From civil rights to confederate statues. From protecting the environment to climate change. From the most extreme liberal to the most staunch conservative. From sexual misconduct in the workplace to being falsely accused… I’ve noticed, especially on social media how quick people are to accuse others of whining and being too sensitive when others that what displeases them. The same people who criticize others for being too sensitive has their own sensitivities…what makes one think his or hers is more valid than another’s?

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It’s funny when it’s whining until it’s something that’s important to you…

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It’s a shame when people can’t disagree without insults and sometimes aggression. How much more productive would our debates, dialogues and monologues be if we could respect, not only how one another feels, but the reasons why those who oppose us disagree.

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We could get so much more accomplished if we found common ground.

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I love the way the Apostle Paul debated with the philosophers at Athens and how he addressed those who were ‘religious’, but didn’t necessarily believe in the LORD God of Israel through our Lord and Savior, Yeshua Christ Jesus. He didn’t insult or belittle them. He acknowledged the fact that not only they were religious, but were sincere in what they believed. He then shared his faith without disrespecting theirs (Read Acts 17:33). It goes on to say that yes, some mocked Paul, but some believed, and others wanted to hear more.

My point is that Paul had respect for those who disagreed with Him, and with whom he disagreed with.

Yes, people will complain and express their displeasure over issues that either we could care less about or we think they are 100% wrong.

And, sometimes they actually are whining, but it’s easy to call it whining when it doesn’t concern you. When you are expressing what concerns you, how many people say you are whining?

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Can you think of an issue, that when you hear it, you think or say, “Oh no, here they go whining about that again?

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Let us learn to listen or even ignore with respect. Oh, yeah and when you can help it…don’t whine.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

• 

Do you ever have days that you truly feel like giving up? Not necessarily suicidal, but just giving up on everything and everyone.

Do you have days or seasons when it seems that nothing you do works out?

When no one understands you or what you’re doing?

Days when your feel you’re fighting for your physical, emotional and psychological health?

You’re not just trying to hold it together. You’re fighting for your very life.

Seasons when you truly wonder if God has forsaken you?

Think about Jesus hanging on the cross.

Those closest to Him had all scattered…

Matthew 26:31 (NKJV)

³¹ Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be ^[a]made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:

‘I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Even His own brothers did not believe in Him at the time…

John 7:5 (NKJV)

⁵ For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

He had one last human moment expressing that His Father had forsaken Him…

Matthew 27:46 (NKJV)

⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

But, Yeshua suffered that shame and disgrace for us. And, it’s only fair that sometimes we share in His suffering…

Philippians 1:29  (NKJV)

²⁹ For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

Not just suffering FOR Christ, but suffering WITH Christ is a part of our calling.

1 Peter 4:12-13 (NKJV)

¹² Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; ¹³ but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

The truth is that we will sometimes unfairly suffer. Sometimes it comes straight out of nowhere! On those days and in those seasons remember this…

SOMETIMES WE ALL HAVE TO TAKE OUR TURN ON THE CROSS

In the words of the old hymnal written by Thomas Shepherd, “Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone”: “Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? There’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.”

BE BLESSTIFIED!

We all make them sometimes…bad decisions. Some of those decisions are sin, but some aren’t.

We make bad decisions in our…

Finances…

Relationships…

Careers…

Choices with our education…

Raising our children…

Diets, health and how we manage our bodies…

How we take care of what God has given us…

…Which way to turn at a crossroads in our lives.

What’s a bad decision that you have made, that may not necessarily be a sin, but you can clearly see that you and possibly the one’s you love are living out the consequences of that decision?

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Yes, you’ve learned the lesson, and now you’re just trying to navigate your way through the ditch you have dug for yourself until you can find a place to crawl out.

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Well, God told us that we can ask whatever we desire in His name and He will answer according to His will…
1 John 5:14 (NKJV)
¹⁴ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

John 15:7-8 (NKJV)

⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you^[a] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

We also know that God is a deliverer, with a bible full of examples of Him delivering, and snatching His people out from the consequences of their sin and bad decisions…

Psalm 34:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.

The fact is that some of our bad decisions are made out of our own human weaknesses. God made us all, which means He gave us both our strengths and our weaknesses.

We sometimes make mistakes and choose unwisely, even after we pray for guidance, and there are always lessons to be learned.

So, this short prayer is for those times you find yourself living out the consequences of a bad decision, and you have learned your lesson.

It’s a short prayer for two of God’s greatest benefits…mercy and deliverance.

“Our heavenly Father as I present myself to you right now please accept me in the name of our Risen Savior, Yeshua, the anointed One, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your unfailing love and faithfulness, even when my love fails and I’m unfaithful.

I also thank you for the abundant blessing of more than enough for today.

Now, I come to you with a specific request…

Please have mercy on me and forgive me from all my sins, blot out all my transgressions, and cleanse me from all my unrighteousness. I’m so sorry for hurting you, and sometimes putting you to open shame.

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Please Father, grant me wisdom from my mistakes, and please deliver me from the consequences of my bad decisions, if it be your holy will.

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Please snatch me out of this painful place, bring glory to your name through my life, and anoint me to walk in the anointing, authority, influence and victory You’ve ordained for my life as a testimony of my love for You and trust in You.

I ask this specific prayer in the Name and Authority of Your Son and My Saviour, the Lamb of God, Yeshua, Christ Jesus.

Amen.”

Yes, sometimes we must live out the consequences and lie in the bed we’ve made. But, sometimes God will come and snatch us out of that bed, if we ask.

Psalm 130 (NKJV)

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
² Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.

³ If You, Lord, should ^[a]mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in His word I do hope.
⁶ My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning—
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
⁸ And He shall redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

There was a time when God’s name was referenced more. We need to be careful how we refer to God casually and not in reverence…how we let what is meant to be praise be reduced to idle words. Look at what Jesus said about idle words…

Matthew 12:36-37(NKJV)

³⁶ But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. ³⁷ For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

We must make sure that we never play with His praise. Many movies, plays and songs, have turned what is meant to be sincere praise into a joke, or cliché…

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Please don’t say HALLELUJAH unless you’re really praising Him.
And, don’t play with it.

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Please stop saying “HALLELUYER!”

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Remember this…

JAH (YAH) is the part of the word that’s His name. You don’t have to say GD to take His name in vain. 

Exodus 20:7 (NKJV)

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

For more on this please read…IS ‘OMG’ TAKING GOD’S NAME IN VAIN? 

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Let me say first that I’m not excusing adultery, fornication or any other sexual sin. These sins also result from an innate, natural desire that we don’t ask for, and people make a choice to commit these sins based on that desire.

However, there are many people who are now trying to defend homosexuality by saying that Jesus never addressed it, or forbade it. They say only the Apostle Paul addressed it, and some even try to contend that he wasn’t really talking about homosexuality.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet.

We all know there are several sins that Jesus never directly addressed…

Rape…

Incest…

Domestic Abuse…

Bestiality…

Gossip…

Jealousy…

To name a few.

Jesus didn’t even say directly that getting drunk is a sin. It was indirect.

He did address marriage, fornication adultery and divorce.
And, no one disputes that the LORD only permits sex within marriage.
In Matthew Chapter 19, Jesus repeated what He Himself said as The Living Word in Genesis 5:2 , yes He was there in the beginning (Elohim, the name for God in Genesis is a plural noun)…
Matthew 19:4-5(NKJV)

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made[a] them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’[b]5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?[c]

The context of the conversation here is marriage and divorce. Jesus specifically calls out MALE and FEMALE in the context of marriage. This is not a cherry picked scripture.  It is Jesus in perfect harmony with what God established in the beginning. 

Jesus clearly says let HIM (male) be joined to his WIFE (female), because some try to contend, ‘who says that a wife has to be a woman’.

This undeniably defines marriage as between a man and woman.

These verses (Genesis and Matthew) define marriage as between a man and woman. And, since God only permits sex within marriage, sex with any partner, heterosexual or homosexual is sin.

So yes, without saying the word ‘homosexuality’, Yeshua, Christ Jesus addressed it. Any other conclusion is conjecture…reaching…trying to fit a square peg into a triangular slot.

For those who say that it’s okay because some people are born that way, click this…JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE’S ‘BORN THAT WAY’ DOESN’T MAKE IT OKAY…

For those who want to bring up slavery in the bible to justify their argument to defend homosexuality, click this…LET’S TALK ABOUT SLAVERY IN THE BIBLE…

And remember, no matter what sin someone is struggling with, God expects us to love everyone without excusing or condoning the sin.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

 

I can only speak for myself, but I think we’ve all experienced it. We have prayed to God…we have made a specific supplication…we have interceded for someone else. Then, sometimes immediately, sometimes shortly after and sometimes much later we see God answer that prayer…that supplication…that intercession, just as we asked.

Sometimes it’s exactly as we asked. While others it may not be exactly as we asked but, we can still clearly see it was an answer to our prayer.

Then it happens. That emotion that reveals our true level of faith. I’m not saying an absence of faith, but the true level of our faith. Our emotional response to God answering our prayer.

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SURPRISE

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Have you ever been surprised when God answers your prayer? Surprised when we already know what He promised…

John 14:13-14 (NKJV)

¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask^[a] anything in My name, I will do it.

Do we really believe Jesus’ promise when we pray? Now, I do know that sometimes God says “No”. For more on this read WHEN GOD USES THE ‘N-WORD’…

I do know that sometimes God answers in a manner that we totally don’t expect and I realize that even though we know that God CAN do it, we don’t know if He WILL do it.

But even at that, we should never be surprised. Be surprised if you hit the lottery. Be surprised if the team that’s the underdog wins…even be surprised if you get exactly what you want for your birthday, but we should never be surprised when God has already promised us what He will do.

Even if we know He can do it, but wonder if He will, what emotion should we feel when God answers our prayer?

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AMAZEMENT

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God wants you to be amazed. He wants to ‘blow your mind’. He wants to make you say, “Wow!” He wants to astound you and leave you in awe…because this is how God ‘helps our unbelief’.

Mark 9:23-24 (NKJV)

²³ Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,^[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Surprise implies that we didn’t believe. Amazement implies that we do believe.

When God answers your prayers, be AMAZED, but never SURPRISED.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

What color are the eyes of our all-seeing God? Hmmm. God is a Spirit. God exists out side of time and space, so what color are His eye’s?

Brown?

Blue?

Green?

Black?

NO!

God is invisible. He has no shape, so that means we can’t ‘see’ Him with our physical eyes.

1 Timothy 1:17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

Exodus 33:20

But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”

The bible also let’s us know that Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God.

Colossians 1:15

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

So, how can we be created in HIS IMAGE?

We ‘look’ like God when we have His character and His attributes. We look like Him when we love like Him…Forgive like Him…Live like Him.

The Fruit of His Spirit are aspects of His character that we possess…

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

So, what color are the eyes of our invisible, all-knowing, all-seeing God?

HIS EYES ARE THE COLOR OF LOVE!

BE BLESSTIFIED!

We all do it sometimes…smile when we don’t really feel like it.

Some people call it a ‘fake’ smile, and sometimes it is.

Emotional Labor the act of showing the appropriate behavior for a job, co-workers, customers or ‘superiors’, such as when a waiter or waitress smiles while encountering a very difficult or rude customer. Their expression doesn’t show how they really feel inside.

When we have faith in and trust God, we will display spiritual Emotional Labor. We may be heartbroken, discouraged, betrayed, broken, angry hurt or even healing, but we still manage to smile because of our confidence in God. We know all things are working together for our good (Roman’s 8:28).

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Our feelings will not always align with our faith.

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Job is a great example of smiling through pain…

Job 9:27 (NKJV)

If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile.

When your faith let’s you smile through your pain, you aren’t hiding WHAT’S inside you, you’re revealing WHO’S inside you.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

• 

If you give up today, you’re letting down everyone who has ever…

Supported you…

Prayed for you…

Defended you…

Been in your corner.

HAD YOUR BACK!

Your purpose is never only about you. Stay in the fight and remember this…

Philippians 1:6  (NKJV)

⁶ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

BE BLESSTIFIED!

John 4:24 (NKJV)

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Have you ever noticed how Paul interacted with the people of Athens? He encountered people who did not believe in the God of our salvation. He took advantage of the opportunity to teach them about Yeshua, Christ Jesus.

He didn’t do as many Christians do today, allow his passion to confront them in anger and spiritual arrogance. He didn’t tell them how stupid, silly and foolish they were to believe as they did. He didn’t try to bully them into believing.

Paul reached out to them in respect and love, acknowledging that they sincerely believed in something, and he wanted to present to them the only Living God…

Acts 17:22-30 (NKJV)

Addressing the Areopagus

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of the ]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: ²⁴ God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, ²⁷ so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

Of course there were some who mocked him, but others believed and wanted to hear more.

If Paul had approached them as many do today his message of salvation would not have been received by those who had a heart and mind to do so.

Do you know any spiritual bullies?

Have you ever encountered one?

Are you one?

We can’t force our faith on anyone.

We can’t allow our passion for Christ as an excuse to be self-righteous, spiritual bullies.

We must always reach out to others in love. Rather than convert sinners and those who believe in other ‘gods’ we will turn them off and confirm every negative impression they have of disciples of Christ.

Ask God each day for the anointing to share your faith and the wisdom to reach out in His Spirit of love.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

• 

This is not scientific or philosophical, but it is God breathed. And, there is some degree of randomness as it is for the most part stream of consciousness…

More and more people are falling into modern, popular culture pantheism. They are replacing God with ‘The Universe’.

“The universe will bring it to you.”

“The universe is on your side.”

“The universe will judge you.”

“The universe has heard you”

“The universe sees you”.

This doctrine is straight from the devil (who loves the fact that many don’t believe he exists).

In short, rather than acknowledging the one true, living and sovereign God, these people say everything is determined by the natural laws and natural order establishes and ‘maintained’ by ‘the universe’.

And, there are some who try to actually give the universe ‘consciousness’. However, they don’t even imply that God is the universe, but that the universe is God.

GOD IS NOT THE UNIVERSE, NOR VICE VERSA.

God created the universe..

Hebrews 11:3  (NKJV)

³ By faith we understand that the ^[a]worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Even Hebrews Chapter 3 says, “the worlds were framed”.

God is an eternal, invisible Spirit. Quite frankly, He is not an ‘old, bearded, grey-headed white dude’.

Colossians 1:15  (NKJV)

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

John 4:24  (NKJV)

²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Romans 1:20  (NKJV)

²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and ^[a]Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

Science contends that the universe had a beginning. God had no beginning. Yes the bible says, “In the beginning” for our benefit to reference when God began His relationship with our perception of reality and man, but an eternal God needed no beginning. It that was so, what happened before the beginning.

If the universe had to have a ‘beginning’, by what or whom did it begin?

The universe is not alive.

The universe doesn’t have a will.

Here’s the problem, science and our ability to learn and draw conclusions from what we learn is only as good as our ability to understand.

Even the brightest human minds are incapable of understanding the infinite deep knowledge of God, or even the universe.

In fact, I define science as our attempt to give a physical explanation to the spiritual.

Think about this, God is has not beginning and has no end. He cannot be created or destroyed. Sounds a lot like the Law of Thermodynamics…

This law states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed,

but can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another. sounds a lot like God doesn’t it?

Science looks for planets similar to earth that can sustain life, but God can create and sustain life that can live in -200 degrees below zero and breath methane gas if He so desired.

Science, philosophy and all this world’s knowledge will never be able to understand the mysteries of the universe, and definitely will never understand the wisdom of God…

Isaiah 55:8-9  (NKJV)

⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts

People think there is no God because they feel earth is too small relative to the entire universe. But, if God chose to have life on a million planets, that would still be small relative to the entire universe. The fact is that ten million light years away, God is still God.

And, just as you can’t see the internet, but can be ‘on’ the internet in your Tennessee, while millions of others are on the internet all around the world, while someone else is on the internet in space, God can be everywhere at the same time.

I’m saying all that to say this. God is alive and He is bigger than the universe. It takes just as much faith to believe in ‘the universe’ as it does to believe in God.

Just open your heart and believe.

1 Corinthians 1:25-31 (NKJV)

²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ²⁶ For ^[a]you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many ^[b]noble, are called. ²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the ^[c]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence. ³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— ³¹ that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Gods’ wisdom sometimes just makes me have to sit back and say, WOW!

Worship is an act of reverence, adoration or homage. It’s an act of humility. It’s acknowledging that someone or something is greater than you or has power over you.

God is constantly showing his power and judgements throughout the earth. The problem is that many people don’t attribute those events to the One and only true and living God, the Lord God of Israel from Everlasting to Everlasting.

Remember how the children of Israel placed the blood of an innocent lamb on the doorposts of their homes? This was an act of obedience and worship. If they didn’t do it, their firstborn would not have been spared, and if an Egyptian family had done the same thing, maybe their firstborn would have escaped the death angel.

Even when unbelievers ‘shelter in place’ or ‘social distance’ themselves during a pandemic, hide in the basement from the furiosity of a intense tornado, flee inland during a catastrophic hurricane or typhoon, or escape to higher ground during a ravaging flood…they are reacting to and unintentionally acknowledging God’s power, sovereignty and judgment by their actions. Hiding, running, escaping are all acts of humility towards something that is greater and more powerful.

In a busy world that’s becoming ‘smaller’ through technology. In a world that has an ever increasing number of people who claim or live like there is not God. God, the Father of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Messiah) knows how to make everyone slow down or stop…and acknowledge Him.

Philippians 2:10-11  (NKJV)

¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

• 

We all get overwhelmed sometimes. But sometimes we can feel beyond overwhelmed. Have you ever felt like giving up? Even if you didn’t feel like killing yourself, have you ever felt like giving up on…

Your hopes and dreams,

Your relationship,

Your health.

Your future.

There are some days you feel so low that it takes all you can do to get out of bed.

Sometimes your superpower isn’t superhuman strength or the ability to fly, but just summoning enough strength to get out of bed.

You struggle through every day without abusing drugs, alcohol, or being irresponsible with your body, but you can really understand why people do so to numb themselves to the pain of their struggle.

Sometimes your superpower isn’t battling villains, but battling…

Depression,

Despair,

Regret,

Loneliness,

Grief,

Anger,

Your past.

If this has ever been you, stop and give God some praise. If it’s never been you stop and thank God, and then whisper a little prayer for someone who needs God’s superhuman strength to make through the day (or night).

2 Corinthians 12:9-10  (NKJV)

⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is madeperfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in myinfirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I takepleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, indistresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

We live in a highly interactive world. Everyone has a platform, especially through social media, to express themselves. We interact with one another in our families. On your jobs. In our schools. As the bible says, “as we go out and as we come in”, we are almost always interacting with someone.

Whoever is reading this is interacting with me right now. What I’m writing right now may be foolishness to you. You may consider it stupid. You may consider it offensive. If so, after reading you have a choice. Do I respond? Or, do I just move on? And, thus to the crux of my short message here…

When you hear something. When you read something. When someone comes ‘head on’ to you with something that you consider FOOLISHNESS…what do you do?

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SOME FOOLISHNESS DOES NOT DESERVE A RESPONSE, WHILE OTHER FOOLISHNESS DEMANDS ONE.

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Some foolishness would die if we would just allow it. While other foolishness is like a spark ready to spread like wildfire.

How do you know?

Well, you have to pray for discernment. Discernment is an aspect of wisdom, and God will grant it in abundance if you ask Him.

James 1:5  (NKJV)

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

Notice how sometimes Jesus responded to those who opposed Him, and sometimes He was rather assertive.

Matthew 15:1-12  (NKJV)

15 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, ² “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³ He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; ^[a] and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’^[b] 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— ⁶ then he need not honor his father or mother.’^[c] Thus you have made the commandment^[d] of God of no effect by your tradition. ⁷ Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

⁸ ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And^[e] honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
⁹ And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”^[f]

¹⁰ When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: ¹¹ Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

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

While other times, He didn’t say a word…

Matthew 27:12-14 (NKJV)

¹² And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.

¹³ Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” ¹⁴ But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

 1 Peter 2:23  (NKJV)

²³ who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

 But, when you DO respond, remember this…

Respond in wisdom.

Respond with reason.

And, please don’t respond in your raw emotions.

We must realize when we are planting a seed of righteousness, and a seed of foolishness.

Proverbs 29:11  (NKJV)

¹¹ A fool vents all his feelings,^[a]
But a wise man holds them back.

 BE BLESSTIFIED!

Even those who don’t believe in God have heard of it. The mark of the beast. The ‘mark’ that many will submit to showing that they have rejected Christ and accepted the antichrist.

Revelation 13:16 (KJV)

¹⁶ And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark IN their right hand, or IN their foreheads:

The purpose of this quick post isn’t to discuss whether or not the church will still be on earth when it takes place. But, what will it actually be. This could be a long post, but I’m going to keep it short so you can digest it…and pray about it.

There are those who talk about a chip being implanted, a bar code that will be required for buying, selling and living everyday life. There are others who speak of a literal mark or tattoo on the hand and forehead. How many warnings have you heard in sermons or seen posted on social media or in sermon?

I say neither. That’s too simple. That’s too literal. Check out this verse…

Jeremiah 31:33 (NKJV)

³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Notice that God says, “I will put My law IN their minds, and write it ON their hearts.” 

If you take an x-ray, will you find actual words written on your brain or heart? Of course not.

When God places something in your mind, it affects your thinking. When He places something in your heart, it affects what’s most important to you.

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It’s the same with Revelation 13:16…

“In their right hand…” In the way you do things.

“In their foreheads…” The way you think.

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John told us that the spirit of the antichrist was already here way back then…

1 John 4:3 (NKJV)

³ and every spirit that does not confess that^[a] Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

The spirit of the antichrist has been at work for years affecting how Christians ‘do things’ and ‘think’. Convincing us to compromise when it comes to our Lord and Savior Yeshua, Jesus Christ.

Here’s a quick example…think about Easter. What does the name ‘Easter’ have to do with Jesus? Nothing. What do bunnies and eggs have to do with celebrating His resurrection? Nothing. But, you can’t convince well-meaning Christians to celebrate without calling it Easter because it has been to deeply ingrained in the way they ‘do things’ and the way they ‘think’. Why not celebrate His resurrection without calling it by a pagan goddess’ name?

Think of all the ways that the enemy is convincing the people of God to compromise.

Think of how the thinking of this world is changing to accept what God has forbidden.

It’s not what you accept on your skin…it’s what you accept within.

Think about it.

BE BLESSTIFIED!