DO YOU HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD ?

Dear Family and Friends:

This is the month that we as men have chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ. Do we really know the foundation of this observation this time of year ? Why did we recognize his birth during this time of year ? I do celebrate Christmas because of the birth of Christ but we as Christians should celebrate his birth and his death and resurrection all year and each day not just December 25th. This time of year really comes from a secular, pagan religious practice during which time they use to worship winter 'solstice' because they were 'sun worshipers' they believed that the sun moved south it would never return so to encourage the sun to return they would celebrate with holly, ivy , mistletoe and other decorations .

December 25th was the "Victory of the Sun-God" Festival in the pagan Babylonian world, It was the Romans that decided to Christianize these observations by taking these pagan idolatries. By accepting this and presenting it in a way that Christians did not realize it was formed from the pagan observations they were able to make everyone happy.

To all ancient pagan civilizations, December 25th was the birthday of the gods . It is important that we as Christians know the root of what we are involved in . Let us remember that we choose to participate in this observation on this day but we need to make sure it is all about JESUS. The Word says in all thy ways acknowledge him. Even in our observation of December 25th let us not get to wrapped up in the gifts and presents. We are giving Thanks as we should each day for his immaculate birth , his death and his resurrection. We should not just celebrate and give thanks at certain times of the year. As we develop a relationship with God we see how much each day is to be filled with observation and awareness of him. Not just on a holiday.

Now back to my original question, 'Do you have a relationship with God ?'. Do you know if you do ? Just as you have an earthly relationship with your parents you should have a relationship with him. Our parents love us no matter what and want the best for us. So does God. Can we do anything that would affect our relationship as children to our parents ? Yes as far as the harmony of our relationship. We can do things that can cause them hurt, pain, disappointment and even sadness BUT it does not change the fact that they are our parents and we are their children...because we have a RELATIONSHIP with them by blood. NOTHING can change that relationship it can only change the harmony. We should have the same outlook in our relationship with GOD. Just as our parents want to trust us and want us to be obedient and have the best this world has to offer while carrying ourselves in a manner that will not disrespect or dishonor them SO is it the same for our relationship with our heavenly Father. He wants to be able to trust us and he wants us to be obedient and bring his name honor and respect.

He does not want us to disgrace his name. If we say we are his but act in a manner that brings reproach upon him we have hurt and disappointed him and changed the harmony of our relationship with him. Even when we mess up though just like our earthly parents he still loves us because we are heirs to the throne so we are related thru adoption by the blood so he still loves us but we have disturbed the balance or harmony of our relationship and when we do that just like with our earthly parents when they find out or we realize they know we are also ashamed .

We know we must do something to get back in their good graces. We must put the peace and harmony back in order. We must ask for forgiveness. We must repent. We will mess up but if we are sincerely convicted we know that he is JUST to forgive if we only ask. Know this i am not
perfect and I have so very far to go in my walk but i am moving. I have a relationship with him it is not yet where it should be but i am growing. Growing is not easy it makes you have a relationship with him that strengthens and grows but it comes with hurt, pain, surprise, disappointment and valleys..but we have to learn his way and we will have to suffer sometimes to learn how to be more aware of all he is in our lives and all he can do for us if we just really seek his face. He will show himself MIGHTY and he will be right on time even if we feel like we are going down for the last time. It grows our faith ! It increases our PRAISE !

We must get to where we can handle the MEAT of the word and not just drink the MILK. Jesus had to suffer to go thru and bring about salvation for the award of eternal life so who are we to think it will not happen to us ? We are far less than the SAVIOR of this world and he created us and we think we will not suffer disappointment and hard times ? We are born in sin and full of it in flesh so if the one who was free from sin had to suffer so badly who are we in sin that we will not ? TELL THE ENEMY FORM YOUR WEAPON BUT IT WILL NOT PROSPER !

TELL HIM WITH THE AUTHORITY, THE RIGHT THAT THE BLOOD OF JESUS AND HIS RESURRECTION HAS GIVEN YOU ! SPEAK IN HIS NAME AND GIVE IT POWER AND THE ENEMY WILL BOW DOWN ! Your relationship with GOD will allow you to speak it with confidence because you are learning your God and you know he has your back, front, side, top and bottom ! Look with the spirit not with the physical eyes. The physical eye will put you in a deep depression and that is NOT OF GOD.

Keep praying, keep reading, keep meditating and keep talking to him that is how you develop a relationship.-HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SHOW HIS LOVE TO EACH PERSON YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH ..THANK GOD FOR BEING HERE ANOTHER YEAR AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT CHOSEN YET TO COME INTO THE FAMILY. PRAY FOR HIS GRACE AND MERCY FOR THEM UNTIL THEY DO COME IN ....BECAUSE WE HAVE ALL BEEN OUT THERE IN THE MIDST OF HELL AND DID NOT KNOW IT..GOD DID NOT LET DEATH COME AND TAKE US IN OUR MESS..HE SAVED US AND WE DREW US IN AND MADE THE INCREASE.

A CRAZY FAITH

Today is another day full of GOD'S gift of GRACE. Do you really know how blessed you are ? Despite our faults, our unclean thoughts , our unclean words and our ungoldy desires in our flesh the LORD still gives us a fresh supply of MERCY AND GRACE each day and his love never changes. It is the same today as it was when he sent is Son, Our Savior, Jesus Christ , to earth to make the ultimate sacrifice of the BLOOD SACRIFICE. YET we still mess up and we still fall down but we MUST get back up. No matter how things look in the physical we must look towards the hills from which cometh our help because OUR HELP cometh from the LORD...if you do not really believe he can do it and you think it is just words give my Girlfriend and Sister in Christ, Thelma Louise a call. She will tell you that she has a CRAZY FAITH right now because she stayed focus on the hills from which cometh her help. She stood ....She occupied...She fasted and she prayed.....When the lawyers said give it up.....she stood. When the finance company said we closed your file.....she prayed......when the notice went in the newspaper....she fasted.....when her pocketbook and account said EMPTY and NOTHING AVAILABLE...she believed. She waited ...she put GOD to the test at this WORD....I remember her saying to me 'Me and My Children don't have anyone else we can rely on. God has got to do it. We dont have anyone else. " I remember those WORDS and i waited with her .....i waited because i know that he has NEVER FAILED HER....He has been her husband, provider, sustainer and Friend through so many other storms in her life and shown himself strong and mighty.....WELL THIS TIME HE TOOK HER FAITH A LITTLE HIGHER.....MADE IT A LITTLE STRONGER and took her to the brink of almost . Just a few days before the physical eye could see the enemy taking away her gift.....stealing what she had been given GOD CAME IN AND SHOWED OUT....HE OPENED THE EYES OF THOSE WHO KNOW HER AND WHO DID NOT KNOW HER !!! HE PERFORMED A MIRACLE IN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STATES....MILES AND MILES AWAY ...BUT HE PERFORMED HER MIRACLE DOWN TO THE PENNY....When it looked like there was no way out....HE MADE A WAY....YOU BETTER BELIEVE HE IS A WAY OUT OF NO WAY ! Her testimony of GOD's miracle gave me more strength to stand....caused me to gird up my loins even tighter and to stand and wait..I know not to trust the physical eye and i believe that GOD works in the spiritual to prepare to show us by manifesting it later in his timing. I am believing him for things in our lives right now....I HAVE A CRAZY FAITH TH AT HE WILL RESTORE FOR US AND WILL INCREASE ACCORDING TO OUR ORIGINAL REQUEST AND OUR FAITH.....GOD CAN WORK MIRACLES...The physical eye may see us
splashing around and think we are drowning but I BELIEVE GOD IS ON HIS WAY.....He WILL.....do what his WORD has said. He will come and see about us...He has even brought a dear friend back into my path after years of not hearing from each other and he has restored her and h er mate because only GOD knows your end. He is a forgiving GOD...he is a second chance GOD and he is a DELIVERER..he can save a man and he can change a MAN and he will answer prayers. He will do what his WORD says. OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE...I LOVE YOU ALL AND REMEMBER TO PAY YOUR TITHES.....RECOGNIZE GOD IN ALL YOUR WAYS....BIND YOUR TONGUE...PLEAD THE BLOOD OF JESUS OVER YOUR UNCLEAN THOUGHTS AND YOUR FLESH....AND HAVE A CRAZY FAITH....YOUR VICTORY IS IN THE PRAISE....STAND UP AND GIVE IT TO HIM FOR HE IS WORTHY....
P.S. I love you husband next to GOD. I pray protection around you as you go out. Let God order your steps in his WORD.

GOD'S GRACE FOR ME TODAY

Friends and Family:

A dear friend of mine i will call her 'Thelma Louise' shares the daily devotional with me from a purpose driven life and one of them she sent me really caught my eye it was dealing with God's Grace. I always thank GOD for his GRACE because i know that i personally use it all up in one day and have to get my brand new GRACE and MERCY the next day if i am gifted by GOD to have a next day. So i want to share this with you because it is important to me that we all grow in Christ..and let's slow down and read our WORD and pray with each other . We get so busy in the day GOD has given us we forget. He is not asking a lot of us just RESPECT, DEDICATION , COMMITTMENT AND CERTAINTY that we are not ashamed of the GOD we serve and we show in our Words, Thoughts , Deeds and Actions. Let us also pray for GOD'S GRACE in the lives of others. So many times we forget that we wrestle with spirits when we come in contact with other people. They are sometimes nasty , flip and short with us but we should remind them that we see the enemy at work here and we are not going to let him use US to make them act more out of GODS WILL. Sometimes they have just had some negative experiences before they cross our paths and they have not been able to shake it off and keep going. Let's all work on trying to show more Mercy and Grace towards others. Sometimes it seems they are not even aware that what they said or how they said it is not the best way or tone to use . We are guilty of this sometimes also so it is best to ask GOD to show us ourselves and help us to pray for ourselves and for others. NOW i will share with you a word of encouragement that was passed along to me from a dear friend and a sister in CHRIST.

In other words, the very power of God – the very strength we need, the very testimony we were meant to model – emerges in troubles, hardships, and distresses (2 Cor. 6:4).
Let’s pray together that we stay at our posts in these uncertain times and not waste the grace God has given us. What now?
· Receive God’s grace now – For God says … “‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2, NIV)
· Accept that life is hard – There will be some difficult times in your Christian walk. God won’t necessarily take you out of them, but he’ll always walk you through them. (2 Cor. 6:4-10)
· Squandered? – What do you think of when you think of squandering God’s grace? 2 Corinthians 6:1 (MSG): “Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.”
· Validation – How is your life validated by staying at your post? In the details of being a servant? (2 Corinthians 6:4 (MSG): “Our work as God's servants gets validated – or not – in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly ... in hard times, tough times, bad times ....”

TEST AND TRIALS

It is so important that we believe what we share with others when it comes to using our gift of encouragement. I believe God has given me the gift of encouragement and i have used that gift in the early morning hours and the midnight hours when it comes to me acquaintances and friends who need to be reminded how GOD wants us to go thru certain storms....BUT what happens when the storm blows in to our own lives.....the very storm that we have prayed for our friends to stand up in and walk thru ? IT IS THEN....that our real faith in the Lord's Word shows itself. It is at this point in our lives that we have to 'encourage ourselves'. We have to remember that God allows because he wants to see if we are really going to do things the way he has told us in the manner he has told us...In these storms we fall and scrape our knees but we can not let the storm beat us down...we have to be MORE THAN CONQUERORS !! It is not easy but with prayers from friends, the WORD OF GOD and putting God in rememberance of his WORD of how he will hide us as we go thru....that his GRACE is su fficient and to do those things that are pleasing in his sight we can make it day by day,week by week, month by month, year by year...of course this means we stay focus on GOD each second and minute. It is not easy to go thru a storm but Keep pushing forth thru it he IS moving you out..having a friend that can intercede for you is a P OWERHOUSE backup also. Though test and trials come our GOD is greater. I believe he will heal, renew and restore q uickly or gradually we just have to call on him to help us go thru the way he wants us thru until he manifests this change and restoration. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

God's Favor towards Francine

Dear Friends and Family:

I look forward to you stopping by and chatting with me in my lounge area. You all say i stay on the go all the time well this is a great place to find me and let's have a cup of tea and listen to some mental jazz and let's chat.

Today i just wanted to share with you all that GODS FAVOR is in my life. He has been a Provider and Sustainer in my life and that has overflown into 'our' lives. When he does for me he does for my family. I just want to encourage you all to step back in your lives and watch God moving..sometimes it is in little things you may not even notice just take for granted but it is really GODS FAVOR that made it possible. Things could go the wrong or negative way in your life but GODS FAVOR allows it to work out for your good. I hope that we can share our FAVOR with each other to encourage each other. I have to give a VERY SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO GOD for bringing Soror Andrea Harris -Smith back into my life. She is a wonderful person and i know i will have to host something at my home so you all can meet her . You will love her as much as i do when you meet her. She is my inspiration for this blog. Love you and keep Praying and Thanking God.