Something on the inside…

Happy 2012..Let the Lord work on the inside!

Hey family!

It’s been another minute! I was compelled not to let 2011 go and 2012 come without a comment! 😀

So, a little while back, I watched a show* where a young girl was this close to relaxing her curly hair because a boy liked her hair that way. Long story short, it turned out to be a misunderstanding–of course all works out well in on TV! I got thinking..

First…chica even wanting to change her natural hair for some turkey…ya’ll ALREADY know how I feel about that—-BOO! Why we go all out to change who we are to please another human–especially one that God hasn’t sent you or told you is for another post!!  My main thought is around how easy we will change for people…and not so much for God.

While we do want to pay attention our physical appearance, we need to concentrate on what’s happening on the inside. Is God pleased with how we “look”? How much effort do we put into changing for Him?
When we live for Christ, we  should willingly take on His characteristics and personality in our words, thoughts and deeds. While this isn’t “natural” for us, it’s not impossible as God will give us the mind, strength and grace to please Him with the Holy Ghost and Word as our guide.  If we allow Jesus work on the inside, the “fruit” (love, peace, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, self-control and goodness, Galatians 5:22) will show up on the outside. After all, salvation does indeed beautify us (Psalm 149:4) and will “attract” others to us, as well as “repel” folk that aren’t in a place to have prime time in our lives (by the way that’s a good opportunity to pray).

As 2011 ends and 2012 begins, let us continue to ask God to bless us to beautify the inner man with His word as we continue to bless Him and be who He’s called us to be in Jesus name!

My prayers go out for you all that God’s richest blessings be with you in 2012 and beyond!

Love,

Blen

*The show was Reed Between the Lines with Tracee Ross and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Currently, it airs on BET on Tuesdays…it also comes on at random times during the week.

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Don’t miss your “flight”

Hey family,

As a person who likes to fly, I am usually very fastidious about printing my boarding pass, getting to the airport early, getting my baggie with the liquids out, checking my gate, etc.

A couple of months ago, I was connecting to a flight in Chicago and had a 2 hour layover. I checked the gate location a few times, and proceeded to it, while getting breakfast and coffee enroute. Once I got to my gate, I had my nourishment and chatted with friends via telephone/text checked emails, social networked..just doing my thing.

When I saw the plane come in, I waited for the announcement so I could board. When the counter flight attendant started talking about customs forms, I got a little nervous…it turns out that flight was going to Toronto, CANADA! Apparently there had been a gate change and I didn’t hear it/check again. Thank God, the new gate wasn’t far away and I made my flight–I was the very last one to board. As I sat down, the Lord spoke to my heart and put my faux paux in a spiritual lesson.

Family, I was so busy with other things, I didn’t pay attention to anything that may have told me that my gate had changed. I didn’t hear an announcement, see that people had left the area or look up to quintuple check my gate information. Many times, we are so caught up with the cares of this life, we don’t hear or heed the small, still voice of God. We don’t double check His word about the things we should be doing (or not). And we let people (rather the spirit that operates within people) to grieve and vex our spirits, rather than going to God in prayer about it. These actions can cause us to miss the blessings of God. Even more grave, we can miss Heaven or the rapture!

Keep the lamps trimmed…

Remember the parable of ten virgins from Matthew 25:1-13? Five were foolish and five were wise. While waiting for the Bridegroom, the foolish ones let their lamps go out rather than keeping them trimmed with oil, as the wise ones did. Consequently, when the bridegroom came, the foolish virgins were left behind. I wonder if it was because they were too concerned with the cares of this world? Maybe they thought they had plenty of time to get right? Mayhap they were not listening/paying attention to the Lord’s voice and followed someone else’s? Walking in the flesh, rather than the spirit? We’ll never know, but we can learn from their error.

With all the noisome pestilence about us, it’s not always easy to stay Christ-focused, I admit. God provided ways to stay on high alert, though. Along with the baptism in Jesus name and the gift of the Holy Ghost, (Acts 2:38-39) reading God’s Word daily, committing it to memory and making an effort to practice living it will help us to hear God’s voice clearly. This way, we don’t follow a strange voice, but flee as Jesus said in John 10:5. Strange voices are full of trouble! The more we listen to God and practice following His word, the stranger the voice of the enemy will become.

Bottom line? As we journey on to our Heavenly destination, let us keep in mind that God gives wisdom liberally and wants us to use it liberally. Some things we do can be recovered from, while others can be life-altering and regrettable. Every word, thought or deed has a consequence and rather than making fleshly decisions that will cause pain, grief and suffering, let us walk in the Spirit so we suffer for the cause of Christ, reap blessings, God be glorified through us and we go back with Him when He comes.

Don’t let anything make you miss your flight! God bless you!

Blen

Flight pic courtesy of: http://www.examiner.com/cruise-travel-in-baltimore/fly-on-day-of-cruise-or-travel-early

Lamp pic courtesy of: http://www.finehomelamps.com/Hurricane-Lamps.html

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Child, have ya’ heard?~ A lesson on gossip

Hey Family!

Have ya' heard the latest?
There’s a gospel song called “Birds in the Church”. Actually, its a narrative by Rev. Benjamin Cone, Jr. (from Mississippi Mass Choir, I believe) who among other things, tells us how people can be a lot like parrots–freely repeating other people’s business. I  get tickled when I hear it, but there is truth there.

Before I was saved, I could be a little “Willona-ish” (from Good Times) when it came to discussing the happenings of people’s lives. The intent wasn’t malicious, just something to talk about, dissect, and share my “expert opinion” on the matter at hand.

This behavior continued after I got saved….more of a bad habit, I suppose. Then one time I shared something rather personal/serious in confidence with “Thelma” who went back told their family. Mayhap that wouldn’t have been so bad, if Family was offering sound wisdom, but Thelma came back to tell me Family laughed about it. May sound petty to you all, but I was SO hurt that someone would repeat and reduce my concerns to others so casually.

Say what?
Another time, I was involved in a sensitive situation where “JJ” had to get involved. JJ promptly started spreading the news and it got back to me. I politely confronted JJ, letting them know it really wasn’t right getting others involved in a matter intended to stay between selected persons. JJ was VERY apologetic–and it wasn’t done to be mean; just habitual, but hurtful behavior.  With God’s grace, I forgave Thelma and JJ and we’re cool.  I have to say I felt really hurt, embarrassed and betrayed. Through that pain, God showed me how awful it is to idly parrot and betray confidences AND that my idle chatter were NOT Christ-like at ALL! Thankfully,with His help that behavior soon ceased in Jesus name!

In the days since those times, God guides me on who I should talk to about certain things. Luke 2:16-19 tells us the people wondered about what the shepherds told Mary, but she “kept all these things and pondered things in her heart”. There is a valid reason she didn’t share that information with everybody! God also blessed me to be a confidant. People come to me with sensitive information and private challenges, knowing that with the grace of God, I will offer wise council, pray and keep the matter between us. Period.

People have also come to me with other’s business, I have to shut that down with a swift retort like, “I will keep the situation/persons in prayer”, “that’s not my battle to fight–only God can work that out”, or “have you been praying for them?” Talking about someone is not as effective as praying for them. I’m not saying that we can’t talk through someone’s situation to understand things better or help that individual in crisis—we just need to be sensitive to how the Holy Ghost is telling us to handle it so we’re truly walking in the Spirit, rather than the flesh.

Bottom line?  The Bible says we will give an account for every idle word spoken (Matthew 12:36). With God’s help, I’m working to make sure my spiritual balance sheet will indeed crossfoot on both sides. ~Debiting un-Christlike behavior (such as gossip and backbiting) is a credit to allowing God’s Holy Spirit to work.~

God bless you all!

Blen

Parrot Pic: http://www.squidoo.com/parrottalking

Willona Woods pic: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&biw=1180&bih=514&gbv=2&
tbm=isch&sa=1&q=willona+woods+talking&

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Intercede for those in need..

Hi all,

standing in the gap... for those standing in the need of prayer
Some time ago, I heard a man of God talk about generational curses. I didn’t think a whole lot about it at the time, but it’s a topic that warrants some brain time. Think about some of the issues that have happened to various members of your family or friends. Some have been in prison, hooked on drugs, been abusive, been abused, cannot hold a job, get into and pursue, unhealthy relationships, continue attracting the wrong persons….the list goes on. Isn’t there something we can do about this? ABSOLUTELY. It’s called intercede!

The power of intercessory prayer is so important. The Bible is full of examples where people interceded on the behalf of others.For example, Abraham interceded on behalf of Sodom (Genesis 18:20-33), Moses for Israel (Exodus 32:11-13), and even Jesus for us! (John 17:6-26). When we pray in faith, believing that God will move the mountain, loose the bands of wickedness, set the captive free, heal the sick, deliver that sister, save that cousin, send emotional healing to a friend, send a financial blessings to the needy, stop that woman from settling, make a man act responsibly, reconcile relationships, bless someone to be saved, stop an accident, strengthen a saint——there are so many strongholds that can be BROKEN when we intercede in the mighty name of Jesus! How many times have YOU been on the receiving end of someone praying on your behalf? As I think about a particular stronghold in my B.C. (before Christ) days, I KNOW someone prayed for that thing to be broken in my life. One day the stronghold was there…the next day it wasn’t! Look at God!

I got to thinking about some of the issues I’ve seen in my own family and how we attribute it to being lazy, unlearned, youthful foolishness or say–“hey, his mother did it, so…” “or..that runs in the family”. While the aformentioned may be true statements, isn’t it about time, people of God, that these things STOP running in our family? Is the power of the blood of Jesus strong enough to overcome any and all plans of the enemy and his minions? Then let’s stop sitting passively and get into prayer action mode. Find a fellow believer to touch and agree with in faith! Go up for prayer and stand proxy for the situation that’s overtaken your family/friends. Turn down a plate, knowing God will honor your sacrifice!

As a result of some of the things that have taken place in my own family, I decided to petition God to break any and all curses over my family, as well as over the lives of others. I’m excited about the changes that will take place—even though I don’t see them right now, since now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). In addition, with God’s grace, I will also try to remember to speak life, rather than death (Proverbs 18:21), about the situations I’m believing God for. I sometimes wonder if we pray in faith, just to talk negatively about the situation with our family and friends. I’m sure that delays the blessing unnecessarily. Time for that to stop, too!

As 2010 draws to a close, let us all take the time to pray in faith that generational curses will be and stay broken for our friends, family loved ones, and for everyone who is affected by the enemy’s tactics. When folks see how able our God is in the deliverance department, I do believe they will be asking “what must I do to be saved?” Amen? Amen! I’ll be waiting for the victory report!

In closing, I want to thank you for blessing me with your presence on this blog. Your hits, comments and kind words have been a blessing to the readers and myself. May God bless you and those dearest to you with his BEST blessings in 2011 and always.

Love,

Blen

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The TRUE spirit of Christmas…

Hey family!

I am interrupting the salt series in the spirit of Christmas! I thought I’d re-share a written excerpt from a scene in a play that the youth of Meriden Bible Way (Meriden, CT) wrote and put on for Christmas a few years ago. This was the “sermon” part of the play. Enjoy!

Jesus IS the reason for the season..

“You see church, some folk saw Jesus, just as a prophet or teacher
Abba, Rabbi, and a good preacher.

But got the that really know His Holy pages, we know:
To the geologist He is the Rock of Ages.
To the Doctor, He is the Great Physician
To the Carpenter, He is the Master Builder.
And any foundation, needs a Chief Cornerstone.
A Lawyer, you never need one, cause we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous—HALLELUJAH!
To the Astronomer, He is the Bright and Morning Star,
To the Botanist, He is the Lily of the Valley….
If you’re wandering today, The Good Shepard will find you and never again shall you want.

Christmas isn’t about gifts. If we want, we ask Jesus ’cause the Earth is the Lord’s
and the fullness thereof, including the North Pole!
Santa Claus is not the boss, Rudolph had a shiny nose, but when you have Jesus, your WHOLE body glows.
St. Nick is not the pick, Kris Kringle can a ding dingle, but when the trump sounds, Santa Claus ain’t comin’ to town.
It’s JESUS, JESUS, JESUS.
Now… let the Christmas Spirit, who is King Jesus reign in your life!”

God bless you this Christmas and always!

Love,

Blen

pic courtesy of: http://eaglesinleadership.org/

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