GOD'S KINGDOM

A lot of people have been wondering what is going on in God’s kingdom or what has happened to God’s kingdom. I personally do not think anything has happened except misunderstanding and misplacement's. One big thing that is not realized and understood is that we the people are all apart of Gods kingdom and He has given us all gifts that are to be used to advance the kingdom but we must also work together to do so.  If we do not work together, it won’t be right and there will always be strife and discord among Gods children. There is a disconnection in the kingdom of God. We have some people that turn away from God because of His own children. We have a misunderstanding of what church really is. The Church is us (the people), the church building, is a PLACE of worship. The church building is where we go to fellowship with one another in love and praise, thank and worship God. The church building is where we go for encouragement and sometimes even healing. The church building is the place that we are supposed to know for sure that Gods presence will be there because He tells us that when two or more gather together in His name, then whatever they ask for and agree on, it will be done.

  

If you think about the two words “church building” it makes sense because if the people are the church then the church building is the peoples building right? If we know that in the Bible they built temples/churches/places of worship in order to fellowship and spend time with God then we know that building belongs to the people of God.  Now who are the people of God? If someone is not saved should we not allow them in the church building? If God saved you, can’t He save someone else to? Too many times we as people become so judgmental to the point where we turn people away from God. Imagine that, How damaging is that to Gods kingdom if our actions can turn people away from God? God says that we should do everything with love. He also says that we who are spiritual should seek to restore those who have fallen. It is sad that some people do not want to go to church or even get a relationship with God because of the people in the building. None of us are perfect and if you have overcame something then why not share it with someone who hasn’t overcome yet? Share with them how God brought you out of a situation? Instead of looking down on them because now that you are out of the situation, you feel as if they should know how to get out of the situation as well. Sometimes we forget that we once needed help, that we once did not know God, that we once were struggling with something and that we once needed guidance, love and support.

Another misconception in the kingdom of God is that “kingdom works” only happens in the church. That is absolutely not true because every day of our lives we should be doing “kingdom works”. When you share your testimony, when you give to the poor, when you help someone in any kind of way, when you tell someone about God, all of that is Kingdom work. God said that whatever you do for one of your brothers and sisters in Christ, you have done for HIM. He didn’t say only if you do it while you’re in the church he said WHATEVER  you do meaning whatever you do to help or encourage them, you have done for Him. Everything that we do is on display because not only is God watching but a lot of other people are watching too and they should because God tells us to try the spirit by the spirit. It is all about the fruit in our works, our character, do our actions match our words and vice versa. Our live is a ministry. Some people look up to us and we do not even know that is why we must realize that our life is a gift that God gave us, a ministry that He has placed in each and every one of us to minister and be a blessing to someone. It is common for us to say well we are not trying to be a role model but guess what? The REAL role models do not have to try. Being a role model is not something that you can try because people are going to genuinely look up to you anyway. Jesus did not TRY to be a role model in fact many REJECTED Him but there were also those who couldn’t help but look up to Him even after they REJECTED him. Think about that because God said that He will make our enemies our footstools, why would he even bother to do that? I personally do not think it was just because they did wrong to us but it could be possibly so they could see our ministry, so they can respect us in spite of. We all know the saying “you don’t have to like me but you are going to respect me”, right? That is the perfect example. Most times when people see that you are walking the walk and talking the talk they have no choice but to respect you.

When we start to appreciate life more we will start to appreciate ourselves more. Treat life like the gift it is, realize that you do not have to be woken up every day but God woke up you because He loves you and has a plan for you. You have a purpose to fulfill. Most times we spend so much on our 9-5 job that we FORGET that there is in fact WORK to do in Gods Kingdom(as I said it does not only happen in church, it should happen both in and out of church). The joy of the Lord is our strength. Living for God is definitely not always easy but it is worth it and you will have more laughter than cries and most of your cries will be tears of joy after the storm, it is all about how you look at things. Know that God has called you to or for something and He is waiting on your answer but don’t jump ahead let Him work on you. As I meantioned earlier, there are a lot of misplacements, false prophets, etc. and we have to be careful. Always seek God, it is good to seek spiritual counsel but before who you seek it from not everybody is there to help you, again try to spirit by the spirit.

Let us get back to the REAL meaning of church, let us come together and allow God to use to advance His kingdom. Remember that it is a privilege to be used by God because He will advance His kingdom with or without us but would it be nice if we fully submitted to Him and allow Him to use us? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you encouraged someone to get to know God, that you helped someone who may have not had anything? Let’s think about our actions and words, and the question “what would Jesus do” really applies here. Let’s give ourselves a self-check. God Bless you all.

YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SEE IT BUT GOD CAN

I want to start out this blog by saying "If you cannot see where your live is headed, please ALWAYS remember that God can". This blog stems from a question that I posted in one of my groups on Facebook, "The Belie(ve)F Plan". I asked the question " What is the best advice that you could give someone who is at a crossroad in life"? Although I shared my response, a little while later God dropped this in my spirit, "If you cannot see where your life is headed, ALWAYS remember that I can". So what does this mean? What do you think about when you hear someone is at a crossroad in life? The vision came to me of a railroad track with the sign that says "DO NOT CROSS". Two situations that come to me when I think about crossroads are first, the person who has everything and loses it and second, the person that has nothing and gains something! When you come to a crossroad in life you have three choices: you can either stand there and wait and not cross, you can either cross or you can get on the train whichever one that needs to be done please make sure you consult God FIRST.

Sometimes God will bring us to a point where we have no choice but to consult Him or seek Him. There will be a point maybe where we are always use to talking to our friends or family about something or getting advice from Him and one day there may come a time when none of them will be available and in return this may upset you and you may feel like they are not being there for you but its not that, its just the fact that God is trying to get you to the point where you will consult Him because He has ALL the answers, everyone else has advice, opinions, or suggestions. I have been to that point where I was used to talk to certain family or friends and one day they were not available and eventually I just prayed and this happened a couple of times but it definitely help me to rely on God and Him alone.

Then there may come a time when you may lose everything! When this happens this is definitely a crossroads because some may turn against God(for a moment,), some may grow closer to Him this is the crossroad. We wont understand why we are losing stuff, is God mad at us? Have we done something wrong? Does God hate us? What is going on? There answers is NO to all those questions. God is a loving God and He is slow to anger but yet again this is His way of showing us how to trust and depend on Him. Many times we are so focused on materalistic things, careers, school, friends, family, etc that we spend no time with God. My pastor(Pastor Munsey) always says that the things that you focused on the most are your god because thats who you give your attention to, that is who or what you invest in the most. So when things happen remember that they happen for a reason not to hurt you but to HELP you.

The reason why I brought up the person who has nothing but gains something because God tells us in his word that
   “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God"(Luke 9:23-27, NIV).

You see sometimes when we lose we really GAIN, there are so people who just live on FAITH, they are living paycheck to paycheck but they dont complain, they appreciate the little that they do have and because of that they are blessed. God blesses us all the time, we just have to open not only our eyes but our hearts to recieve. God does give and take away but only for our God! What we lose for Him, He will give back ten fold. Once we start walking, talking and building a relationship with God our we and our lives will change. We won't be with the same people, we won't go to the same places, we won't have the same ways or things but we will be better. We must apprecate the things that we go through in life and eventually God will show us why we went through it and most times we go through things not for ourselves but for others. Testimonies definitely help other people.

I would like to leave you all with this scripture Jeremiah 29:11 " For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you NOT to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and  FUTURE. Remember this scripture, mediate on it, say it to yourself daily and seek God daily.

God Bless you all and thanks for reading.

Nicole L.

Self Love

Mark 12:31 “The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

This scripture tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Jesus felt said this was important so I will write it again, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF. During this month, a lot of people will be celebrating Valentine’s Day. This is a day that we consider a time to we show our love for others. It seems to me that sometimes it is easier for we as humans to love others more than we love ourselves. If we pay attention to the way we do things, we constantly help others (which we are suppose do), we basically would do almost ANYTHING for the people we love but then guess what when the favor does not get returned we kind of get disappointed don’t we? We start to feel like nobody cares or nobody loves us, we get upset because we went out of our way to do something for somebody that we cares so much for but when we needed help or encouragement they were not there. Not only that, many times we do not even make time for ourselves. We run all around time doing things for every else, some of us are moms, dads, we hold full time jobs, go to school full time, we are always busy! When we are always busy we not only do not have time for ourselves but we do not have time for God.

That brings me to the topic of self-love because love does not require anything in return, it should not matter what someone did or said to us that should not affect our love for a person. That is why it is important to love others as we love OURSELVES. If we do not love ourselves we cannot fully love others. The Lack of self-love stems from a lack of self-worth. We deal with a lot of issues such as low self-esteem, maybe we are uncomfortable with our skin, uncomfortable with our weight, we don’t feel like we are nice looking, or we feel unloved. Maybe you were in an abusive relationship or you came from a family background of abuse whether it is verbal or physical, maybe you were tensed in school for some reason, well for one reason or another at times it becomes hard to love ourselves when we have experienced those things and we start to believe them.  

What else does God say about love though? Pay close attention to this scripture John 13:34-35 (New International Version, ©2010 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Wow in this scripture Jesus says LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU. How many of us know how God views us? How many of us REALLY know how MUCH GOD LOVES us? How many of us know that God loves us so much that He allowed HIS ONLY SON TO DIE FOR OUR SINS and Jesus Loved us enough to lay down his life for us. That’s REAL love.  

DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE WONDERFULLY AND FEARFULLY MADE? Mediate on this (psalm 139:13-18)

13 For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.

Isn’t that amazing! That is how God views you; He did NOT make any mistakes when He made YOU. Beauty is in the heart and the heart is the capsule that holds our love. LOVE YOURSELF AND ENCOURAGE YOURSELF because if you don’t, nobody else will. DO you know people can sense when you are unsure of yourselves? Sometimes we allow people to treat us certain ways because we don’t know are worth. We must always remember that God is love and He only wants to see us happy. When you start to think negatively about yourself begin to say to yourself I know my worth, God made no mistakes when he made me, I am FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY made, I am beautiful, pretty, handsome, I am fine by design  Never let anyone make you feel worthless, most importantly never let yourself feel worthless. God loves all his children so much; we are so precious to Him.