Check out this really good word from Dr. Cindy Trimm about “SUCCESS”. Its completely opposite to the world’s view on it! Comment with your thoughts.
Devotionals
Giving New Life
January 8 Giving New Life
scripture reading:
Romans 6:1–7
key verse:
Romans 6:7
He who has died has been freed from sin.
When the Holy Spirit imparts the gift of eternal life to you, far more has transpired than the mere possession of unending spiritual life. That is because the Holy Spirit brings to every Christian an entirely new quality of life that is divine, supernatural, and godlike.
Through the Holy Spirit, the born–again man or woman can enjoy a new way of living. Since the Holy Spirit allows you to share in the life of Christ, He opens up a radical new lifestyle that is conformed to God’s commands and ways, not to culture.
You must remember that much of worldly behavior and methodology is based on wisdom that is flawed and tainted by sin. The Spirit of God reprograms your mind and transforms your attitude with His wisdom, dramatically altering your habits, rearranging your priorities, and establishing new standards.
At the same time, the Holy Spirit gives you a new power for living; the new lifestyle comes with the power to succeed. You are no longer limited to fighting your problems with your resources. You have God and the fullness of His Spirit to help you and deliver you.
Thank You, Lord, that I am living a new lifestyle. I am not bound by the culture, behavior, or methodology of this world. I do not have to conform, but I can be transformed by Your power!
Charles F. Stanley, Enter His Gates : A Daily Devotional, January 8 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998).
When Doors Are Closed: God Has Not Forgotten Your
January 6 When Doors Are Closed
scripture reading:
Acts 16:5–10
key verse:
Revelation 3:8
See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Your contract on your dream house just fell through. The promotion you were sure of fizzled at the last management meeting. The person you knew would become your spouse called off the relationship over the phone.
Slam. Slam. Slam. Doors you thought God had opened wide become curtains of steel. What is God doing? What is He up to? Why is He placing me in this box canyon?
Despite your disappointment, remember this: God is sovereignly leading your steps in a path that will bring Him the ultimate glory and you the ultimate benefit as you abandon yourself to His care.
“But the house was just perfect.”
“I desperately need the money that would come from the promotion.”
“I do not know of any other person I could marry.”
From your limited perspective, all of these statements are true. But understand that God alone can see around the bend.
The next time your hopes are dashed and the doors of aspiration are slammed in your face, rely on the all–sufficient wisdom of God, who alone knows the end from the beginning.
Lord, my perspective is limited, so I need You to open the doors I am to walk through this day. Close the doors that You do not want me to enter. Help me understand that closed doors are just as important as those that are open to me.
Charles F. Stanley, Enter His Gates : A Daily Devotional, January 6 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998).
Am I A True Bond Servant?
So I have been doing a lot of self examination. Questioning where I am personally in the faith. Like Da Truth said, “I am older in the faith now outgrown baby gap”. It is so true but I find myself struggling with the same stuff now and it really ticks me off. So I pray, I fast, I read, I confess etc. and I get this great surge and then weeks later it comes back. It’s really an internal struggle but I am learning how to resist it and let the enemy flee. I find that we often hold onto things because its comfortable and many times people relate to it.
I have been meditating on Romans 1:1. I have ventured out to study Roman’s line by line with another sister and it is proving to be fruitful. So check this, Paul states, “ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God”.
When we read many of the epistles we realize that Paul identifies his name, purpose and calling before continuing to say what he has to say. At first I was meditating on being a servant. Am I really a servant of Jesus Christ or someone who just calls His name and uses Him when it is convenient.
When people think of a servant they think of slaves or people who work in hospitality. That person is under the authority of another. They have transferred their will and power to another. Paul was saying, “I am a bond servant of Jesus Christ”. So today I tell you. I am a bond servant of Jesus Christ. I am a slave to Christ.
We have such a warped view of slavery because of the horror’s that have occurred through out the world. More specially in the United States in the name of Christ. Yes, many of them took the Bible out of context. No, not all slavery was justified according to the Bible that was only one side. This should not stop us from being bond servants (slaves) to Christ. He is a great Master and God is a great Father.
So I ask myself, “Christina Faith, How are you serving? Am I set apart?” Are you?
Good book to check out Improving Your Serve by Charles Swindol
*This post was written in the summer. I am just getting around to posting it 🙂
How comfortable am I with the world?
So yesterday I stood in the Apple line for 3 hours. I Had some good conversation and I was able to witness.
I’ve been reading this book by Steve Gallagher called Intoxicated With Babylon and it has been making me very aware of how intoxicated with the world I still am.
If there are only two sides why do we try to live on both when it’s impossible?I am now encouraged to take a deeper look into my life and see where I am falling prey to the enemies sweet false aroma.
Hopeless In Myself
This week I have really realized I am nothing with in myself. For so many years I lived off the pride of my talent. I love God and thank God’s self that I don’t have the desire to live off my own strength anymore, though it creeps up. He has give us the Holy Spirit to be able to resist. It’s all because of the Triune God that we are all here today. Though this world is dark and lonely and we look people in their faces and see them dying daily, we still hold onto the hope of His grace. Imagine life without God in this world. Complete and total chaos but yo He still loves us in our wickedness and desires for us to come closer to Him. Who cares about our problems He still loves us and He can fix them. I want more of His love so I can be known as one who loves like God loves in His image. This was becayse of my meditation of (Pslam 103 and 1 Cor 1-4 this week)
Love u all,
C.Faith
Resist the devil…..draw near to God
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:7-8
In what way have you been allowing the devil to have the upper hand on you? Have you been opening your soul and mind to his schemes through music, dance, movie, TV, conversation that is not like God? The awesome attribute of God is that God gives us the ability to resist the devil. God says if you resisT the devil and draw near to me, I will draw near to you. See all God desires is that you resist the devil, ask for forgiveness of your sins, clean your heart and not be double minded. He desires that we stop living in the world and the Kingdom. You can not serve tWo master’s. Today track your thoughts see where you are living a double life…..resist the devil and draw near to God He is waiting for you.
Drawing near to God,
Christina Faith
A Savage for Christ: Untame your FAITH
The day has finally come! Your dream is now being lived out. The biggest finance firm in the United States wants to fund your project. You’ve worked long and hard for someone just to recognize that your dream isn’t a dream its a vision, that your vision isn’t just a vision but that it is actually possible. So the phone rings! RING! Hold on cant pick it up yet, gotta show them your not sweatin it, let it ring twice more RING RING!
Finance Firm: Hello May I speak it to the vision holder
Vision Holder: This is she/he
Finance Firm: We would like to offer your 30 billion dollars to finance your project at 7% return over 30 years.
Vision Holder: Ok, are there any other terms and conditions?..
Finance Firm: Ohh yes, excuse me I almost forgot about those. They are as follows
1. Never think outside of the box
2. conform to the way it has always been done
3. Choke the Holy Spirit by being disobedient
4. Always make excuses when you are called to make change
5. Be scared of the anointing
6. Just pay your tithes, don’t make offering and please don’t name your seed
7. Pray simple, ritual prayers
8. Don’t study the word, just read it to read it
9. Honor people, money, and things more than you honor God
10. Lastly, don’t invite people to salvation just let them dwindle
Vision Holder: So I can do anything with the money as long as I adhere to your terms?
Finance Firm: Of course
Vision Holder: OK……Let me pray about it
Finance Firm: Ohh no this is a right now deal, after this conversation it expires. We simply ask you to have a tamed faith. You stick to what the church has been doing for centuries now.
What would you do? Are you already doing this?
We live in a society that has made conformity a way of life. Its like a page from a coloring book where the colors are assigned by number to a specific section and if you go outside of the lines, the world has deemed you a poor colorer. Sounds silly right well that’s what are doing to ourselves. The devil has trained us so well that he doesn’t even have to work at tempting us, we tempt ourselves, he doesn’t have to ask permission for us to sin, we sin on our own. He doesn’t even have to tell us not to pray, cuz we already don’t. Please he doesn’t have to tell us not to obey, its so apparent already that WE DON’T. But all of this can change. Are you willing to untame your faith?
Abraham was the father of faith. God told him before he changed His name as stated in Genesis 12:2-3
2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
At the time Abram was 75 years old. All Abram had to do was obey God and think outside the box. Instead Abram listened to Sarai when she insisted on having Hagar sleep with her husband. Yo, for real imagine that. God tells you, listen son thru your seed, I’m gonna make you a ruler over nation. Any one who shows love to you, I’m gonna show love to them. But you gotta be calm, be eazy son cause its gonna take time. But instead because Abram and Sarai weren’t obedient they allowed Haggar to birth the son Ishmael. They conformed to the conventional way of birthing a child. They tamed there faith put God in a box and didn’t punch any holes. They brought misery on the house because they were worried about how old they were.
Jesus Christ, God, the Holy Spirit they are all looking for the same thing in each of us, those who will allow them to use us. John the Baptist was the greatest example of an untamed faith, this dude was a warrior. He was so different that people didnt know what to do with him. He worship, talked, looked, dressed, and spoke different nothing was “normal” about Him. We all know that he was the greatest prophet and that he baptised Jesus. But we fail to look at how he handled God keeping Him incarcerated. Image you being Jesus’ cousin. His own flesh and blood and not by resurrection but thru straight blood line and your own cousin leaving you in jail. Your cousin can open the jail from clear across the world. But instead He is at some strangers house chat, healing and chilling with them. How would you feel? Would you say Jesus forget you? Would you listen to the haters telling you He ain’t the messiah? Or would you say Jesus though you keep me incarcerated I will still love you! Though my plan is not your plan I will still call you friend. Thou people think I’m crazy, I’m going to do what you say.
Untame your faith! You may not pray like Sister Johnson. You probably don’t want to do the normal church activity, you want to take the church rock climbing. You probably don’t know why everyone is jumping around at service, instead you like to tap your foot. I encourage you to do all the things the devil will hate you for. Be obedient to God, no matter how it makes you feel. Proclaim excuses, just give the devil a use tag for me and that tag is expired. Accept to be clothed in the anointing of Christ that breaks yokes. Name that $1.00 seed ask for someone’s healing you have never met. Open up to God like never before in prayer. Break out a pad and pen while reading your bible, write down questions to ask God.
SIMPLY UNTAME YOUR FAITH. PROCLAIM TODAY I WILL BE A SAVAGE FOR CHRIST.
Untamed Savage full of Faith,
**CHRISTina FAITH**
Prayer: Jesus I have seen the highs and the lows of life but no matter what your most undeniable love of my life. I ask that you forgive me of the sins that I have committed against you. Father I am tired of the convential way of serving you. Im disgusted at the rituals that have been created to serve you. I simply want to hit the battlefield and serve you no matter what you call me to do. Right Now Jesus place an anointing in each of us to serve you the way you want to be served. Let us serve you in variety. Let us make you THE priority. Erase the conformity in our lives and make us a fresh and A-NU. Through the Blood of Jesus. It is so!
Focus verses:
Genesis 12:2-3
Genesis 16
Acts 2:30
John 11:1-16
2 Tim 1:17
Acts 7:54-60
Abide
Well time is winding down and I am getting ready for an unbelievable experience. It has to be an incredible experience for all that I have been experiencing physically, mentally and emotionally. I am really understanding the nessecity of prayer. I know at times we all forget to pray without ceasing but we must press towards that consistent relationship with Christ. It’s kind of like we call on God when we need Him but we forget about Him when we want to depend on ourselves. I just want to encourage everyone that God still wants to hear from you in all situations. Let’s duplicate Jesus and do nothing unless the Father instucts. Jesus was an awesome man because He was God in the flesh. But one important thing to remember is Jesus had a model prayer life. Let’s model Jesus’ prayer life! Abide in Christ and Christ abides in You as Christ abides in the Father!
C.faith