Jesus Makes The Darkness Tremble

Abused But Not Broken         Abuse is a hard topic to discuss for a lot of people but unfortunately, it's a topic that I'm familiar with. Abuse can still beat you down even when you're not being abused anymore. Abuse comes in many shapes and forms. I'm here to tell this part of my story it's not my favorite part of my story, but I just want to give an insight into how God can use even the broken pieces of you. Every hard moment in life can be a moment to learn, to break, to hear God, to push God away, to fall. to cry, and more. Any of these responses to hardship or trauma is acceptable.             Trauma does not define who you are or who you will become. This is very important to acknowledge when you are going through abuse or traumatic events. You are not who they say you are in the lies they breathe into you. Many people go through moments of feeling like they are trapped in their pain and can't get out. This is a normal response to have but it's not ok

 You Have To Accept Where You Are To Get To Where You Want To Be        I was listening to a podcast last night and he was talking about anxiety and fear. He talked about accepting where you are and working on where you are right now. He was talking about how the bible has answers to anything we need to have answers for. We have to get to the root of our emotions to experience what we need from God. If we don't face our emotions head-on then what do we know that we need from God or the bible? We don't, I mean I'm not saying that emotions get in the way of everything but I'm saying emotions play a big part in our daily lives. We either live based on our emotions or we are/become stoic and apathetic. We have to face what we are feeling, we have to break down the roots of everything to remove the flesh and get to the spirit.        We have to be able to accept that we are feeling tired, anxious, depressed, angered, and any other emotions. We have to accept each emotion whe

Live In Today, Not Tomorrow Or Yesterday         Often times life can leave us longing for the future or trapped in the past. Many circumstances and situations can leave us feeling desperate for change and wanting to know what the future holds. Sometimes we can be in both stuck in the past and longing for something better. It's ok to feel either one or both but not all the time. God oftentimes will ask us to be still before Him, take everything going on out of the equation, and just focus on Him. He wants us to free ourselves from trying to control everything in our lives and just live in the now and not worry about the later. Everything that is happening around us is temporary but God is eternal.            How do we focus on living in the moment when the world is going crazy around us? That can be a question that can stump a lot of us. I'd say just focusing on God and how he is still blessing you during the hard times. Which can be hard because some of us don't see t

Feeling Worn Out        Do you ever just have those days where you feel worn out, where you’ve tried to do normal tasks but you just feel like sleeping instead? Days like this can be tough but I think a lot of us are experiencing no energy days, no motivation days. That is where I'm at and that's why these blogs have been so spaced out. I have had zero energy and I think most of it is because days are just getting monotonous. Each day just feels like the last and we're stuck in a drought of excitement. Although running on low energy is normal for me, lately it has felt like all the life has gotten sucked out of me these days.  I know I'm not the only one who's been feeling this way. I think with this virus being drawn out so long a lot of us are just sick of hearing about it. Sick of being in a world where we can't love or serve others the way we want to.          We also feel like the world needs more God but we have no motivation to speak the Gospel to a bro

Stop Being Lukewarm: How To Get Out Of A Spiritual Funk          Often times Christians can get into a spiritual funk and it can separate them from wanting to spend time with God. We can often get stuck in a time frame where we're lukewarm with God. That's okay if you experience seasons like this, everyone goes through a time where they've drifted. Being lukewarm is not the way to live, it actually keeps you from feeling God more. It can keep you from experiencing all that God has for you because a part of you is still closed to Him. The bible has many verses on how you shouldn't be lukewarm to God. Being lukewarm can affect your emotions and how you handle struggles. Being lukewarm can keep you from sharing with others about Jesus. Sometimes people are lukewarm because they're not ready to allow God to take the reigns. They're not ready to accept what God's truth is for them. They're not ready to be on fire for God because they fear what others will

God Is Greater Than The Highs And Lows                   Times like this can be hard to see how God is effectively using storms to strengthen you. It is hard to see that God is stronger than anything that's going on right now. It's hard to see because right now the world is broken and it's a mess. We don't see His glory and His purpose in all this, and we may not. Just know this that God does have a purpose for this, everything going on is happening for a reason. I mean I don't think God meant for this to happen but he's using it to bring us closer to Him. We have to understand that He is greater than anything that is happening.         The world may be wanting to rid Christianity but they're fools to think they can rid God from devoted believers. We have to be strong enough to stand up to evil, we can't let the world break us apart from God. We have to break apart the vicious cycles that try to destroy Christianity. God cannot be stopped and He c

You Are Not Defenseless         Somedays we feel as though we have been beaten and defeated by the devil too many times. We feel as though we can't win against him somedays. Satan tells us we are weak and defenseless. We are told we'll never be able to break free from him or his lies. This lie is told so often that we believe it and don't stand up against the enemy. We let this lie destroy our self-esteem. God says we are strong because He lives within us. However, the truth of God is hard to grasp because the devil is whispering on the other side. We want to believe it but the devil shows us our weaknesses and we sit in them. We accept the devil's harassment sometimes without even knowing we have done so. Unknowingly we can accept those lies and believe them, we think that they're God's voice but they aren't. God would never say something that is without love.           We are not defenseless and God has demonstrated that He has defeated the enemy, whi

Don't Put A Mask On Truth         These days putting a face mask seems to be our new "normal." We can't even walk into a public building without one. It's crazy how with all this we can still seek God's truth, and speak it. Although sometimes we want to put a mask on the truth to make it more subtle and appealing to the one who needs to hear it. Why do we do this? The obvious answer is we don't want to hurt or offend anyone with the truth they need to hear. Masks represent hiding, we are hiding something from someone. I'm not talking about facial masks I'm talking about the invisible masks we put on to hide the pain and the hurt, we want to hide our hardships under them to void pain. Masks hide the truth that needs to be heard. However, God calls us to speak His truth. He doesn't say we need to deliver truth harshly with bitterness attached. God's truth comes out of love, not judgment. Masking the truth doesn't give others what God

Conviction Vs. Condemnation            This topic can often be controversial because often times we are called to convict but instead we condemn. Conviction comes out of love from the father, It isn't set around Judgement from the world. However, condemnation comes out of judgment for others by accusing them and bringing shame toward their sin. Conviction is complete love for the person without sending/giving them the message that the father will never forgive them for what they've done. Conviction tells the person that they made a mistake but God still loves them and He's already forgiven them.          Oftentimes Christians get a bad reputation for condemning people of their actions. Which is wrong and it's not what God has called us to do. He has called us to love others the way Christ loves you. If you are shaming someone for something you are not showing love. God's plan for us doesn't include us feeling shame, We aren't supposed to live with etern

Fill Me Up, Lord       There are some days that we feel just empty. I think a lot of us are feeling some sort of emptiness during this quarantine. Sometimes when we get stuck in solitude we lose track of our emotional and spiritual well being. When life slows down we can sometimes seep into no motivation and no energy mindsets that can trap us into not getting stuff done that we need to. I think at times like this we're looking for truth, we acknowledge that God is the truth but we still doubt things. This is why we need to be filled up again with the Lord. We need to just let God pour into our hearts.         You may notice that you need a refill if you've become bitter towards everything, lost motivation, seeped into depression, doubting that God is still good, feeling helpless, unworthy, unloved, and more. In personal experience during this quarantine, I've noticed that lack of motivation and procrastination have been big challenges for me. As you know these two t

Suffering Doesn't Destroy Faith, It Refines It          I heard this quote in a movie I watched this week called "I Still Believe" based on the true story of Jeremy Camp's life. In this movie and his life, his wife is suffering from ovarian cancer that ends up being terminal. She passes away 4 months after they had married. It taught me that suffering brings you closer to God after it takes you away from Him. When we suffer we turn away from God, but then realize how faithful He was in the suffering. In my life, I have gotten to the point where no matter what happens I still believe in His promises. I chose to still believe, even in the trauma, even in the storms, even from the abuse, the PSTD, the chronic pain, and more.             How do we come back to God after suffering made us take a detour? I don’t have the perfect answer to this but those who are saved have a hard time not eventually coming back to God. It's because we were designed to hunger for

Live Intentionally       What does it mean to live intentionally? It means living purposely to be like Christ. It means living life with a passion to live for Jesus and not for the world. The world is temporary and Jesus is eternal, Earthly things don't matter as much as spiritual living. Live life with a purpose to glorify God with your actions and love. This doesn't mean we can't make mistakes and we have to be perfect. If God wanted us to never make a mistake then we would have an instruction manual on how to live. Although the bible is like a guide on how to live like Christ did. The bible is also filled with the mistakes of everyone, the doubts, and the struggles but besides all that it's full of redemption, grace, salvation, resurrection, new birth, and much more.          Living intentionally doesn't mean you have to have a purpose for everything and make everything perfect. It's the mindset that counts, it's what you're giving to God each da

Open Your Heart           There is so much going on right now and it can be hard to handle or grasp. During times of uncertainty, we are asked to pursue God and open our hearts up to receive him. We're not just asked to open our hearts to God but to others as well. Even with a pandemic or not, we are called to love like Christ loves you, not turn bitter. You have to open your heart to be willing to give others love in times of difficulty. We also have to open up our hearts to receive God's love for us, if we're not receiving his love we will be unable to fully love others.          Whenever difficulty strikes we tend to turn our hearts away from God because we can't make sense of it all, and we blame God for the storms. It's okay to be upset, fearful, confused, uneasy, sad, or any emotion you feel. It's okay to feel all these emotions at once even, but we still have to trust God and open up to him. Speak to the Father in all honesty and ask him to point you

Die to Self to Live for Christ!         Have you died to yourself to become fully renewed in Christ? If we're being honest a lot of us still hold onto ourselves rather than letting go and letting God take the reigns. We get caught up in living life by our own will that we drown out God. We do this because we don't trust God to give us the life we want, except it's not about that. God isn't going to give you the perfect life because it's not his will. We also need to die to ourselves because we're stuck in the ways that don't honor the Lord. If we're not allowing Christ to live within us we're robbing him of blessing us with his presence.           When we die to our flesh we allow spirit to take over us. When we are stuck in the flesh we can't experience God to the full extent. God can't guide us if we're stuck in the flesh. The flesh is the raw part of us, the sinful part, the brokenness, and more. The spirit is full of renewal, Chr