Like the fresh start of the New Year, Springtime gives us a 2nd chance at renewal. However, we need not wait for certain times of the year or for certain events, like taking summer vacations, to make us feel alive and for that chance to unwind mentally, physically, emotionally, and most importantly spiritually.
If we would cultivate a lifestyle of being in God's presence, we would experience more times of refreshing and each experience would be deeper and more meaningful. It definitely would build your faith and trust in this God we can't see with our natural eyes. It's time to get rid of everything that holds you back, keeps you down, and suppresses your right to grow and feel alive in Jesus. Eph 2:4-6 says 4) But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened [made to be alive] us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6) And hath [past tense-it's already a done thing] raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. [emphasis mine] Sometimes living a life of faith in God is not always easy but it is always right. To learn more about living by faith, read my blog Flying by Faith and you might also want to read Defying Negative Gravity. Below are 5 steps you can use today to position yourself for and create for yourself that river of living waters for times of refreshing. John 7:38 says, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." These living waters can be a constant source of refreshment both for you and for others as you learn to encourage others. This all depends on how much of yourself you put into Christ. Step One: First, we must see God as our provider in everything, not just some being out there waiting for us to get to heaven. He is real and desires to be involved in our everyday lives. Hebrews 11:6 says, “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.” So get it fixed in your heart now, that God desires to work with you to establish his covenant blessings and his plan for your life. Don’t expect much help if you are not lined up with his word and plans for you. About the only help you’ll get is him helping you to refocus on what he has for you. Step Two: As in the Hebrew scripture above, we must go to God diligently. He can tell when you are just somebody that wants something from him and has no plans to honor him. Going to God for everything builds a relationship of trust and faith. When you can prove to God that you are serious about loving him, and wanting to serve him, when you show him you have been in his word about your situation, he’ll come shining through. Wait patiently and full of hope-fully trusting that he will be there and bring you those refreshing explanations that will make you alive in him once again. Step Three: Be prepared to know what you want and what you need God to do for you. Don’t just mouth off asking for any and everything. While God has a sense of humor, he’s also a serious God and he’s more than capable of meeting your needs. James 4:3 says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” This Is clear evidence that you can’t just ask for anything on a whim. It also gives a good indication that you need to want what God wants you to have. I know that can sound selfish of God but remember that his ways and thoughts are far higher than our own. He authored this life, and we should honor him in it and in every way possible. Isaiah 55:9 says, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth; so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Step Four: Obedience is big with God. He desires that we learn his commandments and follow them all our lives, trusting him to make the promises work in our favor. We need to truly learn to love God not just for what he can do for us but simply just because of who he is. He is love. John 4:8. Mark 12:30 says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Read verse 31, as well. Step Five: Make sure you understand what God’s kind of love, called Agape, is all about and that you are walking in it to the fullest you possibly can. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision: but faith which worketh by love.” Do you see that? Your faith will not work if you are not walking in God’s kind of love in every situation and towards every person. What this verse is telling us is that it doesn't matter what kind of life you live, or where you go to church. If you are not using God's kind of love in every situation, your faith will not work. It's as simple as that. Ask God to help you in this because this is the single most important thing you can ever do as a Christian and that is to see others the way God sees them. You need to see yourself as God sees you. Additionally, to get to know God on a more personal level, I've created the 29 Days of Loving God package. It's free. I've included instructions and 29 scriptures to journal each day. Although it was originally intended to do during the month of February, anytime of the year is a good time to get to know God. All you need to do is contact me and I'll email it to you. Be assured that this is the only time I will use your email unless you opt in for updates. I don't really have material to send out on a regular basis except for The Net Magazine which goes out monthly for free. Make this year the year of refreshing in Jesus. La Donna Good Morning and Happy February!
February is the month we celebrate love. I've chosen to spend this month loving on God. We always go to God for our needs and we should, but when is the last time you woke up and said, Oh! I've got to go see God today, don't count on me for dinner? I have hand selected 29 scriptures to write out, pray and meditate on for this month. These scriptures show us so much about who God is. We want to let God know that we know him and love him for who he is. We can only love him back with the love that he first gave us. In fact, it's with this same love that we are to love everyone else. I hope you'll join me for this special journey. For more details visit 29 Days. If you are ready to sign up, visit our Contact Us page, mark the 29 Days of Loving God selection at the bottom. Be sure to leave me your email so I can send you the set of scriptures. As an added bonus, you'll also receive a set of scriptures from Dr. H. R. Sharp teaching us Who We Are, What We Have, and What We Can Do in and all because of Jesus. I have never done a scripture writing plan, but this one is special to my heart. Join me today! Doing More in 2024 La Donna Isn’t it exciting to start a new year? Oh, the promise of a fresh, clean slate. The hope of renewal and a better day. We’ve learned from past mistakes, gained perspective from being another year older and we’ve laid to rest all the bad things from the past year. Now we’re breathing in a newness of life that comes with new beginnings. In all the living we must do while here on the earth, we still have work for God to do.
John 14:12 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” I’ve compiled a short list of things you can do to enhance this new year while working on a new you and serving God. This list is definitely not all inclusive, but it should help keep your spiritual wheels turning throughout this new year. Many of us like to play games. It gets exciting when we get to level up. It often comes with decent rewards, new things to use on that level, and let’s not forget the game coinage that comes with it, too. Wouldn’t we like for life to be that way? Well, using this list, as you map out 2024, understand that each time you establish things like this as a daily or weekly part of your life, you level up. Make it your life’s goal to become more rooted and grounded in God’s word, taking on his thoughts and his ways as your own and then go out and help others. Okay, here we go. Some of these may be trivial, but if you have ever established this in your life and then go any length of time without keeping to these things, you’ll certainly miss them. One, make sure to put God first in everything you do. Give God the best of you this year and he’ll put in his best for you. You’ll enjoy divine favor, overflow in many areas of life and so much more. Two, stop sinning. We must remember that God is a Holy God. He doesn’t like sin to be around him. We can’t be full of sin, and waiting on a ‘holy moment’ to hit. Learn what God says is sin and make a concerted effort to stay away from all of it. Three, you want to make sure you are as obedient as you can be. God has given us the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us into all righteousness. Draw closer to and spend more time communing with the Holy Spirit this year. Four, choose to live a life of forgiveness. We have to forgive any and everybody of any and everything they’ve ever done to hurt you. Certainly, you recognize that you’ve made mistakes and possibly have hurt others before as well. To live your best year ever, choose to walk in forgiveness and stop letting things of the past dictate how you are to be and haunt your future. Hanging on to bitterness and unforgiveness is like hanging on to last year's steak and potato dinner. Let it go - you have so much more to look forward to, Amen? Amen! Think about this: Jesus had suffered through a very unjust trial, had been beaten 39 times which was so bad the word says you couldn’t even tell he was a human. Then he carried a cross that didn’t belong to him-it belonged to us- up a high mountain and was hanged on it. People spit on him, put a crown of thorns on his head, speared his side, and gambled for his garments. Hanging on the cross, he tells our Father God to forgive them for they know not what they do. If Jesus can forgive-so can you. You can’t live a blessed life if you are going to hang on to rubbish. Let that stinking hurt go. Breath in a deep breath and let the fresh life of Christ fill your lungs and life. Five, learn about tithes and offerings. Giving your hard earned money to God is the best way to say I’m trusting you God to take care of me and all my situations. And don’t forget, tithing brings with it special protections. Read Mal 3:10-11. A tithe is 10 % of all your increase. Like unforgiveness, let it go. You’ll give your tithes to the church that feeds you spiritually but in your heart, you're really giving it to God. Ask God to receive your tithes and to bless others and in so doing he’ll take care of you. Talk with God about how to disperse your offerings. And always be ready to help a little old lady across a busy street or to help a little child. Those are examples of alms. Six, develop and/or maintain a prayer life- Praying is a two-way communication, not a radio announcement to heaven and when you are done you sign off. Stick around and see if God will answer you right back. During that time, get your spirit ready to receive. Take control of your mind and begin to focus on this time with God. Seven, make use of personal bible study time. Use devotionals to help you, they often have scriptures you can look up and study. Two of my favorite devo’s are Soul Retreats for Women and Soul Retreats for Moms. These are no longer published but you can buy some lightly used ones from Amazon. It’s well worth it. The one for women has a beautiful purple tea cup on the front cover. The one for moms has a cozy and inviting garden bench on the cover. Be ready to take some notes. Even if you attend some function with your church regularly, it isn’t enough. Give God some personal time where it’s just the two of you. Dare to sit down at that table-that quiet table where it's just you and the Father, dare to believe he will talk to you and show you things. Eight, seek God early- don’t wait until the day is over to spend time with God. You want him on the job at first light-amen? Why pray over your day when it’s already gone. Now, if you pray in the evening time for the night and the next day…okay. Even still, there’s something special and very powerful about getting up and making yourself ready to meet the day by spending time with God and asking him to set the parameters of your day. This works in conjunction with your tithes and offerings for special protections. That’s it. I pray your whole spirit, soul, and body takes on more of God this year and that in Jesus, you do more in 2024. La Donna God is not a weak God. No other god sent their son to die on a cross to remove the sins of his people One need only look around and see the chaos of our modern times. These days are marked by governments the world over ignoring the only true and living God.
We see and hear other religions out there that think it's okay to go around and blow things up, to take away a beautiful life from a beautiful child (I'm of the opinion that every child is beautiful) and make them grow up to hate and to kill, and they have no regard for the women that bring them children. Can you imagine living under a government that says it's okay to rape women and our daughters? Can you imagine them stealing your sons from you and turn them into murderers? And they call us horrors, prostitutes because we do not worship their god or honor their ways. Their way is to bully themselves into the lives of others demanding folks worship their God. Am I the only one, or does anybody out there see how evil this really is? Do you see any true love or real peace about thinking and living this way? I certainly don't. I would never want to worship some god that has absolutely no regard for human, plant, and animal life. What's worse is our government here in the United States has allowed some other religions to come in and make their laws applicable - here on our God given soil. In that single act alone, this government has wiped out all the blood that was shed for this country to honor the only real God, they have forgotten what peace and liberty is all about. They have decided that honoring God is no longer a necessary thing to live a good life. I'm here to declare to you today that there is only one God of real, true, peace and love and this God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Our God is one of peace, mercy, and love everlasting. In John 14:6 we read, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The path that God would have us on focuses on the things we read from Isaiah 26:3 and from Philippians 4:8. Isaiah 26: 3 reads, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Philippians 4:8 reads, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Your choices to not honor God are recorded daily so that God can make sure you get what you wanted regarding both your life here on earth and throughout all eternity. What choice are you making today? I choose to love, honor, and worship this God of Abraham - He is My God. My savior Jesus is the ONLY WAY, TRUTH, AND LIFE for me and my family. To learn more about this God I serve, read my article on Getting to Know Jesus here. If you pray and ask God to forgive you of all sin and disobedience, and ask Jesus to come into your life, and to be filled with God's precious and Holy Spirit, please let us know. We want to help you get off to a good start in your new life (walk) of faith in this awesome God. He loves you and so do we! Listen, we all have trials and tribulations. But it's how you deal with those situations that makes you victorious. Jesus said he has overcome the wickedness of this world and that means that through Him [because we believe in Him, he gives us the strength to overcome], we can choose to not walk in the way of wickedness, evil, bitterness, hatred, and unforgiveness. There is power in the blood of Jesus to help you have a choice to not participate in the evil things of this world. This power in the blood of Jesus brings you the God given ability to not sin against God, to not speak and do hurtful things to others, to live a life that is successful with no sorrow added. This power in the blood of Jesus has caused those of us that believe to overcome death, hell, and the grave. This power in the blood of Jesus has caused those of us who believe to be translated out of the kingdom of darkness [satan's domain-being ruled and governed by it] into God's marvelous light [strength, understanding, wisdom, peace, love and joy in the Holy Ghost and so much more]. This God is the real God. This God is not weak, because no other god out there sent his son to die on a cross for the sins of his people. Choose God today. In His Service, La Donna 2 Corinthians 6: 14 - 18 says: I could ask you how you are doing. Your answer may well depend on what you are doing. So, I ask, What are you doing? No, seriously, what are you doing? 2 Corinthians 6: 14 - 18 says: 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. To walk as children of light means we are to not touch the unclean things in this world. We have no business dealing with the affairs of darkness as to make them a part of our lives or take them into our hearts (our spirits) as truth. To seek for wisdom outside of the counsel of God violates the first of the ten commandments: Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me. That is why uoiji boards, tarot cards, gazing balls, soothsaying, and the like are wrong to use. Don't say "well, it's all in good fun". To you it may be, but not to your mortal enemy and not to the only God who loves you and desires for you to rise above the limits of this world and be with Him now and throughout eternity. Moreover, this God desires for you to effectively bring heaven down here on earth and to establish His blessing in your life and for all the others God would bring across your path (your kingdom). To dabble in things of darkness gives satan entrance into our life. Jesus went to the cross to give us the power to not partake in things of darkness. So, for us to dabble in them is slapping our Savior, Jesus, in the face, it is counting his substitutionary work on the cross for us as nought (for nothing). Our dealing in darkness renders the cross null and void in our lives. Dabbling in the things of darkness dulls our ability to hear from a sinless and loving God that only has your good in mind. He has a wonderful plan for you. But you must learn to walk with Him, in spirit and in truth. In spirit, because God is a spirit and we need to let our hearts (our spirit) connect in fellowship with God. In truth, because we are to believe in the truths in God's word so that when we are faced with a decision, the truth is what we go with. In other words, God's word should be like our constitution, that something that governs the affairs of our lives. If we are children of God, then we should walk in the light of His love and counsel. Have a safe and blessed week. In His Service, La Donna As children of God we become like spiritual jet fighters. We’ve been thrown into this cockpit, surrounded by switches, buttons, gauges, levers, and we’re loaded with weapons many of us don’t know about let alone how to use them Imagine this, right after we are born again (we've chosen to believe in Jesus and we've accepted Him in our heart) a scene opens up with us right in the middle of a fight. Now, this fight has been going on since Adam and Even ate fruit from a tree that God told them not to eat from in the garden of Eden.
This fight is on, and we start thinking we don’t have time to read through a handbook or manual; we start living life our way, fighting this fight our way. As children of God we become like spiritual jet fighters. We’ve been thrown into this cockpit, surrounded by switches, buttons, gauges, levers, and we’re loaded with weapons many of us don’t know about let alone how to use them. And we’re promised great rewards if we can figure it out. Oh and don’t forget the “how to manual” aka - the holy bible. Every air craft has that one manual for operation, mechanics, and survival, right. If it don't, you don't want to be on that flight, right, lol. Over the loud speakers a voice reminds us that this is not a drill, we are not in a flight simulator. This is God getting our attention. We can hear Him telling us, “Hey, the sun is going down on this thing; you can’t fly by sight, you’ll need to learn how to fly by faith to win this thing, to get my rewards ie to prosper in every area of your life, to have that certain kind of peace only I (God) can give; it's the kind of peace that brings in a rest and your mind and your spirit doesn't have to work overtime to figure out how to get things done like getting your business or your ministry off the ground and running, restoring your marriages, restoring your broken family relationships, etc.” 2 Corinthians 5: 7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Listen, hard times happen. You can't let them bring you down. During hard times, what is happening is our faith is being tried. It is looking for the word of God in your spirit as its foundation on which to stand. If you are facing a healing hardship, you need to feed your spirit on healing scriptures and not on how to prosper financially. Save that for another time. Can you wait for trials and tribulations to hit you before you start hearing the word? Not unless you like being thrown in a cockpit and don’t know what to do with what’s been given to you. I like a good challenge but not like that. No, today is the day, don’t harden your hearts when things get tough. Take the word of God today and every day and don’t ever stop; you'll soon be flying by faith. Amen. The best part is there are no negative side effects, you can take it all day – every day and you don’t need a doctor to prescribe it. But, now watch this. Hebrew 4: 1 – 7 NLT (New Living Translation) gives us a good picture of those who don't use faith, it's a good warning.
Hebrews 11: 6 says that we can’t please God without faith. So how do we get this faith, to please God and overcome our trials? How do we get that faith that reveals our victory? Romans 10: 17 says, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (KJV) Whatever you need in life, you have to find it in the word, find a scripture that supports why you have a right to it. Study it, think about it often, talk to God about it. It will eventually explode in your spirit, it will become something that is alive inside of you - that's your faith to fight for what you need. Now all of a sudden you know a little something about pulling that lever, and pushing that button. You are flying by faith now. Keep going, you will win this fight, you can have what you need if it's in the word of God. I was a bit difficult to put this one together to where it makes sense. I hope you enjoyed this post and most of all that it helps you to not be afraid of your cockpit. Go ahead, climb on up in there. With God as your pilot, your next destination: VICTORY! AMEN! See you next week, La Donna |
Royal Court Ladies,
See what we're doing now. Categories
All
Archives
May 2024
|