Believing Is Doing

Are you a doer or just a believer? If you believe without following through are you really a believer?

As Christians we are often referred to as believers.

One definition of believe is to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.

Well we know Jesus is the way the truth and the life and our confidence is in Him. I’m going to change this definition of believe somewhat to read the reliability of someone instead of something, with that someone being God. And I will replace without absolute proof that one is right, because our faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And as believers, we are right in having our belief or faith in God.

We read in James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, or act on what you have heard, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. You’re not fooling anyone, you’re only fooling yourself when you are not acting on what you hear, or what you say you believe. And you’re certainly not fooling God.

It’s kind of like me telling myself I’m going to exercise when I come home from work. I am morning person. When I exercise I exercise in the morning before going to work. I can count the number of times on one hand that I have actually exercised after work. It’s just not going to happen, so why waste my time even saying I’m going to do it. I’m only deceiving myself.

What about you? Are you deceiving yourself? Are you hearing the word but not acting on it, or acting like you believe it?

We also read in James 2:26 …so faith without works is dead also.

If you don’t have works, or place action behind your faith or belief, then your faith or belief has no merit.

When you truly believe you will act, or as I like to say, you will act like it’s so. I must say I’m guilty of not always acting like it’s so. I have my moments of believing without acting. But when you think about it, what do you actually have to lose by putting action behind your faith? You have nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain.

You see, we can’t act on what we believe without knowing in whom we believe. Our belief represents our faith and as we read in Hebrews 11:6 But 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.

As I just mentioned, you have a whole lot to gain!

Now let me ask you this. Why is it so easy for us to place action behind what we think we know rather than what we believe, or what our faith tells us?

To listen to the message in its entirety click on the link below and select Doing is Believing

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We Win

Would you approach your journey, the roles you are given, your job or jobs, career or tasks, your relationships differently if you knew how each of them would turn out?

Well I’m going to let you in on a little secret…we win!

Over two thousand years ago, long before any of our ancestors were born, someone that knew all about us gave His life for us. This person knew every thought we would think, every word we would speak, and every step we would take. He knew everything that we would do, the good, the bad, the illegal, and the immoral. He knew the victories and the pitfalls that would come our way. In spite of all each of us would do that was contrary to who He is, He knew us, He saw us, He forgives us and He loves us.

To hear more about God’s unconditional love for us I recommend you get a copy of my spoken word track, I knew You.

God wants us to know that the time has come for us to take our rightful place in His kingdom. He wants us to recognize who we are and whose we are. He wants us to walk in the victory that He willingly gave His life for us to have.

We are not worthy in ourselves of His great sacrifice, but His grace enables us to receive the sacrifice and justifies our worthiness through His shed blood. When we ignore, or refuse to accept His sacrifice we commit a huge injustice.

You may say, well I do recognize Christ died for me. Are you living in victory, or are you living in defeat?  Do you have the same mind that is in Christ Jesus? If you are walking around doubting your victory, saying I can’t do this and I can’t do that. If you are saying you don’t know how you will make it, but will not say “Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief,” then you are refusing to accept Christ’s sacrifice.

We live in a carnal body with carnal thoughts, so of course when there is a physical ailment, or when the enemy sends his fiery darts towards our mind there will be times when we may think or even say ‘this is too much.’ But even during those times, even when things seem to be impossible we still have hope. That hope is our ever present help. That hope and that help is Jesus. 

You see, Jesus is never further away from us than we are from ourselves. What does that mean? It means He lives within us, so He is always present, and nothing can separate us from His love, which is Him.

Paul said in Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

To listen to the message in its entirety click on the link below and select We Win

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I’m Okay

Our journey may not always be easy, but it is our journey.

There may be times when we feel like we are not hearing from God.

There may be times when we think there are things, such as everyday occurrences in life, or circumstances that are preventing us from moving forward or doing what we think God wants us to do, but if He has allowed those things in our life they too are a part of our journey.

As previously stated. We must learn to accept our assignment.

How many of you know that once you accept something it enables you to move through it. It may not make it easier, but acknowledging what is going on around you empowers you to accept it, do whatever you can do, and continue moving.

I have mentioned to you that part of my journey, as you are aware is to encourage others. I love sharing Gods word and helping people to understand that He truly is the way, the truth and the life. I want the world to know about the God we serve, but like many people I’m not comfortable speaking in front of people.

Well one of things that I’ve had to do is accept my assignment. I have to realize that in order for me to do all God has called me to do, and be all that He has called me to be I must acknowledge that my role, my journey includes public speaking. I have to realize that God anoints, appoints and equips each of us to excel in everything that He has called us to do.

Does it make it easier, no, not really? But, my confidence is not in myself or my abilities. It is in God and His abilities. So, I tell myself just as I tell you, to let my passion be greater than my fear.

  

The journey may not always be pleasant, but even during those unpleasant times God is with us. He never ever leaves us.

When we are able to give it all to God it makes it much easier for us. Think about a time when you relinquished a task or responsibility to someone else. Not just anyone, but someone you knew you could trust to take care of it, someone that you knew could actually do a better job than you could do, an expert. How did that make you feel? You probably felt relieved. You probably knew whatever it was would be taken care of and you did not have to worry about it.

That’s exactly how God wants us to feel. He wants us to have that same confidence, faith and trust in Him. When we are able to do this we have the peace and comfort that we need during our journey, and we can say I’m okay.

To listen to the message in its entirety click on the link below and select I’m Okay 

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Accepting Your Assignment

What is your assignment? What has God tasked you with?

Well, we are tasked with serving Him, with worshiping Him and praising Him.

We all have a purpose and a journey on earth until we meet God in heaven.

Our journey contains our assignment which is to have faith and trust in God regardless of what we face, what we encounter, what’s presented to us, our roles, jobs and status in life.

For example, as we are all sisters. Our roles are female, we may be mothers, wives or siblings. So we have relationships, relationships that come with responsibilities.

We may be caregivers, caring for family members or friends.

We may be wage earners either employed by someone or self-employed.

We live in a world that is not our home, so we have to make adjustments to survive. When we encounter things that are uncomfortable for us we must adjust.

We also live in a body that is a temporary home so again we have to make adjustments. We have to adapt. When our body suffers a physical ailment we must adjust. When our body experiences changes we must adjust.

And through everything that we encounter, the good, the bad and the indifferent we must remain steadfast in our faith. And why must we remain steadfast in our faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God.

Each of us is chosen by God. Chosen for blessings and eternal life with Him if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, as well as chosen for whatever He has planned for us in our temporary home while here on earth.

Let’s take Job for example.  Job was a husband and a father. He loved the Lord and eschewed evil. He was a provider for his family. He was living the life God created him to live. He was going about his business raising his family. He offered burnt offerings continually in case his sons sinned and cursed God in their hearts.

He was similar in many aspects to you and me. We don’t offer burnt offering for our children but we do pray for them. Job was keeping his assignment. He had faith and trust in God. Then one day.

Have you ever had a then one day? Everything is going well. You go to church every Sunday, you may be active in the ministry. You go to work every day, you’ve got a little money in the bank.

Then one day….Your then one day could be a physical illness, it could a loss of income or a job, it could be a family tragedy…whatever it is, it is something that’s unexpected, and may prompt you to ask why me, why now. It may even cause you to question God.

To listen to the message in its entirety click on the link below and select Accepting Your Assignment 

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Confident in Christ - Know That You Know, That You Know, That You Know

There are some things that we just know.

We know there are 24 hours in a day. We know there are 365 days in a year, unless it’s leap year of course. We know grass is green and the sky is blue. If someone told us we were wrong we could argue until we were blue in the face that we are right. I’d say we were sure or confident.

Confident can be defined as having strong belief or full assurance.

Now let me ask you a question.

You know you were born and you know that God gave you life.

You know that God enables you to walk, to talk, to breathe, to think.

To reason and make decisions.

When we think about it, it’s God that gives us the ability to do everything.

So here’s my question. Knowing all that we’ve just said that we know, why is it that when things feel – here we go with our emotions and our flesh. Why is it that when we encounter things that we feel are beyond our natural ability we lose our confidence? We begin to doubt.

We quickly go from God can, God can, God can, to I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Well you couldn’t in the first place. 

It’s been God all along.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing

Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

To listen to the message in its entirety click on the link below and select Confident in Christ

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Carefree Living

I’m a person that is naturally concerned, prone to worry or anxious. My concern is usually about someone else, wanting to make sure everything is okay with them.

I’ve learned over the years how to temper my concern for others, while at the same time realizing my concern when tempered is also my gift. It is the gift of exhortation or encouraging others to be all that God has created them to be as they live according to his word.

I think each of us have a natural makeup, or way of being.

Some people are naturally happy and joyful, while others seem to be angry. Some people are suspicious while others are trusting.

Who are you?  How would you describe yourself? How would others describe you?

I believe our natural or pre salvation behaviors become tempered and aligned with God’s will when we become saved.

For example I’ve told you I’ve always been a believer and trusted people, expecting them to be true to their promises. With salvation and the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit my trust is no longer misguided. My trust is in God and not in man. I may believe man or a person is capable of doing something but I understand that whatever they can do it is because God has predestined them to do it.

My over concern for my fellow man has now been channeled into praying for those that are oppressed, or need change, as well as providing Godly counsel rather than trying to fix the person or fix circumstances.  

Yet, at times I still struggle with carrying burdens that I shouldn’t.

I want to talk to you about being careful, or anxious, carefree, and careless.

Would you say you fall into any of these categories?

Careful or anxious can be described as full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger, or I would say perceived danger or misfortune as sometimes the danger or misfortune that we fear is perceived. Oftentimes we may not know what is going to happen, but fear the worse.

Careless may be described as not caring or troubling; having no care or concern; unconcerned.

And carefree is without anxiety or worry.

I’m striving to be carefree. That’s where I believe God wants all of His children to be. Carefree doesn’t mean you do not have compassion. It means you don’t allow your compassion to overwhelm you, causing anxiety and worry.

A carefree life is a life of rest. A life of resting in God.  When we learn to rest in God we are able to cast our cares and truly live a carefree life. What kind of life do you want to live?

To listen to the message in its entirety click on the link below and select Carefree Living

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Anointed, Appointed and Equipped to Excel

Because you are created of God and born of God you are anointed, appointed and equipped to excel in every area of your life. In whatever state you are in you are perfect because you were created in the image and likeness of almighty God.

Oftentimes we say things like if I had this, or if I had that things would be different. Although most of us would say if I could lose wait I would do this or that, believe it or not some people say if I could gain weight I could do this or that. We say if we had more money we would tithe, or be able to give more. But what about doing what you can with what you have, or being who you can be with who you currently are?

God equipped us with everything we needed before we were born.

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, God said to Jeremiah. Those same words that were spoken to Jeremiah ring true for you and I. Before God formed us, notice God said before He formed us, He knew us.

Wow! That just does something to me. God formed us. He didn’t say before your parents formed you or came together and created you. He said before I formed you. Think about that for a minute. We were formed by almighty God. The God that created the world by speaking it into existence is the same God that formed you and me. God doesn’t make mistakes, nor does He create anything to fail.

He knew everything you would do, He knew everything you would say, the good, the bad, the ugly, the illegal, the immoral, yet He still chose to form you. He still chose to give you life, and as a bonus, if you choose, because it is your choice, if you choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior He will give you eternal life with Him.

The word form can be defined as arrange, organize, shape, fashion, place in order, or produce. God prepared the life He predestined for you even before you were born. He arranged, organized, shaped, fashioned you, placed things in order and produced you specifically for His purpose. God formed each of us for a specific purpose. Along our journey we will face pitfalls. We will experience joy and pain. We may be placed in positions we would never imagine and could not imagine we would ever survive, but we do survive, by the grace of God we survive.

We will feel and may even be persecuted, talked about, ridiculed, misunderstood, judged. We may lose jobs, finances, be riddled with sickness or disease. God forbid, we may lose a member of our family. Yet as difficult as it may seem to believe we read in 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

What is the way of escape? I believe it’s trusting in God and His ability to remedy any situation according to His purpose, even if His remedy is not the remedy we would choose.

To listen to this message in its entirety click on the link below and select Anointed, Appointed and Equipped to Excel.

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