” to meet with Him. He doesn’t even demand such extremes to see Him; all we have to do is call on His name and He will come to us.

As Christians, we’re lazy. We refuse to do what we need to do in order to see our God. The Living God. The Almighty God. The God of all gods. He doesn’t even ask that much of us. Spend time with Him. Read and study His Word. Pray and worship. Come together in fellowship with other believers. Give up this world. There’s people who refuse to sit. Refuse to put their arm down. Refuse to eat in hopes of seeing their god. They truly believe. They are true seekers. True believers. They are filled with passion. Why?

Because they don’t have the same grace we do. And we, as Christians, take advantage of it. We use it up and act as if it’s our get out of jail free card. As if we have no standard to measure up to. We act like the Nicolatians who sinned all the more because of grace. This is not the way. We have to become passionate for God, lest we fall deeper into lukewarmness and be spewed out of His mouth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Keep Standing.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

What Are You Obsessed With?

20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. ~ Galatians 2:20NKJV

Paul was completely obsessed with the things of God. His every purpose, his every move, his every decision was based on…: “What would Jesus have me do?” We have to understand that obsession shapes our thoughts, dreams, hopes, and vision. Obsession consumes us in every way; in fact, it’s what gives life to our ambitions in life! They are what define us.

What are you obsessed with? What drives you? If Scripture puts you to sleep every time you read it, you’re not obsessed. If Church bores you, you’re not obsessed. What we are obsessed with will tell us our spiritual temperature. It’ll let us know whether we are hot, cold, or lukewarm. Christ was obsessed with us. It’s what kept Him on the cross when He could have gotten off. When He could have saved Himself. When He could have called twelve legions of angels to His rescue. Christ was obsessed with His creation. What are you obsessed with?

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Build Honest Wealth

Luke 16:10-13 NKJV

[10] He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. [11] Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?[13] “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

I recently got a request for a Switch 2 console. This is a little harder to find, as it just came out. But I started hunting one down and came across some by another seller I know, I’ve spent a couple hundred well buying stuff from him, so I figured maybe he’d cut me some slack or something. But I wasn’t gonna ask for special treatment, so I simply asked what kinda trade were you looking for in return for the Switch 2. His response shook me. He said that this kinda trade wouldn’t really be for me as he expects $700-$800 worth of consoles and games. Let me put it into perspective for you. The Switch 2 can be bought brand new from Nintendo themselves for $499.99 right now with a free game. This genuinely upset me. I’m all for making a profit but not like this.

This to me is Mammon. No longer caring about your fellow man and only about profit. He explained he liked to keep same and then sell the rest to get his money back. With $700-$800 worth of stuff, you’re more than getting your money back, you’re now taking advantage of people who don’t know any better. I decided in that moment I’d never buy from him or work with him again. This Isn’t the kinda seller I wanna be like or learn from. This is the kind of seller that gives other sellers a bad name. We all need to make money but not by taking advantage of others. We should never keep someone else down to push ourselves up. That’s how the wicked prospers and their end is destruction and death. Therefore, don’t be like them. You can’t take that money with you, so don’t let it take your eternity.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build Honest Wealth.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Stir To More

Romans 11:29 NKJV

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Use it, or lose it.” But when it comes to God’s gifts and calling, that saying does not apply. What God has given you cannot be lost or revoked. Paul encourages his young protégé, Timothy, to “stir up the gift of God which is in you.” (2 Timothy 1:6).

We need to do the same thing—we must stir up the gifts given to us. Just as natural talents and skills are sharpened through training, practice, and repetition, spiritual gifts are activated the same way—by putting our faith into action.

We will never see the sick healed if we never pray for the sick. We will never exercise authority over demons if we never act in faith in the Name of Jesus when those situations arise.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stir To More.

Like and Share This:
Posted on

Irrevocable Gifts of God

Every single one of us has been given at least one spiritual gift to build up the body of Christ. In other words, no one lacks a place in the body of Christ (in the Church). Every single willing soul has a place and a God-given purpose; we just need to discover it and activate it. What if we once had a gift, but stopped using it? Has it now vanished? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he reminds us that God’s promises never fail in his message, Irrevocable Gifts of God.

Like and Share This:
Proudly powered by WordPress