This Life Below

God didn't promise us a life without suffering, not in this world, or a life without trials and tribulations. But he did promise to be our sufficiency in all things and to be our strength when we are weak. We read about the apostle Paul's suffering,  how it benefits him, and Christs' promise to give strength to endure.

2 Corinthians  12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.  12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.  12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

God knows everything that we go through and need. He doesn't forget our sorrows and sufferings. There is only one thing that I know of that God chooses to forget and that is our sins.

Isaiah  43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

God is a loving and gracious God. He provides for us, heals us, uplifts us, gives us peace and joy, and strengthens us. Troubles you may very well have but he can and will be everything you need in every situation. Embrace each day and each trial and find how it can help you to grow as a person and grow spiritually stronger and be a blessing to someone else. Ask God to use you?

Trust him. Do not live in fear of the unknown or doubt his love for you and his power to lift you up. Pray to him then let it all go. Trust him like a child trusts his mother.  Beleive in him and accept what he will unfold in your life for you.

Live one day at a time in faith. God bless you and our God and his perfect love.

Luke  11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.  11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.  11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.  11:5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;  11:6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?  11:7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.  11:8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.  11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

He Hears Us

1 John  5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.  5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.  5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.  5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.  5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?  5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.  5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.  5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.  5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.  5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.  5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.  5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.  5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:  5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Love of God in the Renewed Mind

When we apply the principles of the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation in our lives, we will no longer need to "covet" or "earnestly desire" anything, for God knows our every need and He will supply to us most liberally,even before we ask.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Do not follow or fall into the ways of the world. Do not try to fit in or take part of what is popular to conform yourself to the world so that you will be accepted by people. Instead, renew your mind according to the word of God and put on the mind of Christ which is a mind of godly love and servitude.

Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Do not lust or covet worldly things nor worry about the needs of your fleshly body. Instead, keep your mind on Christ and what you can do to serve God. God will supply your needs.

Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

The only way to put on the mind of Christ is to keep bringing your mind back to remembrance of God's word and what he would have you to do walking in love and desiring to serve him.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

We first need to realize that it is not by works that we receive salvation, grace, or the holy spirit. It is by realizing that God loves us just as we are and he has freely given to us the gift of salvation, the gift of grace, and the gift of the holy spirit so that we have God in Christ in us a new spirit that is sent by God to dwell in us teaching us, guiding us, and leading us to doing that perfect will of God. God does not control us or demand perfection from us but instead gives us the gift of the holy spirit to work that which is perfect in us.

Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 3:14 And above all these things put on charity (agapao love- divine or God love) which is the bond of perfectness. 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

To Be Holy

We are not only God's elect  having received salvation by faith and kept as one who is guarded with a military guard or garrison, we are also promised an inheritance incorruptible,  undefiled, and that fadeth  not away, reserved in heaven for us. God loves us unconditionally as his dear children and our salvation was bought with the precious blood of Christ. Fashion yourselves not after the world but be holy in all manner of conversation and love one another with a pure heart.

1 Peter  1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.  1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,  1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:  1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:  1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.  1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:  1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.  1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.  1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:  1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;  1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:  1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;  1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,  1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.  1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:  1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.  1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:  1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Getting Me Right

I thought I was coming down with something yesterday . I felt tired, weak, like I couldn't breath enough air into my lungs, and my tummy started aching and I had diarrhea. I prayed for myself and I asked others to pray for me. Praise God I feel so much better today. I feel good. And I am ready to do God's will for me today. I try to ask him everyday to guide me through my day and use me to do his will.

God has done so much for me and my loved ones. He has healed me so many times. And he not only has healed my physical body but he has healed me emotionally, mentally, and spiritually also. When I was young and strong and always in the word I didn't realize that God loves me unconditionally. But now I have made mistakes. I have sinned against myself and others. And I have been way out in left field because I thought I was no longer worthy of God's love, blessings and healing. But now as I have journeyed back to spiritual and emotional and physical health I realize that I was never worthy. It was by his unconditional love and gift of grace that he blessed me and healed me. Now even though I have sinned I realize that all people do whether it be willingly or not, I know that I csn stand before God without any condemnation because Jesus was made sin for me to GIVE me salvation. Through the blood of Jesus Christ I am washed of all my sins and made righteous to stand before God as his child and joint heir with Christ.

At one time I thought I was being punished by God with sickness in my body and a broken heart. But I realized that God wasn't punishing me. He wants what is best for me; health, love, and a life full of abundance. I was sick and broken because I not only allowed sin to enter my thoughts and heart but I stopped beleiving that he loved me and wanted me to be healthy and whole because I didn't feel worthy. I had to forgive myself and others. I had to let go of the anger and rage that I had bottled up inside. I had to realize that it was God's will for me to be healthy, whole, and blessed with the blessings of Abraham and loved the way a Father loves his child, unselfishly and unconditionally. And I had to realize that Satan is very real and wanted to not only destroy my relationship with God but destroy me also. Satan can appear to be so many things and he has angels of darkness,demons, just like God has angels of light. There truly is a spiritual realm that is totally against us and Satan fools us by distorting the reality that sin breaks us down spiritually making us more susceptible to his plans that are against us. If something is wrong according to God's word? The Holy Bible, it is always wrong no matter how much it is distorted and made to look like it is good for us.
Do not let pretty things or things that make you feel good, or people who manipulate you and distort the truth deceive you. Study the bible daily. Pray daily. Pray to manifest the nine manifestations of the holy spirit. If you speak in tongues do so as much as you can. Keep your mind stayed on things that are good and pure. And keep your mind on God's love, promises to you, and desire for you.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;


Written By Lisa Collier Clewis, 01/08/14

Power

God is all powerful and he is our sufficiency in all things. Hebrews  11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

There is Power in the Blood

I woke up at 4 am this morning with the song 'There is Power in the Name of Jesus' on my mind. Often we think that we are not good enough to be saved from our sins and not good enough for God to love us and not good enough to call God our Father
The word says none is good enough. What we have to understand is that because we are not good enough God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus returned to the alter with his blood to pour on the alter for not only forgiveness of our sins but eternal life and grace that blots out all our sins forever.

Some believe that if they die after breaking one of the ten commandments and before they ask for forgiveness they will go to hell. If that were the case who would walk the streets of gold? Our flesh and blood is sin and we sin without realizing it, not meaning to because when we would do good evil is there with us and when we would do bad good is there with us. It is not of our works that we are saved. We are saved by grace through faith.

Faith is such an awesome and important part of our success at walking uprightly and continuously bringing our mind back to godly thoughts. We are to think about whatever is good, beautiful and pure and bring our mind back to Christ and what he means to us and what we mean to him.

Jesus loves us and his death unto eternal life is just as strong as Adams death unto sin. Whereas God's only Son died for all sins, Adams sin brought sin upon us all. There is no need to build alters to sacrifice lambs and no more need to cast our sins on a scape goat for forgiveness of our sins because Jesus became sin for us and his blood washed away all our sin and made us clean and righteous to stand before God as his beloved children.

God expects us to believe in him and to believe that just as we can go to an earthly parent and get good things we can get good things from him also. Sacrificing our sanity to be something that we are not, which is perfect; and fasting and begging and pleading do not invoke God to answer our prayers. Crying out in a voice of relinquishment and trusting him to do for us what we are so incapable of doing for ourselves is what he wants. He wants for us to believe when we pray that we will receive what we ask him for.

Sometimes unanswered prayers are answered prayers because God knows better than we do what is best for us. Trust his judgement and trust that you are not under any condemnation because Jesus bought your salvation and has given it to you. Salvation is a gift. He just loves us. He loves us just as we are. And because we believe that he loves us and gave his only begotten Son to become sin for us we work at becoming a better person. He doesn't punish us to make us walk the straight and narrow. He loves us that through his love we choose to work at becoming better people and through his love we are able to keep trying again and again until we get it right knowing that nothing or no one can separate us from God's love.

Nothing that you have done is so bad that you can't be forgiven. God loves you unconditionally. Some of the greatest men and women of God have done some of the most ungodly things. Those people who can accept God's love and forgiveness and forgive themselves go on to become great men and women of God whom through them he can do great things. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Believe in God's love for you. And use your testimony to reach others and help them realize who they are in Christ so they can accept and feel God's love also.

When we get saved from our sins and become born again in his spirit, humbly accepting his love and power through us, we are given the Holy Spirit which lives  inside of us. After Jesus' resurrection from the dead he ascended up to heaven and took his place at the right hand of God so he could send the Comfortor, the Holy Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit comforts us, teaches us, and guides us and through our submission becomes our leader for the rest of our days in this world. One day Jesus will return for his church, his bride who is without spot or wrinkle, the body of Christ whom we are all members -us!