Hebrew 11:6 - Without faith, it's impossible to please God

 " Straight up Crazzzyyy Awesome huh?? "
I picked this picture to represent ( Faith ) because that's basically what it's like....propelling yourself into the unknown all the while being ( sure ) of what you ( hope ) for ....and ( certain ) of what you do not see... - Hebrews 11:1 -
A Perfect example of Faith would be the Faith of Abraham...
If your not familiar with the story..Abraham: the father of the jewish nation..and his wife Sarah were old in age...and baren in body...Sarah desired a baby more than anything else...yet no baby..the bible tells us her womb was dead...During the time of want the Lord came to Abraham and promised him a child and that through his offspring God would make him the Father of  many nations..So what happens?? Sarah lacking in Faith jumps the gun ...see's her situation for what it ( looks like )..realistically impossible... and say's " Hay Abraham go sleep with my servant Hagar maybe thats how God's promise is going to come about " bing bing.....9 months later Hagar gives birth to Ishmael..God says " people..people...no no no...I told ( You ) I was going to give ( you ) a son through sarahs womb and he will be named Issac ..bing bing...a few years later...Issac was born...to an old woman with a dead womb...praise God..!!

....Romans 5: 13- tells us this....

It was ( not ) through ( LAW ) that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by ( FAITH ). For if those who live by the ( LAW ) are heirs, ( FAITH ) has no value and the promise is worthless, because ( LAW ) brings ( WRATH ). And where their is no ( LAW ) their is no trangression. Theirfore ( The Promise ) comes by ( FAITH ) so that it may be by ( GRACE ) and may be guaranteed to all Abrahams offspring - not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the ( FAITH of Abraham ). He is the father of us all. As it is written: " I have made you a father of many nations."
He is our Father in the sight of God, in whom he believed - the GOD who gives life to the dead and calls the things that are not as though they were.
Against all hope Abraham in ( HOPE ) ( BELIEVED ) and so ( BECAME ) the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, " So shall your offspring be. "
Without weakening in his ( FAITH ), he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did ( Not ) waiver through unbelief regarding the ( PROMISE OF GOD ), but was ( STRENGTHENED ) in his ( FAITH ) and gave glory to ( GOD , being ( fully ) ( Persuaded ) that GOd had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as ( RIGHTEOUSNESS )." The Words " it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our










AND WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD, BECAUSE ANYONE WHO COMES TO HIM, MUST BELIEVE THAT HE EXISTS, AND THAT HE REWARDS THOSE WHO EARNESTLY SEEK HIM. - ( HEBREWS 11:6 )

Corner Block 40

Corner Block 40

" God's Heart " .. " Your Home "..

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."
— C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

   Often times when we come to the Lord.. ( ask him to come live in our heart ) we expect this BaDABOOM..miraculous transformation to immediately take place. In some this may be true... but for most... transformation is a steady process that continues to grow and progress over time...The minute we say yes to God he opens the rusty door of our heart and enters into a house full of past hurts...brokenness....fears...sin's from our past our present and insulating it for our future....Immediately he begins to clean the cob webs from the ceiling , the secrets weve swept under the carpet , he opens the curtains of our heart and for the first time exspose's light onto the dark corners of our heart ...
  During the cleaning process we have to take into account all the dirt that will be exsposed...You may begin to feel a mixture of random feelings and emotions...In any case... hold fast...theirs guna be alot of old dirt being stirred up on the inside of you so God can sweep that stuff clean....But overtime you will begin to feel that broken down structure begin to be strengthened and renewed...You'll begin to feel a softening in your heart towards the things of God, a love and compassion in your heart for people you may have never felt before...He takes the sin's of your past all your wrongs and makes them right, he takes your ashes, the rubble from your past and gives you something beautiful in return....
   And later down the road of life when you find yourself hitting those crazzy road blocks...Firey Pits...or Arrows being shot from the left and right from the enemy ..
God is a God of Love and Mercy, his hearts desire is to have a close one on one intimate Love relationship with you and I and how beautiful is it that the God of the Universe would go so far as to make our heart his home to be so close to us....
   

In All Your Ways...

      Wow so I just had this Hugeeee Epiphany... ok no..rewinddd...
I just recently went through this incredibly crazzy / eye opening situation ....then i had the " Epiphany"..
I won't go into detail but I can truly say it was soul deep devestating..... It broke me from the inside out...turned my wrongs and rights upside down and made me take a really good look at the person I claim to be... On the flip side though a lil jaded.. I can truly say I praise God for allowing me to go through this experience and more so for the lessons Im continually learning from it... so what have I learned...

1.) You will know a tree by it's "Fruit" -

Jesus spoke life...his words were  simple yet profound...He say's look people...  If a tree " looks " like an apple tree yet produces lemons..it's obviously a lemon tree..
 Man will take a verse like..Matthew 7:16 ... dissect, mutilate, sprinkle it with educated jargon  to make it sound beyond average intellect, spice it up with a price tag and a two page intro listing all his/ her accreditations and before  you know it all you've truly retained is... lemon..??
Studying the word of God, delving deep into the scripture is like diving full force into God's treasure chest...his words are life...but so was the simplicity of Jesus's parables....they were profound enough for the intellect yet simple enough for the layman....When he say's you will know a tree by it's fruit he was dead on...
Look at a person...look at their fruit...they may look, talk, dress the part but if their producing fruit in their lives that contradict what their claiming... beware.... anybody hiding behind a false identity is not to be trusted...

2.) Actions speak louder than words -

WOW now seriouslyyy this is a biggy..... If someone suddenly drops the ( L ) bomb on you but their actions say otherwise... check their actions first they may not be describing the Love you or I think Love to be....
The dictionary defines Love as : ( Feeling ) the emotion of strong affection and personal attachment...Love defined in the Word of God is based not on ( Feeling ) but ( Action )....1 Corinthians 13....Love is Patient...Love is Kind..Love Seeks not it's own way...it keeps ( no ) record of wrong done against it....Action has life...while words are empty....In a nutshell my lesson here was " Check yourself before you wreck yourself " test every word and make sure it's backed up with action... Satan's a Lier and a Theif..he comes to woo you in with his empty words.... then steal what is sacred... beware of anybody who can't back it up with the fruit of God's Love....

3.) Compromise can be a death trap -

Never everrrrr...compromise the things of God for the things of Man....Satan will use it to chew you up and spit you out....Like the saying goes " TO THY OWN SELF BE TRUE " ... Let's face it ... weve all been their done that in one way or another.... we all make and will continue making mistakes but if I've learned one thing from this whole ordeal it's this... Other than God who will never leave or forsake us..we enter and exit this world as me, myself and I....It's Vital to be true to the person staring you back in the mirror....don't give what is sacred to dog's or what is precious to pigs..they will turn and trample them underfoot....Beware of anyone who pressures you to Compromise those things you hold sacred.... Pressure = selfish ambition for personal gain....not Love......

4.) In ( all ) your waysss ( acknowledge him ) 


If you know God personally you know he Loves you and I with a Passion.... He planned, formed, created, and chose us to live his breath of life...He's bottled every tear we've ever shed and even the very hairs on our heads are numbered....he's amazinggg and just for that reason alone should be considered and acknowledged for his amazzzingggnesss....but alas we like sheep have gone astray... each of us have gone our own way...and satan who roams this earth like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour seeks us out in our times of wanderlust in an attempt to steal... kill and destroy that which God has made Beautiful..... My biggest lesson here was that I must consider and acknowledge my Lord not in a few of my ways or in some of my ways ...but in ( all ) my ways... In my thoughts, my heart, my speech, my dress, my decision making, my first fruits...God is God he is worthy of our best...and nothing less...

My situation was crazzzy tragic .... If I can share a nugget of truth to anybody out their from my own personal  ' CRAZZzzy " it's this..... Make God Number 1.....and everything else second....He is honestly the only one who keeps me sane in a wicked and perverse generation... to anyone willing to receive ... be blessed....
           In All Your Ways Acknowledge Him and He will Make your Paths straight.. - Proverbs 3:6 -

- John 12:24 – “ UNLESS A KERNEL OF WHEAT FALLS TO THE GROUND AND DIES…

Death isn’t always in the obvious… It isn’t always in the physical or the visual…. But can often times be found in the deepest sacred parts of our inner man.

Many times we smile… laugh… adapt to the mirage in our social realm….though inwardly walk around as dead men… Numb to actually feeling any type of emotion other than the broken aftermath that lingers in our soul. We dissconnect ourselves from our reality…remove ourselves from the pain…. and make it a habitual routine to disconnect ourselves from any future person..place…or situation that may in turn cause any opportunity for hurt…

This Brokeness feels like inner death..and for those of you who know what Im talking about you know what I mean when I say it hurts to even breath… with the sun rise comes yet another 24 hour internal hell….you turn to your alarm clock, take hold of your pillow and inwardly cry those deep calls to deep….why LOrddd ??

I can’t say Im an authority on the character of God ..Im definately in Love with him and his character.. he has and continues to be that story that gets better and better with every turning of the page ….what I can say Iv’e had the opportunity to be very intimate with would be the matter of personal death relating to the refining of God and what C.S Lewis liked to call the ” Problem of pain “…

The invaluable lessons Iv’e learned from the Lord have only been birthed in and through the intense fire of deep inner pain and brokenness. And although painful… it is only through the Fire of Life that I have felt any type of refining and Inner growth being done in my person.

Let’s face it…we live in a time where everything is easily accessable as well as disposable…with the push of a button or the touch of a screen we can pretty much have anything we want anytime we want and when we get bored Toss…Bounce and on to the next…

Humanity will spend entire life times using and being used…Living in a world like this requires a tough skin…the ability to face many forms of rejections…many forms of usery…We live in a time where words mean nothing…while actions mean everything…where people will say and do whatever they need in order to obtain the object of their desire…and although it is not Flesh and Blood we fight against but spirits and principalities..the heart is still pierced by the betrayal of a brother, a lover or supposed friend…

That being said…the Walk of the Narrow… is not one for the weak… a Follower of Christ takes perserverance, many times of picking ourselves up from the mire and with the strength of God enduring what we need to endure at the time emotionally to eventually end up where God is calling us…

Death may come in many forms….the death of a loved one…a relationship….a dream…but whatever the form may be, be encouraged that through this hardship is an abundance of God’s grace waiting for us on the other side….It’s during these hardships that we as people do one of two things…harden our hearts or melt in the arms of an Almighty God…It’s through our brokeness that he like a shepard to a lamb can take us to his bosum, hold us near to his heart and in his gracious Love nurse us back to spiritual health…It’s through death that we ultimately find life …. and the life we find is only found in the Loving arms of a Loving God…

- John 12:24 – “ UNLESS A KERNEL OF WHEAT FALLS TO THE GROUND AND DIES…IT REMAINS ONLY A ( SINGLE ) SEED…BUT IF IT DIES… IT PRODUCES A HARVEST….”

Innocence

INNOCENCE
Tami Gardner



Innocence do u remember me?.....In my youth you were my friend...in your truth I confided my every thought...I bathed in your simplicity.... in your light I found solice and drank of your spotless cup...Where did you run to my companion my friend? Was it I who abandoned you...or did you find the heart of another..?.....Void of corruption of evil intent you covered me in your blanket of peace and hid my eyes from the wicked one...As an imposter... he decieved me with his tounge...by his lips he decieves even himself...His heart a blind guide...his soul spoiled by the seed of his own corruption....In his lies I found decay....like a tumbleweed on dry ground were his words to my soul...empty and void like the depths of the abyss...He sifts me like wheat...like an empty mirage he thirsts for my demise....his intent is only for self...his pleasure, my corruption...in my fathers hand I find redemption...in his heart I find grace....like clay to the potter am I in the hands of my Maker....purge the pain from my inner man or from this death spring forth life...from the deepest depths of my soul lies his dwelling place...Like a parched land, a desert facing drought....I thirst for my innocence the Lover of my soul...The Lord God Almighty is his name.....