Trusting in the valleys...

God in Christ by His Spirit calls you to step out of despair into the love of His life.  He invites you to step out of darkness to walk in the brilliant sunlight of His presence and person and power. 

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psa 23:4 KJV)

Death can throw a frightening shadow over us because in its presence we have no strength. We struggle with other enemies like – pain, suffering, disease, and injury – but in the end our strength and courage cannot overcome death.  Only one person can walk with us through deaths dark valley and bring us safely to the other side – the God of life our shepherd.  Because life is uncertain, we should follow this shepherd who offers us eternal comfort.

When we start “Walking with God” it means that we will eventually go through a valley or two but in these valleys is when we will learn the most about God’s grace and about our faith.  At the moment we enter into a valley, there is a feeling of arrogance that this won’t be so bad and that we will be able to handle it.  Don’t ever make the mistake of believing that a valley will ever be easy or quick to get through even though the Bible says “…count it all joy…”  (James 1:2).

When adversity does arises we begin to question God’s plan, we wonder if /how we will make it through or why we have to go through this valley. No matter what precautions you take or how together your life is or how hard you have worked to stay healthy, nothing you can do will prevent you from walking into a valley at various stages of your life. 

When God brings us to valleys there is a reason. The valley is a place where our faith will be tried; it’s a place where faith will grow to a new level, it is a place where our trust in God will become more evident in our lives and not just in our valley. And it’s a place where we become stronger for the next journey or phase that we will take.  Psalms 23 is God’s promises and this Word is a reminder that He is always near––loving, protecting, and guiding us. As our faith is tried and our dependence upon God will grow more because you will now understand that it is He that is able to bring you through these valleys. 

The valley can be thought of as your training ground, for remember that God is faithful for He is preparing your heart and renewing your mind for what He has called you to do.  But if you look for outside help, if you seek some other way to go rather than through the valley you will fail in your pursuit of finding relief. It can be a fearful feeling when you know that you are walking into a valley, that what is about to happen will be extremely unpleasant but yet it is unavoidable.

Every valley is a passageway rather than a destination to reach, just know that sooner or later all the troubles, difficulties and trials will pass. The purpose of walking with God in the valleys is clearly stated in James 1:3-4(KJ); “knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  I like how it is stated in the Living bible “when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when you endurance is fully developed; you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” Many times we cannot see God’s purpose or understand His plans while we’re in the valley because our pain is so great. This is the time when we must stand strong in our faith and on His Word and promises.

When we have lost something or someone such as a friendship, a marriage, a job, or our financial stability just for example, it can throw us off balance, the blessing of the valley is, the deeper our valley then the greater the work of God will be in it and in our lives. The key word to grasp in James 1:4 is “perfection” meaning full growth, as men and not children, thoroughly instructed and deeply experienced”.  From our experiences in the valley’s as well as the mountain tops we find that God is the one who controls the length of time we spend in a valley but if and in our stubbornness, self-will, pride, arrogance, etc will not yield to the obedience of God then it only lengthens the suffering in the valley.

Valleys are not an easy trip to take and when we don’t handle the hardship well in a valley, what we are saying is that we are afraid of trusting God completely to bring us out of this valley, which in turn will only delay our deliverance as stated above. We panic in the face of difficulties, we are looking at what lays before us instead of who is with us and that He has ALL power in His hand.

We must find the reassurance needed to make it through the valleys, from the Word of God, through prayer, through obedience and through surrender.  This is the time that regardless of circumstances we need to rely on God, know that no matter what, the Father will provide for us as He says “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters” (Ps. 23:2). God tells us that: "Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Ps. 119:105) so in difficult times we can trust its truth to protect us from making wrong choices and bring us some comfort till we come out of the valley.

How do we handle a valley? One way is to surrender your life to God, give Him complete control of your thoughts, your attitudes and your heart.  Then you must believe the Lord will use this opportunity for good just as Joseph went through in order to help a nation of people through his distress God turned it for good.  Then rest, knowing that He is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent, so He knows where you are as well as what is happening.  Finally, be thankful to God "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you " (1Th. 5:18) for brining you into this valley for it’s in the valley that the greatest life’s lessons are learned.

Be bless

Nina Jenkins

NEWNESS OF LIFE

Eph. 4:24 “An that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

This is such a great point to be in our Spiritual walk, we have “put on the new man…” and this new man has put on bowels of mercies, kindness, and humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, and love. 

As we are renewing in the spirit of our mind (v23), we are letting go of the wrong attitudes that has held us captive for so long, such as belittling, pride fullness, and vanity, and we are now on the way to choosing God's thoughts. At this point we are no longer walking as the world, where our understanding was darken, or in ignorance, and of blindness of heart.  We have been given a gift a most precious gift when we came under the blood, we now have the Holy Spirit residing within us.  This is the same power that was with Jesus working the many miracles that He did.

Yes, our entire course of life is now flowing in a different direction, we are now “in Christ…old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” (2 Cor.5:17).  It is foolish for any man to profess a relationship with Christ while still in the flesh, and while he remains unchanged in heart and life he is still dead in trespasses and sins; only the blood of Jesus can cleans you.  As we put on this new life, righteousness will be manifested and true holiness will will being to be evident in our walk, our ways, our attitudes and our thinking is changing.  As we “…yield your (our) members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Romans 6:19), for we no longer live to the lust of men but to the will of God (1 Peter 4:2).

 Be bless

Chosen4God

Light bearers…                 

We are called to walk with Him in wholeness; in whole-someness; in holiness. No pains have been spared to make it abundantly obvious that no matter what our culture, society, or time in history, He invites us to walk with Him in dignity, decency, and on a plain above apart from our contemporaries. (Phillip Keller)

There have been many, many great examples given to us in the Bible of those who walked with God.  There is one that we know the least about but he left us an example of what it would be like when we walk with God in complete surrender and it’s Enoch (Gen. 5:22-24).  He was a man whose heart and life exudes a love for God that we can’t begin to comprehend; it says in Hebrews 11:5 “…that he pleased God.” Can anyone say that their walk pleased God as Enoch?  “…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  

We are prone to see from a human standard, we look at the education, the skill set, the intelligence, the financial stance of a person, more than the true part that God considers – the heart.  He does not need to look at the outside or the accomplishments of man, but is the heart humbled, is it one willing to yield completely to His Will.  What did Enoch have that we don’t? There was something so special with Enoch and his walking with God that God took him just like that.  There was something that he possessed that we don’t have or may not yet have reached his level of intimacy as he had with God. 

Another great example would be Abraham, God told him to leave his family and to leave his country as well. Abraham was called of God for a purpose and through him He promised him “…I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2). Abraham’s faith and obedience to God were blessing that were passed on to us as believer, for we are of the seed of Abraham and we are also promised the same blessings as Abraham through the covenant, God promised; “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (Gen 17:7).  Did you know that Abraham was 75 years old when he started his walk with God?

At this point in life we would all ready be in our retired state of mind but Abrahams faith was all he had to go on and a promise from God.  He set out across the desert waste to walk with God in explicit faith.  It doesn’t matter how old we are when God calls us just as long as we have a heart filled with obedience and faith in His promises then we can take that first step towards His purpose. Are you willing to obey when God calls you?

I believe Enoch and Abraham had something that we all are seeking and searching for today, but we have yet to obtain it.  I believe that it’s something that goes much deeper than faith, and that there is an intimacy level that is reached with God as we walk with Him all day, everyday – 24/7.  God has to consume our mind, our heart, our soul in such a way that every breath becomes a prayer of praise to Him.  I believe that it’s a level of intimacy that is achieved not in six months nor in a year, but in a life time.

We need to strive in devoting ourselves to be completely saturated in the Word, and our walk must be devoted completely to holiness with the Father.  You see, sin always blocks our vision of God; and holiness is coupled with living in peace where a right relationship with God leads to a right relationship with fellow believers.  Paul tells us this in Hebrew 12:14 “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God.”  We must press towards the prize that many which have gone on before us have already obtained (see Phil. 3:12-14).  Holiness in this sense is talking about your consecration and sanctification, for in 1 Thess. 4:3 God commands us to know His will “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” Meaning, we must separate (sanctify) ourselves from all kinds of sexual perversion, and sex sins, all sins of the flesh (see Mark 7:21-23; Gal. 5:19-21) we must know how to possess these vessels (your body) in sanctification and honor. 

This is where the enemy traps many who are striving to walk with God, by using the lust of the eyes then the lust of the flesh and even the pride of life, these are all part of the world and so many have fallen into this trap (1 John 2:16).  Think about this, the mind is the battlefield, the enemy gains access when we allow unclean thoughts to take shape and he gains victory when we choose to act on these thoughts. You see, when darkness (sin) is still present within our minds the enemy has legal right to play havoc in your life, “…God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).  So where we need to start at is by “Casting down imagination, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ “(2 Cor. 10:5). Until you truly understand that by renewing your mind with the Word of God the enemy will continue his destructive path. 

Let’s stop here and recap, first as you read your Bible you will find that there were many, many good examples that God gives us of those who by walking with God in obedience were able to do great exploits for God. Now don’t think their walk was without problems, stumbling blocks, or hindrances because there were plenty lurking around. There were shouts of despair, moments of darkness, uncertainty, and even persecution, but in the end they found light, love and life, and they found Him to be a friend that will see them through what He has called them to do.  

Enoch and Abraham were just two examples that show us the importance of having a relationship with the Almighty.  Light and darkness cannot walk side by side with each other. You must chose how you want to walk and be faithful to that choice because our enemy, Satan wants to kill you, steal your peace, joy, happiness and destroy your life and your future (John 10:10).  Finally, we must keep our mind renewed in the Word, we must strive to walk in holiness and we must stay separated from the Worlds view of living and believing because "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" (1Cr 7:23).  So till next time Saints keep walking with God.

Be bless

Chosen4God

Stuck between a rock and a hard place…

When I found this picture it brought back memories where I had found myself at times of my life, either by my doing or my choices.  We all have been “stuck between a rock and hard place” at one time or another and I’m sure many of you have heard this saying before of “being stuck between a rock and a hard place” right? What exactly does this mean? And how does it pertain to our Walking with God?  Well let’s say you have a choice that must be made and if you make the wrong choice the consequences could be more devastating than if you made no decision at all and the decision will affect more than just you. Of course this is just an example but we have all at one time found ourselves in this position. 

When we find ourselves in a situation that requires us to change directions we need to take heed to the path that God is directing us to.  But in our stubbornness and self-will,  for some of the paths we have chosen have lead us where we wish we hadn’t gone because we have made the grand decision to forge our own way.  The Bible tells us that "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein" (Jer 6:16 KJV). We have opted out from the tried and true path to be different, to be unique or to “to be me”.  What we have done then is we have chosen the flesh part of life; we have gone with our own mind set, and remember “…the carnal mind is enmity against God... they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7-8). How successful has those choices been?

The Word of God is very clear when we choose our own paths, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (Jam 4:4 KJV).  When we are walking with God it should be a time of exhilaration, it should be a time of fulfilling what was commission to us by Christ, to go and heal the sick, to raise the dead, to preach the Word.  Nevertheless the path that we have chosen has been of our own making and choice and the consequences of this are ours to receive.

One thing for sure life has a way of challenging us and forcing us to take a good look at ourselves and as we start to get older our perspective about life changes and choices we’ve made come to mind and we begin to re-evaluate our lives, going back over some of the choices we did make and seeing where we shoulda, coulda and woulda made better choices had we known what we know now.  You must realize now that the past is the past and we can’t reach back to change it or erase it, there are no excuses we can give for the choices of the past.  What we must do now is “press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). 

God is calling us higher, our destiny is not here in this world if you look at Israel they were God’s chosen people and nation, "For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." (Deut. 14:2 KJV) yet He never gave up on them even though they tried His patience many times with their idolatrous beliefs, unbelief, their rebellion and stubbornness.  It is imperative to understand that as long as we walk in obedience to His Word, obey His commands and remain humble before Him we, who are called by His name, will reach our eternal home; if we do not faint on the journey we are now on. Getting past the past means knowing that we have been made “…kings and priest and we will reign on earth” (Rev. 5:19) with Christ on day, and even Paul tells us that we are “…heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom.8:17).  Knowing all this we must let the past have no affect on our future neither upon what God says in His Word.

Walking with God means you do not walk alone on this path. You have the blessed Holy Spirit who will be with you forever because Jesus is your Savior.  Whatever the problems we find ourselves facing we can now take them to God in prayer. If you have a minimal prayer life or near non-existent one, you will most definitely develop a stronger and deeper prayer life that will become as easy as breathing.  Your faith level will be tested, your walk will be tried, you will have to deal with detours, roadblocks, stumbling blocks and yes, the enemy himself will be the one behind all of this, but don’t despair or become fearful for you have the “ELOHIM” the God of all creation is with you and He knows already what each of us will face and the victories that will be won in Jesus name.  We will not pass every test but remain faithful and true to God and you will find that your dependence on God will become stronger than a three-fold cord.

Chosen4God

Rain, Rain go away...

The skies are a dark bluish, purplish black color, the winds are blowing as though trying to get to a destination with the utmost speed and a feeling of relaxation comes over me and I settle on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and with the T.V. remote at hand ready for a great evening.  I don’t know about you but I love a good hard rain, strangely enough it’s peaceful to my soul, the sound it makes when hitting the roof and the mini running lakes that it makes on the ground, yes I love the rain.

There was another rainy day that lasted for 40 days and 40 nights, a rain that was so devastating that all life was extinguished from the earth except for 8 people. All plant life, animal life and human life was destroyed in this rain. What would make God do such a thing? What happen for Him to be so disappointed with the work of His hands? Let’s look and see.

To answer these questions and others you might have, you must look at the times of Noah. Now Noah was a man that came from a great linage. His great-grandfather Enoch was a man who walked with God and that he pleased God, he also was a prophet of judgment just as Elijah and they fought against idolatry and apostasy in their time. 

Hebrews 11:5 tells us that “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Enoch did not see death (neither did Elijah 2 Kings 2:11-12) because God took him, he will be one of the two witnesses that will return during the tribulation of Rev. 11, but this is another great teaching.

A Brief History

Now Noah’s grandfather was Methuselah, he was the oldest living person recorded in the Bible at that time, when he died he was 969 years old. Enoch on the other hand is still in heaven awaiting his time to return.  I haven’t lost it believe me, if you have any concerns please direct all question to God, this is what His Word says; read Genesis 5:21-24 it does not say “and he died”. If you have a good references Bible (I use the Dake Bible) study all the scriptures about this and see for yourself.

Anyway, Noah’s father Lamech was a religious man; the Bible does not give much else about him. I must tell you that when you read Genesis 6-7 you must first realize that the Bible is God’s Word and it’s the truth and you must receive it as the truth.  When you get into debates or theological conversations it takes you away from the truth and you begin to interject your wisdom and your thoughts, not God’s.

State of the Nation

Starting in Genesis chapter 6:2, “that the sons of God saw the daughter of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The result of this affair produced giants 6:4 “there were giants in the earth in those days; also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” In other words women were having children by fallen wicked angles as well as by regular men, producing giants in the earth so much so that God said “…my spirit shall not always strive with man…” (Gen. 6:3) “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (Gen. 6:6).

We’re still talking about the days of Noah now, so don’t get too confused.  Well now, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5). The people of this day were doing just too much, “…every imagination…was only evil” can you even begin to imagine a world like this? There would be no safe place, or justice, no law for protection – almost sound like life today without the giants.

Noah’s Walk

“Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” and “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walk with God” (Gen 6:8-9). Perfect here means he and his sons had not infected their lives as others with fallen angels; they were still the only pure Adamites left. Noah had sisters and brothers after he was born “ And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:” (Gen 5:30); and yet he was the only one walking with God.

 His sisters and brothers all were fallen prey into the ways of the world; Satan was trying to destroy the pure Admite line from which Christ would come through.  Out of all his family and the entire world, Noah and his family were the only ones pure. He even walked as His great-grandfather did for he walked with God. It’s heart wrenching to know that you are the only one in your family that is walking with God, as much as you may try to influence them to hear a Word from God or talk about salvation they just blow you off.  I’m sure Noah did what he could to sway his siblings; we all would if we were in such a situation as he was.

God had finally had enough He pronounced judgment for His holiness could no longer tolerate this wickedness any longer.  “God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is fill with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (Gen 6:13). Because of God’s grace for Noah and his family, He instructs him to build an ark; this was an immense undertaking for Him, God gave Noah the dimension of the ark, the type of wood to use, and the instructions in how it should look (Gen. 6:14-16). 

God promised Noah “but with thee will I establish my covenant; and their shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife and thy sons wives with thee.”  (Gen. 6:18). God then instructed Noah as to what animals to bring and how many “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female” (Gen 6:19). But He also instructed that he bring in “of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female; and of beast that are not clean by two, the male and his female” (Gen 7:2). This was for the purpose of making sacrifice later.

The End

God then promised Noah that in seven days it will begin to rain on the earth “…and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth” (Gen 7:4). God’s Word does not return unto Him void, it was as sure as the sun will rise that the earth was about to be flooded and all life extinguished. Noah was a man of God so one would think that as he worked on the ark he was telling people to repent and trust God, right? I could only hope so.  Can you imagine the society at that time, the thoughts, the ways, and the attitudes were only evil. Men had become so universally depraved that God had no recourse but to destroy the race.

Noah was surrounded daily by a mass of godless, unbelievers, who would come to see his work and remain just to mock him. Through it all Noah maintain his faith to do what God had call him to do. Noah stands among all the workers of the Bible unsurpassed, if not incomparable, in persistent faith. We must ask ourselves whether we would have such faith in a world that only glorifies sin, would we be persistent in doing what God has called us to or will we finally give in to all the taunts, cursing and ridicule?

God open the “…windows of heaven…” (Gen. 7:11). The new movie Noah is out and I have not seen it yet. And from a lot of comments I have read many believers know that it was nowhere near Biblical based. I can’t say that whether I will see it or not, I just know that I believe in the Bible and after reading about the “Noah of the Bible” I would prefer this truth more than the fiction of movies. Thousands of people were lost because they would rather mock him and make fun of what he was called to do, instead of asking “what is this great calling that you do this?”  

We must open our eyes even in this day and time that judgment will first come to the house of God and then the world.  What is your heart like are you accepting of things that the Bible says is wrong or will you stand for what God says is right?

Chosen4God

Breaking free-letting go….

A new day is beginning to dawn light has now found its way in the darkness that has been our blanket of comfort for so long.  Do I truly see what I see? Is this a hallucination? O light of God dispel this darkness forever. This may be your cry or something similar to it, nevertheless, it’s a cry from the heart of one that has endured many trials, one that has weathered many heavy storms, one that has been through many dry wildernesses and now darkness has been broken with the light of God raining into their life.

There has been much learned in this season of darkness.  Light has now presented itself as that long lost hope that we have prayed so diligently for, that we have sought with perseverance and now here it is on the horizon.  Lessons of faith have burst forth as a ray of sunshine; forgiveness has warmed our souls as the heat of the sun.  We now can let go of selfish desires, the name it and claim it doctrine, and that we are in charge of our destiny. For only a moment we lost our minds thinking this way and now we have come to our senses, and God in His mercy and grace now looks upon us once again.

We have let go of the past, we have forgiven those who have hurt us, we have searched for God as silver and Gold, we are breaking free from the worries that has plague our minds for months even years, we have finally understood what it means to let God have complete control of our lives, to trust in Him and His will and now we have placed everything and everyone into His hands; and have finally surrender completely to Him.

 We have broken free of all that was hindering our walk; we have broken free from the bondages that have capture our minds and focus, we have let those we have held in condemnation go so we can walk in freedom. We have broken free of all mindless details and endless events that have pushed us and interfered with our relationship, our study time and our communication with God, we have broken free from the many cares of this world and we have broken free from all fruitless hindering endeavors.

God has open our eyes and we can see so clearly now, how foolish we were to believe the lies and deception of the enemy. God is very forgiving as we begin to seek Him with our whole heart and mind, when we focus only on Him and His Word we are being transformed into the image He sees and the image He has destine for us.  His Word becomes fresh wind that blows into our soul to revive us; our faith has been renewed and strengthened in Him. We have come to understand that we can do nothing without Him; He is our life, our breath, the blood that flows through our veins with each beat of our heart because of Him and Him alone.  He has taken hold of our right hand and led us out of the darkness and now we are free.

As a flower reaches up to gather in the rays of the sun so does our soul reaches up to heaven yearning, seeking, hungering and thirsting for that living bread, the necessary bread; only to be yielded to the will of God, doing His will, and obeying His voice. We have let go of all things and now He is directing our path, He is giving us a deeper understanding and love for Him and His Word. And now we can relate to what the song truly means; “My life is not my own to You I belong I give myself to you.”

 We have learn what it means to lean not to our own understanding, we have learn what it means when we are to be still and to cast our cares upon Him, and to be strong and of good courage.  Yes, our ways are no longer valid; our thoughts are just plain vanity before our God and our actions are worthless without His intervention. 

Yes, a new day has begun, the sun is shining brightly and our spirit is eagerly awaiting His command, for God has brought us out of a deep pit but now it’s time for us to help and encourage others to get out of that pit. It’s time that we become a testimony to the grace of Jehovah God, it’s time that we humbly give of ourselves to Him who gave His life for each and every one of us and it’s time to break free and go.

Be bless…

Chosen4God

The Christian Life

Learning to live the Christian life can be daunting if not challenging, but the rewards will be life “affecting” to those who come in contact with you.  Your life is no longer yours to be directed, but we have been bought with a price that we are unable to pay back. It is only through our complete obedience to the owner that we walk into this new life to be taught, led and change into His image.  This new life will be one with challenges but don’t be dismayed because we have One who is with us till the end of time, we have One who will fight our battles for us, and we have One who intercedes on our behalf, in other words our new Master knows everything we will have to endure and He promises us that He will never leave us neither will He forsake us.

 Below are some guidelines that we can choose to follow in staying the course with our new Master and if necessary we may even be accountable to each other if we ever start to lack encouragement.  Sometimes as “old Saints” we may have gotten accustom to doing things our way so this can be a reminder that we have to put ‘our way’ down and choose God’s way.  And for the new convert, this will help with direction of how to proceed in the Christian life. I pray that you will be bless with this and please share this with others you feel may profit from it.

Be bless

Believe – the word of God at all times and walk in the light of it.  No matter what comes against us daily we must speak, trust and believe what God says about us – 1 John 1:7

Walk – by faith in newness of life, not by sight nor of feelings, “for the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” – Heb. 10:23-39; Rom 6: 1-23; 8:1-13; Gal. 5:16-26

Read – the Bible daily, search it, meditate on it day and night to feed and nurture your spiritual life – Ps. 1:1-3; 119:105; 2 Cor. 10:4-7; Eph 6: 10-18; 1 Peter 2:2

Pray – to God daily as your Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, “casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you” – John 16:23-26; Phil. 4: 5-6; 1 Peter 5:7

Claim – all the benefits of the promises of God and appropriate by faith all that He has promised – 2 Cor. 1:20; 2 Peter 1:1-4

Keep – you mind stayed upon God – Isa 26:3. And grow in grace, in all the virtues of grace and God – Phil. 4:8; 1 Peter 2:4-10; 2 Peter 1:4-11; Jude 20-24

Recognize – at all times your weaknesses as well as God’s strength and keeping power – 1 Cor. 10:12-13; 1 Peter 1:5.  Faith is the victory that overcomes the world – 1 John 5:1-4

Confess – the Lord Jesus Christ frequently and daily as your personal Saviour – Mt. 10:32-33.  Be busy at soul winning and keep occupied in all phases of Christian work possible – Ps. 11:30; Daniel 12:3

Avoid temptations and shun evil companions – Ps. 1; Proverbs 1:10-16; 1Timothy 4:6-16. Resist sin and Satan – James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9.  Make friends with Gods people strive to be a blessing to them and all other – Rom 12; 1 Cor. 13; Col. 3:5-10

Attend church regularly – Heb. 10:25.  Cooperate with the pastor in all of his many labors – Mt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 6:1; 2 Tim 2:15; 3:15-17

Seek God constantly – for the full anointing of the Holy Spirit, the fruits and gifts of the Spirit, and yield to and obey the Holy Spirit in all things – Lk. 11:13; 24:49; Jn 7:37-39; 14:12-17; 15:26; 16:7-13; Acts 1:8; 2:38-39; 5:32: Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 5:18; 6:10-18; 1 Thess. 5:19

Be bless

Chose4God Ministry

You are Chosen4God 4 a Purpose

  

Rom 9:23-24 “And that He might make known the riches of His Glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.”

Life can play some cruel tricks on you at the most critical time in your life.  This is a harsh statement, but true, you would be expecting one thing and WHAM! here comes a problem that knocks you off balance or here's a sickness that will test the faith that you have been telling the world that you have.  Nevertheless, the path that we are all on is different and there will be different results and no two paths are the same.

Sometimes it's not a problem or sickness or trials, but it's someone in your life that has let you down or someone has disappointed you. Your feelings are hurt, you become angry with the thought of never  having anything to do with them but somehow we find ourselves back in their company believing the lies all over.  Our trust has been shattered and now we recede back into our safe corner never truly trusting anyone again. 

What does this say about the type of person we are? What are we looking for that we aren't getting? Where do we need to turn to for the right answers? Many of us are in dark places, our hearts are bound up like little precious trinkets wrapped in tissue and an handkerchief set high in a closet out of sight.  Then many of us aren't sure if we're coming or going, our minds are boggled with this, that and the other and our focused is scattered so that nothing is accomplish.  

Well know this my friend, God has called us "out of darkness and into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).  If you think about the word "Chosen" what comes to mind?  One definition is:  "hand picked, elected, assigned to a purpose" so God has looked down from heaven and He has hand picked you out from among world. You see, we had nothing to do with God's choice He tells us; "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." {Rom 8:29 KJV}

Even the word "Predestinate" confirms God's choice, it means "foreordained, decided in advance" When we understand that God has called us out, even before we ever came to Him, then we should shout for joy because He gave us something that He will develop and use at the appointed time.  We must not let darkness dictate our life, our decisions,  our actions not even our hopes.  God said that He "...hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will," {Eph 1:3-5 KJV}

The way we come out of darkness is to grab hold of the truth of  God and what He says about us, that you have been called out, you are chosen, you are anointed, you are not alone, you are holy and beloved and so much more.  We fight the darkness by knowing that God has chosen us for a purpose, that we matter to Him and that as light is received then the darkness has to flee. We must believe the Word more than what the enemy tries to  convince us of, God's Word is His bond and He can't go back on what He has said and promised.

Chosen4God