Black Lives Matter

Racism- 1. Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
2.  The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

I've been seeing far too much racism here lately. It deeply saddens me to know that this is still happening to this day. History is repeating itself. 

Genesis 9:19 "These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated."
We are all biological descendants of Noah."

God LOVES EVERYONE!
Romans 5:8 - "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. "
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God created EVERYONE EQUAL!
Galatians 3:28 - "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. "
Genesis 1:27 - "So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

Christ DIED for the SINS of EVERYONE
John 1:29 "The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
1 Timothy 4:10 "For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers."
1 John 2:2 "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."
1 John 4:14 " We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world."

Let's start LOVING each other just as Christ has loved us! Let's not be RACIST or AGAINST a certain denomination. Race and denomination do NOT matter in heaven! There is only ONE race, the human race! EVERY person's life MATTERS!


 

Idols and Why They're Bad

An idol is ANYTHING that YOU LOVE and SERVE MORE than JESUS CHRIST.
It can be just about anything.
The 1st and 2nd of the 10 Commandments are about idolatry.
Idolatry- The worship of idols.
Exodus 20:3-4 "You shall have no other gods before me.You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth."
Teens have idols. 
Why do they?
Truthfully, most are LOST and they DON'T KNOW the Lord.
They want to FILL IN that HOLD with a WORLDLY thing that makes them TEMPORARILY happy.
I used to be the same exact way!
I used to have a BUNCH of idols as a teen.
They were my everything.
At one point in my life, WITCHCRAFT was MY EVERYTHING!
I COULDN'T get enough of BEING IN CONTROL and having my REVENGE on people.
I ALWAYS wanted to do it.
Food was another one of my idols. 
For me, it would SOLVE ALL MY PROBLEMS.
God is a jealous God.
Exodus 20:5 "You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me."
He wants YOUR FULL ATTENTION.
He wants to YOU to SPEND TIME with Him.
He wants to be the CENTER of YOUR LIFE.
Colossians 1:17 "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

He wants to be the FIRST thing YOU think about when you wake up and the last thing you think about before you go to sleep.
Delve DEEP into the Word, it's His letters to YOU.
He LOVES when YOU TALK and PRAY to Him.
He ALREADY KNOWS our needs but he still WANTS YOU to VOICE them to Him.
Matthew 6:8 "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."
Make TIME for Him. I promise you won't regret it.

A chapter that perfectly goes with this is 1 Corinthians 10.

The Thief and Tests

"God doesn't love me, if he loved me, he wouldn't of let this happen."

"God I thought you were going to protect me from bad things..."

"WHY DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?! I HATE YOU."

Above are ALL things we at one point of our life, have said to God before. Doesn't it seem heartbreaking now that you physically see it? How do you think God must feel when we speak these horrible things? I have an idea of how he must feel.. I am sure His heart breaks. 

God DOESN'T MAKE the bad events and tests happen in your life. Satan DOES! The Bible says he comes to kill steal and destroy. God WILL allow some bad things to happen in life. God NEVER promised that you would NEVER have bad things happen to you. Bad things happen because of SIN.  I know you're asking yourself the same question I had a few times. "If God is such a LOVING God, then WHY does He allow bad things to happen?"

I have a very simple answer to that question. He ALLOWS for bad things to happen because He wants YOUR Faith to be tested. The Bible says, "When your faith is tested , your endurance will grow."

Endurance- The fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.

God wants YOU to TRUST HIM and HIM ALONE. Look at YOUR TESTS as a BLESSING in DISGUISE. Did you know that even when you're tested, God will work together even the BAD things for YOUR GOOD? God  has your back!

Next time, THANK Him for the difficult test that He gave you. See, there IS really a BRIGHT side to everything.

Here's a few Bible verses that go with this :

  ^{John 10:10 "}The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and ^]have it abundantly."
  
<sup>James 1:3 "Knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance."

Hebrews 12:11 "</sup> All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

You Can't Hide Your Sins

Do you know what I like about white out? It can fix your MISTAKES on paper. 

However, it can NOT fix actual MISTAKES that WE make in life. 

The Bible says in Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." 

NO SIN is a SECRET! God sees EVERYTHING! 

Proverbs 5:21-23 "For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He watches all his paths.
²² His own iniquities will capture the wicked,
And he will be held with the cords of his sin.
²³ He will die for lack of instruction,And in the greatness of his folly he will go astray."  

No matter how hard you TRY to HIDE it, YOU CAN'T! 

I don't know about you but I now feel GUILTY when I SIN.  

I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that it is the Holy Spirit that convicts me when I sin. 

From now on, CONFESS your SINS to God . 

Ask Him to forgive you. 

Then, he will wash you clean of that iniquity and it will never again be remembered. 

It goes into the sea of forgetfulness.

 Micah 7:19 "He will again have compassion on us;
He will tread our iniquities under foot.
Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea."

When we do that, the enemy likes to strike again. 

He LOVES to make you remember your past regrets and sins. 

The Bible says in John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

 Don't listen to him! 

God wants to make you new! 

He doesn't want you to think about the things that he already forgave you for. 

I am sure that he probably thinks exactly this, "Daughter/ Son, why are you bringing that back up? I already forgave you for that the moment you asked me to." 

It sounds kind of foolish now that you think about it , doesn't it? 

Acts 3:19-21"Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; ²⁰ and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time."

 Repent means to turn away from. 

Pray: "Lord, reveal any hidden sin that I have done. I am sorry for sinning against you. I
confess any and all sins that I have done. Forgive me. Renew a right spirit within me. All of this I ask in your name, Amen!" 

Here's your take away: 

Psalm 32:5 " I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin."