Jesus Makes The Darkness Tremble

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 de...

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 s...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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 ho...

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, Ch...

In Christ I Am         There are many things in life we chose to let define who we are rather than what Christ says. We base our identities on things we achieved, things we do, disabilities, mental health diagnosis, whatever might be it’s not what gives you your identity. Using these identities just puts a label and a limit on what you think you are capable of. Not saying that our achievements are invalid and unrecognized but they don't give us our identity.        When someone asks us who we are we always start off with I do this job, or I do this hobby, or I'm (fill in the blank). Why do we never start with God? I think a lot of times we don't feel we meet the requirements to be who God says we are. However, if we didn't meet those requirements then God wouldn't give us his identity. I think also we focus too much on what we're incapable or capable of doing that we don't see God's full picture. God sees the full picture which is why he gave ...

You're Never Too Broken For God           How many times have you asked yourself, why does God need me, I'm too broken? We get stuck thinking that when we're broken that we're undeserving of love. I want to stop you right there, this thinking does not come from God! Even if you feel like you are shattered to pieces, God sees it so much differently. God broke you away from the parts of yourself that weren't honoring him, to sculpt you into his masterpiece of salvation and redemption. However, God does not see you as broken, God sees broken pieces as stepping stones to him. God trembles us to shake the spirit of fear and renew it with the spirit of strength and faith.            God needs you and nothing is going to stop him from seeking you no matter how "broken" we are. We aren't really broken rather than just wounded, because when we break we can't get back up again. Wounds can take time to heal from but we can get back on our...

Seeking God When Your Heart is Troubled and Mind is Distracted       Often times when things are going on in our lives and we're stressed God can sometimes be the last thought in our brains. Sometimes we even forget to acknowledge God's work in our lives. Our minds can think up to 50,000-80,000 thoughts in a single day, that's insane, but more often than not most of those thoughts don't have God in them. Distraction is one of the hardest things to combat. We often tend to set our minds on other things even while praying to God. We started praying then all of sudden we're thinking about food or whatever and we're stuck with forgetting the prayer altogether.         Why do we get so distracted? There's no right or wrong answer to this but I think it's because we're not taking control of our thoughts. We let anxiety in and let it control our thoughts. We have to capture our thoughts and set them on God. We have the complete ability to capture our o...

Erasing Lies And Growing In God's Truth.           Many things can set us back from hearing God's truth, such as lies. Lies can derail us from speaking God's love and truth over us. We hear lies and believe them because they sound like the truth. That's satan's way of getting into your head and making them sound convincing. Satan likes to mess with your head but you have the power to speak truth over him. He hates it because it means God is winning. You have the power to shut Satan down and put God in control.           To erase the lies we have to understand the difference between truth and lies. The truth would never lead you to hate who God has created. Yes, the truth can be hard to hear sometimes but it is also so freeing. Lies can cause you to speak badly over yourself and not love yourself. We've got to stand up and combat these lies because they can mess with your head. Every lie can be broken down and truth corresponds ...

20 Years Of Life!        I can't believe it's been 20 years since I came into this world. There's so much that has happened in that time, there's so much that I've learned. There's been so many trials, hardship, God, loss, life changes, friendships, etc. Although there were many rough times in 20 years there's a lot of noticing God's work in my life. God has been apart of my entire life and I've always had God in my life even as little 4-year-old memorizing verses for Awana. Although he was apart of my whole life I didn't fully experience him until I was 15 and wanted to get out of being alive. That experience was a God-stop moment and flipped my life around to want God and thirst for his love and grace! Never had I known in my entire life how much love could come from God.          Finding God encouraged me to be able to come out of my darkness and step into God's light. The main thing I learned about God all these years is that God is ...