What Your Mercy Did For Me!

Posted on January 20, 2018 by #4GIVEN

The writers of the Christian song entitled, ‘What Mercy Did for Me’ were all touched by the Holy Spirit. The lyrics are as follows:

“Lord You found me, You healed me, You called me from the grave

You gave me a real love, I thank You Jesus, You washed my sins away

Oh now I’m living, like I’m forgiven, You came and set me free

That’s what Your mercy did for me

You gave me beauty for my guilty stains

And now I’m living day to day by His grace

So excuse me if I can’t contain my praise

‘Cause I know that I’ve been saved!”

BOOM THERE IT IS!! What a way to live our lives knowing that God’s limitless mercy is brand new and available to us single everyday (Lamentations 3:22-23)!!

Posted in Ministry | Leave a comment

🌍 Is it worth it?!

Posted on January 17, 2018 by #4GIVEN

Really, what good is it to gain the whole world just to only

forfeit your soul, abandon your family, and the God that created both? To gain the whole world is to receive all the world has to offer—money, fame, pleasure, power, prestige, etc. To lose one’s soul is to die without a right relationship with Christ.

We all know that death is guaranteed and it’s not a matter of ‘if’ it’s a matter of ‘when’. Esau despised his birthright, choosing stew (ramen noodles) instead; Judas sold the Savior for a few pieces of silver (Bitcoins); Demas loved this present world (bling) and forsook the ministry. All three men thought they were gaining something but actually lost everything.

We will fail like these men if we don’t realize the epitome of our natural life is when we make Jesus Christ Lord and Savior of our spiritual lives! Sooner or later, earthly things will fade away. And the person that rejects God’s calling will have lost the only part of themselves that lasts forever. The day of reckoning is coming: “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done” (Matthew 16:27). I am a living witness; this is one call you don’t want to reject (disregard) or send to voicemail (Place on hold).

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Failure?

Posted on January 15, 2018 by #4GIVEN

We often talk more about our successes than we do our failures. When we see professional athletes on the fields/courts and performers on stage/movies in most cases we see them at their best! We don’t see the failed practices and/or rehearsal sessions. Failure is a part of growth and the foundational element to our success. Failure reminds us that we are not God! David’s mid-life failure was probably motivation that helped him pen the words in Psalm 119, which so happens to be the longest Psalm and longest chapter in the Bible! David said in v.71, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn your statutes.” Failure is not a matter of ‘if’ rather it’s a matter of when and when we do fail it’s important to remember that God has a good reason for allowing it to happen. We might not understand it at that moment, but God will prove to be faithful in the end. Therefore, keep pursuing righteousness and use God’s strength. You must put your faith in the Lord and stop trusting in the arms of the flesh and the things that are seen. Place your trust in God. If God called you to do something and if that something is God’s will then it will never fail. Determination and failure leads to success. You fail and you get up and you try again. Eventually you will get it right. John C. Maxwell said, “Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

White as Wool!

Posted on January 13, 2018 by #4GIVEN

If you are harboring hatred, malice, resentment, or content towards a family member, friend or associate, let it go today! Tell the people that you love that you love them because tomorrow is never promise. If this task is too difficult consider that it’s to one’s glory (or beauty) to overlook an offense (Proverbs 19:11). However, it requires prudence, patience, maturity, and wisdom. Overlooking an offense adorns the gospel and is a loving response that demonstrates we are indeed Christ’s disciples (John 13:35). One caveat: overlooking an offense is not a license to use silence as a weapon, or to harbor ill feelings that will come back to haunt the relationship later. Instead, it is having a clear conscience before God that this hurt is not at a level that it needs to be addressed (at least not right now), but a resolve to “forgive and forget.” In Jesus’s teaching on sin, he says to his disciples, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” (Luke 17:3–4) We all fall short of God’s glory (beauty)but thankfully Jesus’ perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection made our scarlet sins as white as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Does He Love Us?

Posted on January 12, 2018 by #4GIVEN

We got to be something special in the eyes of God! There is no other explanation as to why He would do and continue to do what He does each and everyday without fail! The enemy tries to keep us distracted with all the things going on around us in the natural but if we stay focus on God’s supernatural love for us, we would find peace, comfort and understanding in all our situations! The cause we stand for should always be grounded on the basis of love! Love is everything and without it we would have nothing! Paul hit the nail on the heart that communicated to our limbic brain when he said in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep Gods’ love away. Our fears for today, or worries about tomorrow or where we are — high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean — nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when He died for us.” Such love is beyond our ability to grasp with our minds, but it is not beyond our ability to experience within our hearts. God Love us not because we are lovable but because He is Love (I John4:8)❤️!

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MOVE FORWARD👉🏾

Posted on January 11, 2018 by #4GIVEN

Exodus 14:15, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go [move] forward.”

When God begins to move us to a new level, we will most likely encounter various forms of opposition. As He moves us forward [Israel], the devil [Pharaoh] wants to move us backward, or at least to cause us to stay where we are. He will orchestrate many thoughts or feelings designed to hold us back, so let me encourage you: Go ahead and commit to overcoming any opposition that will come against you.

Do not expect your transition to be easy. Know that the changes will have their challenges, and make a proactive decision to emerge victorious, by God’s grace, in every way.

One of the greatest barriers to moving forward to the next level is being too comfortable [Israel] functioning where you are. You may want something different, but when you move into it, you realize that the new assignment has no respect whatsoever for your comfort zone. It will stretch you, challenge you and be full of experiences that are unfamiliar to you.

Choosing to stay in your comfort zone may mean that you never go to the next level in God. He will not force you to embrace anything new, but I believe He wants you to do so in order to fulfill His purposes for your life. Any form of discomfort is worth overcoming in order to say ‘yes’ to the next great thing God has in stored for you.

You can’t start the next chapter if you continue re-reading the last one!

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stop Worrying!!

Posted on January 10, 2018 by #4GIVEN

How many hours do you spending worrying about this, that or the other!! When I look back, I guestimate that in my teenage years I spent 1/2 of my life worrying about stupid stuff and as a young adult I spent 1/3 of my life worrying about bills, career, and my growing family! Bottom line, I am tired of investing God’s time in worrying! I say God’s time because we live on borrowed time! I don’t know about you but I posted an eviction notice signed by God in my limbic brain. I think if Jesus made a point to preach an entire section on “NOT WORRYING” in Matt 6:25-34 then it behooves us to apply this command in our everyday lives! Jesus is right; worrying will not add a single day to our lives! I Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” I have learned that worry fades away when we know for sure our future is secured in God’s hands and all of our lives are secured in God’s hands. So stop investing your time and energy in worrying about stuff that God has already filled a prescription to remedy! God not only knows the future; He holds the future in the palms of His hand! Look at it this way, worry never changes the outcome it just lessens the net sum of your peace, joy, and contentment!

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The God of Angel Armies!

Posted on January 9, 2018 by #4GIVEN

As the Egyptians closed in on the people they said to Moses in Exodus 14:11-12,”…What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Why was Israel’s fear of the Egyptians greater than God’s promise to deliver them? Did they not witness God demonstrate his unprecedented power and wrath when He released the 10 plaques?! The problem the Israelites faced back then is the same problem we face today! When we don’t see a solution to life’s many challenges we complain, grumble, and whine like Christians with no faith! In their moment of despair, Israel preferred bondage rather than standing and believing on God’s promises to deliver them safely from the hands of the enemy. Their fear of the Egyptian army was greater than their faith in the God of angels armies! Moses, who once greatly feared the pharaoh stood solo and said to the people in V.13, “Don’t be afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord…..” It doesn’t matter the circumstance, the God we serve is bigger, stronger, and greater! There is no problem we face that He doesn’t already have a prescriptive solution. There is no problem that God can’t solve. Beloved of God, trust him today and remember just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean that it can’t be done! Through Christ in God, all things are made possible!

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seek Him!

Posted on January 8, 2018 by #4GIVEN

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” The reason we seek God is because He is the giver of life (1 Timothy 6:13; John 10:10). He is the great I AM (Exodus 3:14). We seek after Him because we find purpose, meaning, and satisfaction in Him and in Him alone! We were created for relationship with God and relationship with one another. If we do not seek God, how can we know Him? How will we experience the life He gives? Apart from seeking Him, how will we understand His great love and our purpose? Because of the graciousness of God and the gift of free will, God does not force Himself upon us. He woos us to Himself. He pursues us, and we seek Him. For His glory and our good, God calls each of us to enjoy continual consciousness of His supreme greatness and beauty and worth! Beloved of God, call out to Him today….He is waiting on you with open arms!!

Posted in Ministry | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Binding & Loosing!

Posted on January 7, 2018 by #4GIVEN

“Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18:20‬ (MSG)

Posted in Ministry | Leave a comment