God Speaks I Listen

Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

Facebook…facebook…that’s all you hear about these days. Everybody has a facebook account including me. I use facebook to see my adult children and grandchild’s picture. I also have my blog posted on there too. It does have its benefits. At first I didn’t want to join facebook…it just wasn’t that important to me…but my children made me sign up so I crumbled under the pressure and have joined 750,000,000 million followers.

I also joined My Space and Twitter but I can only handle one network at a time…I’m doing all I can to keep up with my facebook page…making sure I’ve got my privacy settings in place and all….”Cuz I don’t want everybody all up in my bit-nez”….can I get an amen? LOL. What’s so important about one of the most well known social networks?…… It’s nice to reconnect with old friends…..you get invited to events…..and …well….but….it doesn’t really add much extra to my life or overall well being. Enough about this man-made phenomenon….let me tell you about another social network called……bookoflife_heaven.com…owner of this site…..God….purchase with the blood of the Lamb.

The Book of Life contains the names of those who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. This means that you believed the true crucifiction story as told in the bible.  You repented of your sins because of this truth you heard, read and believed. You have been sanctified (cleaned and was made right before God) by the blood of the Lamb of God. Jesus shed His blood on the cross at Calvary to remove your sin and your name is now written in this precious book with the names of other people who have done the same thing. You will live in heaven with God and the others forever!  It’s the biggest blessing that you can ever receive in your life….ever! Thank you Jesus! Halleluiah!

Now for the hard facts…..If you don’t join this heavenly holy social network you will not get into heaven. This is difficult news and it’s not my idea but it’s a fact that’s in God’s word. Everyone is going to live forever…but where? The two places of permanent residence are heaven or hell. People don’t like to deal with these hard facts these days and times….but the bible doesn’t ever change. If we are Christians then we must follow what God Himself has given us in His word. This scripture is what God says:

Revelation 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

If you want to join the network of believers today just use the sidebar and write me and I will direct you how to sign up…..or you can…..repent, believe and accept Jesus Christ ….you can talk to God yourself today…..right now in fact.
For those of you who have already joined the bookoflife_heaven.com family…….see you there!!!

Message for today: Facebook is ok……Lambsbook of life is great…..better benefits in joining.

I want to take this time to thank all those who follow my blog. Many of you write me on the sidebar and I’m so encouraged by your prayers and kind words for me to keep going forward with the blog. I pray for you all the time and care about you so much. I will continue to write as God directs me to and gives me the strength and skill. May the Lord bless you all and keep you steadfast in Him.

John 17:17, 19 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. . 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

This morning when the Lord said to write my blog on sanctification I said…..”Lord you want me write on what?”…..and He confirmed it to me so here goes…….

Sanctification is the relationship we now have with God when we made that wonderful decision to repent of our sin and believed in Jesus Christ and in the sacrifice He made for us by dying on the cross. At that moment our relationship to God changed and we were made clean and were separated from the world and our sinful nature was changed to live a holy and clean life before our gracious God. Our faith in Christ has sanctified us. We now need to live a holy sanctified life.

1 Peter 1:15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
We must now live a holy separated life pleasing to the Lord. I love God so much and I always want to please Him and one of the many ways to please God is to live holy. We need to separate ourselves from this world…..our mind, spirit and soul need to be consumed with God and His affairs.

Now for one of my Tanya explanations on the matter of sanctification. I have birthed 5 babies and was in the delivery room watching from a different view when my sister delivered one of my nieces so I know a lot about birthing babies. When babies are born all though they are so cute, when they enter the world they are very….well…a total mess. They have all kinds of stuff stuck all over them…trust me…you don’t want me to get too descriptive here. And then they get cleaned and they now are so cute and smell so fresh. But if you don’t continually clean them those babies will start to stink and they can get very dirty and messy all over again.

We were like the new babies when we first got cleaned from our original sin (Adam and Eve…you know the apple thing). We were so dirty like when we were separated from our mothers so we could be washed clean….We were separated from God and Jesus death on the cross made us clean so we were holy enough to be put in that mothers arms which is God Himself. We are now in the loving arms of our Holy Father but……..like a child can go out and play and can get dirty again so……John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth…. The bible is sharper than a two edged sword so this will clean us up. The truth will set you free so you can be clean.

Romans 15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit to instructs and teach us the right things to do and the right way to live ….a separated life unto our God. When we get dirty by being out in the world and the pull it has to draw us into it, so we can get cleaned again with the knowledge of God’s word and help from the Holy Spirit.

Our separated lives will also be a witness to those who have not accepted Christ yet. If we live a sanctified life they will see Christ in us and want Jesus for themselves. Jesus did this while He was on earth and we should live like He did….a holy life acceptable to God. Jesus set the perfect example of sanctification.

Now this was a deep topic today but it needs to be addressed often because people are saying it’s hard to spot the Christians today because we are acting so much like the world. There are three remedies for this. Read the word, stay in prayer and obey the Holy Spirit.

Being holy takes some work and sacrifice on our part in obedience to the scriptures…we may have to give up some things (TV,facebook, etc.) and we may have to add some things (prayer, bible study).

As I get older I’m grateful for the sacrifice Jesus made for me and I want so much to please Him and I know I’m on the right path to leading a Holy life….I want to see Jesus…I want God to call me a faithful servant….I will be 59 in two weeks and I know my days are numbered and I getting closer to seeing God and when that time comes I want to be as pure and holy as I can be. I have had a life threaten situation and at that moment all I could think about was being clean before God…it was instinct. We need to have this instinct every minute of everyday…we should want to be in a continual state of sanctification.

Start today…ask God to forgive you of any sins you may have committed, do some bible study every day, fellowship with other Christians at a local church regularly, and my favorite thing is to pray… talk to God, and lastly obey the Holy Spirit when He speaks to you. The Holy Spirit will remind you the truth of the God’s word…..it’s all up to you…do you want to live a holy life?…do you want to please God?

Massage for today: Sanctification is for today…..now ….this minute….2011….The New Testaments declaration for us to live a Holy/sanctified life may have been written hundreds of years ago (about 70 years after Christ death on the cross) but the bible is the living word of God and has attached itself to each generation so it is relevant for today and very much needed today. Let’s live sanctified lives and please God. Let’s draw men to see God because of the holiness they see in us. Let’s turn this world upside down. Can I get an Amen?

1 Samuel 17:41-44  Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

A boogie man is a story we may have heard as kids. It was an imaginary monster that a child would say was scaring them. Other kids would say the boogie man is going to get you. Many children…like me…thought they were hiding under the bed or in their room. There was no actual description of the boogie man until 1934. Our first look at the scary creature was in the Old movie from 1934 Babes in Toyland… also known as… March of the Wooden Soldiers with Laurel & Hardy. That movie scared me until adulthood LOL.

Is there something in your life that is scaring you like the boogie man? Maybe a problem you’ve been dealing with, an illness, your boss, a troubled marriage, losing your house, a mean teacher in school, whatever it is that is your boogie man.

In the scripture above the boogie man of that day was a Philistine named Goliath who was a giant. Goliath was real, very scary and He terrorized the whole community. (1Sam 17:24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.) If the bible says great fear it means they were scared out of their minds. Is there a situation that is terrorizing you today? Let’s do something about that right now….don’t go another minute with this terror. You are going to kick your boogie man to the curb! As a matter of fact David ran right up to Goliath (vs.48 …As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.) You know you really have to be with the Lord to do something like that LOL.

1 Samuel 17:45-47 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

All this protection and help can be yours if…. the Lord is with you…if you are not with the Lord….the boogie man can get ya’! Hey I’m just being honest and truthful with you here. In order for the Lord to fight your battles you must first have a relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

There are great advantages to belonging to the family of God like when you are facing giants (aka boogie men) the Lord will fight your battle and you will get victory over the enemy. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. All you have to do is 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

These are antiboogie man scriptures meaning: give all your troubles to the Lord because He is your keeper. Be committed to Him and trust what He can do for you because Jesus has conquered this world …….so be encouraged!!

Message for today: You don’t have to scared of the boogie man when you know The Man….named JESUS!! What about Jesus? (wink..previous blog) It’s good to know Him…it’s good to know the Lord!

When I first heard Oprah make this statement…. I have to admit it was quite surprising to me. She’s had Christian artist on her show many times and has often talked about God. I assumed her beliefs were …Jesus is the only way to God… until I heard her say “what about Jesus?” I would like to personally extend an invitation to Oprah to come to my home and sit down with my husband and me to talk…calmly(you know these kind of talks can get folks dandruff up)… to explain the “what”.

Oprah’s own words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eODlrxD0EM&feature=fvst

What was surprising to me was her beliefs that there are other paths to God.  She also stated that God is jealous(her meaning is that this is a negative thing).  Whoopi Goldlberg has also made this statement(quoted this scripture) on the view. Many people share their same views and thoughts. People have the right to have their own thoughts whether I agree with it or not, just like I have my own free will to have my beliefs. I personally disagree with their statements because I follow the teachings of the bible and because understanding the bible takes more than just knowing or reading scripture. It takes careful study and knowing the culture that was going on when it was written and understanding in what context the entire chapter was written in. You also have to explore the historical evidence and the language of that time in history. Even then it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to make God’s word alive to you.

What about Jesus? There is so much I can say and so many scriptures that can be given….but again this is a blog of some thoughts and prayers. I do want to give three scriptures though:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(NIV)

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.(NIV)

John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is bornagain.”

My first conscience of a higher power was what my parents taught me. I learned a lot in Sunday school. When I was a child I would talk to God and write Him letters. Then one day when I was around 11 years old I did something wrong and knew I would get in trouble with my parents. I prayed so hard and asked God for a miracle which was to not let me get in big trouble. I knew for a fact how my parents would react. They didn’t!! I knew it was God and that was the beginning of me realizing God was real.

When I was about 12 I was watching the Billy Graham program on TV one day and I remember crying when he made the invitation to accept Jesus Christ and that day I invited Him in my life. I know I felt it that day. I continued serving God at a young age in church, but by the time I was an adult I did my own thing and stopped going to church.

Then one day when I was 32 years old I received a flyer in my fence from a local church and it was questioning where I was going to spend eternity. I called the number….a pastor came and visited me and my husband….invited us to church and prayed with us. We went and both of us totally committed our lives to the Lord. The power of Jesus washed us clean and we were 2 new people. Everyone saw the difference in us. We felt so good, happy, peaceful, renewed. Pain from our past was removed and our hearts were healed.

We dedicated our lives in service to Him and we have never stopped. Since then I have had many supernatural things happen in my life including me being healed from cancer, 4 of my children surviving premature births and months in intensive care, my son being born having cerebral palsy and me being told he would never walk or talk and he walked on the stage to get his college degree.

So when I hear the statement…what about Jesus?….my personal reaction is…..Oh my Lord God!!!!……Thank you for your Son!!!!…….Jesus is….Da’ Bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!! This reaction is just me….my joyful heart 🙂

In other words….He is real to me and what the bible says  about Him is true. For those who don’t believe in any of this…….there is only one way for you to find out……seek God and ask Him to speak to you about Jesus. Have a bible in your hand and turn to the book of John and start reading with an open mind to receive the knowledge from the living word of God and you will find your answers. Believe in faith what has just been revealed to you and you will understand the mysteries of the gospel. It’s your choice to do or not do.

Message for today: It’s so hard to have a message for today because this is a very hard topic to try to discuss. Think about the motives around the whole story of Jesus. God’s motives are for our good. That is a good thing. The gospel Of Jesus Christ is good news. I feel and know it’s good…great…fantastic news…but I want to be sensitive to those that don’t understand it and are searching for truth, and even those who are angry at the perceived attitude of some of us Christians. I do truly care about you! It took a lot to write this blog today.

There is only one way to God and to understand this…You must understand who God really is.  Please keep seeking for answers.  Your very life depends on it.

Philippians 3:13,14  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul was a great man of God and had achieved great gains for the kingdom of God in his life. He had no time to look back and ponder over the losses or gains because He had his eyes on bigger and better things. His goal was to get to the next level in the Lord toward the ultimate goal of being at last with the Savior and all that the Lord had in store for him. Paul was keepin’ it movin’!! It is never good to keep looking back if you’re trying to move forward. Look what happened to Lots wife when she looked back.

Genesis 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

I can’t imagine why she would look back…..Maybe she was just really nosey and couldn’t help herself. I know one thing if God told me not to look back knowing how He did things back in the Old Testament I would have high tailed it out of there real fast and left everyone in the wind. God don’t play!! (smile)

I have to give Paul a pat on the back because he had seen so much and accomplished so a lot for the Lord and could have though he was all that and a bag of chips ( the purpose of the thorn in the side)…..he could have thought….well I did my job for kingdom building so now I can sit back and chill out…….but no….Paul felt he hadn’t gotten to that ultimate place in God……he knew he had to keep in movin’. Then Paul gives us the best piece advice I believe all Christians should always strive to do……Forget all the past things you have already accomplished for the kingdom and keep your mind on the things God still has for you to do. We must keep it movin’ and press on.

We also can’t keep looking back at the negative things in our past because they too will be hindrances’. There might have been more you could have done or you could have been more effective if you could have done this or that. Should of, could of, would of…..what will it get you to think like that?  These types of thoughts will cause you to stumble. Keep it movin’.

My children are grown now and I have been doing a lot of thinking back on how I raised them. I believe they have grown up to be wonderful people…..but I can’t help thinking about things I could have done differently like for instance…..I wish I had taught them to cook more. I did most…well all of the cooking. They liked my food so much and I was happy to serve them and I also thought it was easier to keep the kitchen clean if I did all the cooking…but….they really didn’t learn a lot about cooking. But Now I think….well that’s why they have cookbooks and now internet cooking sights and youtube demonstration videos are for…LOL I’m keepin’ it movin’!!!

So folks…let’s keep it movin’ and keep our eye on the prize which is our eternal destiny with all the rewards that God has for us with the ultimate one being Himself.

Message for today: Keep your eyes and your heart on the prize….Don’t look back and….keep it movin’ people…keep it movin’ people.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,

Mathew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

In the Christian faith we believe that God is Triune or we say we believe in the Trinity ….simply put one God exiting in three distinct persons. The above scripture verses Has God explaining Himself in the plural and Jesus speaks of the three persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit.

There is only one God…..there are NOT three separate gods. Psalm 86:10 says He is God alone!!!!! Many people have argued about this fact and it has been difficult for some people to understand the concept of one God three persons. When my children were little I told them the egg story….there is one egg and it has a shell, a yoke, and an egg white but it is still an egg. It did calm their confusion over the thought of one God 3 persons.

I want to say for me …this has been one of the mysteries about God that is sometime hard to understand but this is how I make it work for me. I trust God and I trust His word and He describes Himself in the plural form so this is who He is for me. I feel if I over think this information it will start to be blurry in my mind and became a hindrance to me. There is no way my mortal brain can assimilate this information so I rather spend my time pondering His goodness and love for me.

When I talk to God I just straight out tell Him when I talk to Him I’m talking to them….Father, Son and Holy Spirit……I told God that I combine them when I address Him as God. It makes it easier for my brain.
There are times when the Holy Spirit Himself is ministering to me and I feel and know His distinct presence. Then there are times when Jesus and I are talking and He is so forgiving, loving and compassionate. Sometime I need my Father in heaven in His Father role to me. Although I have a relationship with them at different times…. in my mind I am very conscience at all times that they are one…they are God alone! You have to first study your bible to find out who each one of them are and then You must to spent time in prayer so you can get to know all three persons.

I personally find this attribute of God to be very exciting to me and it make me feel the uniqueness in who my God is. His nature is very complex and this makes Him so very special. I know I’m not dealing with the norm…the understandable…..your everyday earthly happenings…..I’m dealing with a totally supernatural being that nothing or no one can explain and I like it that way! I don’t think I could believe in an explainable God.

Ever hear of the show…Rippley’s Believe It Or Not?……It’s a TV show where they show you unbelievable things and you see it on TV and some of the things are so hard to believe but it’s up to us the viewers to believe it or not. Well God being 3 persons in one is also unbelievable, but I believe this wholeheartedly because the bible says this and the Holy spirit that lives in me has confirmed this in my spirit.

If….and that’s if you seek God you WILL find Him. He will reveal Himself to you…I’m not anymore special than you. Well if you’re not a Christian we are different and this is why God reveals Himself to me the way He does, But if you are not a Christian you can still seek God and ask Him to reveal Himself to you and HE WILL! Please just try it ……you might think …….”well she’s wrong, I don’t believe in all that”….but what if I’m right? What have you got to lose? (Getting off the topic here because I care about everyone so much)

My final words on the subject of the triune God is don’t try to over think it just relax and know that we have an awesome very unique God and He is out of this world!!!!!!!!

Message for today: God accepts us for who we are….Let’s accept Him for who He is….One God three persons….not really shocking…more like AMAZING!!!!

I just have to include this video with John Starnes singing Holy Holy Holy…after you hear this rendition you really feel like worshipping our Triune God for sure.

Mathew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

I have another confession to make. If I keep up this blogging you will know all my personal business. I’m not proud of this confession, but here goes……I am a salt-aholic …a person who likes to eat salt. Yes I know….you don’t have to say it. I come from a long line of salt lovers…..some of my children are too. It makes food taste so good. I do have to give it up soon because it’s NOT good.  I’m  attempting to give it up right now in fact (wink)….pray for me!

Salt does have its place in this world though( yes I know…not in my mouth LOL). It’s very useful and God provided it for us when He created this world. We know already from my confession that it enhances the flavor of food and it also keeps food from rotting. It can be used for medicinal purposes too. So you see salt can be a good thing….just not for me.

Now Jesus used salt to tell the disciples and us how we should be as Christians and I’m sure everyone has heard many sermons on this subject but I want to give my spin on this using my own life. When we became Christians we got a mandate from the Lord to go out and share the good news and Jesus told us clearly that we are the salt of the earth. I took that to mean for me to have an effect on whoever I meet….that they will Know that I am a Christian because of the way I carry myself….because of the anointing that is on my life ….because the Spirit of God Himself is living in me……because my speech and my tongue is reflecting my nature which is in Jesus Christ…..and because I am holy because God is Holy.

Everything that I am spiritually is contributing to my saltiness. I thrive off of being salty because I am always trying to share my faith with others. Sometimes people just seem to know I’m a Christian……um…..saltiness. This is on my heart 24/7…just ask my family. It has gotten me in trouble, but I don’t care because Jesus wants me to do this. Now I’m not perfect and I sin like everybody else and distractions get in my way. But as I just stated in my blog the other day this is why we ask God to wash us clean so we do not lose our saltiness.

If we have a lot of distractions in our lives we may not be as effective and could lose some of our saltiness also. Some examples of salt reducers/distractions are: sin, sickness, job stress/loss, children and marriage issues, school/college, overly concerned with worldly things, TV, facebook/twitter, shopping, job and the list can go on.

Things that can insure you stay salty: regular bible study, confession of sins, forgiving others, regular prayer, regular church attendance, serving others, giving and this list can go on too.
The thought of losing my saltiness and being trampled underfoot is hard for me to imagine happening to me. Remember I love salt!! (Smiling here)

Some say these days that the church has lost its saltiness (they mean us…we are the church). I’m not going to agree or disagree with that statement because it’s better to Pray and make sure my own walk is up to par. I’m going to keep moving forward praying all the way because that’s what’s best for me.

Massage for today: Jesus said you are the salt of the earth……..know that ….live that.

You have been waiting for God to move in your life but God has been waiting on you. You have been thinking all this time that God has ignored your cries for help but He has heard you and has been trying to get through to you to tell you to handle some areas of your life that are not pleasing to Him and this is blocking your blessing. What are blessing blockers? They are clearly explained in His word and He will also reveal them when you ask in prayer. God will never block anyone willing to repent, but He will hold up a blessing until you are in the place to receive. He is your Father…go to Him and ask for clarity, study the attributes of God and learn His ways…get understanding. Your blessing is right around the corner….He’s waiting…He loves you so much!