Am I denying Jesus Christ? 🧐

The worst thing a christian can do on this earth is to deny Jesus Christ, to disown his Lordship and authority over their lives. Denying Christ is more than just not confessing that he is Lord , but it also has to do with how we live our lives. In other words, we must acknowledge him in words and our actions. Whenever the verse mention below came up, you can scroll down to read it, it’s in red, I would proudly admit, “no I would never deny Jesus”, sound familiar, yep, Peter said the same words right before he denied Jesus. So imagine me being confident in my own wisdom, claiming I would never do such thing and then realizing that my lifestyle was doing the opposite. Yep, I denied my savior, my friend, Jesus Christ by the way I was living. It was an emotional day, I must admit but I hope this post can shine some light and help you in your walk with Christ. Here are three ways a person can deny Jesus Christ publicly on earth.

Matthew 10: 32-33 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.

• To deny Jesus is to claim that he is not the Holy One of God ( Mark 1:23-24) , he is not the son of God, the Messiah, the Christ. —- I knew of Jesus but I didn’t truly understand who he really was, until I started reading my bible for myself.
• To deny Jesus is to not live and walk as he did. (I John 2:6). Jesus came to reedem us, to give us the right to become the children of God, so if we are not living and walking as he did then we have not been truly become the children of God. —-I didn’t believe that I can live for God, or that the Holy Spirit can help me to turn away from my sin .
• To deny Jesus is to not have love for other believers. ( John 13:35), Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told his disciples that the world would know that they are his based on how they love one another. Love fulfill the law and without love we will not be able to truly serve God and each other.—-My life was about me, my self-centered gospel lifestyle, and less about salvation of others.

To conclude, we must know who Jesus is for ourselves, and through that personal relationship our lives will began to change. Most Christian assume that denying Christ can only be done with their lips but not necessarily with their actions but scriptures tells us otherwise, for faith without works is dead. Therefore your faith in Jesus Christ will and should match your deeds and actions. In Matthew chapter 7 verse 22 Jesus said “many on that day will say “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name, then he will reply, I never knew you, you who are workers of lawlessness. This simply means, these type of believers claimed to believe in Jesus but yet still practice a life of sin.

Overall family, none of us are exempt from denying Jesus Christ, as scripture confirmed Peter confessed that Jesus is Lord and yet denied him later . However, one of the most important happened after, he repented, weeped over his sin and recommitted himself to Jesus Christ. The same can be done for you and I if we have denied Jesus , we can repent, ask for forgiveness and be cleanse of all unrighteousness. Let’s continue to push forward, stay bless 😊.

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Five ways to know if you are walking with God

With so many denomination in this world, a person can become confuse on which way to go or not to go, and as the is approaching more, it is vital to know that we are walking with God. And if we are walking with him, how can we know or describe it. I have come up with five simple question that can help to identify if you are walking with God. Disclaimer, the Holy Spirit is the only one that can make it possible to walk with God, therefore the person must have the spirit of God to be able to do or experience anything listed below.

• How do you feel about God? and what type of relationship you have with him? You most likely will not walk with a stranger right, or if you do, it will be at a distance. Walking with God means to have an intimate relationship with him, he knows you and you know him, so without a personal relationship with him, you can’t truly walk with him.
• What is your relationship with sin? are you living in sin? Sin is humanity downfall. Adam and Eve was kicked out of the Eden because they did not follow God’s command. We inherit a sinful nature that separated us from God, we became an enmity to him, until Jesus came and pay our debt in full to be reconciled.
• Are you living by faith? Living a life of repentance? Salvation can only be obtain by faith, there’s no amount of work we can do to earn salvation. Therefore those who are sons and daughters of God will live by faith. Living by faith is to rely and depend on God, trusting in him to work in us through us to live for him. A life of repentance is denying the flesh day to day and choose to live for God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Do you fellowship with other believers? The early church met with one another every sabbath to fellowship and to study the word. We are encourage to do the same, to not neglect the assembly as it is important in a believer life. Spiritual gifts were given to each members of the Church to help each other grow.
• Are you sharing your faith? all believers are called to be a witness to others so everyone can partake of the goodnews, the gospel. When you truly have experienced the gospel, it’s impossible not to share with your friends, strangers, and neighbors.

Based on my personal relationship, these are the things that I have witness myself and in others as well.I hope with these five simple question, you are able to find clarity about your walk with God. If you are not sure about where you stand with God, you can start by talking to him and remember if you hear his voice, please don’t harden your heart.

Scriptures for this blog: John 6:44, Isaiah 59:2, Genesis 3:1-6, John 3:16, Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:25, Matthew 28:16-20, Act 15:21

Please leave your comments, stay bless 😊

A heart of flesh or a heart of stone.

Have you ever asked yourself about the type of heart you have? I know its a weird question to ask, but knowing the condition of your heart says alot about if you are truly born again. John the Baptist told his followers this, I baptized you in water but the one who is to come will baptism you by fire (the Holy Spirit). Meaning, John was preparing the way for the messiah that can make real changes in people’s heart.

The only way to have a new heart is if you have been baptize by the Holy Spirit. Many people can profess they are Christians, but unless they have been born again, they can’t enter the kingdom of God. When you are baptize by the Holy Spirit, you will have a new heart, a heart of flesh and not of stone.

A heart of stone is impenetrable, stuck in his/her ways, believe in their own wisdom, live for themselves, carnal, and refuse change. The Israelite display what a stone heart looks like, for example, after God delivered them from Egypt, split the red sea, and gave them food from heaven, majority of them turned away and made their own god to worship, complain and wished to go back to Egypt. Despites of everything God has done, their hearts were still of stone.

Before receiving a new heart from God, we must first understand the river of life flow through the heart, in other word, everything start at the heart. So if you heart is wicked, wicked attributes will follow, if your heart is good, then goodness attributes will follow. One thing we must understand is that everyone heart is wicked, evil, and sinful. As the apostle Paul put it, we all have fallen short of the glory of God.

The purpose of receiving a new heart from God is for us to reflect his character, walk in his ways, to be like Jesus and a witness to the world. As the sinful being that we are, for us to be like Christ, we must be born again, we have to be of the same spirit as Christ and walk in truth, the word of God.

The heart of flesh set you apart from the world, although people can’t see you heart but your actions, deeds, and lifestyle will reflect your heart. The book of Ezekiel chapter 36 describe the process of a new heart, which says “26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  27I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” God gives you a new heart through his spirit. With this new heart, you can actually live for God, and not see his ways as a burden but as light and easy. This gift is available to everyone who repent and accept Jesus for the remission of sin. What a great news family, to know we can escape God’s wrath and have eternal life. I hope this post help you to realize where you stand with God accept his gift if you haven’t.

To conclude, we all was born with a heart of stone but through Jesus sacrifice, God can create in us a new heart. I have listed three ways down below how to identify if you have a new heart. I hope this bless you and don’t forget to comment and share this blog.

Three ways to know if you have a new heart:

1. Relationship with God through Christ- John 14:6

2. Do you want to keep God’s commandments and are you keeping them John 14:24

3. Do you have a hunger for the word, the presence of God, hating sin, life of repentance, and the love for his people. Ephesians 6:17, Matthew 18:9

Five reason why you should have a Prayer Tracker

1. We need to be reminded of God’s faithfulness
2. reading out your answered prayer is good for your growth
3. Testimony
4. it can help us to witness to others who are having a hard time believing in the power of prayer
5. Reminder of why we need to continue to pray

This idea came from my sister Beltha and I wanted to share it with you all. I know this can be time consuming but it is worth it. I created a prayer tracker template you can use as a guide. Stay bless 😊

Prayer Tracker
	Your favorite verse!
For Who, Yourself, Family, Church, Friends	Date	Answered		Prayer Description

Should I still be reading the Old Testament 🧐

Up until a year ago, the old testament was old news to me. I never truly invested in the studies or thought it would be helpful in my generation. Blinded by my own wisdom, I said bye bye to the old testament and hello to the new testament. For awhile now I was pretty okay until I realize there were some holes in my doctrine. During the time that I would study the new testament, I find myself not understanding the roots of the scriptures the writer would use as reference for better explanation. After years of not truly understanding the bible, I finally asked God to give me the desire for his word, to study the whole Bible. As I began to read the old testament, I begin to fully understand the new testament. The old testament filled in the gap or the areas that I didn’t understand. Overall, I develop a much more appreciation for the bible. Therefore, I wholeheartedly believe all believers should read the old testament and the new testament. I want to hear from you family, please comment below if you think we should read both testament or not. But before that, here are my reasons why you should read the old testament.

FIVE REASON WHY YOU SHOULD READ THE OLD TESTAMENT

1. The old testament is God’s word
2. The old testament was written for us as an example for what is to come in our generation
3. We can learn from their success and failures
4. Jesus is in the old testament
5. to learn wisdom, knowledge and navigation for life

I hope this post was helpful to you. Stay bless 😊

His ways, My plans!

God is faithful to reveal his ways to us but it’s our decision to make it our plans. In the bible God shows his ways to mankind through the commandments, the law, statues and ordinances. Nonetheless, situations and circumstances can happen which it can either bring us closer to the word or further, again your choice.

The book of Nehemiah is one of my favorite example that reflect the importance of the law. I am not sure if you are familiar with the story but it focus on the aftermath from the Israelites captivity. Nehemiah, with many workers worked for 52 days on rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. On the opening day all the tribes was gathered as they read the book of the law. Can you say intense, hearing the word of God for the first time since captivity and by the way, that was seven month. Seven month of not hearing anything from God or meditating on the word of God. They were weeping, filled with grief and sadness.

After the weeping and crying, Nehemiah, Ezra and the levites told the people ” This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”….

Great, now what does that mean, it means They wanted the people to know that because they have heard the word of God, it signifies a good day and God was pleased with that, so let his joy be their strength. There you have it family, this post serve you as a reminded if you just started reading God’s word again and you find yourself, weeping, and filled with sadness, remember ” The Joy of the Lord is your strenght”.

To further your study, please read the book of Nehemiah, stay bless 😊

Simple Truth. Do you know it

As evilness continue to increase in this world, I found myself hanging on this simple truth, Jesus is coming back. Hear me out my friend, I am not blind to this world evilness or wickedness, but because of it, I cling on even more to this simple truth. Jesus is coming back!

I have to come to realize that if we don’t hold on to that truth then something else will take hold of us. Our anger would cause us to sin, our emotions would cause us to question the sovereignty of God and we would begin to live in fear and not by faith. So join me today and for the rest of our days to come to accept and believe this simple truth, Jesus is coming back.

Please read these scriptures below as an encourangement to keep running this race. Our battle is not flesh and blood, so put on the full armor of God.

John 16:33 New King James Version (NKJV)

³³ These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you ^[a]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Matthew 28:20 New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ^[a]Amen.

John 11:25 New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

How to keep going when you don’t know where you are going.

I remember couple of days after I posted my first video online www.instagram.com/looksministry I immediately started thinking, what’s next, how am I going to keep this up and what do I do next. Although, God had call me to do this, I was still unsure about my day to day post. As I was contemplating about everything, I remembered the story of Noah when God told him to build the ark. As I recall the story, God gave noah specific instruction on how he wants the ark to be built, however, God never told Noah his day to day routine. He didn’t tell Noah to wake up at 5 am and work on the windows, or work on the decks in the afternoon at least not according to scriptures. Even so, Noah made sure to follow God’s command and did as he requested.

I say all that because many time God’s has called us to do something and immediately we think, how am I going to keep this up and what do I do next. Let’s put things into perspective, Noah was chosen by God because he walked with God, and he was perfect in his generation. Why? because he wasn’t doing evil things or participated in wickedness. So we see because Noah, was the only one seeking after God, the covenant was made through him. I say that to you to remind you that God does the calling, therefore, trust that he will make provisions for you.

Another example is the apostle, Paul. Jesus didn’t give Paul a day to day instructions but he told him that he will be ministering to the gentiles. Side note- I used these two man because they are opposite from one another. Noah knew the Lord and Saul (Paul) persecuted the people who knew the Lord.

So what does Noah and Paul have in common and how were they able to fulfill the tasks before them without a day to day guide? The answer is : they draw near to God. Both man were in different generation, and in different task, however, same solution applied. James 4:  8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Noah and Paul seek the Lord face day to day and through that they were able to fulfill their purpose. Even when they face difficulty as scripture stated, they still persevere. That is the same way with us, whatever God has called you to do, the way to complete it is to draw near to him everyday.

To end, God can give you a specific day to day instruction or he can give you a specific task however he is with you in both time. In both scenarios we are commanded to draw near to him, why? because through that he will strengthen us, correct us, change us, mold us and renew our spirit to keep going. So my friend, never forget to draw near to God and, never forget to ask him for wisdom.

Stay Bless 😊

Psalm 119:105-112 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰⁵ Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

My Brief Silent Season

The Bible talks about different type of season such as sowing, and reaping, but what about the silent season, the season where you feel like all you do is wait, and wait. What do you then? do you go back to where you were before, and is God even listenining anymore?. These were the type of questions that was going through my mind couple of days ago. I felt a weakness in my spirit, as if I was far away from God, an emptiness. Although I was still in the word and prayer, I felt at a distance. I didn’t understand what was going on, however I kept pressing on with my daily task.

Couple of days after I was asked to do a prayer for our online service and I also have to pick a Scripture that would align with my prayer. I picked Psalm 34 as it relate to being content in God. I was mediating on Psalm 34 throughout that day despite of what I was feeling in my spirit. As I was reading other scripture, I landed on Psalm 145 particularly verse “18The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Immediately I started crying, although I felt a distance in me, God reminded me in his word he is not far from me. After pouring my heart out, crying, weaping and sharing things with him, I begin to realize this is the Psalm I should of picked. The whole chapter describe who God is and how he is with us and hear us. However, I decided I will praise God with the Psalm I already picked. Quickly after that, the weakness and distance in my spirit was gone and I was healed and restored.

I taught that was the end of it, until the youth leader message me and asked me to change my Psalm because someone else has already chosen it. Can you believer this, God healed me and made it possible for me to read aloud the Psalm he placed on my heart.

Friends, God is good, he is able and willing. My question to you, do you feel a weakness in your spirit, a distance from God, an emptiness. And You may not even sure how to describe it? My message to you is, God is not far from you. Psalm 34:18 says the Lord is close to the broken hearted and he save those who have a contrite spirit, the message version of that verse says, God will help you breathe if you have been kicked in the gut. So my friend, if you feel any close to what I just describe, dont give up, don’t stop reading the word, and don’t stop worshiping God despite of the distance you may feel for he is close.

Have faith, stand strong and keep pushing forward. Stay Bless 😊

I wonder if I am doing this right? Let’s find out.

The Bible says all believers must live by the spirit and walk in the spirit but how do you do that? Is it possible? and if it is how do we know we are actually doing it.

For so long, I’ve read

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:5‬ ‭ESV‬‬.

However, I never practically understood what it meant. You know how you read something in the Bible and your just took it as a good advice but not necessarily practical advice. Well this one is practical advice. Why? Because that’s what set us apart from the world. If there’s not difference between believers and non believers then Jesus death was in vain.

Three question you should be asking yourself on a day to day to see if you are living by the spirit and walking in the spirit.

Who are you allowing to lead today? The Flesh or The Spirit.

If we don’t decide or be intentional about the Holy Spirit leading us then automatically the flesh will take control. You see, the flesh doesn’t need you to say “you’re in control today” it will automatically assume control. This is why the Bible says to put the deeds of the flesh to death. Example; when you want to call your friends to gossip, you have to put that deed to death. Why? Because you know God says, to not be a busy body, gossipers and going from house to house to gossip.

“Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭5:13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

How do I continue to let the Holy Spirit lead me?

The Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness and while there Jesus was fasting and in prayer. After 40 days in the wilderness, the devil came to tempt him right when he was becoming hungry. Jesus was able to overcome all the temptation because of the relationship he had with the father. It is the same way with us, if we want the Holy Spirit continue to lead us that mean we must stay in communication with God and also reading the word.

How does that look in a practical way? Example: I talk to my husband everyday, even when we have busy day, slow days, crazy days and sad days. Our conversation is not always the same, but we make sure we are here for one another. It is the same with God, somedays are better than others but you never stop approaching his throne, making your request be known unto him, asking for help, grace and strenght.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

What happen if I fail?

This christian life is without failure, so if we fail, don’t stay there, get up and try again until you get it right. The amazing thing is the Holy Spirit is our helper and comforter, so we are not alone. We maybe pressed on every side but we are not defeated for God is on our side.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
‭‭I John‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I hope this post was clear with understanding on how to live for God. Stay bless 😊