The Path

 

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He will direct thy paths. Proverbs 3: 5 & 6

One of the definitions of path is a track or course. Life is a series of having to make decisions or choices.Many times we find ourselves at crossroads having to decide which way to go. Some of our choices are very easy to make. What to wear, what to eat, or what movie to watch? Living life would be so easy if our choices were that simple.

I remember as a young child wanting to go to my grandmother’s house. My mother would lead me by the hand to the path. There was a well worn path through the field between our house to Grandma’s. Mother would tell me to follow the path. It was easy, stay on course till I got there. As I got older I would stray. I remember getting into a sandspur patch, being bare foot it really hurt. My mother heard me crying and came to my rescue. After pulling out the sandspurs, drying my tears, she said, ” thats why I told you to stay on the path.”

The Lord wants us to rely on Him when we have to make decisions. First we have to trust Him, knowing He has a plan and purpose for our lives. The Lord knows the future and what we are going to face because of our choices.How many times have we made decisions on our own and later regretted it? When we let our emotions take over we usually end up in a mess. Our flesh feels good and off we go. We have all cried out, “Lord please get me out of this mess.”

Thank God for His mercy and grace. As we grow older we are suppose to become wiser. We are to profit from our poor decisions. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Maturing in our relationship with the Lord, learning to listen and obey His voice, Life’s decisions will become more clearer. We have to learn to be led by the Holy Spirit. He will order our steps and direct our paths.

~Ricky Robinson

image Credit © Dainis Derics | Dreamstime Stock Photos

That Lie We Tell

 

I am too blessed to be stressed. Doesn’t that sound nice? When we become born again, our troubles are over. We are never faced with problems again! That may even sound a little poetic. It’s not true. We will be faced with challenges. We will experience pain. The good news is that we don’t have to fight alone. The enemy wants us to believe our battles are all over. He wants us to become unaware. We may even become lazy and fall asleep. A lazy soldier who is not equipped is a defeated soldier. I am not saying we will only know war. There will also be times of peace and joy as well. Christ died so that we can enjoy a victorious, abundant life. Our enemy is defeated. He will still try to kill, steal, and destroy.

We must stay in the Word. Our battles must be fought on our knees in prayer. We can’t fight in our flesh. God has given us mighty spiritual weapons. These weapons are useless if we don’t learn how to use them. The Bible tells us not to be ignorant of the devil’s devices. One of the devices he uses is to convince christians that we don’t need to grow. This way, we are easily defeated. I know some wonderful Godly people who are facing struggles in their lives. My family and I are are also in a challenge right now. We are all going to win. There will be rejoicing for us in the days ahead. Maybe you are in a hard place in your life. Be encouraged. Know that greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Read your Bible. Pray for wisdom, favor, and strength. We can endure hardships when our hearts are set on our destiny. We can’t endure trials if we only concentrate on our flesh. Stand firm on what God has brought you through in times past. You will find strength and hope in knowing who Jesus is.

~Connie Robinson

Image Credit © Roman Milert | Dreamstime Stock Photos

I Have a Right to Praise Him!

Have you ever wondered, “What right do I have to praise God?” Maybe you do not have to deal with thoughts like that. I know I have had to deal with this myself throughout my walk. How could I possibly praise Him when I mess up so often and do a good job when I do?

The other morning, about 3:00 am, I couldn’t sleep. I decided to pray in tongues and worship. During my time of worship, these words bubbled up into my head, “You have a right to praise Him.” Like many of you, I have sang that song over and over many times during worship. Like a lot of people, I was singing the song and not really letting the words register into my spirit. During this prayer time, IT REGISTERED!

My right to praise is not based on my being good enough. If so, I would never be able to praise Him because I will never be good enough. My right to praise Him comes from the fact that I am HIS CHILD because I have received HIS SON as my Lord and Savior.

Because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross and my believing in that and receiving Him as my Lord and Savior GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO PRAISE HIM! I have been adopted into the FAMILY OF GOD!

~Ronda Sullivan

Image Credit © Tammy Sanders

Simply Being Obedient

I never knew that this one word could be so powerful. I am learning just how powerful it is and how it can set you free. I am still learning because as you know for your self it is easy to be obedient in some things but not everything or shall I say not in most things. If it was that easy then most of us wouldn’t have any problems with just obeying the spirit or our spiritual authority. As I really started thinking and meditating about the full meaning of being obedient or obeying, I realized that I never really knew what this word actually means at all.

When I heard the word obey I always thought it was just doing what you are being told to do. It’s so much more than that. Looking up this word there were two things that stood out at me: 1. It’s a willingness 2. I believe that you have a choice to obey or to disobey and that when you make that choice to obey then you are showing respect wither it be to a person, to God or Holy Ghost.

I have been in a lot of places lately that I really didn’t want to step over in because there was so much fear hanging over me. I made up my mind that I was going to be obedient no matter what, and God has always showed up. I know that He is not just looking for people who always know what to do, He is looking for people to just be obedient so that He can do what He wants to do. Just one simple choice of being obedient can mean so much to your life and to the life of someone else. Just another way to show God you have faith in Him!

Colossians 3:22  says, “Servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not only when their eyes are on you as pleasers of men, but in simplicity of purpose [with all your heart] because of your reverence for the Lord and as a sincere expression of your devotion to Him.”

~Michelle Parrish

Image credit: Monica Guzman

Trust and Obey

God does some strange things at times. The sermon that Sunday morning was on tithing. When it was offering time, I heard God tell me to put my watch in the offering plate. As the plate went from person to person in the sanctuary, I found myself debating with Him. “Why do you need my watch? I need that watch to help me remember to take my afternoon medicine.” All I kept thinking of was the story of Abraham. God tested Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his most prized son, as an offering to him. Just as Abraham obeyed, I sadly and reluctantly flipped it off my wrist and into the plate to sacrifice it to God. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I knew it was best to obey.

It turns out the youth pastor of the church had a metal allergy. He could only wear certain type of watches. Apparently, that particular watch had the right kind of metal for him to wear. God knew he needed it more than I did.

Can you see in the second paragraph above how many times my questions were about me? I must have had a case of me-ismsat that time in my life. God apparently knew I needed a lesson in trusting and obeying in him. I was self-absorbed with my needs instead of what he wanted from me. What I really needed was dependence on him for his help.

In today’s world situation, we need to learn to trust him more with all our needs. Trusting in Him to teach us what we need to learn in life is not easy. and neither is obeying at times. As a child of God, He will take care of us. After all, His Word does promise that He will never forsake us. We must remember that there are others in our own community that do not have that security in God as we do. It is a good time for us to learn to trust and to learn to obey Him. I really believe God will honor us in the process of learning even in the little things of life.

~Gay Dowdy

Image credit:

WATCH
© Paavo Leinonen  | sxc.hu

Simple Truth

 

So many times in life we make things more complicated than it has to be. We are always trying to figure everything out with our own thinking. Let’s face it, our thinking is what keeps us in the mess we are in most of the time! God has been telling us to get back to basics and the simple truth.

We have gotten away from the simple truth of God’s word. We haven’t relied on the Holy Ghost to show us the truth. Instead we used our own intellect to say and believe what we thought God’s word was saying. Well how’s that working for ya?

Just look at the church today and your personal life to see that it’s not working. God is saying it’s time to correct some things and that includes some things we changed a long time ago that never needed changing to begin with. There is actually some truth in that old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  We always go from one extreme to the other. We want to change everything or change nothing at all.

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of things in me that I need changed. I’m  pretty sure I changed some things God didn’t want me to along the way. The simple truth requires Holy Ghost!  Are you allowing Holy Ghost to teach you God’s simple truth?

John 8:32- And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 

~Michelle Parrish

 

Image credit: Michelle

A Look at Discernment

I heard a word recently that caught my attention. That word was discernment. The definition is keeness of judgment; insight. It is a spirtual, God given gift. There is a counterfeit to discernment. It is suspicion. Suspicion is fleshly, of the soul. It is emotional.

People have been hurt when one has been mistaken for the other. I remember a time when this happened to me. I had been invited to hear a man who was said to be spiritually gifted. He was going to be ministering at someone’s home. My friend and I were going to dinner earlier in the evening. The restaurant had a dress code. We dressed accordingly.

Later, we went to the house meeting. I immediately felt out of place. Everyone else was in jeans and sneakers. The service had not yet started. The speaker approached us. I assumed he was going to introduce himself. He then said to me, “You are full of yourself. You think you have arrived.” Nothing could have been futher from the truth. I was fighting a battle at the time. I had come hoping to be ministered to.

Maybe on the outside I appeared to have it all together. On the inside, I was broken and hurting. I can’t judge this man. I have been guilty of being suspicious of others. I have mistaken it for discernment. There has been more times when true discernment has kept me from being deceived. I am in no way saying not to operate in this gift. I don’t think it has ever been more needed in the body of Christ. It is important we learn to recognize the difference. How do we do this? We learn from others who practice true discernment. We check our spirits. We cover ourselves with mature leaders who can help us develop this area of ministry. Most of all, we pray. God will give us this good gift.

I am thankful for Gateway Believers Fellowship. I feel safe there. I know that Apostle David and the leaders are gifted with discernment. What a blessing that is.

~Connie Robinson

Image credit: ©Tammy Sanders

Going in The Right Direction

 

Life can be challenging for all of us. Every day we are faced with choices and decisions. We need the right answers. We can use trial, error, and past experiences to make decisions. Being a christian and relying on the Holy Spirit for direction and answers surely helps. I am a firm believer that when we rely on the Lord, He will direct our pathways.

We were living in Jacksonville N.C. at the time and as I was praying, the Lord spoke to my spirit. He told me that he was going to give me a debt free house. Wow! I was elated. Like anyone who has every gotten a word from the Lord, I thought it would happen right away. We faced a decision of whether to stay in Jacksonville or to move back to Hamlet. I wanted to stay in Jacksonville and build the house. I prayed and the Lord said, “Wait.” Just what I wanted to hear.

Time went by, my faith was tried and tested. I grew impatient and discouraged, but I knew deep down in my spirit the Lord had spoken to me. Circumstances started changing. The railroad yard in Jacksonville closed,  and I was able to transfer to Hamlet.

We bought some property, picked out house plans, and prayed for direction from the Lord. One night we were at church, I was called out and given a word of knowledge. The Holy Spirit spoke through a man whom I had never met. He said. “Brother, the Lord didn’t give you that land not to build upon, He’s going to give you a house”. It was a word of confirmation to what the Lord had spoken five years earlier. I had waited on the Lord for direction. The word of knowledge at the right time, through the gift of the Holy Spirit in this man, and gave me the go ahead to build.

Three years later we had the house and best of all it was debt free. All praise to God who performs his word.

~ Ricky Robinson

Image credit:

ROAD MARKING
© Yali Shi  | Dreamstime.com

Actions Behind Your Words

 

Lately the word faith has been mentioned a lot at church in prayer and sermons. It’s made me stop and think, “How much faith do I have in God? ”How much do I REALLY trust Him to work in my life? We can all say that we trust God and we have faith in Him and in every area of our life. But faith without works is dead. You have to put some action behind your words. I know I’ve had to challenge myself to put some actions behind my words. And when you have people in your life that won’t let you slack with your actions, you know you can’t hide in the background.

I think many of us actually get to that point that we think we can hide in the background or we just have the mindset that our part isn’t that valuable. But we are wrong! Our individual part is just as important as the next person’s. We can’t take our part for granted or neglect it. We are to lend our supply.

And this is where our “putting action behind our words” takes place. We have to take one step of faith and do our part in the Body of Christ. You won’t get anywhere if you don’t act upon your faith!

 

~Monica Guzman

 

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ORCHID3 © Jozsef Bagota | Dreamstime.com

Beware the Rogue of Apathy

Sitting there                                                           

In your chair
Restfully watching T.V.

Never seeing
The ruthless being
Poised to strike on thee

His master stealth

 Will steal your health

While you bow your knee

But unaware,
you continue to stare
as you’re seduced by Apathy

The passion fades,
the heart turns jade,
“Who cares” is what you say

The Rogue has struck
and like a duck
you peacefully swim away

Away from the drive
that kept you alive,
Pursuing the Master’s way

But now you are sapped
Is there no going back?
To the passion which does not sway

Ouch! What was that?
It was worse than a pat,
My brother just used his melee

The truth, it did hurt
Wow, look at the dirt
How long have I been this way?

You were easy prey
as you played yesterday
for the vile Rogue, Apathy.

In hopes that I might
alter your plight,
I loved with no sympathy

For I really need you
To always stay true
To the path of your destiny.

Beware the stealth
that steals your wealth,
for he will be back today.

But keep up the fight
and with your new sight,
you’ll claim the new victory!

Image credit:

BOY LAYING ON THE GRASS
© Geotrac  | Dreamstime.com