Inspirational Thoughts for Today

Rounding the Curb

 

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9 ESV

 

I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was sometime in July of 2004, maybe the last weekend or so.  I was in the UC Davis Physics Dept's summer research program and one of our field trips was to the Lick Observatory outside of San Jose, CA.  I particularly remember the drive up to the observatory.  I must say it was one of the worst experiences in my life.  Don't get me wrong, my professor could drive very well, I was just petrified.  I tried going to sleep but I thought to myself if I was gonna die I wanted to see it coming smh.  Imagine making hairpin turns on the side of a mountain with no guard rails.  The link is below that shows the road and you can zoom in if you like.  Nothing but dirt, trees, grass and God knows what else would be on the roll down the hill.  I mean, think about this now, the turns on this gravel road up the mountain looked like hairpins.  We would go around the curves at only 20-30 mph.  Of course, when we finally got through to the top, we had beautiful sights of the moon and stars and other planets awaiting us.  (This within itself is another devotion, lol.)  Then we also had the drive back down the mountain...yeesh.

 

I realized today that sometimes its the hairpin turns, when we are slowly rounding the curb, that get us to where God wants us.  I know that I had digressed in the past months to a place of simply living life, progressing slowly.  I had to endure a few more trials but it still seemed like I was moving slowly around the bend.  But now that I am almost on the straightway, its time to complete that 180 and get to where God wants me.  And maybe its like that for you.  You have been turtling (I made this word up lol) along, whether by choice or the impositions of life's struggles, and ignoring the obvious signs from God to hurry up and get on with it.  But being the great Father that He is, He is not going to rush you.  God is a gentleman; He is patient with us, as long as we are yielding to His voice.  I know for me it is time to get on with it because I have been slowly climbing the mountain for a while now. 

 

This calls you to action in the following ways:

1-identifying strongholds and ways you have that oppose your progress.  When God opens your eyes and shows you an area you need to submit to him, you need to pray for the strength to overcome it and for deliverance.

2-seek God's will for yourself.  This is something you must do on a daily basis.  It is easy to get off track and to want to do things your own way.  Its not usually a major detour that gets you way off course.  Instead its the side roads that you accidentally or sometimes intentionally turn down that lead you off track and away from God.

3-submit to God's leading on the journey.  The only way you'll get there is to let Him lead you.  You have to realize that God has already empowered and equipped you with everything you need to get to your destination.  You are already strong enough--you will experience situations that show you just how strong you really are when you are operating in the power of God (through faith).  You already have enough faith (Romans 12:3). 

 

Now you all may not have experienced the road I experienced physically, but God will call you to make that 180 and turn around and away from where you were going.  He will tell you to turn towards Him so that He can use your life as He desires ONLY if you are listening and willing to be used.  Is it time for you to round the curb and get on your straightway?

 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Psalm 51:10 ESV

 

Satellite image of the ride lol:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=san+jose+to+lick+observatory&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=851&wrapid=tljp1324332733362026&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=x7bvTvT1Morf0QG8nKT0CQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg
--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

After the 40th

Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.  Nehemiah 9:21 NASB

August 3, 2008 was my official first night in the Charleston area.  I was staying in an extended stay when I first moved down here.  I had not had an opportunity for find a place to live prior due to my health issues taking precedence... But nearly four years ago I made the decision to move to this place.  At times I have felt like this was the worst decision I ever made in life, but no decision is ever without its downside.  I have experienced some of my most trying life experiences since I've moved here, and I am sure they have served their purpose in God's plan of making me stronger through each trial. 

I believe in Biblical Numerology.  For example here, the number 40 (forty).  Throughout the Bible, every major trial period occurred during a time spanning 40 days, weeks, months, years, etc.  The Great Flood of which we all know about Noah's Ark was caused by rain lasting 40 days and 40 nights. (Genesis 7)  The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land.  As the scripture above says, during that time of wandering, they did not have a single need that God did not supply.  Even Jesus had his 40 experience--right before he began to preach, he was led into the wilderness for 40 days by the Spirit to be tempted by the enemy. (Mark 1:13, Luke 4:12, Matthew 4:1) 

In life we will not be without our 'wilderness experiences'--we will all have those points of testing and temptation.  It can be a purging and cleansing experience--in the 40 years, those that doubted God and were banned from entering the Promised Land died along the way.  In the 40 day rain, the world was rid of the evil.  It can be a strengthening experience--during that 40 years, Joshua and Caleb were men of valor and honor in God's sight.  They both came up under the leadership and tutelage of Moses, becoming stronger and rooted in their faith so that when they entered the Promised Land, they could win the battles necessary to claim it on God's behalf.  During each of these '40' experiences, those in them grew stronger in their faith--Noah had to trust God enough to even build the Ark, let alone inhabit it for the length of time it took for it to come to rest on dry ground.  The Israelites, although very fickle with their faith, had to trust God each day for His provision of manna and quail (although they were still ungrateful).  The experiences required total obedience--its clearly evident what happened with the Israelites when they chose to do things their own way--they lost battles, lives, food, and even God's favor at various points in their journey.  At the end of each of these experiences, a change had taken place and a goal had been achieved.  For Noah, the earth started out full of evil, at the end it was as if everything was new.  For the Israelites, they finally, finally made it to the great place God had prepared for them.  For Jesus, prior to his experience, he was already full of the Holy Spirit.  Afterwards, he had banished the devil away from him, and was filled with power from the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14).

I have had several 40 experiences thus far, but this last nearly 40 months has been most critical for me.  I have definitely experienced purging--purging of fake and phony friends/family members/relationships, purging of old attitudes and ways of thought, purging of unforgiveness and bitterness.  I have gotten stronger--I know that I am sometimes sensitive, but even now the wounds people try to inflict through blaming, lying, and accusing no longer sting as much.  I am still working on being more obedient; I know I have gotten stronger in my faith because throughout every situation I have experienced, I have only had God on which I could rely.  He will place people along the way, but ultimately you are to rely on Him for everything.  At the end of this, I realize how much of a different person I am.  I am not the same person that moved here nearly 40 months ago (my 40th month is December 3, 2011...when I take my test!)  In the midst of these situations I have not been happy.  I have not been pleasant about them because I truly could not understand some of them were happening to me.  But in it all, I know that God has changed me, and it is my prayer that the goal in all of this has been reached.  I know God has still got more work to do on me, but I'm definitely far better than when I came here.  So as I await my entry into my promised land, I'll keep trusting, believing, and obeying God.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 
1 Peter 1:7

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

God's Gift to Man

 

" The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called 'woman,^k'

for she was taken out of man."

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. "  Genesis 2:23-24 NIV

 

Inspired a recent string of conversations with many of my girlfriends and my own series of failed romances, I decided to share this today.  As a disclaimer, we may differ in opinion about this, so I'm open to debate on this...this is just what God laid on my heart on this topic.  I had forgotten my exact words from earlier, but like all God-inspired thoughts, it came back to me as I was thinking about something else lol.  To all my male readers, pass this along, and feel free to comment.  I'll be posting this on my Tumblr and Facebook pages as a note as well.  I decided several months back that I would take a hiatus from the dating scene to allow God to prepare and position me for His ideal mate for me.  Every guy that I had met had either repulsed me or had too many flaws that I care to count.  But then I thought, what is the common denominator, ding ding ding!! ME!! 

 

I had also realized I had much unforgiveness in my heart towards some persons and went through the necessary process of healing following a brief romantic involvement for the first half of this year.  I realized that I was too afraid to love that person because of the hurts I had endured both romantically and at the hands of my family and friends.  I was so afraid that I had blocked myself into a fortress, allowing only a select few into my heart.  Since that time, I've learned a lot, grown a lot, and am still growing.  I analyzed my problems and came up with solutions, and even found my ideal career (go figure!).  Needless to say, that situation is still sensitive to my heart, but has empowered me to share lessons with others that are going through the same or similar situations.

 

So ladies, yep, this one is for you.  In Genesis, when our Great Heavenly Father saw to create man (man being the human being Adam, a man, not mankind), He said this: "The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."" (Genesis 2:18NIV)  Adam then went on to name all the animals and yet God still saw that there was no suitable helper for Adam.  Genesis 2:20-22 details that process:  But for Adam^h no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribsⁱ and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib^j he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  No where in this account does it say, God told the woman to find a man, or God told the woman that she could prepare herself or the man.  None of that is listed in this passage, or anywhere in the Bible for that matter...so please internalize that.

 

I think the most critical part of this message is that God brought the woman to Adam...as a gift.  You see, everything God had given to Adam at that point was a gift.  And what more suitable a gift than the person created perfectly for him, made especially to his needs, than someone that was to become a perfect part of him???  This is why I firmly believe that there is just one person out there for me...the problem with the world is that too many marry for the wrong reasons and try to force the wrong person into the right mold.  You do have the freedom to choose...and you can choose the wrong person again and again until you give God the reigns and the space to work on you and mold you into His vision of perfection so that when He makes that presentation, you will not be rejected.  I'm just saying that you cannot force that person that is everything you want on the outside to be who God wants for you.  All you are doing is guaranteeing yourself misery.  And you cannot get mad at the world when that person shows you who they are because you chose to ignore it or overlook it.  Be mad at yourself for getting caught up in the hype!

 

I'm learning to be content in my singleness--because God created us as individuals.  We do not need another person to complete us--God made Eve into a complete person; on the contrary, we are made to be helpers, and to become one with our husbands.  So how can I thus be presented if I have not allowed God to finish preparing me?  Ladies we get caught up in the excitement of being in love, of being in a relationship--and I am not trying to hurt anyone or preach at you, because these are things I have done myself.  But we have to get caught up in God, let Him strain all the bad behaviors and past wrongs out of us so that when we are ready, we can enter into that perfect partnership.

 

So look at what God did, He made the woman--let God remake you and mold you into His perfected work.  Let His love and beauty radiate from you.  Now lets be clear, while you are on this path, there will perhaps be many to come along to distract you.  But if you are focused on God, only the right one will catch your eye--and that is when you are ready.

 

He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the LORD.  Proverbs 18:22 NASB

He that finds a wife finds a good thing, and receives the will of Lord Jehovah, and he that puts away a good wife puts away good from his house.  Proverbs 18:22(Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion # 2

The Not-So Innocent Bystander

 

"But you have desired the truth and you have shown me the hidden things of your wisdom."  Psalm 51:6

 

I wonder why it is so easy for some of us to lie to ourselves.  As a former victim, now victor!, I understand all too well how you can get caught up in the things that are happening to you, seemingly without your consent.  Life will throw curve balls, screwballs, and line drives at you and can catch you unprepared.  As each circumstance threatens to wither away at your faith, you stand and just allow it to happen, not intervening on your own behalf.  I call out to you right now to stop standing there as if you cannot do anything about things.  Recognize whose you are and call out to God in faith to change you from a bystander that has nothing to protect him or herself and into the mighty man or woman of God He is calling you to be.

 

Stop acting as if the world is out to get you.  Okay, lets be real, it is--the enemy is using the ways of the world, your weaknesses and fleshly desires to turn you away from God.  But its not like you cannot do anything about it.  You can pray--which is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal.  No matter how things may look to you on the surface, your prayers are being heard, your prayers are being answered.  They may not be the answers you want, but they are there if you are looking for them.  Stop acting as if everyone is against you...because that is not true!  Even if the whole world is against you--which it isn't, God has placed some people along the way to help you, if you are looking--God is for you!  And as the Good Book says, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?" Romans 8:31 (NASB). 

 

I ask you to be real with yourself and see things as they are: you are not that innocent.  We all have a part in our mess.  Yep, I had a part in my bad relationship choices, I had a part in my health (as much as I would like to believe otherwise), I had a part in everything (well, as far as my adult years are concerned).  You had a part in picking that wrong guy, you had a part in picking that wrong job...whatever.  Its not like there were no signs and be honest with yourself by looking back.  God has shown you the truth; it is more so whether you are willing to look at it for what it is.  God wants us to be real with ourselves, and that starts by looking within and seeing things for what they are.  Life is not a drive-by shooting that you are just standing by...if anything sometimes you load the gun and shoot yourself.  Stop living like this and ask God for His divine wisdom and then ask yourself what is in your control, what can you change.   You are not an innocent bystander!

 

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking."  James 1:5 NLT

 

 

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

Wrong Side of the Bed

 

Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.  Psalm 50:15

 

Good morning!  I hope that yours has begun much better than my own has.  Ever since the smoke detector went off at 5:30 this morning, I've been angry.  I mean it woke me up in the best part of my sleep...mind you I was supposed to be waking up around that time anyway.  I turned my heat on last night in anticipation of the temperature drop down here.  I knew it would be chilly this morning so I went ahead and turned it on, and ignorantly to me, it would start smoking when it started.  So then when I finally woke up later around 6:30, I was irritated.  Then my yorkie Parker was insistent on staying under my bed even though he is banned from my room lol...when I finally left the house there is traffic, then I make it to the highway only to have more traffic, then I make a detour to try and beat the traffic only to experience the jarring halt of a TRAIN!  So I'm sure you can imagine my intense distress.

 

So finally I broke down and had only a mini-pity party because I immediately realized, thanks God, what the enemy tried to do to me today.  I hadn't really prayed, I mean I spoke to God in anger of the things that were going on this morning.  But I had not thanked the God that woke me up this morning, the God that allowed my body to function to its proper intent, the God that allowed me to get to work safely without harm, the God who is the lover of my soul.  I had not prayed!  I know we all have those days when everything from the start seem to go wrong.  Some things that seem to be outside of your control and without sympathy--we all experience them.  Good and bad, saved and unsaved, we all have them.  But the beauty of this is that as a believer, if I am in tuned with my Guide, we can quickly readjust.  The Holy Spirit will provide you the tools to tune yourself up and get you back in the right place.

 

For me this morning, it took listening to Smokie Norful's 'I Need You Now'...because I desperately needed God to come and touch me in my weakness.  I had to listen to Kirk Franklin's 'Hold Me Now' because in the state I was in, I needed God right then and there.  I needed Him to hug me and tell me it was okay to have those feelings.  God loves us so much that He gave us His Spirit to re-center us when our center of gravity turns us into depraved headhunters.  I'm sure if I had not prayed, had not listened and cried out for God's help, somebody would have gotten hurt or told off this morning.  But I can truly say THANK YOU LORD because He is always there to hear my cry and start me over on the right side.

 

"He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them."  Psalm 145:19

Daily Devotion #2

Pushed to the Limit

"Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, 'You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.'"  Matthew 4:10 NLT

I hate the hair scrunchies that get stretched out.  Because once you've used them too much, on that last stretch...POP!  And in my case I usually have to scramble to find another one or doctor on that one till I can get another one.  We all get to that place where we have been stretched, pulled, pushed, forced, and pummeled beyond our limits.  I realized last night (Thanks Dad bka God) that once we get fed up, we finally have the guts to do whatever it takes to get out of that situation.  It is at the point of being fed up, the cliffhanger syndrome, that we can have the courage to do whatever part God needs us to do.  That's right--after you have been pushed too far, used too much, trampled on and beat on too many times, you finally have had enough and are willing to do something, albeit anything to make your situation change.

But ask yourself, at that point, have you called on God, or used His word to change your situation?  You see here in the passage above, Jesus had been in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by satan.  So on the last straw, Jesus told satan to get away from Him--using His God-given authority and coupling it with the Word--He trusted and rested in God's promises, submitting all to Him, remaining in God's will for His life even after His resurrection.

Many days during these last few months I have cried tears from anger to my best friends and my mom, and even God.  I have quoted scriptures to myself, which worked to change my mood and mindset for that time frame, but nothing seemed to fully break it.  The enemy has been determined to deter me from this place that God is leading me to...by employing a 'by any means necessary' tactic--stopping me from writing devotions, some days blocking me from reading the devotions I get daily, putting up all sorts of road blocks, even knocking my feet from under me, so to speak.  And I finally had enough last Friday.  I have been pushed too far.  Its time for me to do something.

But in reading, I realized that I had neglected to do one thing.  I had not fully submitted my problems to God.  I had prayed about it, cursed satan, prayed for the people coming against me, employed a 'kill em with kindness' attitude, and even forgave each person.  In reading a devotion from Dr. Charles Stanley, I realized I had allowed my need to control and fix my problems (my problem solver syndrome in overdrive) to block me from fulling giving my issues over to God.  You see, I thanked God for the revelation and asked Him to continue to show me myself, but I had not fully submitted to Him to finish the process.

Once you get fed up, you submit to God.  You recall His Word and promises to you; you pray and pray and pray and pray some more.  You go to church, you link up with other Christians, and you pursue a deeper relationship with God.  But if you are anything like me, you forget to submit to Him.  James 4:7 says "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (NIV)  How could I expect the spawn of all things evil to really leave me alone when I'm still holding on to my problems?  With full hands you cannot grab hold of God's hand.

God told Paul in 2 Cor 12:10 that "And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."  I was and am still weak but I tried to do God's job rather than letting Him strengthen me in my weakness to get through.  It took me getting fed up, sick and tired of being sick and tired (as the 'seasoned' folks say, lol) to finally open my hands.

I firmly try to live life by the Serenity prayer's first stanza:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

In living my life by this, I acknowledge things that are out of my control, and make an action on the things I can control.  But being in control also means knowing when something is outside of your control, when you have to take it to God.  Its only when you get pushed to the limit that we all cry out to God to fix it.  If we start taking things--scratch that, EVERYTHING, to God and get His will on the way ahead, we can always have the 'Upper' hand.

"we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."  2 Cor 4:8-10 NASB

Daily Devotion

Devise Your Defense

Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

I know I have not written in a long time, and truthfully it was because my thoughts were on my own situation, and during my hiatus I have been able to draw closer to God.  However, He quickly brought to mind that this is something that I should be doing, because not only does it help me, but I have the fortune of helping others.  I pray that all is well with each of you and that God has been keeping you in the interim.

The scriptures referenced above are most frequently referenced when a pastor does a sermon or series on spiritual warfare.  They do prove most appropriate in that context because it tells you who your true enemy is and how God has equipped you to be a victor.  Lately I have had to realize just who my enemy is.  He has roamed about like a lion, jumping from person to person that unknowingly allowed themselves to be used.  Some close to me and not so close have all played the puppet and it has served as a discouragement to me.  But once I realized that it wasn't the people (rather it was their own sin that made them susceptible to being used by the enemy) but the enemy trying to keep me from my destiny, I had the heart to pray for the people and myself.  See as long as you are focused on what the person did to you and not how you may have played a part in contributing to what they did, you will not be able to see what God wants you to see.  I had to look at each situation in two ways: 1: that the enemy was trying to discourage me but 2: that I had helped to contribute to the situation!  In a defensive strategy, you cannot have any holes or else the other side will break through!

It took me going to God and asking Him to show me myself for me to forgive the people and actually come to a place of prayer for them.  But I had to really see through the people to the devil trying to knock me back to who I used to be.  So in devising your defense, you have to have your best player (Jesus) involved.  You have to know the playbook (the Word--the scriptures to confess and how to use them against your opponent).  You have to know your weaknesses (how you may be contributing to the situations that are happening; what sin have you not acknowledged in your life) and that is where you get your best player to fortify you at.  You must definitely recognize and know your opponent because you aren't fighting against that physical person, but as said above, against principalities and evil rulers in high places (the devil).  Listen to your coach (God) and don't be defeated--because your best player already won!

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  1 Cor 15:57 KJV