The Kind Words of a Stranger

As my friends and I were walking through the school parking lot one afternoon, a young man stopped us and told us, “Hey, I don’t mean to bother you guys, but The Holy Spirit was convicting my heart to speak to you all and tell you that Jesus loves you”. Me, of course with my “stranger-danger” mentality, I thanked him and told him that he just so happened to be talking to Christ followers. Almost as if to say, “You are wasting your time my friend! Tell that to someone who doesn’t know Jesus and really needs to hear it”. Then he said something that made my day! “Well, the Spirit confirmed with me that He wanted me to speak to you guys. He wanted me to tell you that understanding is on the way”. With just a few simple words, this young man almost floored me! As cliché as that may seem, The Lord knew I needed to hear those words. As we got to talking some more, I felt the anointing and the presence of the Holy Spirit on this young man. He then proceeded to pray for us, even as cars were passing us by (probably thinking we were nuts). I remember leaving that conversation on such a spiritual high and feeling like I was on cloud nine! That was one of the most spiritual encounters I have had in a long time! It’s important to note that the conversation with this young man did not take away all my problems (trust me, the struggle is still very real), but it reminded me that no matter what I may be going through, no matter how difficult or frustrating my situation may be, God is always there! He sees my frustrations, and He cares enough to send me people like that who are going to remind me to keep pressing forward! 

With that being said, I wanted to encourage some of you who may be feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, or even spiritually frustrated, low, and/or stressed. I know it may not seem like it and this may not be what you want to hear right now, but I believe that through our trials, we discover our strength and develop the most as a person. James writes, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4 NLT). It may seem ridiculous to read the words “troubles” and “great joy” in the same sentence, but the key word here is “endurance”. Sometimes, the healing process could be just as painful as the wound because you are taking something that was once broken, and making it whole again. As hard as it may seem, God just wants you to TRUST HIM! I know for a fact this is a lot easier said than done! As stubborn and impatient as I can be, I have struggled with perseverance myself. However, it is because I have experienced the results of perseverance in my own life that I am able to sit here today and tell you that it will be worth it, you just may not see the big picture at this very moment. There is a saying that says, “God gives the hardest battles to His strongest soldiers”. So if your situation seems impossible, I encourage you to think of it this way: God thought you were so STRONG, He gave you the hardest battle because He knew you could get through it with Him! The CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE believes in you that much! I promise you, with faith, you WILL see your situation come to pass! Stay Strong! 

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12 NLT).

Season of Growth

Life happens in what the Bible refers to as seasons. Rather than just looking at life as merely seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years passing by, life is looked at as periods of love, laughter, pain, anger, learning, experiences, etc. These past few months, I've realized that I am personally in a season of growth. By this, I simply mean as I read the Word, serve in the house of the Lord regularly, and grow in my faith, God has been teaching me, molding me, stretching me, and opening my eyes to things I didn't see before. He is making me into a new person! He is removing the things in me that are keeping me from reaching my full potential and destiny. While I was talking about this to a good friend of mine, she directed me to Psalm 25 (which is quite long for purposes of this blog so I will not post the whole thing, therefore I encourage you to look it up if you wish) which is basically a poem of David about the Lord guiding you in the right direction and teaching you the way of truth. When I heard this Psalm, I related to it immediately because I felt that this is exactly what I am going through right now. 

With that being said, I wanted to encourage some of those who maybe going through this same season or maybe a similar situation. Whether you are experiencing it in your relationships, in your job or school, or even in your faith, know that God would not be molding you or stretching you if He was not preparing you for something great! I know this season is not the easiest season to be in because, well to be honest, being stretched HURTS sometimes! I know it’s not fun to be pushed beyond your normal limits, to step out of your comfort zone, or to be disciplined in something, but know that God is doing it to benefit you, not to harm you and He is going to bless you because of it! There is no growth without change! “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11 ESV). I want to challenge you to stay consistent in your faith and prayer. Know that the hurt will not last forever! Even when it is confusing and you don't understand why you are being tested, rest assured that there is a reason for it! "For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing" (James 1:3-4 NLT). You will be able to use what you are learning and experiencing now in the future, you just can't see it now because you can't see the big picture. Pretty soon, God is going to reveal Himself to you and you will understand why you are going through what you are going through! Remember, God would not but you in the race if He knew you could not make it to the finish line! Stay Strong! 

For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child. (Hebrews 12:6 NLT)

God's Army

If you will allow me to, let's have a moment of honesty! Anyone who knows me knows I HAD to write an entry on this! I just recently saw some amazing movies this week. One of these movies of course was God's Not Dead. This movie got me fired up about defending God's glory and power, even in our modern day society! The funny thing is defending the Christian lifestyle has been a heavy subject in my life lately. It seems that as I draw closer and closer to God, the people around me understand me less and less. Not that these people became horrible people or I became better than them, we just don't seem to see eye to eye on certain things anymore. I am talking about people who have known me for many years, even my whole life! I believe what they fail to understand is that I am no longer who I use to be, but I am a newly transformed person in Christ. "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT). At first glance, this may seem like a bad thing, but I chose to take a positive perspective on the situation. After all, I kinda saw this coming. Jesus himself said, “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household! If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it" (Matthew 10:34-39 NLT). This is not to say that I should view or treat these people differently because we don't see eye to eye, but that we simply agree to disagree and continue to love each other no matter what. Sometimes, the best argument is not to argue at all, but to lead by example, pray for them, and let God do the rest! 

Friends, it's important to understand that through your walk as a Christ-follower, you are going to have people in your life who are going to question why you do the things you do, say the things you say, or think the way you think. Just look at Jesus! Pharisees and scholars questioned Jesus all the time and He was even scorned by the ones He came to save! Personally, I enjoy interacting with these particular people because they help me grow in my faith by teaching me what I need to know to defend it! However, if you don't know the word or are not strong in your faith, the enemy can use these people to bring you down and make you doubt yourself and even God! If the movie taught me anything, it's that God deserves followers who are going to defend His honor, proclaim His power in their lives, and not be afraid to be a representation of His love to others, even in the most unlikely circumstances! Not that God needs us, but He chooses us and uses us to go out into the world and be bold about our faith because He was bold enough to sacrifice His only son for US, even when we didn't deserve it! Do not place anyone above God in your life! Let us dare to be bold enough to display the love Jesus displayed for us EVERYWHERE we go and in EVERYTHING we do! Let us join God's Army and do our part to make sure future generations still know who God is! Stay Strong! 

Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33 NLT)

The Enemy

This week has been quite a challenging week for me. The enemy was attacking me with full force and truly testing my patience! Therefore, I wanted to briefly talk about the enemy and who he really is, that way someone reading this won't fall into his trap and can handle anything he may try to throw their way. I feel that most people have a huge misinterpretation on who the enemy is. They hear the word "devil" or "Satan" and they think of a burning red-suited demon with a pitchfork and horns coming out of his head. The truth is Satan was one of God's trusted angels that was cast out of heaven for his pride! Satan despised God so much that he figured, the best way to get back at God is to hurt the one thing God loves the most, His children! The devil is a master of disguise and knows how to use the word, your situation, and even the people around you to bring you down and away from God. "These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 NLT). 

The enemy tries to convince us to believe lies like, "You are not good enough", "You can't do that", "So-and-so is so much better than you", "You will never have those things", "You should just quit now while you're still ahead", "God is not really there and even if He was, He certainly doesn't care". The enemy doesn't want you to be happy and he certainly doesn't want you to have what God plans for you! He wants you to doubt God and yourself! The enemy has been using the same tricks of temptation and doubt since the beginning of mankind because he knows what works! Unfortunately for the enemy, him using the same tricks means that we are able to recognize his tricks and know how to resist them! "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure" (1 Corinthians 10:13). Fortunately for us, Jesus came down and defeated the enemy on our behalf! When Jesus died on the cross for us, the enemy no longer had the power to take God's children away from Him! That's why the enemy tries to get into your head because he knows he can not take you away from God, so he tries to make YOU walk away yourself! You have the power and the resources to resist the enemy through Christ! You have the power to look the enemy in the face and declare, "You have no authority to take my joy, my strength, or my life!" My friends, rest assured and rejoice in the fact that the battle has already been fought and WON by our Savior , Jesus Christ! Don't let the enemy rob you of fulfilling your destiny. Know the Word so that the enemy can't use it against you! The most important thing I have learned about the enemy is when he attacks someone with full force, it's because he is afraid of what they are capable of and what God has in store for them! Stay Strong! 

Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen. (2 Timothy 4:18 NLT)