We Are Only As Sick As Our Secrets

Sin is serious, but secret sin is deadly. Sin is like mold; it grows in the darkness. Our only hope is to step out into the light so sin can be exposed, forgiven, and those involved can find healing.

King David was sick, He knew it was because of his sin. In Psalm 32:3,5 David writes:

“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

David described the torture of “keeping silent,” the importance of confessing his sin, and the relief of God’s forgiveness. It’s not just Kings that need to go through the process of confessing sin. We all need to “confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that we may be healed” -James 5:16.

It’s important that we seek out ways to go through the process of confessing our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness.

Last night over my church prayer chain a man was asking for prayer after a knee replacement and was going to need to have it done again because of complications. As I lifted him up in prayer, I asked the Lord to reveal whether he was living in darkness. I don’t know if he has unconfessed sin, but God knows.

It’s so important before going into any surgery or treatment situation to be sure to confess all our sins to the Lord. Maybe sin isn’t making you sick, but I always say ‘why take the chance.” Jesus died for all of our sins, and we can be forgiven in His Name.

If possible take the Lords supper. Holy Communion can be taken anytime. Whether you are alone or in a group. It’s important to realize you don’t need a priest, pastor, or anyone else to take part in Holy Communion. Jesus died so we could be forgiven 100 times a day if need be. So, confess your sins often, and be at peace. Ask God’s forgiveness through Jesus’s body and blood (bread and wine/grape juice) in remembrance of what He did on the cross.

Remember that sin grows in the dark, and confessing your sin keeps it from being a secret. If needed tell a person who you trust wholeheartedly (a church friend or priest or pastor).

Ask God to reveal to you any unconfessed sin in your life. It is by far better to know, and be convicted then to have it turn to sickness.

Sin isn’t the biggest problem stupid is. Our biggest problem is trying to cover up and deal with the sin on our own. Trying to hide sin is like trying to hide an elephant in your living room.

Confessing sin is the way to freedom and healing.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness” – 1 John 1:8-9

Following Jesus Is Not A Religion

Following Jesus is what Christianity is all about. Religion is the formality and man made rules that you choose to adhere to as a member of a church. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t not require certain clothes or regulations, it only needs faith. It seems as though too many people confuse religion with faith. Jesus’s example trumps all the rules created by man. If you choose to have a religion rather than a relationship, be prepared for problems.

Remember when Jesus healed the man who couldn’t walk? The pharisees were more concerned about church rules then they were about Jesus preforming a miracle. Just think about that for a minute. Jesus talks to a disabled man who couldn’t walk and tells him to stand up. Knowing that this man couldn’t walk, wouldn’t you think that the Pharisees would be in amazement just witnessing the miracle that had just happened? Of course not,the didn’t care. Their rules blinded them from accepting the miracle that they had just witnessed.

You would think that these men would be astonished at what they just witnessed. They were blinded by the fact that just the voice of Jesus was powerful enough to heal a man. Nope, the Pharisees completely missed what had just happened. Instead of being happy that a man was healed they were too caught up in their rules and regulations and the control they had over people to see the truth. They were more interested in shaming Jesus than praising Him.

Following Jesus Is Easy

Following Jesus example is much easier than following man made rules. It seems that today more people are choosing me-ology than the theology of Christ.

You can never be good enough in a man’s eyes. But, in God’s eyes, we can be made new. It amazes me how many people continue to follow a ‘church doctrine that doesn’t lead anyone to Christ. Making up counter-productive rules and hoops to jump through is exactly what the Pharisees were doing to Jesus. Anyone or anything keeping you from having a free and open relationship with Jesus needs to go,

A while back a man started coming to the church I go to. He told me, that the church he grew up in didn’t feel right. The preacher would stand up and read from a book for an hour or so, and then they would say a prayer together and leave. There was no emotion or Holy Spirit there. Sorry but to me that just seems like a bunch of people going to a building following the preacher’s rules and leaving.

The only rules we need to follow are God’s rules. If you find yourself caught up between man and God, then you are not in a healthy place. God doesn’t want us to work to please others to please Him. He wants our direct focus on Him. Following Jesus is easy. You do not have to perform meaningless ceremonial tasks dictated by man. The only functions that we should follow were demonstrated to us by Jesus.

A friend of mine was just kicked out of her church because she drinks coffee. Can you imagine?

Jesus gave us communion to remember His sacrifice. He showed us baptism so that we could be made clean. He even humbled Himself by washing His disciples feet to show His humility and service to others.

Following Jesus is as easy as being Christ-like and emulating His example.

The Month Of December

What’s your favorite month of the year? Why?

I love the month of December. It’s not about the presents under the tree. It’s the present that came to me. Jesus. He came to be the greatest gift of all.

Under Jesus Christmas tree are the gifts that means so much to me.

1. Peace with God (Romans 5:1)

2. Access To God (Romans 5:2)

3. Hope (Romans 5:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 5:9-11).

4. Triumph in Trouble (Romans 5:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 1:6)

5. Love (Romans 5:5; John 3:16)

6. The Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5; John 14:16-18).

7. Deliverance From Wrath (Romans 5:9-10)

8. Joy (Romans 5:11)

These are the gifts under God’s Christmas Tree. These are the Christmas Gifts Jesus brought to me. This is why I love the month of December.

Faith Without Works

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead“ – James 2:26

I am a visionary by nature – One of my favorite things to do is dream. I dream about the church, my marriage, my children, and myself. I have faith for many things, even thing’s probably deemed crazy and impossible by other people. I believe Scripture with my whole heart. So, I believe that the way God says thing’s should be can actually happen, regardless of what I see around me.

With that said walking by faith and not by sight is downright difficult at times. What I see can be very different from God’s way. I know I have to be the one to bring myself into alignment with God, not the other way around. Everyday is a war between my flesh and my spirit. But I try to give myself grace because I am still growing and learning. I am still running this race, and I don’t plan to stop my pursuit of Christ.

We must hold strong to our faith because it is the very thing that leads us towards the things we hope for. It’s the thing the keeps us moving forward, even if that movement seems slow and uneventful.Why? Because “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). It’s as dead as dead can get. Faith is designed to always nudge us to obedience in Christ and to be like He was. It is the “evidence of things that we do not see” – Hebrews 11:1.

Pleasing God Happens When We Have Faith And Apply It With Action.

When we have the Holy Spirit He helps us to understand the mysteries of God for our lives. Things that are a reality in heaven, we can see by the Spirit. And it is our faith that presses us to walk out our lives here on earth. Faith is a starting point that beckons us to move in obedience. And obedience always requires action on our part.

God’s Word tells us that it is impossible for us to please Him without faith. Pleasing God happens when we have faith and apply it with action. Our walk with God is a lifelong journey.

There are two things I know without a shadow of a doubt. The first is no one else can run your personal race with faith. The second is that by truly walking by faith and not be sight produces present and eternal fruit, all of which pleases God and brings Him glory.

Prayer

The Answer To Everything

There is nothing in this world that prayer can’t help. Even if it’s simply peace, being about to talk to God or make a request. A prayer can help you through the deepest and most difficult moments in life because it is a reminder that we are not alone.

When We Pray

We change the unchangeable and move the immovable…believing is trusting God in every situation. Life is fragile, handle it with care…Pray.

Remember that the devil loves to fish in troubled waters. Make prayer you Armor.

In Prayer, ask God to make you the person He wants you to be.

Miracles happen everyday, so don’t stop believing in God’s Grace. God is hearing your requests.

Places To Go In Your City

What is your favorite place to go in your city?

My city happens to be on the small side only about 8000 people live here. There is not much to do around here. A few restaurants, a few bars, and three grocery stores,and even fewer places to go if you need nice clothes..

Almost everything is focused on the outdoors, camping, fishing, hunting, or mudding. Besides my church my favorite place to go is mudding, and hunting. And maybe a quiet relaxing dinner at a ma and pa restaurant.

If I need something large or some nice clothing I have to make the 70 mile drive where there are better choices at decent costs.

First Impressions

What’s the first impression you want to give people?

First impressions are formed within seconds of meeting someone which can influence our attitudes and behaviors toward them. These impressions are not only about physical appearance but also our demeanor, communication style and our body language.

When I meet someone for the first time, I want them to see someone who is kind, honest and confident.

The Three Parts Of A Human

Body, Soul, And Spirit

The Bible seems to percent human hair consisting of three parts: body, soul, and spirit. We see this is 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and Hebrews 4:12.

This is called the “tripartite” nature of man. Much like the divine Trinity, the three parts of a human make one being. Though distinct, the three parts of a person work together to live, exist, and interact with God and creation.

The Body

The body is a physical side of a person. It touches the material world through the five senses of sight, smell, hearing and touch .

The Spirit

The spirit is the spiritual side of man. It interacts with God and the spiritual realm through it all set of senses, things like faith, hope, and prayer.

The Soul

The soul is the life of a person. It is the animating principle of a person, and is responsible for imagination, memory, reason, and emotions. As such, the soul serves as the command center for the person. Neither The Body nor the spirit can function on it own; both look to the soul for direction and action.

What happened to the three parts of humanity in the fall?

When Adam and Even sinned in the garden of Eden, they died, spiritually, and sin corrupted their body, so that it to began to die.

Nevertheless, they remained “alive” because their soul remained. Yeah, the soul, the animating principle of the person, can only function through the spirit of through the body. The spirit, which was dead, could you nothing for the soul.

The body, however, was only dying, and soul the soul could function through the body. Yet because of the corruption of sin, the body produced only sin and death. Yes, is what Paul refers to as flesh.

What happens to the three parts of a human in regeneration?

In Ezekiel 36:26, God promise to give a new spirit to his people, which we now know as the Holy Spirit that came at Pentecost in Acts 2.

The Bible also says that in the future resurrection, we will be given glorified and incorruptible bodies (1 Corinthians 15:52). When that happens, each person will once again be as God, intended and planned, perfect in body, soul, and spirit so that we can live and function as a whole united person.

But that time is not yet.

In the present age, I am leaders, have a soul which often seek to do good, and wills to do good, but since they do not have the Holy Spirit, they cannot do anything to please God. And since their body is corrupted with sin, the soul cannot obey God through the flesh either.

Once a person believes is in Jesus, for eternal life, which is the function of the soul, godsend, the Holy Spirit, to regenerate, indwell, baptized, and seal, the new believer. That old, dead spirit of man is replaced by the Holy Spirit of God.

As a result, the soul of a believer, can choose who walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh (Galatians 5:16-26). Yet due to the fourth of habit, addiction, bad choices, or just plain ignorance, we often choose instead to life throughout flesh, which results in sin.

Though, as we may desire to do something else, and now have the ability through the Holy Spirit to actually live differently, the body of sin drags us down into death and destruction with it (Romans 7:24).

Three Parts To A Human

What Books Are You Reading

What book are you reading right now?

They say book, I say books because right now I am reading the Holy Bible. As well as a book by Max Lucado called “Unshakable Hope,” on building our lives on the promises of God.

Then I just received a 365 day declaration book by John Eckhardt for Spiritual Warfare which gives biblical principles to defeat the devil.

I’ve always been a avid book reader. But any thing I can learn to make my life better I’m up for reading. If it keeps me staying connected with God.

Always Be Grateful

We are called to be grateful at all times, regardless of the circumstances. While it may seem like an utter cliché, There’s a deeper truth and greater joy that is we found when we truly trust God, and believe that He not only can, and will do something for us, but that He already is merciful and gracious, simply because of who He is.

I am the first one to admit that I am not always filled with gratitude. When things don’t go exactly as I planned, or by my timeline, I set up for myself, I can very easily fall in to a bad mood, ruining my day.

But, when God does give us what we want, the complaint still exists, because he didn’t do something the way that we desired. It’s our human nature to become upset and impatient simply because the world doesn’t revolve around every single thing we’d like it too.

We can easily look back at the Israelites and see the same thing in this group of people. They experience hundreds of years of struggle, yet God always vindicated them and brought them out of the darkness and into the light. The Israelites spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt. Their Egyptian captors experienced torment through plagues of disaster, unnatural impossibilities and death to their first born. What happened when the Israelites were pursued by the same people God, miraculously parted the Red Sea so they could escape while their enemies drowned. And yet, even after experiencing such refuge, the same group of people, God has saved time and time again had enough nerve to complain about the food they were miraculously fed by God day after day.

We might think that the Israelites were just extra picky and ungrateful. But how often do we experience? God do the super natural and yet still complaining about what He’s bestowed upon us?

So often we find ourselves complaining about the job we asked for, the friends, we prayed for, and maybe even the vast food selection we have to choose from. As it, Israelites were fed manna, drank from streams out of rocks and were led by the Spirit of God by cloud by day and fire at night. He provided for their every need, and He’s done the same in our nation, whether we choose to see it or not. While it’s true, that many still have vast needs, we have been placed in a spot where resources are abundant if only we used them to help each other out the way God has commanded us to.

It’s not unusual, though that we wouldn’t necessarily package and the gravity of thankfulness. After all, the very definition of being thankful is ‘conscious of benefits received.’ Gratitude is not an intimate part of our Leslie, sinful nature. Gratitude requires a mindful decision to take in all that we have been given, how God is moving in our lives, and what we believe He will still do.

The purpose of gratitude is to draw closer to God. Thanking God for all he has done and for who He has done it. He keeps life in perspective.

If all you had was what you thanked God for today, what would you have?

This simple, yet thought provoking question, hits me in entirely new way. How rarely do we think God for what He is providing for us? I know for me he has given me so much more than I ever ask for -a family who loves me, friends who care, food o my table and a bed to sleep in. When you think of those items and blessings, instead of seeing the issues that surround you and the complaint of what wasn’t perfect in life it can change your entire perspective in life.

Our mindset needs to shift. You need to thank God for what He has given us. this type of gratitude changes, your attitude about life, but it also increases our heart capacity to love God even more. Why are most of us are far from perfect and slip into moments of bitterness we should constantly reminded of the beauty of gratitude because of this question, “ If all you had, was what you thanked God for today, what would you have?”

When we are filled with heartfelt gratitude, God can, and best answer our prayers according to His good and perfect plan. That’s why Philippians 4:6 says, “ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with gratitude, make sure your requests, are known to God.”

Yes, as the Lord is pure. He is looking for pure hearts that are refined daily to be more like Christ. When we position our prayers, with a grander, understanding, and belief that God is good, we can expect likely come to the throne of grace, knowing that God will hear us an answer, according to His perfect will, and timing.

When Being Strong Is Your Only Option

Do you ever stop and take time and be amazed at how incredible human beings really are?

I do – not so much as people, themselves as individuals, but rather amazed at people as a species, as animals. We are capable of things that neither you, nor I can comprehend.

We can create change in ways that no other living thing can. We are capable of bringing about things that otherwise would have never had a chance of existing.

Human beings are immensely powerful creatures. As far as the battle for the animal kingdom goes we’ve one, by a landslide.

We’ve conquered the planet, and there is no way that we will ever lose it to another species originating from this planet. Whether or not we will destroy ourselves there’s another question. As far as potential goes, we have nearly no limits.

We can do anything. Literally anything. These things, however do take time. And unfortunately, in order to get where we want to go, or can get what we want to create, we have to work together as a intellectual collective, building on what pervious generations of thinkers have built before us.

I say, “unfortunately” because the sad truth is that the majority of individuals in the world are lazy and useless. while the word majority may be a stretch, when you factor in that millions, upon millions of people will never have the opportunity to do great things with their lives, to do what they were born to do, we are left with the world filled with people who will never create anything meaningful.

It is purely fact, not opinion. Most people will do nothing with their lives, they allow life to roll by them, never taking the time to feel and interact with it. Most people are too afraid to tap into their potential. The potential for greatness that lies within each of us.

There’s no doubt about it human beings are fighters, we fight against the world, we fight against each other, and we fight against ourselves. Imagine, if all that fight were brought together among the millions of people for one common cause. We would be unstoppable.

But what it boils down to is that most people don’t believe in themselves, most people under value themselves, and undervalue their capabilities.

We have immense and Hackable resources. We just need to figure out a way to convince ourselves that tapping into them is what we need to do, that tapping into those skills, and that strength is what we must do.

The world consists of countless good people – there are plenty of us out there. But what few seem to understand, or refuse to accept is that we are dealing with sharks, and we need to bring our own set of teeth

People really only seem to find strength when fighting strength is the only option. When circumstances necessitate it, the impossible becomes possible. We have all experience glimpses into our potential throughout our lives, when we were amazed at our own work.

The potential is there. Human beings have immense power they just choose not to utilize it. I’m not saying average can’t be great, but because when it comes to humans, the way things stand now, average is a waste of life. We are wasting away day today because we can’t seem to find a reason to be great. We can’t find a reason to motivate ourselves and use the strength that we have.

It’s almost like we’re blind to the reality that we actually live in, we only see the parts that we wish to see. But the truth of the matter is that we really only have one option.

To live is to be strong, to fight for what’s ours, and be great. Anything short of that is garbage. We only have one option, and that option is finding the strength and fighting for a great nation and it’s freedoms.

Soon we will have no choice but to be strong and fight for what’s rightfully ours.

Anywhere In The World

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

One thing is for sure I would live in a beach house. I would probably focus on Emerald Island in North Carolina. And then maybe Texas because I have family there.

Wherever I ended up, I would be able to enjoy the beaches every day. I’m all for salty air and sand between my toes. And the slower pace of life.