To Thine Own Faith Be True: Why are we willing to sell our souls for the sake of conformity?

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Bible, christianity, church, Death, Encouragement, homosexuality, Love, lyrics, peace, Pink, pop culture, relationships, salvation, self esteem

Some of my more conservative acquaintances give me funny looks when I say I like Pink (the pop singer). Sometimes I think she is the more liberal, paler version of myself. If you are not familiar with this artist, I’ll give you a brief description. She is the blonde pop singer who pretty much rejected the typical Hollywood and music industry image that was given to her and decided to go her own way. Her record label had tried to make her like Brittany Spears, plastic surgeries, dolly images and all. But Pink refused to conform and stayed true to herself. She is a white girl with the short blonde hair, no implants and short skirts. Her music is mostly about what she feels and believes. And once Pink decided to be true to herself, her music career exploded. She is now a multimillionaire!

Now, as most of you know, I am not a multimillionaire. I am not a blonde. But what I like about this woman is that she in a way, represents what we Christians should do in our own lives. One of my favorite Pink songs is the radio version of Raise Your Glass. Check out the lyrics:

Raise your glass if you are wrong

in all the right ways

all my underdogs

we will never be, never be

anything but loud

and nitty gritty

dirty little freaks

Won’t you come on, come on and

raise your glass

Just come on and come on and

raise your glass

See, that look on your face right there…is the same look I get when I say this to my conservative Christian friends! But please do, allow me to explain.

I am not all for hard partying and drinking as this may imply. But what I gather from this song is to forget trying to fit in. Don’t you dare allow anyone to steal your joy! Do not conform!

The problem with many of us is that we can’t accept being the “underdog”. We have to be on top. We have to be with the “in” crowd….even if it means selling our very soul. Too many churches have compromised the gospel of Jesus Christ in efforts to fit in. They are more interested in trying to get along with the world. They are more interested in making deals with the devil in exchange for a large building, lots of wealthy members, a cool band and a nice paycheck. They are willing and have chosen to conform to this world.

Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 Some of us try to justify our wrong by saying it is for the sake of peace. What peace will one find on this earth except in Christ Jesus?

Some say, we all worship the same God. My God, my Father would not agree with me holding hands with someone while they pray to the universe or the “blessed mother Mary”. My God is a jealous God. He will not have any other God before Him. And by the way, dear heart, if your God is not the Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died on the cross and rose from the dead after three days for your sins, it is not the same God. If fact, your god is not GOD.

Exodus 34:14

For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

We have decided to embrace homosexuality as the new normal. We have allowed it in our churches and homes as if it is okay. Now, I will say that homosexuals should be welcome in the church. They, like anyone else, should be afforded the right to the gospel. Let’s be clear, this lifestyle is not of God. (I fully intend to touch more on this subject later. Stay tuned) But the church has welcomed this sin into our fellowship to the point where gay men and women are openly leading churches now. And because the world says it is okay, we keep our mouths shut. Again, we have taken the price that Jesus Christ paid for us and marked it REDUCED.

I understand what it is like to be willing to compromise oneself for the affections of another. I once had a guy tell me that he would be more attracted to me if I got implants, wore glasses and wore my hair a certain way. If any of you know me, you know that my first instinct was to rebuke him and tell him where he could go. But what did I do?

I conformed.

I did not get the implants. But I did change my hair. I bought the little reading glasses and tried them. I never told him, but I did it.

Why? I forgot this verse.

Psalms 139:14

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

 I really liked the guy. So, I wanted to fit into his mold. I had forgotten about the mold that God had already custom made for me. I forgot about that person whom God loved and I loved. I wanted this person to love me. I was willing to compromise myself and my self worth to get that love. So, I wore the glasses and the hair for a little while. One morning, I looked in the mirror with those glasses (I could barely see with them) and I didn’t see myself. Where was my ponytail? Where was my red highlighted hair? Where was my vision? I became so angry with myself. I snatched the glasses off and crushed them under my heels. I was so ashamed of what I had done. It had taken me years to grow to love myself. Now I was willing to throw all of that away and change. No way. So, I repented.

Conforming to this world leaves you feeling empty. It never satisfies you because you know in your heart that this person you have become or trying to become is not you. You know in your spirit that this person or thing or idea that you are trying to accept in your holy walk with the Father, is not right. Sooner or later, you will either repent or conform completely, thereby, loosing the battle. Beloveth please do not allow this to happen. Do not allow the enemy to win over you and your powerful soul! God loves you. God chose you. As born again Christians, we are to offer ourselves up to only further God’s kingdom. God wants us to stand up and stand out in the crowd. Not fade away into it.

Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

 I, for one, am proud to say that I don’t want to be popular. I don’t care about conforming to a world that is not my home. I may be a dirty little freak to all of those who follow the crowd. But, that’s okay. What truly matters is that Jesus Christ made me and you beautifully and wonderfully. It is His opinion of us that counts. It is His judgment of us that will decide our fate. So, my dear Christ centered brothers and sisters, join me as we proudly raise our glasses.

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The Love Letter Part 2: What Do You Do When God Is Not Enough

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Bible, christianity, church, Encouragement, faith, Inspiration, Jesus Christ, Love, peace, relationship, relationships, religion, salvation

Friends, family, readers,

Lately, I have been put through tests of all sorts, both on a personal and professional level. While I won’t bore you all with the details, I can say that it has been enough to make one throw in the towel completely. Had all of this happened five years ago (before I was saved), I probably would have done just that. Challenges come when you least expect it. They are right around the corner just when you think you have it all together. You have it all figured out and you finally have that peace that you have wanted so long. Then, the enemy comes in like a thief in the night to steal from you.

Typical satan.

This morning, I get a text message with another piece of bad news. It seems that’s all I’m getting lately. Ironically enough, I was sitting at my computer reading jokes online just to get a little laugh. Then I begin to think about the word “strength”. What is it? Where does it come from? How does one get it? How does one loose it?

The Bible verse in Philippians 4:13 came to mind. You know the one. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

But what happens when you don’t feel that verse? What do you do when none of the encouraging Bible verses are helping? What happens when you feel like God is not enough?

I know. I know. That’s blasphemous, right? But if you are really honest with yourself, all of us have felt this way at some point in our lives. All of us have had a “giving it all up” moment. For whatever reason, this is a time when Philippians 4:13 is not helping at all. This is a time when your strength feels depleted and you know not what to do.

Where do we go from here?

People who truly know me, often comment on and give me accolades for my “strength”. My ability to hold things up in my family when things are falling apart. I suppose knowing that people depend on me and expect me to be the “rock” encourages me to do just that. But isn’t that pressure? When we depend on others, we tend to forget that they too sometimes need help. It’s not our fault that we forget. It’s like walking across a bridge. We don’t think about that foundation that is under water, holding that bridge up. We just trust and depend on the fact that the bridge will hold us up.

I may be rambling now, so I’ll get back to my question. What do we do when we feel like all of our strength is gone?

The gospel singer, Donnie McClurkin, answers this question in his song “Stand”. And that’s the answer: stand.

What do we stand on? Our foundation of course, the word of God. We must study daily (as we eat daily) to keep that strength.(1 Chronicles 16:11) It is necessary in our daily walk with the Lord. The word of the Lord should never cease to encourage, love and strengthen us. When we find that it is not enough (as I came close to recently), that is when we “eat” (study) fervently to show ourselves approved and to rebuild that strength.’

2 Corinthians 4:14-18

14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Who Could Ask For Anything More?

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Afterlife, christianity, church, Encouragement, end times, family, God, gospel, Heaven, Holy Bible, Holy Spirit, home, Jesus, Love, music, peace, prosperity, salvation, wealth

Does this title ‘Who Could Ask For Anything More’, place the I Got Rhythm song in your head? I’m humming the tune as I type. I’m stuck on the ‘who could ask for anything more’ part. It makes me think about my life as a Christian. I am far from rich. I have bills galore. I don’t have the latest and the greatest of anything material in this world. Yet, I am happy. All three of my babies are in good general health, as am I. My family is the closest, sweetest bunch of weirdos. I wouldn’t trade them in for all of the silver and gold in the world. Thinking on these things makes me happy. I can say that I am content with my life and its direction. I know who I am in Christ. I know my calling. I know that if I walk outside and get hit by a semi-truck that I will wake up in Heaven.

Who could ask for anything more?

How about you? What more do you need in your life on this earth? We have already established that we are ambassadors, merely renting time and space here. Our real home and our real affections are on things that are above.

Colossians 3:2 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Do you have general health and strength? Do you have family and friends? Do you have a means to take care of yourself and the ones you love? Yes? What more do you need?

Who could ask for anything more?

So your health is not where it used to be. So your family and friends aren’t that close. You still have something around you to be thankful for. Right? Of course you do! Because even if every thing around you is crumbling, remember that you are a born again, precious saved member of the body of Christ, (Ephesians 2:8-9). You have something inside of you that can never compare to anything on this earth. That wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, your salvation! Your salvation guarantees that you are not lost. It assures you that regardless of what this life on this earth is like for us, we have something to look forward to. We have a home to go to when our Father decides to crack the sky and take us to where we belong.

God has given us the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, to secure our salvation. He only asks that we believe and receive. The Lord Jesus has left us with the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us. No charge. God wrote the Holy Bible through his vessels (much like you and I) so that we may know Him (Matthew 24:35). No charge. So, my brothers and sisters, we have everything we need to get our job done here on earth. We have everything that we need to survive here on earth. Right?

Who could ask for anything more?

Everything else are just those things that the world tells us that we need. We do not need them. We want them. And there’s a distinctive difference between needing and wanting, as you know. The Bible clearly tells us that we don’t know what to pray for. Why is that? Because we already have it all.

Romans 8

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Now, do we really believe the Holy Spirit would make intercession for us to get a new car. How would that profit the gospel of the grace of God?

I take issue with people who claim that we can have it all right now! (A few may and that’s fine. But just because you do not have, it does not mean that you are not blessed with those spiritual blessings in heavenly places).

Ephesians 1:2-4

2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Some people, mostly those preaching the prosperity doctrine, claim that God wants us all to be rich with expensive cars, bank accounts etc. They use some convincing scriptures to support these claims, such as John 10:10. It is easy to misconstrue this verse because of the use of the words like “abundantly”. Some translations replace abundantly with richly making it even harder to see the true meaning. And, the truth is that this verse does not refer to material wealth, but instead internal peace.

Those of us who are studious enough to look into these verses and rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), we know that these verses are taken completely out of context.

Beloveth, God is not interested in you getting all of the material wealth in the world. Why would He even care about such things?

1 John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Apostle Paul tells us to set our mind on things which are above.

Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

The Lord God is only interested in what you believe. He only wants for us to share the gospel, the word of truth with others. Now, if you believe that God does not dwell on your sins when it comes to your salvation. Why would you believe that he cares about you getting a new Mercedes? If you are one of those who preach, God only looks at your heart, why do you seduce yourself into believing that God wants you to have material things that do absolutely nothing for your salvation?

We are the be content with ourselves, focusing on sharing the good news with others. I too struggle with this. Hey, I’m a girl! I love new things! And sometimes I really feel lost without my smart-phone! But when it’s all said and done, I’d trade nothing for my salvation. Nothing.

So, here’s what I plan to do. I hope you will join me. The next time something does not go my way or I do not get that new flat screen, car or even promotion I wanted, I intend to repeat this question:

Who could ask for anything more?

Me: God, I’ve been praying for this new BMW. Why didn’t I get it? Why didn’t you answer me?

The Holy Spirit in me: God gave you His son’s blood. What more do you want? Who could ask for anything more?

Me: Lord, I want to win this lottery. I can do so much for the ministry if I could just win a little bit of money.

The Holy Spirit in Me: God gave you the Blood, the Bible and hey, me! Who could ask for anything more?

Me: God please bless me with a new Iphone. Mine is so out of date. I can’t afford it but I believe you can do it.

Who could ask for anything more?

Grace and peace and so much love!

The Love Letter (Part 1)

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Afterlife, Bible, church, Encouragement, God, health, King James Bible, Love, peace, relationship advice, salvation, suicide

We’ve all had those ‘why do I even bother’ moments. At some point in our lives, most of us have asked ‘why me?’. A lot of us have considered giving up, throwing in the towel and calling it quits. Many people have considered suicide as a means to end all of their problems. I have attempted suicide a few times. Some of them were half baked attention schemes. Others were genuine attempts to end it all. Poof! All of my troubles are gone like me. That was my thinking. But the truth is, my troubles would have just begun.

I would have died unsaved and surely would have been on my way to hell, never knowing peace or true love. Thank God those real attempts to kill myself were unsuccessful. Thank God for seeing me before I was born and directed my path towards righteousness. And guess what? He’s directing your path too! (Jeremiah 1:5) God wants us all to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth. Before the Lord returns, all of us would have had an opportunity to hear the gospel. Whether we accept it or reject is up to us. We have free will. But who would choose sorrow and sadness when there is a path to everlasting love and eternal peace?

Romans 8:

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

 

So, what do we do when it seems the pressures of this life are too much to bare? How do we continue to find peace, joy and love when the god of this world reigns freely, openly, viciously?

The answer is simple. We walk in the Spirit.

Does walking in the Spirit mean we are dead? Literally? No, beloved! Not at all! It means you LIVE!

Romans 8: 13

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

 

I watch or read the news daily. I am a reporter by trade, so I want to know what’s going on around me. Some people want to be oblivious to their surroundings. That’s fine too. When it’s all said and done, nothing happening on this earth aside from our God given charge to share the gospel, matters. So, why do we allow things like the stock market, or senseless killings and various other sinful acts get to us. Because we do live on this earth ruled by the enemy (2 Cor. 4:4), these things will trouble our spirit. But, we must not loose sight of why we are here. Keep the “big picture” in your mind. You beloved child of God, honored member of the body of Christ, you are an ambassador for him. So, we should not dwell on the things that are in the flesh, but things of the Spirit.

 

Romans 8:9

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

 

If we are obeying the word of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to guides us and comfort us, will depression have room in our lives? Would we be troubled for long? We would really care for anything?

When the Lord left this earth and gave man kind up to their own sin (Satan began the god of this world), He promised to leave us a Comforter.

John 14:16

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

This Comforter, this Holy Spirit, this peace that dwells within us once we are saved (Eph. 2:8-9), is a reminder that Christ lives in us. We are a part of His body where love, holiness, righteousness conquers all.