Tuesday, October 18, 2011

KEEP DREAMING...CONTINUE THE VISION



Loud for Christ
Drown out the Darkness
“From the moment I caught my first wave I knew I wanted to be a Pro Surfer. Nothing else seemed to matter. Surfing is my passion, my way of life. The stoke I get from riding a perfect wave is pure joy. I was born to surf. This is why I wake up at the crack of dawn every day. This is why I endure belly rashes, reef cuts, and muscles so tired they feel like needles. And I’ve learned that life is a lot like surfing. When you get caught in the impact zone you need to get right back up because you never know what’s over the next wave. And if you have “Faith” anything is possible, anything at all.” ~ Bethany Hamilton, Soul Surfer.

How many can say that about what they are doing, what their profession is? I watched Soul Surfer for the first time yesterday.  “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me”, Philippians 4 v13, to me was the theme of this movie. What the devil meant for harm God turned it into good. In Romans 8 v28 the scripture reads, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” KJV

 

Bethany's courage, her perseverance and the support of her family was very inspiring. It is encouraging for someone to say “this is what I was born to do”. The knock downs do not matter, the dream stealers do not matter, age does not matter and the Nay Sayers do not matter. What matters is you do what you are purposed to do.  I am encouraged by Bethany’s story. I actually remember when this happened and hearing about it on the news. I remember feeling hurt for her and her family thinking how devastating this must be for them. Certainly this was a big upset but look at how God worked it out. Look at how faith brought her through. 

 

In the interview at the end of the movie she was asked if she could go back to that day and not have gone surfing would she do it. Bethany answered, “I wouldn’t change what happened to me because then I wouldn’t have this chance in front of all you, this chance to embrace more people than I ever could have with two arms.” And what she aspired to do with two arms she still got accomplished with one and at the top of her sport as a Professional Surfer. Some people say to those aspiring to be professionally singers or actors or models or whatever people think are considered dream jobs that it is just a dream. For some perhaps but for others it is what they are born to do. 

 

I will say a dream is a vision and in the word it states in Proverbs 29 v18 "Where there is no vision the people perish but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” KJV
God speaks to us through Scripture. God still speaks directly to us day by day. How we work towards the vision given to us and our experiences will be different for each person. God says in Jeremiah 29 v11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. (KJV)” Praise Jesus how good is that?

It is not about having a fall back plan or anything other than a Jesus plan. Some people think they sound smart to say “Well, have a fall back plan.” When you know you are doing what you were born to do if you spend time falling back you spend time out of faith. And the scripture says in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him…” I would much rather please God than my mother, father, or anyone else. The rest of that scripture says, “for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

For some the vision may not be fully realized just yet. But you can say with God confidence that it will come to pass. With God all things are possible (Matthew 19 v26). It is not a dream. It’s reality guaranteed by Almighty God.

Words from the prophet Isaiah, (Isaiah 9 v 2-end):
" The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light.
For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—
   light! sunbursts of light!
You repopulated the nation,
   you expanded its joy.
Oh, they're so glad in your presence!
   Festival joy!
The joy of a great celebration,
   sharing rich gifts and warm greetings.
The abuse of oppressors and cruelty of tyrants—
   all their whips and cudgels and curses—
Is gone, done away with, a deliverance
   as surprising and sudden as Gideon's old victory over Midian.
The boots of all those invading troops,
   along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood,
Will be piled in a heap and burned,
   a fire that will burn for days!
For a child has been born—for us!
   the gift of a son—for us!
He'll take over
   the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
   Strong God,
Eternal Father,
   Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
   and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
He'll rule from the historic David throne
   over that promised kingdom.
He'll put that kingdom on a firm footing
   and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living,
   beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
   will do all this."
(The Message Version)

Roque – Loud for Christ
Drown out the Darkness

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

What Casey Anthony?


I remember the beginning developments of the case of Casey Anthony. I arrived in Florida and within just a day or so in being there the world was impacted with this news. My mother had us watching the uncovering of this case every day. I had and have plenty of thoughts but cannot say they are valid as I was not there. Yet the testimonies at that time didn’t add up, didn’t make sense, and seemed everyone was on a mission for a mad cover up.

Unfortunately in this world system it seems whether there is evidence or not or whether someone is truly innocent or guilty is not what matters. What matters is what you get a jury of people to believe or not believe. Who will be more convincing the defense or the prosecutor? Is the jury pure or tampered with and by whom? I have sat unbiased in court and observed evidence explicitly prove contrary to the prosecutor’s case and a guilty verdict still came forward. I have watched a long serving judge blatantly lead the jury into their biased conviction and this some how goes unnoticed, unchallenged, and proceeds to be acceptable. I have watched an entire game played to conquer the desired results. Doesn’t mean the person was innocent or guilty but it means there is a system that is designed to produce the results of the powers that be in many cases.

I don’t know if Casey Anthony did it or did not. What I think doesn’t constitute the truth. What I do know is this, there is accountability. I know that no deed goes unrewarded. We may never see the rewards with our natural eyes for another and that is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. Whether one is innocent or guilty we are not always be able to determine correctly but everyone must pay up good or bad. There is a law in effect all the time, reaping and sowing. It’s in the true Word 2 Tim 3:16/2 Peter 1:20-21 and even the world agrees, in the reaping and sowing that is.

Sadly a two year old who never had the chance to experience the beauty of life is dead. Tragically it was her own, gratefully it was no one elses child.

I will leave you with this. Jesus the only innocent without any sin that ever was, was found guilty with plenty of evidence against him. Praise Jesus he lives….Jesus saves.

Friday, February 4, 2011

The Challenges of Circumstances

The other day I wrote on my Facebook and Twitter about being healed in the name of Jesus. Praise God I have been. Above all I wrote about promises that if you do not know what promises are yours as a believer you need to find them out. Then I believed 'this is my blog'. I’ve wanted to write a blog about something but what? That’s when it came to me, tell people Gods promises. Last night my faith had truly been challenged, it is still being challenged. What is funny is that the enemy tried to get me trapped by emotions. This person said something to me like “well you say you are a woman of faith, let’s see”. See you gotta watch the enemy because that turned me off and almost made me say to that person “ha later for you”. Praise God I have the word. The Lord checked me helping me to see emotions from that person and their experiences and my own experiences and emotions of feeling attacked which was about to make us both miss wonderful blessings. The enemy is slick. I have learned from my vastly knowledgeable and anointed pastor, Pastor Gary Zeigler you cannot operate on emotions, only on the word of God. Emotions will mess you up. Praise God I got that in this situation cuz I miss it sometimes but not this time. LOL, I am getting better. Clarity was given, it was clear to me this was all about the challenge of circumstances and in the natural it looks like…well that is all I am going to say about what it looks like in the natural. God says, "Walk by faith and not by sight". In the spirit everything I need and want is there. In my spirit I know, Psalm 23:1 (King James Version)The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want and Philippians 4:19 (King James Version) But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Obviously I can read the promises. So what’s the issue you may be asking???? I gotta get my soul (mind, will and intellect) and flesh to line up. Faith is acting on what you believe. I must put this into operation which led me here. Have faith in God. (Mark 11:22, New King James) Have the faith of God. (Mark 11:22, The Worrell New Testament) Have the God kind of faith. Have God's faith. (Mark 11:22, The Bible In Basic English) Have the kind of trust that comes from God!. (Mark 11:22, The Jewish New Testament by David Stern) I hear this all the time in church, all three translations. I just chose to look them up for this blog. Every time see it or I read it I hear all three translations. The one that stands out to me in particular is HAVE THE GOD KIND OF FAITH. Wow…how rich is that? Have the God kind of faith. That is the faith Jesus tells us to have in all areas of our lives. God created the heavens, the earth, everything by his faith. He believed, he knew when he spoke it…….it would be. He said “let there be light” and light there was. He said, he said, he said. There is this one specific area in my life where I have found it difficult to have this faith. I want it so bad but every time I come up short because I know I am finding it hard to trust God. Everything question I ask has no validity according to the word. Can he do it? Well yeah he does it all the time. Will he do it for me? I should know he will. Will he make it happen quickly so I won’t suffer destruction and do I trust his timing? And will it be everything I need? See that is what it really comes down to for me. It has nothing at all to do with God. He has already done what he is going to do. I have to do my part. Thus, I refuse to come up short this time. I cannot even think defeat or lack nor have any unbelief. I have to believe that I have 100 fold right now. I need it, he said he would provide it. I am at a new point in my life where my faith has to get to the next level. So I read Mark 11:22-24. It has been on my mind for weeks. It has been on my heart to meditate on this scripture, Mark 11:22-24 (King James Version) 22And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Side note: (there is more to this all the way down to verse 26, "25And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." However, the Lord is not dealing with me there. He is right here in verses 22-24 because you have to have belief for the rest of it. You gotta know in your spirit what he is dealing with you about so no one can take you off what you are to be learning. What you are to learn is between you and God.) Wow that is good stuff in that scripture. I have gotten this far. Out of devastating circumstances my faith has carried me through. This circumstance is here. Now I am at a new place and I must rise up to the challenge of increasing my faith. Hebrews 11:6 (King James Version) 6But 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. Mark 11:23-24 is so powerful. Believe when you pray that you have it right NOW. NOW, you have it. Simply NOW = instantly this very second, this very moment, 0-5 seconds right now I believe I have it and I have it because God has imparted unto me a measure of faith. The God kind of faith. That when I speak a thing, I have it. I speak let there be, AND BE IT WAS. Why “was” because when I said it, it became the past. It was done right then. Next. WOW what is that? Wow God gave us that ability. We are never too cool for Jesus school. Get the tools and use them. Sometimes they may get dull and you gotta sharpen them to make something better than you made before. You do not have to see the results to know you have the results because he already told you when you pray believe and you have it. WORK WITH THAT! You gotta know God is so in love with you that whatever you ask he will do it. John 14:13 (King James Version) 13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 16:23 (King James Version) 23And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. For believers he will do it because you believe on and in Him. Your faith and trust is in him. Nothing else, no one else just Him. How pleasing that is to him? Wow….The world utilizes this principal every day and it works for them. How much more should it work for those who believe on Jesus!  I am telling this because no matter where you are in life right now, in your finances, in your business, in your marriage, whatever, I know God will make an ocean out of a desert. I know that God makes a way out of no way. I know God will take nothing and turn it into something. That is the God you and I serve. I know he will do it for me and he will most solemnly do it for you. You ask him in prayer, you believe it right then, and you got it. Nothing seen is created first from what is seen but from what is unseen. Its tangibility starts on the inside and manifest itself on the outside.  I hope this has ministered to you, because I know it has for me. It is building my faith. I am miles away from where I started this morning. It takes my faith to type these words and more than that, post them. Romans 10:17 (King James Version) 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Sometimes you must hear the same scripture and same parable over and over and over and over and over again until it gets so anchored into your spirit nothing absolutely nothing can take it away. That is what I am doing. I will get Mark 11:23-24 so anchored in me that I cannot think any differently. Thank you Pastor Gary Zeigler, SFCC, for repeating it over and over and over and over again. Praise God. Lastly, as I was talking to my friend Fuschia this morning about what I was going through she gave me the following scripture. Well let me back up. I was taught by my pastor Gary Zeigler to keep a prayer journal. Now with this journal you write down your prayers, when you prayed them, when God delivered them which mean that day you prayed was the day you got it according to Mark 11:23-24, in addition you write when it appeared in physical manifestation. This next thing is the biggest part of the journal, listing corroborating scriptures for that particular prayer. Why? Because you need Gods promises right before you to keep and grow your faith. Now moving forward, I was doing that last night and this morning she gave me several others scriptures. One individual scripture really spoke to me. God is so good. He spoke this to me and wow wow I am in awe. She gave me 2 Corinthians 9:6-9. I forgot to put that in the search so I just put in 2 Corinthians 9. I read the whole thing cuz I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for. Well, I knew it is a scripture that would corroborate my prayer but I didn’t know what it would say. I kept reading to the end, Praise God. 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 (New International Version, ©2010) Generosity Encouraged 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”[a] 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! HALLELUJAH!!!!! On that note Imma leave you with this. Feel free to repost Roque's Praise Song "Thank You". Hebrews 13:15 (Amplified Bible) 15Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.