Tag Archives: jesus

You can run…but you can’t hide!

September 14, 2012

While I was in Guyana, things were so really busy, that I often went to bed really late, and I would get up really ridiculously early. As much as I wanted to do my devotions in the morning as I normally would, I couldn’t. There just wasn’t enough time in the day.

There were moments that I began to feel guilty. As if God had stopped talking to me…

Does anyone ever get that? Or maybe it’s just me….

But every time I felt forsaken, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a scripture:

Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
—Psalm 139:7-10

It is really one of my favourite piece of scriptures. Because it lets me know that God does not ever just leave me on my own.

You know, there are moments in life when we can feel as if God is not there. It could be a hectic time in our lives, or just a really painful time. The enemy makes us feel as if God is ‘mad at us’. But…just because we don’t always connect with God the way we should….it doesn’t mean that He’s stopped connecting with us.

As I was in Guyana, the Holy Spirit said to me, as much as you’re busy, I am still here…I can keep up with you…

When I heard that I thought of the fact that no matter how busy life gets, I could never really be so hidden that God can’t find me. I can run….but I can’t hide.

That’s what David was trying to get across…where could I go, that God would not be with me…Even Paul said it in Romans 8: – What can separate us from God’s love?

As we go through our day to day activities, let’s remember that…God is always present in our lives….

PS: That doesn’t mean we should not make an effort to connect with Him. Rather, it lets us know that He is always there…, ready and waiting for us to bond with Him.

Posted by schadah in How He Loves Me, Tidbits for Love, Hope and Joy, Tidbits for Relationships, Tidbits for the weary Tags: discouraged, encouragement, God, hope, jesus, praying, relationships

Testimony #4: My Real Estate Agent

August 10, 2012

This testimony is about the leading of the Holy Spirit.

A few days ago, God ministered to me that everything happens in the right season and time. If it hasn’t happened, it’s not because He doesn’t want me to have it. It’s because He’s perfecting that which concerns me.

The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. Psalm 138:8

So recently, this summer I realized that I had to move out of where I was. I hate change. I hate moving more. It’s so much work. But it had come time for me to find an apartment, and after a few years of living the ‘student life’, I really just wanted to have some place to hang my ‘own’ hat.

I hadn’t intended on moving out this month, because a. I couldn’t afford it. And b. I wanted to be done writing my thesis and graduating before I took off. Plus, I didn’t know where I would find a job. As I said yesterday, I was applying for jobs all over the world (i wasn’t joking about that!). So all in all, I was thinking I’d move in October.

But unforeseen circumstances pushed me to find a place. I began looking in my city. I really wanted to stay connected to my church for the time, so I was hoping that I’d find a place near the area. Mind you, i had no idea how I was going to pay for it. But I went looking for a place, and I wanted somewhere in the suburban part of the city.

It was the most frustrating venture I have had (apart from the other traumas that have been occurring). I just couldn’t find anything I liked. I can be pretty picky I’ve been told.

I got up on Wednesday morning and I decided to do my devotions by the river, because I have not spent much time outdoors this summer because of my research and then not feeling well and stuff. It was at the river that the Holy Spirit ministered to me.

“You’ve been doing this on your own. Tell me when you’re ready for my help”.

Realizing that I had let the spirit of Pride in yet again, and became Ms Independent, I prayed. The Holy Spirit then asked me what it was that I really wanted in this house and what I wanted to pay. At the time I didn’t have the job, but I pulled up a number. And then I made a list. I wanted this apartment to be:

In a quiet, quaint area. I didn’t want white walls. I don’t want to live in this particular city anymore, but I want to be close enough to my church. I wanted a large kitchen with two sinks! (I don’t get why some apartments only have one sink). I wanted my stove and fridge to match. And I needed a large countertop for when I am cooking. Oh. I wanted a sunroom. Because I like an area where I can do my devotions when it’s not cold. I wanted to be close to a river or lake….

I went on and on. At one point I felt bad for wanting so much. But i deserved it. And whether I had money or not, I know that my Father knew I deserved it and it was time.

Well whadduya know?!! The Holy Spirit became my Real Estate Agent. Once I was done yapping, I heard Him say,

“Okay I will let you know when I’ve found that. It’s probably not in this city though.”

As soon as I got back from the lake, I heard Him tell me to look at Kijiji in the next city. And it was like BAM. The first house that popped up on Kijiji had everything I had ask for at the price I had wanted! Even the Sunroom!!!

How awesome is our God? Just totally!!!

So my friend and I went to see the place and I immediately fell in love with it. It was just God’s perfect will. The owner actually told me that she had only put it up on Kijiji because she was only able to do all the cleaning that weekend.

I’m telling you, God answers prayers. And if we let Him take the lead and guide us, He will perfect that which concerns us. He’s just good like that. He literally became my real estate agent and He directed me to the right place at the right time. He gives the DESIRES OF YOUR HEART. But we have to believe Him and rely totally on Him and we have to tell Him what we want! He knows, but He wants us to tell Him.

So yea, I got my perfect place! And oh yea, all the financial details were taken care of miraculously.

I believe that He will do something miraculously for you too!

Posted by schadah in How Great is our God, Thanksgiving Tags: believe, Christianity, faith, giving thanks, God, House, jesus, p, peace, real estate, trusting god

1 comment

Day 15: He’ll do it again

July 18, 2012

Word of Encouragement: It is much harder to hold on, than to give up. But if you give up on God, you give in to a live of despair. You may choose to give up on everything and everyone else around you, but don’t lose hope in God.

Last night was a pretty sleepless night for me. After realizing that I was probably going to be up all night because of how I was feeling I began to do some reading… Basically anything that was beside me on the bed (Lisa Bevere’s Lioness Awakening, Kathy Ciaramitaro’s The Cross, My Bible, The Youversion App). I needed to respond to the enemy’s attack with the Word of God.

Now I know the worst thing you can ask someone when they are experiencing pain, is to pray or read anything scriptural. When you’re ill, you just really want the pain to go away. And yet in my spirit, I know that the only thing I could do at that point was to ‘latch’ on to a Promise from God. As I tried to meditate in my discomfort, i recalled that there was a page in my bible where I had kept a record of things that God did. When I looked at the page and the list of things I had written, I found the promise: If God has done it before, He will do it again.

Today, in light of the fact that I am thanking God for future things, I want to thank God that He will do it again.

As I previously said, when you’re going through a difficult time, you really don’t want to hear anybody telling you to “smile Jesus loves you”. Let’s be honest. You don’t. Your soul does not want to hear anything about God. Of course, that’s the devil trying to creep into your life and suppress your spirit man. But when the going get’s tough, I dare to say, you need to take a quick glimpse at all the things that God has done for you before, and then look at your future with an assurance that He will do it again.

My list was a lot longer than the 15 days that I have been writing. But on it was almost every breakthrough God had given me: success through school, scholarships and grants, finances, friendships, deliverance from depression, anger, healing from past relationships, strength to overcome issues, provision of jobs, cars, houses, protecting me from the snare of the fowler, healing me from illnesses and diseases… there is so much that He has done. And the one conclusion that I came to was that if He could do all of that, He can do it again.

God is a good God. He’s a good God… And sometimes the things that happen to us may seem as if they come from hell, but the TRUTH of the matter is that in the beginning, the middle and the end, God is a good God. He’s never finished any of your past experiences with bad endings, and if there was a bad ending, it’s because the story isn’t finished. He cannot lie about His goodness, so despite your present, remember that He’s good.

Try to make a list of all the things that God has done for you.. Maybe in the last year, the last two. I dunno. You’ll see how good He is. And once you do, you can rest assured that the same good God that did all of those things before, will do it again.

So right there, is something to give God thanks for. Why would a God who has been blessing you, keeping you, protecting you, providing for you, healing you, delivering you, holding you, just all of a sudden…stop? No. the same God that did those things in the past, He will do it again. You may not know the end of the matter, but rest assured that it’s good. And if it doesn’t look good now, give thanks, because God’s going to show His goodness to you again.

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?- Numbers 23:19

Posted by schadah in Thanksgiving, Tidbits for Love, Hope and Joy, Tidbits for the weary, Tidbits for Trusting God, Uncategorized Tags: believe, Christianity, content, discouraged, encouragement, giving thanks, hope, jesus, relationships

Day 7: Financial Blessings

July 6, 2012

Well then..it’s been 7 days… How many of you are still with me on the gratitude fast? lol.

Like any sort of fast, this fast is challenging. But I continue to accept the challenge of not complaining about things. And the more I feel tempted to complain or if I can’t find anything to be grateful about, the more I realize that there are some fleshly habits of mine that need to die. So if you are on this with me, I encourage you to keep pressing on. Fight the devil with your gratitude for what God has done.

Today, I am thanking God for Financial Blessings. I wanted to say a job, but I realize that God’s way of blessing you financially doesn’t always mean giving you a job when you want it.

Here’s one of my testimonies:
As you may already know I grew up in Guyana and moved to Canada in my teens. But at one point, I had to return to Guyana for a variety of reasons, and it was there that I finished my high school program. Having already been immersed in the North American school system, it would have been pointless for me to go back to the Caribbean education system. Let’s just say it would have been much harder for me to get back into the Canadian system.

So my mom decided that the best move would be to send me to the only school in Guyana that would allow me to graduate with a US High school diploma. It was an expensive school for ambassadors’ and diplomats’ kids. About $5000 US dollars per term. (Approx 1.2 million dollars- that was enough to buy a new house). My mom, the faith woman that she was, said that I had to go there and that God would provide. PS. My mom was a seamstress, and there was no possible way that she could get this money on her own. She did her best, and came up with $800 US which they took as a down payment so that I could get enrolled for the semester.

Well, no matter how much my mom tried to raise the other $4200, it just wouldn’t work. It was like all doors were closed. Her business even dried up. The school’s director allowed me to graduate with my friends, just because they really liked me. I was a positive influence among the other students. But if I could not pay the money by a certain time, I would have to return my diploma and the hat, and my scores. Without that diploma, I technically had no proof that I finished high school. But after waiting and waiting for a breakthrough, I returned it.

I remember my mom and I walking to church one night, and I was so despondent. I was not in a good place. I thought God had failed me. I really wanted to know that He was my Father, that He had not forgotten me. But He apparently did. On a dark alley, at 7pm that night, a black car pulls up and this woman asks us to get in. It was the vice coordinator for the school I attended. My mom and I got so scared, because we thought that we were in trouble. Once in the car, she asked where we were going. And continued to drive. Once we were at the church, she took out an envelope…legal size… and said “I’ve been trying to find you all for a while. I don’t even know why I was on this street. But I have had this sitting in my car for a while.” My mom opened the envelope. It was my US diploma and my scores and my hat. She said, “I paid the balance. You go on with your life. Do well and make your mom proud”.

God always provides financially. It may not be on our turf, but He does. Do you realize that despite your job status, the salary that you earn, all of your credit card debts… somehow, there are always financial blessings to rescue you? How many debts has God written off for you? How many has he frozen, so you can buy time? How many ravens has he sent to bless you? How many times has he provided the money that you need? How many times has he allowed you to find money, or run into someone who owes you money? The sale at Wal Mart for water and juice? That’s Him lowering the prices to meet your budget. The butcher shop where you get meat at a discounted price, that’s God dressing you in His financial favour. That’s what a Father does. You may not be the millionaire that you want to be. But He’s providing. Thank Him for financial blessings.

Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.Psalm 37:25

Posted by schadah in How He Loves Me, Thanksgiving Tags: believe, Christianity, encouragement, God, grateful, gratitude, jesus, love, prayer, trusting god

3 comments

No Really! What are you saying?

April 27, 2012

If I could summarize what I’ve learned about faith over the last few days I would say that

Faith is determined by what you see.
Faith comes by what you hear
Faith is operated by what you say

Yesterday I starting talking about the power of words, and I branched off into a direction about how words work. But today, I want to talk about how what you say puts your faith into action.

I thought about the whole faith thing, and I guess I visually compared it to a cycle (this is drawing from my Biology background, lol). Here is the cycle (PS: You may not see this if you’re looking at it from email, so go to the site.)

THE FAITH/FEAR CYCLE

Step 1: The word of God declares in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is the ‘substance’ of things hoped for (seen in the future). That’s the green part. So if we are to have faith, then we must be able to visualize something (what we desire, according to God’s will). If we cannot see what we want in the future, there is a problem. Because that’s how faith starts. But if we do see it, then we can move on to the second step.

Step 2: Faith for the things that we are hoping for then comes by what we hear (I think that’s the turquoise colour in the diagram). If we hear things that oppose what we believe for, we are building fear (e.g. you’re never gonna get that). NB. The opposite of faith is fear. We’ll get into that next week. But if we hear things that support what we believe, we are building faith (e.g. you’re gonna get what you’ve prayed for). It doesn’t matter if voice we hear is an external one from society or media, or from within ourselves (the devil does talk to you too). What matters is that what we hear determines if we’re building faith or fear.

Step 3: Whatever is heard must also be spoken (Purple part of diagram). So words are the framework for establishing or facilitating faith. The question is: whose words are we allowing to impact us?

If you think about it, two thirds of what we allow to come into our spirits through our ears are the words of people. We live in a time when we have what I call ‘passive communication’. Do you realize that for the majority of the day we have passive communication through texting, typing, bbming, whatapping, even reading this blog. Can you imagine how much information from the external word comes into your mind and spirit, and becomes part of your faith cycle?? We have not yet used our VOICES to speak. We even pray within our minds. Why is that? I don’t want to say its a demonic conspiracy, but…well. if God created us as speaking beings to creatively frame what we want to happen (Gen 1:26), what do you think the enemy’s number one goal would be? To steal the Word.

Mark 11:23 says this:

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he said.

Once upon a time, I used to be ‘vulnerable’. For years, because of my quietness and timidity, I allowed everyone around me to tell me what my life was going to be like. I don’t mean just family and friends. I mean, the news, the statistics, the movies (I watched this movie one time-500 days of Summer…good grief. That did a number on my hope for falling in love again!). But I couldn’t really blame any of these things. Why? Because the truth is I was letting them do all the talking. I wasn’t talking! I was just allowing their words and what I saw to impress upon my spirit. I kept praying (in my mind) for things to change. But there was no point really. Because I had very little faith in what I was praying for. And whatever faith I had, was being deteriorated by my negative words (when you’re down, you could really say a lot of foolishness). Then I got hold of the verse above: You shall have whatsoever you say. I thought about it. ‘Whatsoever’ I SAY. Well if I wasn’t saying anything, then I couldn’t really have what I say. But Jesus’ principle of Mark 11:23 is true! And because I believed what other people were saying, their words became the operating system of my life building false faith (fear). I then fell into a rut where all I saw for myself was a lonely life of misery where I’d never amount to anything but a piece of seasoned meat; where I wasn’t smart enough, good enough, forever broke, forever hurt by people coming into my life. The more they spoke, the more these ideas got into my spirit and the more I allowed their words soaked in, the more I saw it manifested in my life.

Point to note: Sometimes people say things that are not really intended to be harmful. But because of the state you’re in, the enemy uses what they say and fuels it to mean something worse. The more you meditate on it, the more it sounds like what you want to hear. Sooner than later, those thoughts impact you negatively.

So…what have you been sayin’ Lady? Sir? About your situation? What have you been saying in your prayers? Have you been a ‘Job’, complaining about the problem, rather than speaking life?

Have you been praying to God for your relationship to change, then confessing to others that it won’t?

Have you been believing God for something, but you believe and see something totally opposite for your future?

Or have you just been silent, allowing everyone and the devil to tell you how your life’s going to be?

Change your talk! You will have what you say.

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized Tags: believe, Christian, Christianity, encouragement, faith, God, hope, jesus, prayer

What are you saying?

April 26, 2012

Words are powerful things.

When God framed the foundation of the earth, everything that he did was created by what he said. That means, every bit of nature, and every human being that we see here today was created by words he spoke. Interestingly, when He created man, His mandate was for man to be like Him. Why? So that he (man) can have dominion on the earth (Gen 1:26). There would be no reason to make man in His image, unless he had to continue the same work that God did. So, when God created you and me, his intention was for us to use our mouths to speak creatively-changing things (‘darkness into light’), naming things (calling dry land ‘seas’) forming things (inventions), etc, just as He did.

What am I getting at? Our words have creative power. The Scriptures say “Life and death are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

I got to thinking and talking to God about this. And I asked God, “how much of what I say during the day is creative?”

“All of it.” He said.

“All of it??”

“Yup.” (This is how God communicates with me when we’re talking. He doesn’t speak Roman, because I don’t.)

As I continue to have this chat, I reminisced on all of the things that I talk about during the day. The truth is whether or not they are productive to my life or not, the words that I speak are creating…something. Why? Because when God said “Let us make man in our image”, His words became legally binding, such that, I was made a creative speaker just as He. So when I speak something…anything…., my words create either death or life.

Well S how does that work? Have you ever said “I feel like crap”? Or “My car is a piece of crap”? When you did, what was the result of it? It might not happen right away, but what you say ends up being what you get. Now, don’t get me wrong. If you’re not feeling well already, then you’re not feeling well. But when you SAY it out loud, your ears hear what you say, and the same ‘messengers on the bus’ take back what you spoke into your spirit. In short, you’re making yourself sicker every time you say it.

The same thing with the car. I heard a woman testify that she used to cuss out her car on a regular basis because it won’t perform the way she wanted. But the more she cussed, the worse the car got. One day, God said to her, “why don’t you use your mouth to speak what you want the car to do?” She had never thought about it, but after repenting to God (and her car), she laid her hands on the car and said “Momo, you’ve been faithful. Thank God for that. I can’t afford another car right now, so I need you to work for me until I can. Father thank you for making Momo work well, IJN” The car worked until she got a new one. Never gave her a single problem.

I want to stop here because I feel God wants to say this to someone.

Husbands/Wives/BFs/GFs. It’s important that you tell your mate that you love them daily. Don’t assume that they know. Your words create peace and stability in your relationship. Also, speak positively about him or her. None of that “you’re such a moron” bit. Pay him a compliment. Tell her she looks amazing. “Pleasant words are sweet as a honeycomb-Sweet to the soul and health to the bones” (Prov 16:24). When you say them they create healing.

Mothers and Fathers. Speak good success to your children. If they are not doing well in school, don’t tell them “what the hell is wrong with you?” Your words can create depression and low self esteem. I can’t tell you how many men I know now that are messed up because of ill words spoken. Tell them that you believe in them, that have intelligent abilities. Your words create hope. My mom used to say to me regularly “you’ll look good in a paperbag!”. Until today, I am convinced that I can put on anything, and I will rock it!

Sisters and Brothers. Sibling rivalry is common. But tell your sibling that you thank God for them even if they choose to cuss you out. Your words are seeds of unity and restoration.

Friends…especially the ones that have been messed up for whatever reason. If there is a nudging in your heart about a friend in your life, that God trying to tell you to make that relationship right. You probably think that God wanted that relationship to end, but the mere fact that it’s coming up so strongly in your Spirit, it means that it was not God that ended it. Say you’re sorry. Even if you don’t think you’ve done anything wrong, say it. Your words dismantle anger and bitterness. Saying you’re sorry is one of the most powerful things I think. It breaks pride, it brings love, it heals, it restores.

People…in relationships who think that you should not say anything to the other person, because you don’t want to hurt, mess things up, etc. There’s a spirit of avoidance at work that you need to bind. God is the God of relationships. Your silence is being misinterpreted. If you think that if you speak you will do damage, then you need to practice speaking positively. So open your mouth and sow a seed of positive value. You don’t need to do a whole lot of talking. A simple “thank you for being you” will do. Lol. When in doubt, text, email, Whatapp a scripture verse. Nothing has more power than the word of God. Your words break confusion and brings reassurance.

Now I know we’re talking about faith this week, but I just felt that was the direction that God wanted me to go this morning. I’ll pick up on how words bring faith tomorrow.

Have a great day. And remember Speak Life.

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized Tags: believe, Christian, Christianity, encouragement, faith, God, Heart, hope, hurt, jesus, love, peace, relationships, restoration

What are you hearing?

April 25, 2012

If there’s anything I have learned in the past few months, it’s that God has a protocol for everything. We saw a little bit of the protocol for answered prayer a few weeks ago. So what is the protocol for faith? I’m sure I’ll publish a book on these protocols some day (along with the many other books I plan to publish), but for now, I just want to touch on one that the Holy Spirit gave me this morning.

Romans 10:14-17 says

¹⁴How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”

¹⁷So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The moment I asked God to show me how to get faith, this scripture came to mind. In this text, Paul was referring to people who didn’t believe the gospel simply because they had not heard it.

I think that we humans are an absolutely amazing creation. God created our eyes, ears, mouths, skin and nose as the smallest external parts of our bodies and even though they are so seemingly irrelevant they are among the most powerful tools that he has given us to connect with the world around us. The ears are particularly special (so are the eyes), because they are an integral connector from the natural to the spiritual realm. How’s so?

Have you ever given thought to the things you hear everyday? Have you ever wondered about how it is that you can hear the same song as you drive to work everyday, and without even trying, you subconsciously start singing the song as if you wrote it? That’s because your ears have taken words out of the airwaves, and through an intricate audio system, transferred them to your brain, which then transfers it to your mouth.

Here’s what’s even more interesting.

Let’s say you hear a song…the same song everyday on your way to work. “Lonely, I am so lonely, I have nobody to call my own”. You’re hearing this song EVERYDAY. Your brain sends out these little ‘buses’, that picks up every word that you routinely hear and brings them back to your ‘brain base’. When you hear it again, your brain will send out other ‘little buses’ with these words…as many words as it can, that matches the song you are hearing, so that you can sing bits of it. Every time a ‘bus’ transfers messages (bus’ passengers) to your mouth, it also deposits some of the same message to your spirit (I’m really not pulling this out of thin air, I once took Psychology as a concentration. But if you’re in doubt, Dr Caroline Leaf is Christian psychologist/communication pathologist that studies these thought processes and how they work. Look her up). Every time you hear the song, you deposit bits of what you hear into your spirit.

Now think about this! We human beings are hearing things every second of every minute of every day! We hear the fridge at night when we sleep, we hear the car engine revving, we hear birds chirping. But we also hear WORDS that people say. We hear “you look beautiful today”, “great job”, “Wow you’re amazing”. We also hear “you’re such a donkey”, “what an idiot”, “you’re not good enough”, “the economy is hard. You won’t get a job now”. We hear words through our songs, through the TV shows we watch because they exemplify our lives, from our close friends and family. And for every word you hear, there is a deposit into your spirit.

Here’s my personal story. PS: I am not writing this for sympathy. It’s really part of my testimony.

I once dated a guy that I loved very much. We broke up. I was heartbroken for a loooooooong time. So much that I fell into a depression that I felt no one really understood. During that time, I found that all these sad love songs and romantic movies exemplified where I was. I found comfort in them: Tony Braxton-Unbreak my heart, Whitney Houston-Why does it hurt so bad, It must have been love…and others I really can’t remember. One Tree Hill, 90210, and other relationship ‘dramas’ were my faves. I also had a group of ‘friends’ who comforted me with ‘men are idiots’ or ‘maybe it’s this quality that he didn’t like’. My depression period went on for about 2 years. I did fight as best as I knew how, but the fact is, all I was listening to was hurting me. Were these things bad? I dunno. It’s not my place to judge. But what I was hearing was making me stay in a place of hurt and excruciating emotional pain for a long time. More than that, it made me make some really bad decisions. The full testimony is yet to be told, but I had to make a stringent effort to block my ears from hearing these things, if I wanted to heal. So, I changed my mp3 play list. I started to listen to “Yes, Jesus Loves me”, “I’ve got the victory”, “Yet, Still I rise”, “I’m coming out (Aretha Franklin’s version)”. I stopped (literally) watching any sitcom or movie that would make me cry and reminisce on him. I also had to cut out friendships that insisted on being negative about men; they needed as much help as I and they were only making me hate him, or doubt my worth. I didn’t want that as a Christian. Bottom line, today I’m here. (Smile, Smile, Smile) Healed from the hurt. God did that.

Was I being extreme? Probably. But I needed to get out of the frame that I was in, and what I did worked.

What you hear is imperative to your faith walk. If you constantly listen to things that will make you depressed, broken, miserable, selfish, FEARFUL (that’s one we’ll address later this week), non-progressive, doubting your worth- it will be very difficult for you to have faith in God for the good things He’s promised. These things will seep into your spirit and keep you from receiving God’s blessings for you. It is no wonder Jesus said “take heed what you hear” (Mark 4:24).

On the other hand, if you listen to things that are ‘good, true, lovely, noble, of GOOD REPORT’, your faith will be strengthened. Don’t take my word for it. Try it. Write a list of all the negative things you hear and the media you get them from, in a week. Then cut them out of your life (call it a fast if you want). Replace them with an audio bible in a version that’s practical. Listen to songs that are positive, that celebrate victory. Tune into a TV show that will build you up (good luck with that. I tend to just watch Vision TV or the Food network or TBN). Try that for a week. See if you don’t notice your faith increasing.

Talked enough for today. Be blessed. And take heed what you’re hearing.

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized Tags: believe, Christ, Christian, Christianity, discouraged, encouragement, faith, God, hearing, hope, hurt, jesus, love, relationships, words

Leap to Faith

April 20, 2012

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God.- Mark 11:22

By nature, we are very stubborn human beings. Although as believers we’ve already confessed Christ as Lord and Saviour, there needs to be a process of bringing the rest of our souls (our will, mind and emotions or heart) and our bodies, to the Lordship of Christ. What does that mean? Declaring someone as the ruler of your life, is one thing. Actually accepting him as the one who governs your life is another. When I fully believe that Jesus is Lord of my life, I come into agreement with everything God is doing and has done through Jesus. I surrender fully. And as is written in John 15:7, I abide in Him and I let Him abide in me. If I don’t fully believe in Christ, it’s pretty darn hard to receive from Him. I need to have faith in Him to receive from Him.

But how do I get that faith? See, we talk a lot about keeping the faith but not about how to actually activate the faith. Romans 10:17 provides part of the answer: “… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; but it doesn’t tell us how to activate faith. Let’s be real. Sometimes, it’s not that we don’t want to believe, but it’s just that taking that initial step of faith is really difficult because of our stubborn human nature. Well I asked God this morning to tell me how to activate faith. This was the tidbit I got in my imagination:

I’m in a battle and I am the only one on my side. I am being attacked by a bunch of people with guns and spears and all that (metaphoric representation of all the nonsense in my life), and I am fighting them off as best as I know how. But I am tired. I am afraid that I’ll lose if I stop fighting, so I keep fighting… on my own, even though I know I’m going to lose anyway. But the truth is I am tired. Tired of the fear I am feeling. Tired of the physical energy it is taking me to fight, Just then, a helicopter sounds above my head and a man tosses me a rope. “Take it” he says. “Who are you?” I ask. “Just trust me and take the rope. We’ll have time for questions later”. I’ve come to a crossroad: I can either die trying to defend myself against these hooligans, or I can take a leap of faith and take the rope from this stranger I have yet to know. It’s right about now that I have to make a decision to trust…to activate my faith.

When I received that bit of info, I zoomed in on the word “activate”. If I am to activate my faith, it means that I already have faith somewhere deep down inside of me. Romans 12:3 confirms this.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Each of us already have faith molecules inside of us. It’s the makeup of our spirit (Don’t over-process this). But God has given each of us faith. Activating your faith in Christ is as simple as it is profound: you have to take a leap. Let’s face it! The only way you will move into the realm of faith is if you leap. You have to make a conscious, split second, decision to take a leap from fear to faith. You can’t over process it – “Well, gee.. if I take the ladder, then what? How do I know that the ladder will hold? What if it breaks?’ No. the amount of time you spend thinking about these things, your enemies are advancing and you are placing your life in more danger. Every minute you spend trying to ‘figure out if the God thing is real, you are wasting an opportunity to live in victory. And more than that, you’re making your fear and your unbelief a lot worse.

It’s time for you to come to the Checkpoint. I’ve asked all week if you really and truly believe in the Christ that came. If we truly believe that He came, we wouldn’t do a lot of the stuff that we normally do. We wouldn’t allow fear to dominate our lives. We wouldn’t allow depression to rule. We wouldn’t allow the craziness of this world to overtake us. Why? We’ve got a way of escape (1Cor 10:13).

Isn’t it a low down dirty shame how much time we waste doing things that we need not do, fighting battles we need not fight, all because we don’t have (complete) faith in God?

How’s your faith? Does it need to be activated? Or re-activated? Take the leap to faith. In one quick second, make a decision with your spirit, soul and body that you will have Faith in God and the works of Christ.

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized Tags: believe, Christ, Christian, Christianity, faith, God, hope, jesus, love, peace, prayer, trusting god

Setting the atmosphere of Faith

April 19, 2012

All of the things that we discussed in the last few days have one thing in common- the need to believe.

Experience may have taught us that going into a relationship without trust and belief can be very problematic. These two things need to be established at the very beginning of the relationship. Can you imagine committing to a relationship with someone that you don’t trust?

For us, Salvation is the first commitment into a long life relationship with Christ. It’s a relationship that Christ asks us for, and we commit by saying “yes”.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9)

But saying “yes” to Christ cannot just be lip service. Like any relationship, when we say “yes” to Him we are saying “I am willing to trust you”, “I believe in the work you did for me on Calvary and I am totally ready to commit to you”. In saying “yes” to Christ we not only declare with our mouths, but we believe in our hearts whatever He says and whatever He promises us.
Now, many of us have a problem with believing in people. People have made promises and have broken them. There have been experiences where trust was lost and they have hindered us from opening up to others in the future. We do this to safeguard ourselves from being hurt, and that’s understandable. But many times, in shutting people out, we also shut Christ out. It’s subtle, because we’ve never seen Him and so we don’t really feel the impact of shutting Him out. But somehow, the enemy convinces us that we also can’t trust this Jesus and God that we haven’t even seen. And just like the rest of people who have hurt us, we place God and the rest of the Trinity in the same boat. Why do I say that?

When you have a good relationship with a friend, you are likely to do three things.

1. talk to them

2. boast about them

3. bring them into your private space (e.g. your home, your heart, etc)

But when the friendship goes sour, you do the reverse:

1. you stop talking to them

2. you stop boasting/ talking positively about them

3. you shut them out of your space.

Why? Because you stop believing in them.

Does that sound like our relationship with Christ? That’s how subtle it is to stop believing in Him.

The Holy Spirit has been challenging me in this area. He showed me that there have been times when people have hurt us, and we’ve allowed those sour relationships to dictate our relationship with Christ. As a result, there are parts of us that have stopped believing in Him even though we’re saved. There are even times when we feel like God has hurt us because we haven’t seen Him answer a prayer, or do something we thought He should do. And so we pray, but we don’t really believe that He will answer. Sometimes we even stop talking to Him. We’ve stopped talking about Him the way we used to. We’ve cut Him out of our private spaces.

At the beginning of this week, I had no idea what God was doing when He took me back to the Cross. But I now submit to you that if we do not totally believe in the Christ that came to give us a better, victorious life, we also cannot receive from God the things that He has for us. An atmosphere of faith must be established so that God can move. Hebrews 11:6 says

“they that cometh to God MUST BELIEVE that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

We have to believe. I have had to deal with this in my own life, because although I said “yes” to Christ long ago, there are times the rest of me says “no”.

As a Christian, your mouth must have declared that you believe Jesus Christ is Lord. But now it’s time for the rest of you (your heart, your mind and your will) to say “yes”. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Does my heart believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He was raised from the dead?

2. Does my mind believe that Jesus Christ is Lord?

3.Is my will totally surrendered to the belief of my mind and heart that Jesus Christ is Lord?

When these three parts of you can align with what you’ve said with your mouth (that Jesus is Lord), you will have activated an atmosphere of Faith that is ready for God to move greatly in your life.

Pray for your mind, heart and will to align with the salvation of your mouth.

Posted by schadah in How Great is our God, Uncategorized Tags: believe, Christianity, faith, God, Heart, hurt, jesus, love, Pray, prayer, relationships

Soteria life.

April 18, 2012

The last two days, the Holy Spirit has been ministering to me on why Jesus came to earth, and I shared that with you. When you can truly lay hold of why Jesus came, it becomes easier to grasp why it means so much. His whole experience is relevant to your existence. He came to show us how to walk on earth, not as men, but as God’s son’s and daughters. He came to show us what we could do on earth as King’s kids, He came to give us eternal life. Because of Christ, we are strong, we don’t have to live in fear. We don’t have to live in depression. We don’t have to be without peace and joy. We don’t have to live in defeat.

Can you imagine a child, whose father was a King, and he lived like a pauper? Oh wait. That story has already been told:

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. (Luke 15:11-16)

This Prodigal son, had gone astray from his father and somehow found himself becoming a slave to the system. But his father was King! And here he was, miserable and unhappy in life. Living as a victim and not a victor. What an insult to his father! And how ironic for Him. This story doesn’t necessarily have to be about money. it could be about anything that is making you live a life of defeat. But I love how the story continues:

When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father… (Luke 15:16-18)

It’s time for us to come to our senses. Do you know who your Father is? Do you know what He did for you? I had to come to terms with the fact that as a Christian, I have sometimes made the work of Calvary of no effect. How? For a long time, I allowed myself to live in the land of ‘Woe is me’. I camped out in ‘Defeat Valley’ quite often when situations came. As a result, I got no answers for my prayers, and the less God answered, the more I felt fatherless. But it wasn’t because God wasn’t being a good father to me. I just didn’t fully understand the power of the cross. If we truly understood Calvary, we would get that God wants what is best for us. He doesn’t give us stones, when we ask for bread. God allowed Christ to die so that we might receive salvation.

Now, pause right there! Because salvation is a word that we often undermine. Salvation comes from the greek “soteria”. Soteria means to be delivered, preserved, kept safe and saved from all things; deliverance from the molestation of enemies; in an ethical sense, that which concludes to the soul’s safety or salvation. It is also the sum of benefits and blessings which the Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God.(Strong’s interpretation)

Many times as believers we say “I am saved!”. It’s true. But do we really get that? Or is it just lip service? Salvation is a full package- a VICTORY package. It would be like winning the lottery! All of your impossible needs, wants, desires become possible when you receive Christ’s salvation. This is why He kept stressing that we could ask the Father anything in His name and it would be done (John 15).

I’ve come to understand that my salvation because of Christ has to be as sure as my name. My salvation defines my new status in God, as an heir, as a King’s child and as one who receives all good things from Him when I ask Him. If I am not certain about what Christ did for me though, the Cross and Jesus Christ’s purpose for coming to this earth is worth absolutely nothing. Simply put, God plan to crucify His own Son, would have been a complete waste of time.

So, again. Do you believe in the Cross and what it has done for you?

The success of what you’re asking God for hinges on that.

Posted by schadah in High, Healed, Delivered, Hunger, Uncategorized Tags: Christian, Christianity, God, jesus, pea, prayer, religion, salvation

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