Obadiah 1:3 "The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the cleft of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground"

This scripture and the verses following are talking about the Edomites and their pride of self-sufficiency apart from God. They put all of their trust in their possessions and other people even though both can disappear faster than you can take in a new breath. *sidenote* God is unchanging, only he can provide true security...

Anyways, the scripture made me think about my post from yesterday regarding grace and our need to begin the process of change. The point? We take grace and mercy for granted. The more sin we fall into and seemingly get away with (shown thru blessings of: waking up in the morning, not getting caught in the act, getting a steady pay check, being able to fund trips and shopping excursions etc) the more we begin to become prideful in our thinking. A few examples of thoughts that COULD arise as we "get away" with sin:

A feeling that grace extends so far that we will never reap what we sow.

God is a push over and no matter how bad I am he will always bless me the way I want him to bless me.

Cause you to think you run this.

I don't know a lot of things, but I do know that all prideful spirits must be humbled at some point. Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

Let's at least attempt to humble ourselves to his word and directives before he has to do it himself.

Living life by grace is only going to get us so far. There comes a point where we must get in line with God's will especially when we claim to be his children! Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? We live by the clichés "only God can judge me" (believe me He is doing just that) and "God knows my heart" (oh yes he does and that may not be in our best interests).

It has become increasingly difficult to decipher between those who actually serve and believe in God from those who don't. God's word says that we need to get it together. Jeremiah 3:3-9 discusses the way we call on God asking for him to change his judgment on us yet we fail to change our ways that cause that judgment to fall on us. We flirt and fully engage in sin and minimize what we do in order to lessen the guilt that we feel. "As we minimize our sinfulness,  

The days of being an in the closet or social network only Christian must come to an end. The days of only being able to rep Christ's goodness thru posts of your dollar bills and Jordan's must die. He is more than this. He is a God who gives life, can calm or wage war on a roaring sea and land. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He IS. There is a need for a generation who will st

and up for who God truly is...Love, understanding, patience, kindness. A God of STANDARDS and perfect master of grace and mercy. 

“Come as you are” a cliché phrase that has been used to discuss attire in the church *blankstare*

My, my it’s so much deeper. Although there is no scripture in the bible that quotes this verbatim there are many that basically plead for us to come to Jesus just the way we are. For instance Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus provides us a place, where we can lay down every trouble, everything that is causing us distress. That scripture does not say, ‘come to me all that are strong because I don’t deal with the weak that’s too much work for me’. Nah, he pleads for those who are tired, beat up, feel like they can’t go on, those entangled in bondage of any sort.

Then you have 1 Corinthians 1:26 that says:

If we push too hard in a workout with worn out bodies, improper form can lead to injury. Sometimes you just have to take a quick rest & refuel so you can come back in and beast it! Same with our everyday lives. Some of us spend so much time pouring out and not enough time filling back up. Injuries can take a lifetime to heal, aint nothin wrong with taking a moment for yourself to refresh and get it together to avoid them. You are important treat yourself as such. Sometimes others have no choice but to wait. 

Sometimes I find myself trapped in a negative mindset and I don't always know how to get myself out of it. Being able to praise God during these times definitely helps to change my perception of the world around me giving me a better perspective on the positive. 

My devotion this morning included writing down 10 things that I am grateful for, praising God for all he has given me and telling someone about these things...So, I decided to tell whoever reads this blog =)

10 things I'm grateful for this morning: 

1. Waking up in my right mind. Not having to deal with a spirit of depression or anxiety or twisted image of myself. 

2. Strength to deal with people who don't like me or are mean to me for no apparent reason. 

3. Waking up in a bed, under a blanket, under a roof and four walls. 

4. For a family and friends that love me.

5. For putting me in a position to grow professionally and spiritually (place of worship, work, volunteer opportunities). 

6. Word of God, Holy Spirit, and discernment

7. A career to go to and awesome co-workers. 

8. My car and the title that goes with it =) not to mention the gas money that I have to fill it up. 

9. The peace of the Lord on this morning because yesterday was iffy. 

10.  Jesus...relationship. 

Sometimes it's hard to pick out the awesome when there are bad things happening around us and sometimes within us. But I'm challenging you, if you're in a not so good space, to change the way that you are thinking right now and focus on what is working for you. 

What are 10 things that you are grateful for today? You can comment below or journal it out! Write it down tho! Just 10 things! =) Ready Begin!

So a few nights ago I was trying to get myself back into a groove. I've fallen off a bit in how much time I spend with God. Usually I begin to feel guilty about it and it keeps me away from serious prayer and reading longer than necessary. Anyways I was led to the following scripture:

I got excited because I got so much out of it. Sharing time =) The writing is totally towards myself but if you get something from it heeyyyy even better...My point for posting it!

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sent to give the disciples a message.

So it's been one year! One year since I decided to TRULY seek out Christ for myself. Why do I pray, why do I go to church, why do I fast, why do I believe? From last year this date until now I have journals that detail the account of 365 days which is awesome cuz I can barely remember what happened this morning let alone a year ago. Most of the basic questions have been answered. But of course understanding one thing leads you to another realm that you have to attempt to tap into and navigate…with the assistance of the Holy Spirit of course. Everyday I'm challenged to

So it has almost been 3 weeks since I wrote “Whose Relationship is it Anyway” and I’m finally looking at the computer screen again.  Click here if you missed Whose Relationship is it Anyway

That writing marked day 1 of me attempting to master the art of Proverbs 3:5-6…Leaning on the Lord with all my heart and allowing him to direct my paths. ALL of them! I’m not going to pretend that I have been able to fully master it. However I will say that I have finally attempted to stop beating myself up over it and just allow it to happen. What is it? Well…life.

When you’ve always been the person running your life, calling all the shots, it’s hard to come to the realization that as Christians, our lives are not our own. Like Paul says in Galatians once we give ourselves over to Christ, we die to ourselves and allow him to live through us. (2:20) Easier said than done…My opinion. 

The gift and the curse of our freewill is that we have the choice

Martin and Miranda were together for a little over 4 years. At the 4-year mark the two engaged in another serious conversation regarding their future. Martin was very open about his feelings for Miranda including his concerns and fears. He let her know that while he wanted to be with her he didn’t know when he would be ready to marry her, if ever. He asked that she would keep the conversation between them so they could figure it out together.

This hurt Miranda to the core. She wasn’t so open about this with him, not wanting to bug, she forced a smile and nodded to him in approval. He knew something wasn’t right with her response but did not force her to share.

Although they agreed the conversation would stay between them, the emotions and insecurities Miranda felt were new and were getting the best of her. Martin’s aim was not to wreck her world.