Gifts are what Christmas is all about...

Christmas. It’s all about the gifts. Gifts are the reason for the season. What’s under your tree? Designer jeans? the new Ipad? a new video camera perhaps? or maybe some new clothes? an envelope full of cash? Have you gone and shook the brightly wrapped packages trying to figure out what’s wrapped up in each one? I have...I mean come on! This is the one time in the whole year (besides your birthday) that you get to bask in receiving a present. You can jump around and shout: look what I got!!!!!! and no one thinks your a brat. 

WHOOAAAAA! Right about now, you’re probably thinking what on earth is she talking about!? What on earth has happened to the Inner Lady and wasn’t she supposed to get on here and tell me that ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’?

Well that’s actually what I am about to tell you, but in a different way. Jesus is the reason for the season, but Jesus is the best gift giver of all. Jesus came to earth and delivered the greatest gifts of all.

Have you ever thought about the gifts God has given you?! He sent His son in human form on Christmas day to deliver them to mankind in the form of a baby. Jesus came and brought the gift of hope. He brought love. He brought joy. He brought peace. He brought grace. And most importantly he came in that humbled form so that we might have the gift of salvation. Jesus came and was the greatest gift giver of all time. He didn’t give us gifts that would ever perish, rot, or break over time. The batteries on hope will never run out. The spokes in His love will never grown rusty. A hole will never grow in His joy. The threads of His peace won’t ever get worn, nor will the binding grow slack on His grace. Jesus’ gifts will last for eternity. 

Every one of us focuses so much on the material gifts under the tree when really the best gifts are with us 24/7 365 days a year. We simply must unwrap them and put them to use. So many times we forget that we have these gifts, or we get distracted with the flashy gifts in front of us that we forget about the true gifts of this season. Christmas should be the time of year when we most remember Jesus Christ as the greatest gift giver of all. He himself was the greatest gift. 

So, yes, tomorrow when you are opening your gifts under the tree enjoy! But remember that tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that the greatest gifts of all cannot be wrapped. The greatest gift giver of all came in the form of a baby. He came and gave us the gift of life, of hope, of security, of a beautiful future. He gave us peace, hope, love, and joy. He didn’t put a price on any of them except for our love and trust in Him. THAT’s IT! It isn’t a trick. It isn’t a competition. Christ humbly came and gave us the greatest gifts of all, and that is the reason we celebrate. We celebrate Christ’s gifts! Christmas is all about the gifts, but it’s not about the gifts wrapped under the tree. It’s about the gifts that continue throughout the year. It’s about the gifts that Christ came as a baby and gave with His own life. Christmas is about the gifts of Christ.

Merry Christmas everyone, and enjoy the priceless gifts that Christ has given you.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows - James 1:17

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What does your heart say?

As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. - Proverbs 27:19

Have you ever been to a lake, or a swimming pool? Sure you have.

Have you ever peered down at yourself and taken in your reflection? The person looking back at you may be a bit blurry because of the water’s ripples, but you still get the general idea of what you look like. Looking at your reflection, you can make out your face. Your eyes are gleaming back at you. Your nose is present along with your mouth, your ears, and your cheeks. The color of your hair is easily discerned, and the color of your cloths radiate back at you. You know that that person staring back at you is essentially you. 

Now a little dare for you. Look at your heart. 

Look at your heart?

How on earth do you look at your heart?

What are your dreams? What do you desire the most? For every heartbeat, what do you long for?

This is not the place of reasoning, for we all know that our hearts can be outrageous at times. Your mind is the place for your sanity. Your heart is where you long for things you know you shouldn’t or possibly for things you think you can’t have. Your heart is the place where your first crush develops, your first love. Against all reason, against all sanity, this is where we have the dreams of becoming someone great, something completely beyond our own reasonings. This is the place where our biggest secrets lie. This is the place where love, hatred, anger, deceit, and truth take root and grow. You want to find out where dominant factors in your life came from? Look at your heart. Everything first took root in your heart and like a wildflower grew from there. 

Ask yourself what do you desire the most?

Some of us jump at the question. For example, when a friend asks me what I desire at that moment, I feel loved and cared for. For others however, when someone asks them what they most desire, they shrink, they don’t want to tell you the secrets that lie in their heart. They may know that their desires are wrong, or they may think they have no way of getting what they desire, so thinking about it gives them pain.

Would you like to lay out the plans of your heart?

Looking at a finished house, you can see how a contractor followed the plans that an architect had drawn out months earlier. If you look at your life, you can trace almost everything you have done, are doing, will do, or almost every relationship you have with people back to your heart. On your heart are written the plans of your life. Your desires have shaped those plans. 

So again I ask you - what are the desires of your heart? What are those desires doing in your life? Are they making you a better person, or are those desires dragging you down a path of unrighteousness. 

Contrary to what you may be thinking, we are the worst architects for our hearts, we desire things that lead to our destruction. We tend to want things we shouldn’t want. Our heart never knows what’s best for us. 

But someone does. God knows what is best for your heart.

Let Him be the master designer of your heart. Seek Him for the right desires. Ask God, plead with Him, to align your desires up with the ones He has for your life. Then and only then will your life turn out the way it should. Just like with every house, there are always problems: a leaky faucet,  a cracked wall, a broken light switch, so also will there be problems in our lives. However, having God design the plans leads you down a much healthier heart path. After all, a builder would never start building without first consulting the best architect. And you can’t get any better than God when it comes to designs for His children. He is omniscient, omnipresent. There is nothing beyond Him. He knows the ends and outs of every person, every situation. So why not give the panning over to the One who knows best? What have you got to lose?

Send you heart down a healthy path. Let God give you your desires. 

Take a look at your heart, and be honest with yourself - what do you really see?

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct according to what his deeds deserve.” - Jeremiah 17:9-10

God's Love or Your Own?

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the word love?

Do Positive or Negative feelings flood your mind?

Perhaps you are currently “in love” with someone, so your stomach is filling with warm bubbles. Or perhaps on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have just been scorned by a someone you thought loved you, so the thought of love right now makes you angry, resentful, doubtful of its existence.  Either way, it tends to bring up strong feelings. For the most part, love is something that we have have fierce feelings about. It is no passive element. Shrugging of the idea is close to impossible, for it is too powerful of a force to be ignored. Love affects us in more ways than we know. Most problems stem from love or the lack of it. Think about it right now. Almost all relationships that are having problems whether they be familial, friendly, or romantic, all spring from a lack of love. When love is absent, true Godly love is absent, liken it to a ship that has sprung a leak on the bottom - it will indefinitely sink unless you get that hole fixed immediately. You cannot have any form of a healthy relationship without love, well, the right kind of love. As imperfect humans, we tend to love the wrong way. Our priorities tend to get a little cloudy.

What kind of love are you exhibiting? There are many things that come in the form of “love,” but it isn’t really love unless it is God’s love. 

God’s love? What is the difference between our love and God’s love?

God is the essence of love. He is the source. From Him does all love flow forth. Only through Him, can true love be exhibited. Test your love towards someone right now. It can be your mother, father, brother, sister, friend, neighbor, boyfriend, girlfriend, whomever. Ask yourself: is your love toward them patient? Kind? Selfless? Humble? Enduring? Do you love them for what you receive from them, or do you just love them for who they are? Do you love them for their very being even though you know they are human, and they make mistakes? Do you love being in their presence more than you enjoy being away from them? Do you enjoy just sitting and talking with them for hours on end? Or do you enjoy just sitting with them knowing that you are happy just to be in their presence?

Do you really, really love them when you say it?

Our love is selfish. God’s love is selfless.

Our love is needy. God’s love is giving.

Our love is arrogant. God’s love is humble.

Our love holds grudges. God’s love forgives instantly.

Our love rebukes harshly. God’s love suggests softly.

Our love thinks forever of ourselves. God’s love thinks always of others.

Our love is angered easily. God’s love remains calm.

Our love is never enough. God’s love is more than enough.

Our love is what we have grown to live with. God’s love is what we need to grasp.

Have your ever thought about the importance of love? So many people pass it off as a feeling, but it is so much more. It is a power behind our motives, our actions. Love is the foundation to all things. Love is the very essence of our existence. Everyone we have relationships with, everything we do, every task we take, must all be done with love, for without it, there will be no success. Leaving love out of the picture is leaving God out. For God is love.

Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. - 1 John 4:8

Love is not some rare thing in fairy tales. Love is meant to be present every second of our lives. God’s love is meant to be interwoven into the core of who we are. The problem with today’s society is the lack of that love. Oh we have love everywhere, our own version of love, but not the true deep rooted love. The absence of God’s love has turned us humans into selfish, self-seeking, depraved individuals. We have become so used to this second rated love that is the norm...it is what we expect. We have come to expect our love. We have settled for second best.

Return to God’s love. Bask in God’s love for you. Exhibit God’s love to others. We choose to ignore the elephant in front of us. You cannot escape God’s love, for with it we were created. God’s love made us. God’s love is in us, but we, we have settled for our love. We have settled for second best. No wonder so many of us feel absolutely empty. Our being hungers for God’s love, for it is our essence.

It’s there. Now dig it out, and share it with the world.

On this day of love - forget about your love, your love falls short every time. Rather exhibit God’s love to everyone around you. Share it in a smile, share it in a hug, share it in an encouragement. In giving God’s love,  you will truly be loved yourself. And remember the greatest love of all comes from God himself.

Happy Valentines Day...

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

In the world, but not of the world

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself." - Philippians 3:20-21

Do you ever feel like this world is completely against you? Like no one, I mean no one cares? Or do you ever look around you and feel like your life is pointless? Have you ever asked yourself why am I doing this? Why does it really matter?

As Christians, we are always going to be oppressed by the world. Satan, his minions, and the world hate us because we oppose them. Everything within us that is Christian appalls the world.

Some Christians don't like this at all. They don't like being oppressed. They much prefer being liked.This is where the problems begin because you have to ask yourself who am I on this earth to please: the world or God?

You cannot serve both. You cannot do the things of the world, you cannot take on forms of worldliness and still be a true follower of Christ.

Now, you might be asking, "Ok, well what are things of this world?" After all, you do live here on planet earth. You don't really have any options there. You must live, learn, work, eat, sleep, exercise, communicate all within the world. Unless you die, there is no alternative to living on planet earth right smack in the middle of all the worldliness.

Remember this: God created the world and everything in it. Sin was brought in through the fall of man, and ever since we have been paying the price of Adam's disobedience.

While we have to live in the world, we do not have to live of the world. Our time here on earth is simply a passing point for us. Our goal is heaven, for like the verse said above, that is where our citizenship as Christians lie.

So what could be labeled as living "of the world"?
Lovers of self - Self-centered behavior.
Lovers of the flesh - a constant desire to gratify your flesh desires
Jealousy and envy - lack of contentment
Strife - constant discordance with people
Anger - for no reason, you always feel anger about something
Lovers of Money - you can never seem to get enough of it. Yes, you need money to live, but when the gain of it consumes your every thought, it has become an idol in your life.
Pride - this is a huge one because we could be prideful and not even realize it
Arrogance - enough said
Ungratefulness - this is prevalent in today's society with the spread of people thinking they should get something for nothing
Heartless - not caring what happens to others around you
Lacking self-control/self discipline in all manners of living
Sexual Promiscuity
Homosexuality
Sexual Immorality
a perverse and crude tongue - remember what comes out of your mouth reflects whats on your mind and in your heart
Gossip - yes, even something like gossip is keeping you locked into the world.
and the list goes on.

The above is an overwhelming list, for I am sure you are guilty of many of the things on it. I know I am. I'm human. We have all fallen short, but through God's grace and mercy, and through our desires to please Him, we can overcome these things. You CANNOT however, willingly continue to do these things and continue to say that you are truly seeking God. Either your desire for the world or your desire for God is going to be greater.

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." - Matthew 6:24

Your devotion cannot be split between God and the world. Either you will aspire to the things of God, or you will lower yourself to the things of the world and worldly pursuits. The choice is yours.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires." - Galatians 5:22-24

Is the past holding you back?

I'm sure there are (many) things you've done that you've regretted in life. As a human, mistakes are inevitable in our life. We can't avoid them. While we need to be repentant of our mishaps, we cannot allow them to keep us from moving on and succeeding in the things that God has planned for us. Some people have the tendency of wallowing in their mistakes and getting stuck in the mud pit that they are. I know because I've been there.

When I was going through such a time in my life, I headed to God's Word. Through it, He revealed a scripture passage to me that encouraged me and reminded me of His amazing love. 

As a teenager, I made many decisions that, like most people, I later regretted, and as a result of these shortcomings, my mistakes, I felt like I could not move forward in life. The feeling that God was done with me dominated my thought patterns day and night. How could God use me? I had made way too many mistakes in life. I had ignored Him earlier. Now, it was too late.

Daily, I struggled over my regrets. One day, I was reading in the book of Philippians, one of my favorites of Paul's epistles. As I was reading on this particular day, a verse stuck out to me: "Brother's I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14. 

Most likely, I had read that verse hundreds of times in my life, but the weight of its significance hit me especially hard on this day. The details of Paul's life came to mind. When we meet Paul in the Bible, he is Saul overlooking the execution of Stephen, a man preaching about Jesus Christ. Through God's amazing love and mercy, Saul is transformed into Paul and becomes one of the most prolific missionaries of all time. Despite his past of persecuting those following the Way of Christ, God used him to do many great and wonderful things. What if Paul had told God he could not preach to people because he had once persecuted Christians? What if Paul had never moved on from his former life? He would have greatly missed his calling! How many people would have been affected had he ignored the call of God?

This encouraged me beyond words! I was reminded that God can use anyone no matter what their circumstances are as long as they have a willing heart. It is never too late!The verse in Philippians reminded me that I must not let things of my past hold me back. My mistakes had to be surrendered to God. Without forgetting the past, I could not strive forward toward the goals of Christ; I could not press on toward the prize of the upward call of God. This verse truly changed my perspective on my life and made me see God in a whole new way. I couldn't wallow in my past. By doing so, I was being held back from all of my potential. After reading this verse and allowing God to manifest it in my life, I have truly been able to move on and press forward toward the call of Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior. Ever since, it has been amazing to see how God works. By letting go of my mistakes and refocusing on Him, my life has been so much richer. Praise God for His word and praise God for working in my life!

So no matter what you have done rather big or small, rest in peace that God will forgive, and you can most definitely move on. Harboring feelings of low self-esteem and unworthiness is only holding yourself back from the amazing plan that God has for you. You must let go of the past, and you must move forward! If Saul can become Paul, you too can become someone great in Christ Jesus! 

But first and foremost, we must let go of our past. We can't run forward at full speed if we are constantly looking back over our shoulder! Truly, then we are going to stumble. We must keep our eyes focused on the road ahead. WE must keep our eyes focused on Christ, and the amazing future He has in store for us.

Feeding your desires?

Desire: a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen - New Oxford American Dictionary

I’ve mentioned how desires of the flesh can send you down the wrong path, how they can form into full blown lifestyles, and how these desires can ultimately destroy you.

But what about good desires? Are desires always bad? My goodness, no! A desire to do good is the only thing that will change you and allow you to grow in Christ. We must have a desire for Christ. We must have a desire to change for Him.

In fact, the transformation toward being more like Christ can only begin with a desire. The only way we can ever change our ways is to actually desire change within ourselves. Change from the evil that plagues us day to day. Change from our wicked thoughts. Change from our selfish desires.

Daily, we are going to experience:

Good desires vs. bad desires. 

Desires of the Spirit vs. desires of the flesh. 

The key is to giving in to the right desires.

Inside every single one of us, there is a desire to do bad, but there is also a desire to do good. All of us are born into sin, thus we all have the natural inclination to desire things of the flesh. As a baby cries for milk, our flesh cries for food. The flesh is fed by worldliness, sin, carnality. We feed our fleshly desires by choosing things that are directly opposed to God, by choosing things that are in accordance with the world.

But we are also made in the likeness of Christ. 

Genesis 1:26a - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.

Therefore there is a giant part of us that craves, that desires to do what is right! God has revealed himself to us through His divine creation and through His word. Our Spirit inside of us longs for Christ and His desires. It too desires to be fed. Reading God’s Word, spending time with Him in prayer, and fellowshipping with fellow believers are good ways to feed the Spirit within us. 

The question stands then: which desire are you going to feed? The desire of your flesh, or the desire of Christ?

It is each and every individuals own decision. No one can force anyone to choose, for it will not result in true desire. Look closely at the definition of desire: a strong feeling of wanting to have something. The definition doesn’t read, “A strong feeling forced upon us by someone else.” No, your desires are born within. It lies with you to decide which to feed. 

So desires of the flesh, or desires of the Spirt?

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  - Galatians 5:16

The two cannot live in harmony, for they are morally opposed to one another. 

Whichever one you choose to feed will affect your life. It affects your heart’s desires, your thoughts, your speech, your actions. Whatever you feed is what is going to grow within you. Which desire are you going to go with? It’s your choice, and your choice alone.

Flesh or Spirit?

The world or Christ?

Yourself or others?

Ungodliness or Godliness?

Impurity or Purity?

Jealousy or Contentment?

It’s feeding time...

1 John 2:16-17

For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.