NO WORRYING

Worry for What?

John 14:1 NIV 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”

Jesus instructs the disciples not to worry during his absence…but to believe.

The same message and instructions apply to us today.  Do not worry. 

As Christians, we have a God and a Christ.   Do you know Him/Them?

Knowing should empower us to take life in stride.  Don’t fret over things we can’t control anyway.

Receive every opportunity to demonstrate the character of Christ, the conduct of a Christian – do not worry.

How can we let our light shine if we perceive every mishap as a downfall?

God has it all under control. 

COME FORTH LIKE PURE GOLD

PURE GOLD

Zechariah 13:9 KJV

⁹ And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined,

and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name,

and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

God promises to take care of us in the midst of turmoil.

Your test of fire is God’s way of bringing you into your purpose.

Everyone has a tempering process, trials that SHOULD make us wiser, stronger, faithful and better.

How you react and cope with struggles can be a testament to God’s work in your life.

Allow your trials and adversity to make you like coffee beans in a pot of hot water.

That is, you change the environment and let the aroma of love and strength permeate the atmosphere.

Excerpt from CARROT, EGG, COFFEE

“The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. 

When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. 

 If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?”

SPEAK with GRACE

SPEAK WITH GRACE

ART BY CIDNE WALLACE

Colossians 4:6 NIV

⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).  This is a passage that is easy to say and hard to live by.

People, circumstances and mishaps can catch you off-guard and before you know it, you’ve stepped in the risky or danger zone.

The slip of the tongue happens just that quickly.  Think of the word grace and what it means. 

A good rule of thumb is this: “If what you are saying doesn’t glorify God – don’t say it.”

Think first:  Is it true?  It is necessary?  Is it hurtful?  Is it helpful?  Is it gossip?  Is it slanderous? 

Is it fair?  Is it judgmental?  Is it substantive? (that’s the salt) and lastly… Is it something that we would want someone to say about us?

Just by guarding our hearts and spirits, we may avoid some of the devil’s tackles.

Be careful of your speech.  Once you say it, you can’t take it back.

DISCIPLINE

DISCIPLINE

Blog below by

Rev. Maria Mallory-White

Hebrews 12:5-11 (MSG)

5 So don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either.

6 It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.

7 God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training,

8 the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God?

9 We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live?

10 While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best.

11 At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

“...God is a perfect parent. And if you have a love relationship with Him, you have to live in this knowledge: We live in a world that's broken. There's all kinds of bad things happening to everybody because we live in a world that is broken by evil and sin. Some day God's going to fix it, but for now there's disaster, there's sickness, there's disease, there's death—there's all kinds of suffering, and everyone is involved in suffering. But we are told this: If you create, through faith in Jesus Christ a love relationship with God, God arranges your suffering so that it's discipline. Do you hear me? He says you're going to have suffering, but He's going to arrange suffering so that nothing comes into your life except that which is for [disciplining and not punishing] you."

So our text tells us, “don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either.”

So, let us trust God, our Abba Father, knowing everything that happens in our lives is filtered through God’s hands for shaping us into the likeness of Christ. He is our loving Parent, and even our trials and troubles, God uses to mold us that we may become more like Christ.

A LIGHT TO SHINE

A Light to Shine

Matthew 5:16 NIV

In the same way, let our light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Despite the presence of evil all around us, evildoers and distractions of evil forces, we are still charged with the responsibility of conducting ourselves as Christians.  Prayer is part of the responsibility.  Continue to pray, join the prayer line and/or set up your prayer closet – your war room (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Don’t let “stuff” and “people” distract you from prayer.  Praying for ourselves and others will enable us to shine our lights for others to see. 

Through our deeds and words, the world should see God in us.  Not that we are perfect, but we are striving to be ambassadors for our Father in heaven.  Our daily walk puts us closer to Him.  We’ll never get rid of critics.  People will criticize, bad-mouth-, or say unkind things about you, but the key is DON’T LET IT BE TRUE.

Continue to stand up, stand out and show the world who you belong to.  We all have a light to shine.  Only we can smother own lights.   Radiate the beauty of Christ and glorify your Father in heaven.