Don't give up on them!

Last night I saw a testimony online that shook the very core of my insides.  The clip was entitled, "Atheist died, went to Hell, Came back". In his testimony, Mr. Reagan disclosed that he used to 'cut and shoot' people, was very angry, was a womanizer and had a heart that was stone cold. He said when he was nine years old he was given a lamb that he took home. He watched as his father beat the lamb to death, blood spilling everywhere. He cried and cried and vowed from that day onward that he was never going to be hurt again, but he would do the hurting! Since then, he lived life being a slave to sin. He robbed, he killed, he watched as people were raped. He was shot, had been stabbed, cursed and fornicated. He was sinking deeper and deeper into an unsatisfactory life. He had a wife and kids, but was quickly losing them to the lifestyle he preferred. One night he remembered so clearly, that as he was going into a store with his 5 year old son, a man exiting the store at the same time pushed the door as he did it. He became so angry that he began beating the man in front of the child. The man, who appeared equally violent, got up and reached for something. He began to stab Mr. Reagan about the body. As the testimony continues, Mr. Reagan recalls that he knew he had been in an ambulance which somehow appeared to have caught on fire. He saw himself falling into an open crater volcano, where people were burning, begging him to go back and not come to a place like that. He says he didn't want to experience what they were experience and was fighting desperately to get back. When he awoke, he found himself on a hospital bed with his wife by his side. He didn't forget the voices of the people wailing in the fire. This he said, caused him to turn his life around.
Wow! Tears came to my eyes. Jesus had been with him. Jesus saved him. He was fortunate to visit hell to recognize it is not the place he wanted to be. God had a plan for him even though he had been rejecting Him for so long. Today, he is a Pastor of his own church and has preached in all continents around the globe.
How foolish I have been. My unsaved loved one seems to be a servant of evil. The more I pray, the more things got worst. As strong as I like to believe I am standing on the Word of God and on His promises for my household, I get weary and I faint. But, many are the afflictions of the righteous, and God delivers us out of them all. God saw my weariness and He saw my sadness that my loved one is living such a defeated life. And so, I come across a video like this one; One where a man who loved sin so much, who did everything pleasing to self and to the enemy, who was blind to spiritual things, ran into the arms of the Living God. What a mighty God we serve! My hope was renewed in the moment it wavered. 
Sometimes dear friends, it takes time for people to finally choose Jesus. But, it also takes time to build up a powerful testimony. Our loved ones, like we once did, would have to go through some things that when they are able to see truth, they will know without a doubt that it was only God who saved them. All glory will go to Him only. He deserves all that we are and so much more. Have Faith today. Believe that you and your household shall be saved. Believe God at His Word. Believe that man, woman, or child whose salvation you are praying for, has already been saved. God has heard our petitions and He is faithful to answer. Believe and Receive in Jesus Name! 

Love One Another, As I Have Loved You

What a scripture! It is commanded in John 13:34, 'love one another as I have loved you'. It appears to be one of the simplest verses in the Bible and yet one of the most complex. I myself have lived a life out of Christ for so long where hate became a part of my normal reality. I hated. I hated people for hurting me, for judging me, or for simply not doing the things that I expected them to do. But then Jesus found me. He took me out of utter darkness and illuminated my life with His brilliant light. This was my first experience with love. Since then, the number of experiences have indeed multiplied so much so that I am able to love me, and love others today. However, as much as I want to say that loving people is very easy for me at this point in my Christian walk, I cannot. I hear preaching of how my life is supposed to portray the gospel to the world since they are not opening the Bible to read it for themselves. I am supposed to live in such a righteous way that the people who are slaves to sin would be ministered to because of my uprightness in Christ. I am so far from that. Just this week I was facing a situation in my home where I was hurt and downright upset that certain scenes seem to be reoccurring in my life. I didn't immediately run to my secret place where I could meet with God to deal with the matter. Instead, I decided to handle things my own way. I said what I wanted to say, and then I gave the silent treatment. The day after I was still dropping words here and there, and then retreating into the silence.

But God sees us in our afflictions and delivers us out of them all. God corrected my behavior through a message He prepared. My Pastor was preaching with so much fire on the topic of putting the old man and the old ways to death with Christ so that we can be resurrected with Him. Here, I learned that I had old ways in me that were not dead yet. This means there is evidence of the old man being alive in me still. If God is calling me to love, unconditionally, wholeheartedly, without exception, then it means in the midst of all circumstances I am called to show forth a daily attitude of love. 

Sometimes, we struggle with walking right, daily. By this I mean that we can think that today covers us for tomorrow failing to see how the study and prayer we put in today is only sufficient for today. We have to be able to renew ourselves in God everyday by spending time with Him. When we are able to do this, responding the way He expects us to will become easier in the trials we face in our lives. 

In the end, we recognize that He is love and thus fills us with His love. His love does not discriminate or is available only as a result of good works. Therefore, if we are showing forth Christ's love in us, we are called to love in the same way. We are called to love even those who hurt us, without exception, and not depending on how much times they do it. We are simply called to Love...

Weakness Produces Power

Today was one of those days where I had to make a decision - I was either going to react or respond to the situation at hand. I had to remind myself that I am a new creation and that my decision shouldn't please me, but it should please The Lord. In God's Word, it says that we are weak, but are made strong with Him (2 Cor 13:4) and that God's strength is perfected in our weakness (2 Cor 12:9). It is therefore in our infirmities, our distresses, our persecutions, trials, reproaches and necessities that we are weak... Here is when God can come in and produce power through these weaknesses so that we can have strength. The Bible tells us that we have to glory when the situations come...when we are laughed at, called names, ridiculed, or persecuted for righteousness sake, because to the world we appear to be weak, but we are actually being used by God to produce power.

Today, I was being persecuted and truthfully, I didn't glory since all I felt at the time was hurt and even some anger. But, I had to constantly remind myself of the scriptures on which I base my life. Attending a bible study tonight, the Spirit of God was teaching on this same topic. How awesome is our God who sees the situations we face and step in to help us. God takes pity on us. He saw me in my weakness today and tonight He was teaching me that the thoughts I had of throwing in the towel and retreating into myself was not His intention for me. 

Dear people of God, we carry within us the Excellent Spirit of God that is going to cause us to stand out and get noticed weather we want to or not. This means that people of the world are going to see us and not like us for where God has placed us. They are not going to question where we came from, but they know they are uncomfortable when we sit in the position of the head and not the tail. 

When you are placed in such situations of weakness, remember to glory in them, for it is through them that power ( the same power that raised Christ from the dead ) is produced!

My everything

Lord You have called me to live in new depths, to conquer new darkness, to be healed from every disease, to overcome every temptation, to spread the good news, to allow your light in me to shine in every dark place, to live above sin and fear, to rise above doubt, to expand my territories and coasts, to dwell and cities that I didn't build, to have a sound mind and body, to become a warrior in the Spirit, to trample upon very enemy, to live in peace, love and always have hope, to be the head and not the tail, to be above and not under, to be a success and not a defeat, to triumph and not fail, to have and not live in lack, to be compassionate and not hate, to give love especially when it's not returned, to forgive when it's the hardest thing to do, to soar on wings like eagles, to have abundance in the midst of my enemies, to get up and not sit down, to be my shelter in the valley, to relinquish my pain and hurt for happiness and joy, to be selfless, to be caring, to weep with those who weep, to reach out a helping hand, to uplift and not break down, to smile and not cry, to give, to have, to be like You....

You are my everything...

When I stand alone, I stand already a failure

When I'm with You, everything that concerns me is taken care of...

Oh how I need You  Jesus!

I love You Lord.

I love You Lord!