Helmet of Salvation

You know, I just read Ephesians 6 again & something stuck out to me! The bible says we are to put on the WHOLE armor of God so that we are able to stand against the devil: the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes prepared with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, helmet of salvation & the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We are to PRAY ALWAYS! But here's the thing: sin doesn't just happen. You don't just wake up one day & say "hmm... I think I'll kill my neighbor" or "I'm gonna sleep with my cousin's boyfriend". No, sin begins as a simple thought.

Human beings are visual creatures and more often than not, we see something that appeals to us in some way & if you "think" about something long enough, it will begin to become a part of your heart. The bible says "where your treasures is, there your heart will be also" - Luke 12:34. Once it becomes a part of your heart, you begin to reason in your mind how it can't be wrong or might not be so bad or perhaps it can work out if you have control of the situation. All of those are deceptions that the devil will throw at you to get you in a position to commit the sin. God is SO intelligent! Salvation is the ONLY thing that keeps us from sin, which begins in our MINDS, thus the NEED for a HELMET OF SALVATION!

ℒᎤᏉℰ

The Lack of Self-Control

Many don't realize that most of what we deal with in this life is spiritual. The fact that you can't quit smoking, drinking, looking at porn, eating things you shouldn't, etc., let's you know that you have no self-control. But if you don't have control of your own body/life, who does? Do you know? Do you even know how to deal with it?

The bible says our fight is against "spiritual forces of evil", but that we should be STRONG in the Lord & the power of HIS might - not ours, but HIS! The thing that you are struggling with is not a human being - yourself or someone else - but against the evil powers of this perverted & dark world. Don't believe that? Well, Isaiah 14:12 & Revelation 12:9 both talk about satan & his angels being cast down to the earth & how he has been deceiving the world! This is a spiritual battle, my friends! But you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, standing against the devil through faith in God!

The bile says in Galatians 5:13-25 that we are to be free from the indulgences of the flesh and we should walk by the Spirit, humbly in love. Ephesians 6:10-20 tells you how to be free: stand firm in your salvation through prayer & faith in God with truth, peace & love! Don't be fooled; we are warned that we CANNOT go to heaven living any way you choose!

Be blessed & know that if you are awake right now, God has allowed you another opportunity to get it right with Him & be saved!

ℒᎤᏉℰ

Is He calling you?

I wondered for a very long time what God's will & plan for my life truly is. I wondered if He wanted me to sing again; I think I have a pretty nice voice & I love to sing so I thought perhaps I should be a blessing in the vocal arts lol. I went over the idea in my mind a million times but it didn't seem right. I couldn't figure out what He wanted me to do.

I was in my bathroom one evening & the Lord told me to run the race. Simple right? How could that simple task be my life's mission? How could a God so big have nothing for me to do except run a race? Nonetheless, I obeyed. I began to study more & that's when I realized that running this race was soooo much more than I assumed! In studying the Word I remembered that what God called me to do, as He has all of us, is to be obedient to His will. He called me to share His word with others & live my life in an acceptably pleasing manner to Him!

Once saved...

Earlier, my sister in the Lord, whom I love dearly & have never even met, said that people go to church yet still live like the devil. She also said that going to church is not a guarantee of salvation so people need to get it right because Christ is soon to return (I'm paraphrasing, though I'm sure she wouldn't mind a direct quote). I love her boldness & what she's saying is soooo true! God never told us that once we get saved that we can live any way we choose  & still be alright with with Him. He never said we can get to heaven this way. On the contrary, He actually said "if MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land", 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Jesus said, in Matthew 6:24 & 7:18-23, that good trees cannot bear bad fruit & vice versa. And every bad tree will be cut down & thrown into the lake of fire! Not everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will enter heaven & just because they are doing things in the name of God means they are actually doing the will of God! You cannot serve two masters - you will either serve God or Satan, but it cannot be both. Many people don't like to hear this but if you are not serving God (not saved, etc.), you are serving the Satan!

If you love Me...

Everyone, at some point or another, has heard the scripture that says "it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:24). I'm sure everyone knows something about 1 Timothy 6:10, but the way it's quoted couldn't be further from the truth! The scripture actually says "the love of money is the root of all evil", not "money is the root of all evil". How can money be evil? It has no soul, no spirit, no conscious! People use money for evil purposes; they attempt to gain money for the wrong reasons, but money itself is NOT evil!

Many people try hard to gain money thinking it will solve their problems, only to find that in their pursuit of wealth, their problems have surmounted. The bible says in James 4:2-3 that we kill for what is not ours and are envious of others because of things. If we don't ask God, we won't get it and when we do ask God, we ask with wrong intentions so we still don't get it! But if we would only set our minds on things above, that is to say the things of God, and not the things of this world (Colossians 3:2), things that can be lost, destroyed, stolen, then we'll have treasures stored up in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20)! Don't you know that whatever we concentrate on most, that is the thing that becomes most important to us. That is the thing that becomes a part of our being & takes over our lives! Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21)!

My Patronus

I'm a HUGE fan of the Harry Potter movies! I only just started reading the final book within the last few weeks and it's SO good... I can't wait to see the first of the last two movies in November!

Now I know a lot of "good" Christians don't watch the movies or read the books & think it's all demonic but it's no more demonic than most of the music kids listen to nowadays or the other movies they watch that promote violence & crime! If someone ever took the time to watch, you would see that it's the classic good versus evil theme that we all struggle with daily. God is acknowledged in the books/movies & so is Jesus (Christmas is celebrated in just about every movie). And besides that, the Bible says that God will get the glory in EVERYTHING & for those of us who love Him, all things work for our good, according to His plan (Ephesians 3:20, Romans 8:28)! That's not the point of this post but I just thought I'd preface with that for those who, without reading further, will quickly judge... anyway, the fight between Harry Potter & the "good guys" from the series is against Voldemort, an evil wizard who is determined to rule the world basically. He uses all these evil beings - dementors, death eaters, etc. - to do his bidding. They kill for him, possess people & intimidate them into doing what they want.

Right or left?

On my drive home today I saw a sign in front of this church that read: "Give God what's right, not left." For a minute, I pondered that & was like "what" lol... but as I drove, it hit me that this is what a lot of us do: we give God what we feel He should have rather than what's due Him. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that God loves a cheerful giver! Of course when we hear/see this scripture, we immediately think of giving money or tangible things, but what about our time? God doesn't just want us to be cheerful when give our tithes and offerings; He wants us to be cheerful when we give whatever we have to give to Him!

How stupid can we be?

I caught a glimpse of this scripture this morning in my co-workers Bible on her desk. It's funny - and I mean "LOL" funny - because I've seen the scripture before but NEVER in this translation! It simply read: 

"Lord, you know how stupid I am and you are aware of all my sins." ~ Psalms 69:5

I walked away, shook my head & laughed because there are a countless number of stupid things we do just in a day's time, not even a lifetime! We, most times, do them without thinking - I mean just plain 'ol stupid crap... things that make no sense... things we didn't have to do or say... things, that when we think back on what we did, we can't even give a reason for what we were thinking when we did them!

Where do they go?

Yesterday a Facebook friend posted about a little girl being stabbed to death saving her sister. His question was basically why does this type thing happen & why do we, as a society, turn a blind eye. One thing that I saw, more than once (something I've seen & heard before) was that the girl was in a better place. It wasn't my post to rant on & on so I made my comment & dropped it but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like something needed to be said. So of course I turned to my own "diary" via Facebook & said this...

"You know something? I get so sick & tired of hearing people say "RIP" or "s/he is gone to a better place" when someone dies. How do you know that? Everybody who dies does NOT go to Heaven - that is the ONLY good place a person can go when they die so if they didn't go there, where the HELL else is good! My good friend died a month ago. My other good friend's dad died yesterday morning. I can only hope they both went to what people call "a better place" but I don't know that for sure. Just because I love them doesn't mean they HAVE to go to Heaven. Just because they were good people doesn't mean they went. I hope they made it. I hope we all make it, but NONE of us KNOWS for sure unless we live the life God intended us to live. The only SURE way to KNOW you are going to Heaven is to be saved & to STAY saved!"