Please Remain Calm

A Calm Spirit 

I've been reading in the book of Proverbs lately. Whenever I feel like I need steady direction from God I always find my self in the book of Proverbs. Living in this world can be very confusing. With everyone living according to what they think is best and it "seems" to be working, It can really get you off track spiritually when you are not tuned into the voice of God.  Whenever your mind seems cluttered visit the book of Proverbs. It is packed full of wisdom that we can use in every area of life. Its absolutely timeless.

  Proverbs 16:32 says He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city.

This is what I love about the wisdom shared in the book of Proverbs it takes the ways of the world and turn them upside down. Jesus' ways are always the complete opposite of the worlds ways of handling things. We can learn that by following his life throughout the Gospels!  

The way of the world says only a loud and confrontational person will be heard or  respected. But wisdom says any fool can lose control. The wisdom of God cause us to think before we speak, and to keep a calm spirit.  Holding off on anger and responding too quickly can keep us out of a lot of trouble physically and financially!  

 It takes a lot of strength to stay calm, hold your tongue and only respond to a situation after we've heard the whole matter.  Everyone has an opinion, and most of us don't mind sharing it! So how does that make us any different from the rest of the world? It doesn't. We just blend in with the rest of the loud mouth raging maniacs fighting to be heard.   

 Society labels a calm person as weak with no passion or drive.  But God calls this man Wise!   Lets all work on holding our tongue, being more reserved in our comments and hearing the conclusion of an entire matter before speaking. Lets practice keeping a calm spirit and see where it leads us on this up coming week.   

 May God bless you in your efforts to grow closer to Him! Until Next time! 

God's Strength is our Victory!

Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane

"2 Corinthians 12:9  My Grace is Sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness" this scripture is one that I have mulled over for years trying to understand exactly how knowing this truth is suppose to help me through physical pain. Here, the great Apostle Paul suffered from a thorn in his flesh, a seemingly physical ailment that he wanted God to remove. But he prayed several times, and the ailment remained.  No doubt like many of us Paul was probably frustrated and confused.  Isn't God suppose to answer all of our  prayers? Isn't that what His word says? Well yes. I believe He does answer, but in some cases like this one we don't like the answer that He gives!

I think I am finally accepting in the way of truth, that every victory or answered prayer is not manifested in a physical deliverance from a situation. (Pardon me as I let out a huge sigh  and a  Lord help me?!)  Just as Paul cried out for deliverance, and Jesus, the Son of God cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane we also cry out for the "removal" of pain and suffering. But as we know in these two examples the suffering remained. If God loves us so much why would He let us suffer so much regardless of how hard we pray to escape it?  I believe He is trying to get us to fully rely on Him and not ourselves. 

Faith in God is not solely believing that He will be there to deliver us out of something. It is not saying a few coined phrases and  tossing our spiritually around to get what we want and when "WE" want it. I've been saved long enough to know, it doesn't always work that way.    

 But it is trusting that even in pain and suffering His will is being done. In our weakness God is made strong. It is the Victory that God is looking for. A victory where He alone is glorified.  Only through the strength of God can a man do what Paul did in his ministry continuously knowing that all of His wants were not met. Paul suffered greatly, and without the Grace and strength of God he would have given up. Just like many of us.  

Only the strength of God can give a man enough resolve to decide, "Not my will, but thy will be done", when He was asked to die for people who didn't love or accept Him! Wow, now what was I complaining about again? Lord I thank you for Victory in your Strength. 

    

Where did God Go?

A world filled with confusion, disappointments, heartache, evil and despair will have you wondering where in the world is God? It could be that you were never that close to the Lord, or it could be that you were, and now He is no where to be found.  Where did He go? Or is the more appropriate question, where did you put Him? 

 Unfortunately I believe it is in the nature of God's people to seek Him more, when we feel we need Him. But, the reality is we always need Him, and above all we should desire Him!  In Deuteronomy 4:28 Moses warns the Children of Israel and foretells how they will forget God after He has blessed them to enter into the promise land. They began to worship other Gods, and began to pick up the customs of unbelievers. They did things that brought them pleasure, things that put a distance between them and God.  But, God never forgets! He says in verse 29 "If from "there", you will seek the Lord thy God, thou shall find Him, if you seek Him with all of your heart and soul".    From "there" is where you left Him! Where you decided your way was better, or the way of the world was better.    

What we have to realize is that when we decide to break the covenant that God made with us we step away from Him, and compromise the agreement? We do that.  Jesus never steps away, He never leaves us.  The farther we pull away from His righteousness, the harder it is to see Jesus.  If we don't understand anything else we understand that it takes two willing parties to have a healthy and prosperous relationship. No one wants to be in a relationship where they are not valued, respected, or listened to.  This automatically puts a wedge between the two. 

Jesus wants our whole heart, we can't serve and worship the values of this world and try to hold on to the values of God at the same time. It won't work, we cannot serve two masters. (Matt 6:24)   We will reap the benefits or consequences of whatever has our heart the most, bottom line. (Matt 6:21)

 Seek after God with all of your heart. Make Him and His ways your  first priority and you will never have to wonder where God is. 

Earth is NOT your home..

Heaven... is your Real home

Col 3:2-3 says Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth . For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God!

I absolutely LOVE meditating on the home the Christ has prepared for us. Our limited minds can't even imagine what living in heaven would be like. But I love giving it my best shot trying to imagine the home God has already prepared for us! In St. John 14:2-3 Jesus says, in my Father's house there are MANY mansions, if it were not so, I would not have told you(meaning I can't lie, this is True!) Then he says, I go to prepare a place for you..that where I live you may be also!  Wow,  this is so very powerful to me! I can't help but smile, cry, and rejoice when I think about how much Jesus loves all of us to prepare a place as beautiful as what's described in Rev 21. Man, I tell you this is worth holding on For!  If there are many mansions then that means there will be many that will inherit this promise and I thank God that I am one of them because I am His Child born again by his spirit and adopted into his holy family! (Roms 8:15)

Praise be to the Lamb of God.  I will gladly set my affections on things above because what's above is my real life, it is my  real home, my final destination! 

Stay Planted

Psalms 1:3

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

There is something about this scripture that makes me want to stand still!  Sometimes I can get so caught up in trying to make something happen, or desiring to make something happen!   Have you ever been there? It can be quite frustrating, especially when those around you seem to be running here there and everywhere and getting exactly what “they” want.   To be planted means to be unmovable in the truths of God, this is God’s word.   Now, there is a catch to being planted.  If you backup and read the verse right before this one, verse 2 says: “But, they delight in the law of the Lord meditating on it day and night.”   

God’s words are living water and anything that is being watered will grow. The more we read and hear the word of God it solidifies the ways and promises of God in our heart. Meditating on the word of God helps us to understand God’s plan for our life. Meditating gives us understanding and clear direction.  Meditating on the word of God can also bring peace.  When every man seems to be going in his own way we can be confident the path we are on is the will of God, even when it doesn't seem to be going favorably and it won’t always be favorable!    

When I read this scripture I am full of hope and expectation.  I know that if I stay planted close to God, who IS the Rivers of Water, that I have no choice but to grow, bear fruit, and prosper!  Isn’t this all any of us want?   I know that we can sometimes get tired and run down, but this scriptures says that our leaves are not suppose to wither, meaning  we should always have a look of  vibrancy  and  Joy!  Do you ever get tired? Do you struggle sometimes to live joyously?   I will answer for myself…Yes and Yes!     If you can relate then I guess we only have one problem, our feet!  Look down, where are you planted?  Where are you spending most of your time?   God doesn’t move away from us, His word is always the same.  So when you are starting to feel a little ruffled and out of sorts, get back into position; meditate on God’s word, and prosper!      

Chandra H.

Overcome your crazy world

St John 16:33   "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Have you been watching the news lately? It is utterly depressing. It seems that every station seeks out the most horrific, frightening, and saddest stories to report on, and not just once but REPEATEDLY, the same stories every hour.  It's quite disturbing actually and I think I am about to minimize how often I watch the local news because it does little to keep my mind on the good things of God as He commanded us to do! (Phil 4:8)  If we didn't know any better based on what is being fed to us you would believe that nothing good is going on in the world.  And I for one know that is not true, but do you  sometimes  find it challenging not to think about the horrible things that happen? I think because it's pushed in our faces daily. The world is so horrible I think wow any day now Jesus is sure to come back, people have gone beyond mad, but year after year the world is still hanging on, and so we have to hang on!      

I was meditating on this scripture today, and I often  wonder how in the world are we suppose to be cheerful when we are assured that there's going to be tribulation in our lives?  We have to remember that  Satan wants to keep us fearful, but God is saying despite what you see or experience you can ALWAYS have peace if you seek it through Me.  I thank God that my real life is hid in Him as the scriptures says, I can be cheerful in that God has given me His indwelling spirit to draw from whenever I feel lonely or overwhelmed.     Sometimes when we are going through tough times we want to run everywhere, and to everyone, all while avoiding the only person you can help us, Jesus Christ. 

 Jesus has already overcome the world, with the sacrifice of His life for our sins. He rose from the dead, overcoming eternal death for us!  And if we accept Him, run to Him, and dwell in Him, we become overcomers every single day because we don't buy into the lie that our life is as bad as Satan wants us to believe that it is. No matter what we experience we as Saints of God, have the eternal assurance that we are overcomers in this world, because our Father has already made the way for us.  

How Should I Live: Spirit Vs. Flesh

Okay, so we are back to living by the spirit. I was studying in Romans Chapter 5 and Paul is saying that Christians should live in the Spirit. Of course I've read, and meditated on this many times in the 19 years that I have lived for Christ. But, I am always having to remind my self that the real blessings, the abundant life of a Christ follower is in The Spirit.  This can become hard for a lot of people because we tend to live by our senses. What we can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell.  And to a certain degree it just makes common sense to cater to those things for the most fulfilling life experience doesn't it?  But, in Matthew 6:33 Jesus is telling His followers that we should not worry about the needs of our senses because that is a supply that comes standard.  He reminds us how He daily supplies for the birds and even plant life automatically, and we are much more important than they are. These are the words of Jesus Christ, The son of God-Creator of the heavens and earth.  

 He says don't worry about what we're going to eat, what we're going to wear, Jesus goes on to say don't even worry about what you may need tomorrow! (we are all guilty of that one).  But the Bible says, the very things that keep us alive, the things that we are identified by we should not be concerned with. 

  I can't help but think about how obtaining material possessions and status in society continues to "drive" people for more of this. Now I would dare to say that most of us are not starving to death, living in condemned buildings, and wearing dirty rags. A large portion of us have our basic needs met, and many are thriving beyond the basic needs to survive.  (I am not ignoring the homeless or the poverty stricken people in the world. The word does say that the poor we will have with us always. Matt 26:11 ) But the majority of people we are exposed to have their basic needs met.  So why do we seek for more? If all of our needs are met, its no longer a need but a desire or want. I don't think it's all bad to want to have things beyond our basic needs, but what place of importance does it take in our overall life. How does it drive you to live? 

 Paul says here in Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 

So in other words, we know that we are not living by the spirit if most of our thoughts, and actions are focused on how to make the flesh stronger.  We want glorious houses, better cars, the best wardrobes, the most coveted and high profile careers, and elite people in our close social circles.  This is what people want  because it is what the world respects. And I would dare to say that even Christians believe that this is what makes a man blessed and favored of God, more so than a life that is thriving in the spirit, when we KNOW it will all burn and add up to nothing.  In the Bible,  Mary, a woman who was not wealthy nor had a high social status was chosen by God to carry the Savior of the world in her womb. Mary, was called blessed and highly favored,  by God.  (And He is the one that counts!) 

 When we live according to the spirit, our thoughts are consumed with how we can serve God in His Kingdom. We are concerned with how to grow our spirits, and how to grow closer to God so that we can walk the correct paths in this life, that leads to eternal life and not only for ourselves but for others!    

  If most of what we seek God for leads back to something that makes us appear more glorious in the eyes of the world then are we really walking in the spirit? The Spirit's primary concern are the things of God, and not so much how He can make us appear blessed in the eyes of the world or our social circles, or our family?  Yes, the word says He will give us the desires of our hearts, and He will!!  But at what cost? We know that God often gave the Children of Israel  the desires of their hearts(which we found was not God?) and they receive a leanness of soul!(PS. 106:15) That my friend,  is a horrible trade off!  God wants our desires to match His desires  for our lives, which is always tied back to Him!  We should not confuse natural possessions with the blessings and favor of God only, because people who do not live for God or want anything to do with Jesus have many great possessions and power in this world, but it's going to die with them. Jesus tells us to store up treasures in heaven because they won't corrupt, rust, or ever go away. Those of us who walk after the spirit know how we should be living, and for WHOM we should be living.  So lets stay focused!