The God Who Foreknew

I'm going to speak basically toward myself...if any of this helps anybody that's awesome. If it doesn't and you continue to read this anyway, well...God bless your heart. It's true what the Bible says about how pain will only last for the night because joy will surely come in the morning. Some nights may last days, others may last even more, and then some even less than that. If you want to read one of the saddest of nights right after Jesus...read about Paul. His life after being saved makes my heart literally hurt because I begin to imagine his pain and his struggle, all while remaining faithful to God. God created Saul but then sent Jesus to give birth to Paul. Saul was zealous for the religious cause that fought in God's name, but Paul was in love with Jesus who dared confront him with unstoppable love. God knew Paul because He created him and mapped out his life before it even came to be. God knew the fall Saul would face with the freedom he gave him from the beginning and planned for Jesus to meet him and transform him. Paul had no regrets for his new life because now it had true purpose. I've been really thinking about this, I mean really. Purpose. That's what makes every tear and all uncertainty worth it: the fact that Jesus gave us purpose. Knowing that every detail of our lives matters and isn't just because.

(Romans 8:28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

If I know this scripture then why do I still react contrary to how I should? Usually I tent to worry. A lot actually. I plan out something and when things don't go according to plan I freak out. I feel like things are never going to get done. This whole week God's been showing me this about myself to the point where it's getting so uncomfortable. God's telling me that my worry and frustration has got to go because I'm just wasting time. If I worry then I'm saying to God that my plan was better and I don't trust His to be right for me. I have to remind myself that his timing is best. I get excited and then I get let down because my expectation is set on my way. There's only one way and that's God's way. I share this because being genuine matters to me and even though I can't share everything about myself I do wish to share what God is doing in my life. Our faults are real and they lie naked before God's eyes so we might as well let Him confront us with them in love. God allows me to be in situations where things change and I can honestly feel Him looking down on me and waiting to see how I'll react. I choose to let "it" go. 

(Romans 8:29) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

God knows me and He knows you. The measure of how much our hearts can take before they burst is evident to Him and the one who is greater than our hearts never slumbers. This is simple but true: God will not allow us to walk through anything that we can't overcome without His help. Trust me, I've been though some heart-wrenching stuff yet my heart is still beating. It might feel like it's going to give out but my God won't let it because purpose is on the line here. There is a purpose for what we're going through today. Today's details are working for tomorrow. God planned it this way. He planned to bring us back, knowing that we couldn't live without our creator. We can't escape our true roots and those are heavenly not earthly. Addiction we can break, fears we can escape, and other bondage we can shake because Jesus paid. He paid to return to us our identity. God foreknew it...all of it. 

(Romans 8:30) And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

We Are Young But God is God

I've got nothing.That's a scary thought. When you feel like you have nothing to say. Like you can't explain how you feel. It's moments like these when we've got to inject ourselves with what God says. When we fill ourselves with truth suddenly our outlook on life changes. When we worship God on a daily basis with our song, with our dance, with our thoughts, with our bodies the God of all creativity begins to pour himself out on us. It's easy to get distracted and then just run with the motions of life even in our relationship with God but we can not forget that if we were created in His presence then it is only there with Him that we can come to life. For He is the God of the living. When you and I start to feel dry or like we have nothing more to offer it's time to draw near to our Lord, sit at the table and start talking. Invite The Holy Spirit to be with you no matter where you are. He's just waiting for your invite. Whatever darkness there is in us is like light to God and the more time we spend with Him the more He will invade. Wherever you go, invite the Holy Spirit and whether it is good or bad He will reveal these things to you, but you've got to let Him in to every detail of your life. Sometimes I feel like a broken record repeating myself but really the moment we realize that only a relationship with God will give us direction and the answers we need is the moment we will no longer depend on second-hand information. We can't depend on man to give us answers no matter how much revelation they have because God created us individually to have an individual relationship with each of us. 

I've learned something along my walk that I want to share with you. What The Holy Spirit has shown me is that when it comes to the children of God, He will never use a person to tell us something that He hasn't already been revealing to us first. Anything or anybody that gives us a word after that is only to serve as confirmation. So I encourage you to build your relationship with God deeper and deeper so that you become rooted in Him and won't be tossed back and forth like the wind by teachings and pretty words. Your spirit discerns what is of God and what isn't so we've got to listen carefully and be sensitive. I've walked away from so called "amazing opportunities" not because I'm crazy or scared but because God hasn't given me the green light. People of God have actually told me, "if you're waiting for an angel of God to descend from heaven and tell you to go, you're gonna be waiting all your life." I couldn't help but smile because I never thought...craziness, just craziness. You see I could have rationalized what they were saying and just gone along because these people in the natural sense are older, people of God, and dangling recordings and youth pastor titles for me in my face, but my spirit man was uneasy and rejecting this screaming no!!! in my heart. God has clearly spoken to me in the past and has confirmed things to me so for this to be said tells me this: there is no relationship with God or the relationship has grown cold. We have to learn that things aren't always what they seem and neither are people. Be on your guard always because in all reality it's not people we need to to guard ourselves from, it's the enemy who is standing right behind. For our battles are not against flesh and blood.The things of God are being done with the absence of His spirit and that right there is scary. His Word tells us that His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge. We can memorize scripture all we want because it's a powerful tool that we need but only the Spirit of God can reveal to us the exact word that we need for the present season. So while we're busy storing up we also need to listen and let God do the writing on the tablet of our heart.

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(Luke 4:1-2) 

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by 

the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days 

he was tempted by the devil.

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So, when you and I are full of the spirit we will be led by the spirit. The Holy Spirit was upon Jesus in overflow mode. Full of the Spirit Jesus entered a different kind of season where all that His father had revealed to Him was about to be put to the test. For 40 days Jesus had to put up with Satan's lies. I imagine Satan taunting Him during the day and trying to scare Him during the hours of the night. I had a dream once about a year ago that I want to share. There was a spiritual battle going on in my room that I couldn't see with my eyes but I could clearly feel and discern with my spirit. I felt a heavy presence in my room surrounding me that would not let me sleep. I got a sudden urge to cover up my feet and I knew this feeling from a few years back when a battled with this because I was not right with God. This time I knew that me and God were together and I was right with Him so I had no explanation for it. I literally began to think I had done something wrong but I shut that lie out quick. A few years back I would have run to my mom's room and asked her to pray and sleep with me but I had matured in the faith since then and I knew this was something I had to take before the Lord because I had to learn to depend on Him. I must have been 18 or close to 19 years old when this happened so remember we are not defined by our age but by our walk with God. I wasn't fully baptized with the Holy Spirit yet so I couldn't begin to battle in the spirit and talk in tongues like my parents so I did what I had always seen my mom do and rebuked the devil out loud and declared that I was covered by the blood of Jesus. A peace instantly filled my heart and I was convinced that God was right there with me. I'm pretty sure before I closed my eyes I had to have asked God to reveal the unknown to me because I drifted off into a dream. In this dream I could see myself sleeping on my bed but suddenly I felt uneasy because surrounding my bed was this huge lion, roaring and pacing back and forth at the edge of my bed. I was so scared and freaking out inside but all of a sudden, and I just can't forget this: all of a sudden I heard a peaceful, deep, resounding voice that spoke to me, "It's okay, go back to sleep. The enemy can do all he wants to try to scare you but he can't get on your bed and he can't touch you." In my dream I fell asleep after hearing God's voice. I knew it was my Jesus reassuring me that He was watching over me. That's the best picture that I can use to describe having peace in the middle of a storm.

We see later three examples of how the enemy tried to tempt Jesus' flesh but because Jesus submitted His flesh to God through fasting and prayer He rejected the lies. How He rejected the lies is what excites me the most! I'm giddy literally! Seriously that's the first time I've used that word. I get a lot a bit passionate about Jesus. Anyway...He just smacked the smirk off Satan's face! The difference between the devil and Jesus is not found in knowing the Word because Jesus is the Word and Satan knows the Word because He used to worship Him. Satan threw out scriptures but Jesus threw out revealed scriptures. Full of the Holy Spirit Jesus spoke the Word that God wanted Him to know for the exact moment. There will always be times when we are bombarded by verses but only through a relationship with God can we come to know which applies when. Spirit revealed knowledge of God's Word is what will silence the noise around us that tries to drag us back and forth. The same God of yesterday is today and what He did then He continues to do today. The amazing miracles that Jesus did are being done today through His Holy Spirit and I've seen it. Never forget:

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(1 Timothy 4:12) 

Don’t let anyone look down on you because 

you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, 

in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

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Do you know what God is saying to us all right here?! Look, it doesn't matter how literally old or young you are or how little or how much spiritual maturity you have at this point in time...here and now I have called you to be an example! I have called you to be a light and shine bright on a stand regardless of whether others think you're worthy or not. They didn't call you, I did. They didn't anoint you, I did! Your God, your Creator, your savior, and redeemer. I'm here with you, walking along the same narrow road by your side shaping you along the way. So be an example to everyone who's watching, especially to your brothers and sisters in the faith. Let me change the way you talk, act around others, the way you love, the way you believe in me, and let me help you stay pure and be my holy bride here on earth. You just have to let me. Because I want to kill those old habits that hinder you from walking straight with me. I want to show you real freedom that doesn't come from a tattoo or from walking around YOLO ing everything. Just come to me I am your way, your truth, and your light. Don't forget why I saved you! There are lost souls and weary believers who need you to wake up and depend on my strength. You are young but I am who I am. So if I am who I am let all that I am change you. Let all that I am be enough for you. I desire with all my heart for people to be encouraged by your words and not tripped up. Stop trying to just get by and see how much you can get away with before it's considered a sin. Let me show you freedom. You don't need to talk like everyone else does to be heard, mu authority is enough and will get it done for you. A half truth won't change anybody because it's a lie. I want to put the whole truth that I am in you. Give out that truth and people will never be the same and will forever be changed. I desire for others to see the way you act when you're at church, at school, at work, or anywhere else and say I can see God! That will change lives! I want to show you what love really means so that you make no exceptions or preferences and so that even those who dub themselves unlovable come to know me through you. They will know forgiveness because I will give you a supernatural measure that will leave people baffled and knowing that it could only be Me in you. I'm going to show you that you can trust Me so that your faith will increase and like a child you will believe everything I tell you so that you won't be quick to run after the voice of the other. As your faith pleases Me My glory will invade and my kingdom will be established in you and through out the earth. I want to use you! Lastly, I know you can't stay pure without me in a world that promotes impurity and that is why you need to be fully baptized in my Holy Spirit. I did not bring you this far so that you could run away or give in, be bold! My Holy Spirit will teach you what is right and true so that those around you will not stumble by looking at your life but will look and be inspired to keep moving forward. You may be young but I am still God.

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(Luke 10:18-21) 

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions 

and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 

However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice 

that your names are written in heaven.” At that time Jesus, full of joy 

through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven 

and earth, because you have hidden these things from the 

wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 

Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

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Faith Is Believing In What You Can't See

Here I am in the Arts and Humanities Building...my own private little corner. I love it here! I've got my yummy snack (Cheetos and a Rice Krispie Treat) and I'm good to go. I've got a couple of things to share but I'm going to start off with a testimony.

First of all let me just say that the God I serve is merciful and trustworthy. These are things that as Christians we might all know but it's different when your faith is actually tested and then rewarded. I had spent all day Friday typing away so that I could turn in a paper for peer review. This was for my 1301 English class. I was "suppose" to copy and past my work onto Google Docs. Of course though, me being a freshmen in college, I start panicking and crying when my work gets completely messed up! Half of my paper erased and the remaining text was full of strange symbols (One could say that Google wasn't my favorite site at that point). All I could do was PRAY that the Lord would help me...that He would spontaneously make a miracle happen. After literally hours of copying and pasting the 5 o'clock deadline rolled around and I completely drowned in a river of my own tears. By FAITH I turned off my laptop, closed my eyes, and prayed again, and again, and again. I told God, "I trust You Lord and I know that everything is going to be okay." I walked away, knowing that my God had never failed me before and that He would never do so. (Psalm 25:1-5)In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. I trust in you;do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. The thing about the devil is that He uses any means necessary to but us to shame or to try to ruin our reputation, but the word of God says that those you hope or trust in God will not be put to shame. God's got our backs and is doing His part, but the real question is--Are we doing ours? Are we putting our complete faith in God? The definition of faith is believing in something you can't see! We can't see God but by faith we know He's real. We can't see our ministry prosper but by faith we give it to God and know that it's coming in the name of Jesus! God has great plans for His children...for us, but we have to keep the faith.

Sunday morning...I logged onto my Google Docs account and tried to open up my paper again and...... It was perfect! There was nothing wrong with my paper. There were no strange symbols and the whole essay was in tact. Glory to God! The God that I serve will never let me be put to shame for my hope is in "Jehova Mi Dios!" Remember: the reason that the enemy wants to ruin our reps is because then he'll be making God and His children look bad. The way that we as Christians combat this is by keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord and His word. If we walk in truth than no lies that people concoct against us will prosper. The enemy will have no choice but to retreat. (Ephesians 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Our real battle is not against the friends, family, or people that try to hurt us, but against the devil. The best part is that we've got God on our side and no form of evil will prosper over our lives, but we've got to do our part. We've got to exercise our faith.

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In other news, My dad is off to Dallas TX for three whole days to take my grandpa to the hospital so it's just us girls: my Mom, younger sister, and me. This should be fun, and knowing us we're probably going to watch movies and pop some popcorn. I really hope it rains! I love rainy movie nights. They're my fav! And best of all I have no homework so I can dedicate some time to my Lord and read His word. On the next post I'll be sharing what I'm learning in Psalmist school...it's so interesting. and full of revelation. I'm in love with worshipping my Lord and Savior. I'll keep you guys posted about what's going on but for now I have to bid everyone good day....I'm off the English!

God Bless!