Feeling like an alien!!!

Have you ever seen an old friend or been around a group of people who didnt live for God and just felt weird? I have family and friends that arent saved and there has always been just a knowing of my beliefs and lifestyle, but today i just felt like an alien!! The bible talks about us being strangers to this world and today I felt great understanding of this scripture!! I believe God used this situation today to allow my faith in him to grow and allow me to see what he has done in me . To see the world now with a view of not being part of it was a good feeling. I would've never thought I would get to a place in my spiritual life that I could say that I felt very privileged to be on the short end of the stick as the world would call it financially, with materialistic things, and being in the midst of everyone's business! I FELT RICH!!! And BLESSED to be feeling so alienated!! I thank god for opening my eyes to see what is most important in this life and that is not things, money, looking good , or even feeling good! Emotions Lie and all of these things will feed your emotions. The joy of The Lord won't and that's what I want to be my stability in life, peace that passes all understanding!! Jesus!!! 
1 Peter 2:11-12 

Self mutilation

Self mutilation is more than a physical thing! I have learned that we sometimes self mutilate our own spirit man! Lord forgive us, for we do not realize that whether it be in works( religion) or by ignorance we are taking you out of the realm of being all that you are Lord, and setting ourselves up as our own justifier or God! This is so dangerous! We cannot possibly be all of what God has called us to be and self mutilate ourselves daily! The more I study the word and various teachings the more I am seeing that this world is so consumed with people who are deceived into thinking that we can do something to make ourselves more holy...in Romans it gives great discussion on grace and freedom from the law. I'm definitely not a scholar so I won't go and try to sketch it out but I do know that we are not to sin so that grace may abound. But at the same time we are to not hold our head down and be consumed with condemnation if we do mess up. Romans 8:1 for therefor now there is no condemnation in those in Christ Jesus. So staying between the boundaries of these lessons Paul teaches should free us from self mutilation due to works and free us from the bondage of making ourselves responsible for choosing what is 'good' and what is not. Let god be our justifier!

From the Abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh!

How many times have we answered without gentleness or just blurted out something and ended up in the middle of a mess!? Unfortunately, I can say many, many times. Today I just wanted to share these scriptures that have encouraged me to place a close watch on my heart and where it is because without the right heart our words cannot be right, which in turn can produce a harsh word and stir up anger and wrong feelings. Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 17:27 He that has knowledge restrains his words,and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Isaiah 32:6 For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the Lord; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water. Luke 6:45 the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

I wanna be selfless!

Self less What does it mean? To deny ourselves of things we want? To take ourself to an extreme and not be who we are? NO in the bible Christ says to follow him we should deny ourselves & take up our cross. I do not believe he ever intended for us to not have our own God given talents and abilities or to have different personality traits. Some people say they can't live for God because they can't be themselves, well that is a LIE! God wants us to be unique because we are fearfully and wonderfully made! He had every person in mind before we were created ! I believe to deny ourselves means to deny our selfish, sin nature desires that do not bear fruit. We all have desires at times whether it be monetarty gain, flat out selfish wants, or just simple things like wanting time to yourself when you have obligations to your family. The bible tells us we have died to this nature once we became alive in Christ. This being known to deny ourselves in my opinion would be to deny that sin nature that lingers and awaits to be used on a daily basis. From the biggest to the smallest temptation we are responsible for remaining selfless,)

When we lose sight of why we are here...

Isaiah 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. There are many variations of people on earth. Young,old, mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, and the list could go on and on. Of all these different groups of people I believe each and every person at some time in their life questions what they were meant for. What their purpose is and usually it's when things aren't going the way we think they should. Do you ever sit and get depressed thinking, what I am here for? Is this all life has for me? Is this what I am gonna be doing forever? I DO! I think this is a way Satan comes in to make us become self-centered. If we are absolutely the most boring, no excitement at all christian there is we have still a reason for exsisting and it has NOTHING to do with us! Wow! what a thought!! haha We aren't here to gain careers, or make money, or go to school, or have spouses, or make friends??? No, acutually we were not made especially for that! Yes, God blesses us with all these things but really we were made for his glory, for his pleasure! That is sometimes far from our minds when we think about things we aren't getting our way or looking back in life and thinking about what we could have, or should have done differently. Truth is God knew every step, every breath, and every mistake, even down to every hair on your head before you were concieved. So today I am challenging myself, and ask you to do the same. Look outside your self-pity circle, or list of things you feel you have to acheive and just thank God he created you and thank him for ALLOWING you to have those blessings that we sometimes make into curses because we put them before our primary purpose of being! Have a blessed day and give thanks bc it's not about us, IT'S ABOUT HIM!!!!

~Seasons of Spiritual Growth~

Daniel 2:21 and He changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings and setteth up kings, he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge unto them that know understanding.

The bible teaches that God moves in and brings us through seasons. During these we usually experience different things in life whether it be circumstance changes, trials, mountains, pain, heartache, joy, loss, gain, ect. During these things I believe God's intentions is for us to become more and more like him. This is so important to our spiritual walk because it is up to us to make sure we are surrendered and willing to be taught by the holy spirit to recieve what God has for us during whatever season we may be in!

As a stay at home mom I sometimes become a little frazzled, overwhelmed, and stir crazy at times (Im sure I am not alone:) But during these times at home I know God has important things for me here, whether it be writing, cleaning, reading, praying, spending time with my kids, preparing our meals, or just talking to a friend on the phone. To me this is a season, but in that season lately I have noticed that the actual physical 'weather' season has played a toll on me this year. Being at home I can easily get lazy at times and want to spend nap time with the kids actually taking a nap! or I can put off cleaning until they take a nap and do it then. The problem is the fact that I am not taking all my available time possible and using it for God's glory. Whether it be prayer, writings, studying, ect. So many times I waste precious time God has given me and I truly notice that it is more in the winter for some reason!
I believe that in my personal life that Satan uses this season because of the financial strain on this time of year after and around Christmas, the circumstances (being my kids and I are stuck inside when its cold), and just the whole 'winter blues' everyone talks about. But I'm writing this today to announce that he has been caught in his attempts to get me down! LOL

Knowing what the enemies schemes and plans are is such a great gift the Holy Spirit gives us!!!

2 Corinthians 2:11 In order that satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Knowing that God works in seasons, and that his desire is for us to grow and bear fruit. Search your life today I'm sure that some of you reading this have a specific 'weather season' that gets you down, and makes your spiritual connection harder to keep up. For most of you it's probably winter. Well today instead of just considering it 'winter blues' or just a normal way of life, I challenge you to stand up a worship the Lord with all you have and get in your word and make satan eat what he has been throwing out for you! Make it a ritual that when this season that gets you down comes around again that you press through with such a determination that the enemy is afraid to even attempt to depress, mess, or disrupt you in that time!
 Make that 'weather season' a new spiritual season of growth and maturity in God!!!!

extra reading Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Speak with a holy life in mind

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a Holy life. 1 Thesselonians 4:7 Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you say or do something that you had no intentions of harm but you were convicted for it? This morning I was on the phone with a friend and I remembered a funny story my husband shared with me. I felt like I shouldn’t say anything about it when I started the story but I had already began talking so I kept on. It really wasn’t something terrible or what you would call ‘bad’. And actually it wasn’t meant to tear this person down. BUT after I spoke it the holy spirit showed me that when words are spoken that are not edifying or building each other up that even if we are not being spiteful or trying to put others down they shouldn’t be spoken for several reasons. 1. Its gossip. 2. If the person you were speaking about was to find out you repeated this they may not think anything BUT what if they were convicted for it already?? How would they feel knowing that something they done was being spread around after they had asked forgiveness! 3. How can we live a holy life when we let our tongue out run the holy spirit? God has called us to live a holy life! DO YOU? 1. Do you feel your daily life consists of spoken words that God would consider a holy life? 2. Do you want to take action to control what comes out of your mouth? Challenge! 1. Make sure no unwholesome talk comes from our mouth today 2. The words of the wise are few the words of the fool are many. Make sure we use the least words as possible to get through each day to tame the tongue! HOW? Listen to the nudge of the holy spirit throughout the day to keep ourselves holy, afterall he is our helper! having a pure heart begins with paying close attention to our thoughts, because our thoughts become our words, our emotions, our attitudes, and our motives!- Joyce Meyer