No Mediocre

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Lately I’ve been extremely observant of how people respond to the blessings of God.

What has popped in my head is the hook of TI’s song “No mediocre”. The actual song is anything but amazing however; the concept when placed in the hands of the Lord is revolutionary.

God doesn’t want mediocrity from us. I’ve seen so many people settle at the mountain top simply to look at the view. The mountain top isn’t the only benefit of the mountain. Inside of the mountain are rivers, animals, food, gold, diamonds etc. What do we do with the opportunities God gives? Do we simply look at them like a diamond engagement ring or do we grab hold of what He’s doing? I know I’ve lived in a deep underlying fear over the last 8 years waiting to see the top of the mountain instead of seeing the resources of the mountain available to me NOW.

How about you? What are you afraid of? Are we waiting around for the opportunity when it has already arrived? Are we lost in what we think it will look like? Are we living in false humility denying our God empowered gifting the ability to be developed, fine tuned and expanded?

The definition of mediocre is: of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t do anything or that you aren’t attempting but that you have failed to fulfill your potential ability. Instead of settling for the mountain top let’s dig into the mountain and discover the true economy of God. It’s greater than what we have been expecting or desiring to see.

Faith in Twitter v. Faith in God

So my heart has really been on understanding God’s faithfulness. Current circumstances seem to out weigh His truth and trustworthiness.

I just discovered that twitter is showing no followers and following. Sitting here reflecting on it I heard, “You see how calm you were when twitter showed 0. That’s how confident you have to be in me. It wasn’t that you thought it actually happened more so you trusted that Twitter would fix it or pull up their back up. You trusted the company regardless of what the circumstances looked like. That is how you must be with Me”. Being fully assured that He is able to perform what He said He would! He’s greater than a company and the only trustworthy, faithfully, reliable GOD!

Here is the Greek word, definition and key verses:

πληροφορέομαι (plērophoreomai), πληροφορέω (plērophoreō):

be completely certain, be fully assured, convinced or persuaded (Ro 4:21; 14:5; Col 4:12+; Eph 3:19 v.r.)

make happen, fulfill (Lk 1:1+)

proclaim fully (2Ti 4:17+)

accomplish, fulfill (completely), (2Ti 4:5+)

πληροφορία (plērophoria), ας (as), ἡ (hē): n.fem.

complete certainty, full assurance (Col 2:2; 1Th 1:5; Heb 6:11; 10:22+; Ro 15:29 v.r. NA26)

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

FLAWS

Waking up I knew it was not a great day for my flesh. It had to die or I would.

25 minutes to get ready and I still had to speak to God even before I put my clothes on.

Some days this is my life.

I need my time with God and when its minimal I am more prone to get an attitude.

What is the attitude? Its my flesh. I haven’t completely surrendered it to God.

Lately, I have been noticing my flaws more than even.

The flaws that I see are so nasty that I would rather not be involved in any ministry. I repent and keep fighting. Being an overcomer in many areas but the fact that sin dwells in my flesh heavily upsets me.

I love the Lord and sin separates me from him. I am not doing any overt sin but just the fact that I sin (consciously and unconsciously) though less than last week or even less than a year ago and even though I am quicker to repent it is still nasty and I hate it.

Its this sin, these flaws that make me realize that I am human and continually need this loving, forgiving Savior. The very scripture that brought me into the kingdom (Romans 7:14-25) is the one that I have to consistently confront.

We are free but it takes a fight. I am fighting. I have been fighting but the sensitivity of my heart is rising. I am the first to admit I am not perfect. Though I proclaim the gospel the same words I preach, speak, teach and live are the same words that convict me on a daily bases. It is these words that encourage, rebuke and correct me.

This blog is a babble but it is needed for my soul.

I am not perfect. I am not every woman. I am not superwoman. I can’t help everyone. I am not perfect. However, through Him I am strong.

Through Him and meditating on His goodness I am able to live a life of abundance and freedom. My flaws are apparent. Your flaws are apparent. But He doesn’t want us to rest in our flaws. Instead, to bring our flaws to Him the Father who is a just God (Luke 18:6-8).

The fact that He has welcomed me into His kingdom continues to baffle me. I am full of flaws but I won’t stay like this. My flaws can be corrected. They can and will be molded, pruned and shaped.

This is a process of pruning (John 15:2).

Purity Rings?!!

I’ve seen a lot of sister’s rocking purity rings. I believe that they are a good idea. It is very thought provoking if you are living what you wear. But what I wanted to speak about is the issue of women wearing purity rings on their wedding finger. Let’s keep it real ladies! Unless you are looking to never get married don’t put the ring on that finger. If a brother is interested in you and does not know a lot about you he is not going to approach you. Even if the brother is in church. What does he look like walking around asking if you are married? That would be disrespectful to your husband. He has to get real close to that ring to see that it reads “purity”. Also, this goes for any ring. We have 10 fingers keep the rings off of that one finger. You may miss your chance to be found by an incredible brother.

What's stopping your seek?

I think. I think a lot, I really do. While reading through the bible it has really forced me to question my motives and heart concerning a lot what I desire.

One of the most important aspects of the bible is Israel’s history of the kings. Each King had the exact assignment. However, each King had to decide whom they would seek. Would they seek the Lord or would they seek their own desires and do evil in the site of the Lord?

Let’s take Rehoboam for example. He sought the Lord. However, “when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord”. 2 Chronicles 12:1

This got me to thinking. At first I was fleshly and self-righteous. “You stupid King!” Was my thought. As though I am not capable of the very same thing.

As humans we praise God and pray most in the tough times. We are very reactive. When things are going great. We let up on our seek however, when things are hard-pressed on each side we want to seek God more fervently. We desire to hear from Him because the pain is unbearable or our hearts hurt and need to be healed.

But what happens after God has answered our prayers? After everything our hearts cry out for is given to us. Do we continue to seek the Lord or do we become like Rehoboam and turn away from the Lord after He has established us?

The answer is seen in 2 Chronicles 12:14 “He did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord”. It is important to continually check y(our) hearts. Is our heart continually set on the Lord. After we get what we have prayed for, that husband/wife, house, job, salvation of our family members or the fulfillment of a prophecy do we still seek the Lord?

In all honesty it is my greatest fear that once I receive the fulfillment of the promises of God that I will I turn away. In order to combat the strength of my flesh I must continually set my heart on the Lord. It’s a daily process. Everything in this world desires to pull us away from “seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness”. The combating principality doesn’t want us to receive “all things being added”. Our confidence as those who seek Jesus Christ is that He will answer those who diligently seek Him with all their heart. Will you seek the Lord? What’s stopping your seek? Leave comments please.

Love you. Be encouraged. This momentarily light affliction can not compare to the future glory!

Never Discourage

You never know who you are discouraging. Always encourage. Sometimes the logical and reasonable thing is the exact thing that is the discouragement. Clap, applaud, love by faith and not by sight! If you have been discouraged lately continue to press, continue to fight. Don’t let anything stop you from what you were created to do. I know that it looks like it won’t happen but God knows and He is standing right there with you giving nuggets of encouragement to keep you moving.

Redefine- "INSIDE OUT"

Over the last year God has really been working on me “INSIDE OUT”. This whole concept of “INSIDE OUT” keeps getting repeated. Everywhere I go, everything I listen to and whatever I look at “INSIDE OUT” keeps screaming at me. Christina, what do you look like on the inside (character)? What do you look like on the outside (appearance/femininity)? I am currently in the process of working on my femininity. A lot of ladies grew up discovering their femininity as a gift. I on the other hand resisted and rebelled against my femininity. I’ve decided to reveal myself “INSIDE OUT”. I will be blogging about my total make over process, getting rid of 85% of my current wardrobe and the rebellion against my insides that scream for me to stay the same and not evolve into God’s view of me! This should be fun! What areas of your life is God challenging? Are you living from the inside out? Please comment.

Note: This is so not comfortable for me. However; I know that other women deal with many of the issues that will come up in this continual conversation. You may not struggle with femininity but you may struggle with low self esteem. So much is going to come out of this journey. Fasten your seat belts its going to be a transparent ride. See beyond the lens!

Blow Your Whistle!

Prayer was so good for me today. I have really been struggling to understand all that has been going on in the world, church and my personal life. It is easy to get discouraged and simply fall into the mundane of this sinful world. God reminded me this morning that “All things are possible” (Mrk 10:27), “That desires of the heart are given with the ability to be completed with His sufficient grace working in us.”(Psalm 37:4), “That He is able to revive us according to His Word”, (Psalm 119:23) and “It is He who is cleaning us from the inside out”. (1 John 3:3)

In the midst of listening to my most played songs in my iTunes library “Blow Your Whistle” by Rhema Soul came on (the only song not worship music). It ignited something in me. It was as if God was telling me to “BLOW MY WHISTLE” stop playing around with the gifting in my life, prayer, the Word and my relationships. Instead, blow my whistle alerting the enemy that it’s time is up and that those I am assigned to have revival coming to them. So I blow my whistle on lack, incarceration, poverty, sexual prevision, wack unedifying music and media and most of alllll I blow my whistle on lack of intense straining to stay in the presence of God!!!!

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