BlenCouragesU

The sauce story

Hey there BCU Fam!

For this post, because of the informal format, please tune into the podcast recording (click here or on the BCU avatar below) and refer to the written post for the highlights. We pray the post blesses and encourages you. If so, please thumbs up AND leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy the post!

Podcast highlights:

I am not the most organized person in certain areas, however I do like order for certain things.
Lack of preparedness is one of those things–I have a hard time functioning with “thoughtless” last-minute requests.
I accepted one such request and was very displeased about it—murmured and fussed for a good bit of time, BCUFam!
The Lord heard my cry and answered it in way that I was not prepared for, but it blessed me!

BlenCouragesU · BCU podcast | The lesson from the sauce | Ep 287

Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Psalm 63:1

1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

Philippians 2:12-15

¹²Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

¹³For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

¹⁵That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Colossians 3:23-25

²³And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

²⁴Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

²⁵But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

BCU Fam, when we think about those verses, it helps puts our tasks and assignments in a proper and godly perspective, doesn’t it? Note that we may feel some sort of emotion about what we need to do (upset, angry, frustrated, etc), and that is fine—–for a mature/maturing Christian, that is a signal for us to take our feelings to the Lord in prayer. This way, He calms our feelings down, speaks to our hearts, teaches us the lesson(s) from the situation, blesses us to get through the tasks, and with His help we walk out Philippians 2:12-15 and Colossians 3:23-25. Amen? Amen! Let’s pray!

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank You for this day You have made–we rejoice and are glad in it. As we come before you, we are reminded that whatever tasks, assignments and projects, You assign us, they should be done in a way that reflects You, Jesus. While we do/did not always get it right, from this point forward and with Your help, please bless us to carry out our duties with excellence and distinction in Your Name and with Your strength, Jesus. Help us to remember to acknowledge You in all of our ways, and to respond according to Your instructions versus being cajoled or guilted into doing things You have not authorized us to do. Please help us in the care-taking, administrative tasks, dealing with difficult people, and all the tough day-to-day things we do not always enjoy doing. Please give us the grace, strength, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to help us complete our tasks successfully so You are glorified, honored and praised, and we are blameless, harmless, without rebuke, considered Your children, and lights in this crooked and perverse nation. It’s in Your Name, Jesus, that we thank You for granting our request and all You do for us, we pray and we bless Your name, Amen!

As a reminder, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Also, if you so inclined, join us for our Thursday Night Bible Study––we are LIVE on YouTube 8:05EST/7:05CST. You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform BCU is available on. Some of those platforms are Amazon Music, AnchorFm, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher Radio , and many more of your favorite podcast platforms!

Thank you SO much for stopping by! May God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

21 Mar 2023

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“Stop Talking”

Hey there BCU Fam!

Podcast highlights:

Because of my schedule, I often update my friends about the happenings in my life while I am on the go.
In a seemingly innocent conversation, I was in mid-sentence, the Lord told me to stop talking.
I initially questioned if I was hearing correctly, but the Lord assured me it was Him!
It is important for us to hear God, obey and apply the lesson from the correction so we’ll see Him in peace.

BlenCouragesU · BCU podcast | Taming the Tongue | Ep 286

Hebrews 12:11

¹¹Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

James 3:5-10

⁵Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

⁷For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

⁸But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

¹⁰Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be

Proverbs 21:23

²³Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.

Jeremiah 17:9

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

I John 3:20

²⁰For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

Psalm 51:10

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Matthew 15:18-19

¹⁸But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

Ephesians 4:29

²⁹Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Revelation 12:10-11(a)

¹⁰And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

¹¹And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;

BCU Fam, the update I was giving was meant as a form of entertainment, so in the moment, it “felt” okay to keep going in the conversation. While I did not understand why the Lord asked me to stop in the moment, after some thought, I realized that perhaps in my zeal to share, the hearer may not have been edified at what was said, maybe it could have caused them to stumble, or perhaps the talk was out of a place in my heart that God needed to work on. Or maybe a combination of all of the above. As I work though that in prayer with God, I do thank Him for hearing and obeying His voice! When we do get the victory, it’s important to testify about it, and therefore God is glorified, the accuser is horrified, the people are edified and Jesus is magnified! Amen? Amen! Let’s pray!

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank You for the time we had together and the lesson You taught us about our communication, and how we should filter our words through the Word of God. Bless us Lord, to acknowledge You in all of our ways, including in causal conversation. With Your help, we want to have wholesome conversations with laughter and fun, but only from a pure place from our hearts, and that edify and administer grace to the hearer.

Lord, please bless those of us who struggle in this area to be sensitive to Your voice as we interact with others, so that You are well-represented, honored, glorified and praised in our lives. Thank you for the victory in our conversations so that we can see You in peace. It’s in Jesus name that we thank You for this and all You do for us, we pray and we bless Your name, Amen!

Thank you SO much for stopping by! May God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

14 Mar 2023

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The Birds…

Hey there BCU Fam!

Podcast highlights:

A few weeks ago, we noticed a beautifully fashioned bird’s nest.
It is estimated that there are almost 20,000 species of birds in the world, and they all build nests and find food relative to their ilk.
God, in His infinite wisdom, not only created each species, He told/tells them what to do to function.
As God’s greatest creation, how much more will He direct us, if we follow His lead?

BlenCouragesU · BCU podcast | The Birds | Ep 285

Genesis 1:10;19-20

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

²And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

³And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

⁴And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁷And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

¹⁹And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

²⁰And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Genesis 2:7, 20-23

⁷And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

²⁰And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

²¹And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

²²And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

²³And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Psalm 51:5

⁵Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Acts 2:38

³⁸Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Matthew 6:24-31

²⁴No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

²⁵Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

²⁶Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

²⁷Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

²⁸And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

²⁹And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

³⁰Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

BCU Fam, every time I read this passage of Scripture it blesses me! I have never seen a bird walk the nest worried about the next meal. They do what God tells them to do and they eat and rest daily. Think of all the lilies are that grow each year without working or thinking about what they will put on, yet they grow and are beautiful! How much more will God take care of US? God has given everything He created instructions on how to function on Earth including us, through His Word. With His help, we need to mediate on His Word and follow through with what He tells us, starting with seeking His kingdom and His righteousness knowing everything we need will follow. Amen? Amen! Let’s pray!

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank You for this day you have made and we rejoice and are glad in it. Thank You for reminding us that You take care of everything you created beautifully, and will do so much more for us, who You made in the likeness and similitude of You. Thank You for letting us know that You love us and will take care of us—–we need to follow Your Word and trust Your directions. Remember those of us who are struggling with worry, concern, and doing what You have requested. Help us to remember that when we do things Your way, they will turn out perfectly, because You are perfect in all of Your ways. Thank You for blessing us to walk by faith and not by sight in these situations, and when it’s all said and done, we can look back over those concerns and say that Jesus took care of every last need, so You will be glorified, honored and praised

We also thank You, Jesus for blessing everyone here who has not made You their choice, to do so, by repentance, baptism in Jesus name and being filled with the Holy Ghost according to Acts 2:38. We thank you for Your drawing, saving and keeping power working in lives all over this world, in Jesus name, we pray, Amen.

Thank you SO much for stopping by! May God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

7 Mar 2023

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Taking a dog by the ears

Hey there BCU Fam!

Podcast highlights:

After a productive day, we stopped to get ice cream at one of the local parlors.
This evening, the long was pretty long and moving super slowly.
One of the staff members was free to assist the line, but was distracted, talkative and disrespectful.
The staff member’s comments led to a very loud and embarrassing verbal altercation with a patron.
The Lord used this experience to remind and teach me a couple of lessons.

BlenCouragesU · BCU podcast | Taking a dog by the Ears | Ep 284

James 1:19-20

¹⁹Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

²⁰For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Proverbs 26:17

¹⁷He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.

I Peter 4:15

¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

⁶For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Psalm 19:14

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

BCU Fam, as I thought about what happened, the manager was correct in waiting until she was unctioned to ask “Robin” to take a break. Manager quietly apologized for the wait and as we talked, we agreed Robin needed formal training on how to conduct themselves professionally with guests, and refraining for jumping into unrelated conversations.

I thank the Lord for helping me (unconsciously) to walk out Proverbs 26:17——I was not led to interfere and should not have anyway——-because it was NOT my strife. Unless the Lord tells us otherwise, when strife comes up, we should stay out of it and maintain a posture of prayer for the Lord to intervene. Now that’s where the Lord reminded me that I could have done better. I was so busy (now that I think about it, distracted is more like it) watching the events unfold, I did not have the presence of mind to pray. The distraction is likely a topic for another podcast, but, I will say this is why we need to have a consistent prayer life, so that God intervenes for us, even when we don’t think to pray in the moment. So, I received that correction and with His grace, will apply what He taught me. What a merciful God we serve! Let’s pray.

Father, in the name of Jesus, as many of us are peacemakers, as we should be, thank you for reminding us that our responsibility is to pursue peace and resolution with the strife and conflict in our own lives. We ask you to help us successfully manage the strife that belongs to us, and unless otherwise prompted, help is to stay out of “other men’s matters”, and to remain prayerful for the parties involved. Thank you for hearing our plea and blessing us to follow Your directions accordingly. In Jesus name, we pray and thank you! Amen!

Thank you SO much for stopping by! May God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

28 Feb 2023

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Despise not the chastening of the Lord

Hey there BCU Fam!

Podcast highlights:

Recently, I had a conversation with my best friend, Kenya, who is a decorated nurse, and dedicated wife, mother, student, teacher, and minister of the gospel.
At work, an unintentional miscommunication came up between Kenya and a nursing student that initially strained the relationship.
The Lord used this circumstance as a teaching moment for Kenya, the student, the staff, and many others.
With permission, Kenya urged me to share the story and lesson with the BCUFam.

BlenCouragesU · BCU podcast | The Chastening of the Lord | Ep 283

Hebrews 12:5-11

⁵And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

⁶For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

⁷If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

⁸But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

⁹Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁰For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

¹¹Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Romans 12:10

¹⁰Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

John 13:34-35

³⁴A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

³⁵By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Psalm 61:1-2

Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

²From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 63:1

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

Proverbs 16:3

³Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Psalm 19:14

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

BCU Fam, this testimony was such a blessing on several levels. Many times, the people of God testify about the good things (money, cars, homes, et cetera), that God provides, and there is nothing wrong with that at all–He us a supplier of needs, will take care of His people and we NEED to hear that. What’s more valuable and less popular are these testimonies——-where we confess our faults to one another and share the lessons and correction without shame or concern about who will judge us.

Frankly, we should be more concerned with the Lord judging us. 1 Corinthians 11:31-32 tells us, if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. In other words, the Lord lets us know where we missed the mark, so we can correct ourselves NOW (with His help), so we don’t have to be condemned LATER. Kenya was tender to the Holy Spirit’s correction and obeyed what He said, so she’s all set. And she shared this story with us as a reminder for us to do the same thing. Let’s pray!

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for our sister Kenya sharing her testimony and experience with us freely. Thank You for the correction and chastening that You give us here, Lord, so we can see You in peace when we leave this present world and hear “well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.”

Bless us to be without spot, wrinkle or blemish in all interactions with people, so that You are glorified, honored and praised every time. Help us to see when we are not honoring You in our communication and blessing us to correct our behavior going forward without justification, but rather in humility and gratefulness. Thank You for the mind to want to please You in all of our ways. We thank You for hearing our plea, for Your patience and unfailing love towards us. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen!