A few years ago I regularly volunteered at a rescue mission. While there, I worked closely with the Pastor who over saw the location. As I watched him, there were some occasions I thought his temper was too short and he was too harsh. Of course there were many people there who needed help, but he would daily encounter people who were trying to take advantage of the system, harm other residents, or didn’t appreciate the help they were getting. I didn’t know the Pastor when he first started his job…how hopeful he was to make a difference…how passionate he was for those who were in need, but it was clear that dealing with negative, evil people had since hardened his heart.

There have been times that I willingly bought food for people in need on the street, but other days, because of people who were clearly trying to take advantage of my kindness, tried to ignore those who are in need.

Jesus made a powerful prophecy for the last days. He prophesied that BECAUSE of evil, the sincere love of many will grow cold.

Matthew 24:12 (NKJV)

¹² And because lawlessness (sin) will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

Has negativity, dysfunction, racism, violence…evil ever made you angry?

Do you have a family member or friend who has given so many chances to change that you don’t feel sorry for them any more?

Has being mistreated made you feel justified in disliking, or even hating someone?

When people seem to confirm negative stereotypes, does it push you towards racism?

Have those who abuse systems designed to help cause you to lose compassion for those who are truly in need?

Have you found yourself to love less? Be careful, because it can lead to being loveless.

The devil wants to use the evil in the world to harden your heart. He wants to find the right button(s) to press to make you the mirror image of that you see as evil.

Please don’t let allow the bad in the world to harden your heart.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Everyone wants to look good. Men want to be handsome. Women want to be beautiful. Do you know anyone who doesn’t?

Many people work towards looking good and being healthy – and yes there is a difference. That’s why when you see or hear advertisements for gyms and diet plans, very rarely is it that they promote good health. Think about it. Most of the time it’s about…

Being sexy…

Being attractive…

Getting into shape…

Buns and abs…

Right?

We groom. We work out.  We watch our diets. We purchase clothes. We do what it takes to look and feel our best. We do what it takes to maintain our health and a good quality of life.

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There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look good as long as we don’t become obsessed. Consider what the word of God says…

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1 Timothy 4:8  (NKJV)

⁸ For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

1 Peter 3:3-4  (NKJV)

³ Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— ⁴ rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

The bible isn’t saying it’s a sin to ‘get your hair done’, wear jewelry or wear nice clothes. It’s saying that you shouldn’t rely on that to make your beautiful. It’s saying that your true beauty should come from the godliness that’s inside your heart. He wants you more concerned with your inner beauty than outer beauty.

Even those who don’t have the so-called characteristics that society deems ‘beautiful’ in the context of each individual’s culture, can be viewed as beautiful and attractive when you can see the light of God on the inside – their loving, vibrant, lively, humble spirit shines through!

Have you become obsessed with your appearance? Are you feeding your flesh more than your faith? How many times a day do you check yourself in the mirror?

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HAS YOUR MIRROR BECOME YOUR PLACE OF WORSHIP?

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Here is a great test to give yourself…

Are you spending more time with your face in a mirror than your bible?

Do you use the camera on your phone to view yourself more than you use your bible app?

Do you know anyone obsessed with their appearance? Is it you?

There’s a thin line between good health, looking your best and worshiping oneself.

Please don’t let your mirror become your place of worship.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

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“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!”

BULL!!!

We all know words hurt. Verbal insults can inflict wounds that leave behind scars that last a lifetime.

As disciples of Christ we should develop a ‘tough skin’ to minimize the pain of when people insult us, however there’s one thing we should all remember about insults.

They hurt even more when they are injected with some painful truth about us…

“I can’t stand your selfish _______!”

“You wouldn’t be so broke if you weren’t so lazy!”

“People don’t like being around you because you’re so mean!”

“You know you’re much too heavy to wear that!”

It really doesn’t matter if the insult is said to hurt you, sometimes God will use an insult to help us examine ourselves so we can change. Especially if we have people around us who always say what we want to hear.

The disciples knew that the Pharisees and religious leaders were insulted at the rebukes of Yeshua, but they were filled with truth…

Matthew 15:12-13 (NKJV)

¹² Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

¹³ But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

When someone is accused of libel or slander, if what they said is true, then they are considered to be innocent.

Yes, insults are painful, but most of the time it’s the truth in some insults that make them more painful. Being honest with ourselves, even though it hurts, can help us make the necessary adjustments to achieve personal and spiritual growth.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

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Parenting level 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest…

What level parent do you think you are?

By what, and whose objective and/or subjective standards should be used to determine this?

As a parent, what if the decision as to whether or not you can keep your children was based on a standardized test that your children took? What if that test was based on how you managed your children at home and how they performed outside of the home?

What if your child or children were given a test based on everything you taught them as a parent throughout the course of a year?

As a parent, are you able to control how well your child or children master what you teach them? Are you able to control what they watch and listen to all of the time? Are you able to control their behavior? Do your children always comply and submit with humility, or do they sometimes give you attitude? Does your child or children ever rebel against your rules? Do they ever sneak and do things they aren’t supposed to do?

How many macro issues are going on around the world that influence and affect the culture of a home and how children learn and behave? How much is beyond a parent’s control?

The truth is that every adult still struggles from some behavioral, social, intellectual and emotional issues inherited from their home no matter what the race, culture religion or socio-economic status may be.

So, what if in everything you did as a parent, your name was accompanied by a number/score by which you would be judged?

Why do we have this unrealistic, unfair and highly-subjective metric placed on our educational professionals?

Many educators are parents too, with the same struggles and challenges.

Yes, test children to get a snapshot and benchmark of what they’ve learned. But, don’t base the EFFECTIVENESS of someone who has to share the dedication they have for their own children with two to eight dozen other children who aren’t their own.

How many good parents would lose their children based on a test score?

For those of you who consider yourselves to be Christians, there’s no better parent than God our Father right?

Do we base His effectiveness as God and a Heavenly Father on how well His children obey Him and master His expectations?

James 1:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning

WHEN GOD’S CHILDREN GET ANGRY AT HIM…

WATCH ALDTRIC JOHNSON PREACH SIBLING RIVALRY: WHEN GOD’S CHILDREN THINK HE’S NOT BEING FAIR

Please share this with someone who you think…will read it and think.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

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The reason many people can’t swim is because they were taught fear of water rather than respect for water.

I remember as a child when at the lake as I went near the water being told, “Get away from there!”

I was taught at an early age to be afraid of the water.

The disciples became afraid for their lives as the storm raged while Jesus slept in the lower parts of the boat. When Jesus woke up, before He rebuked the winds and the waves, He rebuked their fear and lack of faith…

Matthew 8:23-27  (NKJV)

²³ Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. ²⁵ Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

²⁶ But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ So the men marveled, saying, ^[a]“Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

I’m sure there were many people in those days afraid of boats, just as many people today are afraid of planes.

What are you afraid of?

How did you learn to be afraid of that? It’s one thing to have a healthy respect for the power of something and another to be afraid of it…even your enemies.

Too many times it’s our fears that come between us and our purpose, our vision, our calling, our destiny, our potential…being everything God called us to be.

Remember what God told us through the Apostle Paul…

2 Timothy 1:7  (NKJV)

⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Too many times, “Fear is how the enemy convinces you to customize an attack against your own future.”

BE BLESSTIFIED!

As you know banners, in the Bible standards or flags were set up to distinguish tribes. There is no record of ‘pledges’, but they were used during battle to give troops encouragement and a focal point.

Numbers 1:52 (NKJV)

⁵² The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies;

When God is our victory banner (Yehovah Nissi) He is our encouragement and focal point from one victory to another.

Psalm 20:5 (NKJV)

⁵ We will rejoice in your salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

Thus, our allegiance isn’t to a piece of cloth (which can become an idol), but to our God, our Elohim, the Father of our Savior Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

After God gave Moses victory over the Amelakites he built an alter and called it , Yehovah Nissi (The Lord is my Banner).

Exodus 17:15 (NJKV)

And Moses built an altar and called its name, [a]The-Lord-Is-My-Banner;

Whenever you need encouragement, or to rally people together for a Godly cause, call on the symbolic name of God that specifically refers to that aspect of His character…and always let your first allegiance be to Him.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

God is…

All-powerful!

All-knowing!

And, everywhere at the same time.

There is nothing impossible to Him, but there’s still a few things He can’t do…

He can’t die.

He can’t lie.

He can’t fail…

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And, He can’t be a MOTHER.

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Yes, I know we say He’s a father to the fatherless and a mother to the motherless…and He can fill those voids in our lives, but…

Notice what Psalm 68:5 says…

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.

It says that our loving heavenly FATHER is to the fatherless, but not a mother to the  motherless.

He’s our FATHER, but,

God gave a special role to women. He gave them honor of being the first connection to every life on this earth. To nurture every life…to introduce every person to the world, and with that role comes a special bond. There’s nothing like a mother’s love.

Even when it comes to our salvation, in the fullness of time, God still didn’t step outside of the authority He gave to women by still using a woman to bring His Son into the world.

Yes, He could have made another man of ‘dust’ if He wanted, but He chose Mary to be a Mother to our Lord and Savior, Yeshua, Jesus Christ.

Galatians 4:4 (NKJV)

⁴ But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born^[a] of a woman, born under the law,

There’s nothing like a mother’s love!

That’s why it’s possible for some women who didn’t even physically birth a child into the world to still have the anointing to fulfill a mother’s role and love…it is a gift of God to the child and mother.

In those unfortunate circumstances when a mother does not live up to her role, even though a father can step it up or step in…nothing can ‘replace it’. Sometimes there is just a void, unless another ‘woman’ steps in (grandmother, aunt, sister, adopted mother).

So thank God for all mothers, even if yours didn’t live up to her responsibility, because that’s who God chose to bring you into the world.

Praise God for the blessing of mothers!

BE BLESSTIFIED!

One of my greatest disappointments in ‘growing up’ was realizing how much we really don’t. You can look at some adults and sometimes easily tell who was the cry baby, the know it all, the spoiled child…the one who took their toys and went home when they didn’t get their way.

You can work in an office, school, store, restaurant, or even a church and you’ll find the same thing…proof that some of us never really grow up. Many work places aren’t much different from high school…

You have the so-called…

Popular/Cool kids

Nerds

Jocks

Preps

Bullies

Loners

You have those with aggravatingly high levels of ‘school spirit’ and those who ‘smoke in the bathroom’ and could care less…those who are ‘company people’ and those who spend most of their day in the designated smoking area.

You have those who ‘remind the teacher (boss) we have a test’…those who can’t wait to remind the boss of that meeting that no one wanted to have.

You have those who are always late for class and never have their assignments…those always late for work and hold up the process, the line…progress because they haven’t done their part.

You have the teacher’s pet…those who love ‘kissing the bosses behind’ trying to get noticed or get ahead, and you see it sometimes backfire on them at work just as it did in school.

You have those who keep their ‘desk’ in perfect condition…those whose desk is an organized mess…and those whose desk is a disaster area.

School should be a place where all children can go to learn in peace and safety…be challenged and enjoy rewarding friendships.

Our workplaces should be places where we can earn a living for ourselves or our families and be respected as adults.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

Both school and workplaces are ruined by the same things…

Selfishness

Immaturity

Over Ambition

Arrogance

Untrustworthy

Cliques

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People who forget the real reason they’re at WORK.

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God’s word tells us that we should always be mindful to treat others not only as we want to be treated…

Matthew 7:12 (NKJV)

¹² Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

But, also better than ourselves…

Philippians 2:3 (NKJV)

³ Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

God also expects us to do whatever it takes within us to get along with others…

Romans 12:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

The bible teaches us that God expects us to be ‘perfect’. But, perfect in the bible does not mean without fault. It means ‘mature’ (according to Strong’s Concordance Greek teleios means mature or consummated).

Matthew 5:48 (NKJV)

⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect

Philippians 3:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

When you’re in fourth grade, you should be at that proper level of development…intellectually, emotionally, behaviorally and socially. You aren’t expected to be in the fourth grade on an eight grade level…or vice versa. If you are on your appropriate level of development, according to the bible you are ‘perfect’ or mature.

The problem is that in our workplaces…too many people remained at the ‘forth grade’ level even though they have moved to ‘high school’. God expects us to grow up.

If we take God’s work serious enough in our homes to instill it within our children, we will find our schools much better places to learn, which will create adults who make our workplaces better places to work.

God’s word will make us grow up.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

When you love someone, you want to learn what pleases them…and what displeases them.

The same is true for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…Yeshua the Messiah.

Many of you already know that the Hebrew name for Jesus is Yehoshua, or Yeshua in its shortened form.

Many of you also know that Jesus is a transliteration of Yeshua in Hebrew to Iesous in Greek and later Jesus after the letter ‘J’ was added to the English language in the 1500’s.

We also know the importance God places on names in both Old and New Testaments.

So here’s my question for serious contemplation and conversation…

What if…Just what if…Jesus doesn’t like being called Jesus just as a man named Michael doesn’t like being called Michelle…and vice versa? Both Michael and Michelle have the same meaning, but they aren’t the same name.

Nor, do we call Joshua of the Old Testament Jesus, as both names have the same meaning, but they aren’t the same name.

If companies will sue over misuse of their name…is it possible that Yeshua wants to be called Yeshua. God introduced Himself to the world through the Hebrew people… not a race, but a faith He created as His own people.

Is it our place to tell our Savior what He wants to be called? When we refer to foreign leaders, do we translate or transliterate their name, or do we refer to them in their particular language?

How do people abroad refer to Barak Obama, Donald Trump, or Joe Biden? What is the city of Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) called in other countries?

If we REALLY love God through His Son as we claim, shouldn’t we at least consider it.?

The truth is that it’s possible for millions of sincere people to believe the WRONG thing.

I’m not asking this question with my mind made up that using the name Jesus is wrong. I just feel if we really want to ‘get to know Him and please Him that we should continually refine our faith and relationships.

In how many different ways will He feel we haven’t tried to get to know Him…

Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)

^{21 (A)}“Not everyone who ^(B)says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will ^(C)enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who ^(D)does the will of my Father who is in heaven.^{22 (E)}On that day ^(F)many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not ^(G)prophesy in your name, and cast out demons ^(H)in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ^{23 (I)}And then will I declare to them, ‘I ^(J)never knew you; ^(K)depart from me, ^(L)you workers of lawlessness.’

It’s the same as wondering how does He feel about people using the symbol of His execution to represent Him. Original translations never said CROSS…they say EXECUTION STAKE, but that’s another discussion.

And think about the implications on this scripture…

¹¹ “This Yeshua is the stone rejected by you builders which has become the cornerstone.^[a]12 There is salvation in no one else! For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by whom we must be saved!” Acts 4:11-13 (CJB)

Think about it. Talk about it.

BE BLESSTIFIED!