Dangers Of Watered Down Christianity

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day. I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to share with you ladies another blog called ''The Importance Of Vision Part 2'' as a follow up from the previous blog. I really believe that the Lord lately has been dealing with me about the importance of vision and it says in Proverbs 29;18 says ''Without a vision the people perish'' something I shared in the previous blog. Remember that I said why many nonbelievers or prodigals live recklessly? It's because they don't know Christ as Lord and Savior and secondly they have no vision. But I also shared about how Christians who live for Christ but they don't know His will or goals for their personal lives! I mentioned that in a previous blog as well too. You might be saying. ''What are ways to know about a vision?'' Well number one it's to seek the Lord in prayer! Everything starts and ends with prayer! That's simple isn't it? But if most Christians are honest, when was the last time they earnestly sought the Lord in prayer about His will for their lives to align with their goals? Jeremiah 29;12,13 says ''You shall call upon Me and I will answer and if you seek Me with all of your heart, you will find Me!'' It all starts there ladies and everything begins and ends with God! The next thing I want to share is what problem do you see in the world that bothers you? You might be thinking. ''Why does that matter?'' Could it be racism, injustice, poverty, the spiritually lost without Christ, broken families, natural disasters, people being uneducated, incarceration, church splits, human sex trafficking, people who've gone through tragedy, bribery in business, unemployment, gender inequality and the list goes on and on? What are issues that sometimes keep you up at night that cause you to get on your knees and cry out to the Lord? What are things that grieve you or make you mad? If you answer those questions that probably should give you another clue about your vision. The next thing I say is what are you naturally or spiritually good at? I mentioned that in the previous blog. What is something you can naturally do that it takes work for others to do? Is it to cook, teach, preach, do arts, help others, have a listening ear, being an intercessor, leadership skills, administration etc.? What is something you enjoy doing that you lose time doing? What conversations have you had with loved ones and them telling you what you're naturally good at? In regards to spiritual gifts, do you have the gift of help, do you have the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, discerning of spirits, apostolic, prophetic, evangelism, pastoring etc? (I combined spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 and the fivefold ministry offices mentioned in Ephesians 4;11) Which of those natural or spiritual gifts/offices that ''jump off the page'' to you? Only God and you can answer that. Another question to ask yourself is who do you know that's excelling in the area or areas you want to be successful in whether naturally or spiritually? You probably heard the old saying. ''Show me your friends and I'll show you your future'' and ''You are who you run with!" I had a former pastor's wife tell me something as a child that I still remember to this day and she said. ''Either your friends are leading you to Christ or away from Christ!'' Ladies these sayings are so very true. What friends are you spending time with and what mentors are you hanging out with? Are your friends or significant other encouraging you to grow in Christ and encouraging you to fulfill your goals or are they pulling you away from Christ or from your goals? What mentors are you seeking to gain wisdom from? The Bible says in Proverbs 11;14 ''Where there is no counsel the people fall but in the multitude of counsel there is safety'' and Proverbs 13;20 says ''Walk with the wise and you'll be wiser!'' Yep that's right ladies! Surround yourself with friends and mentors that enhance you spiritually and that urge you to get closer to your goals. Surround yourself with people who will pray for you, motivate, and even ''push you out of your comfort zone'' to be who God made for you to be. Ladies I have incredible mentors in my life who help me to continue to grow spiritually and help me obtain the goals that I have in life. Some are men, some are women, some live in the same state as me while some live in a different state (Those that live in a different state I talk on the phone, facetime, or Zoom call) but either way, their advice has been a blessing to my life. Plus having mentors in your life will cause you to grow! Believe me ladies, you don't want to stay stagnant naturally or spiritually! You and I can't afford for that to happen to us! That's why having the right friends and the right mentors will help with the process and keep your distance from those who are a stumbling block to your progress! You need to pray and have enough wisdom to know which relationships to keep your distance from and which ones to ''go no contact'' as well. Another thing I'll say is learn to persevere when the going gets tough. Oh my goodness ladies. There are quite a few examples I can think of that perfectly relate to this. I think about Joseph in the Old Testament and many of you ladies know that story. He was hated by his brothers, thrown to a pit, sold as a slave and worked as a slave, (We blacks certainly can understand that fully well!) was lied about, unjustly incarcerated and had to work as a jail administrator, but then was promoted to the palace and became prime minister! Not only that, he got married to Asnath, had two sons Manasseh and Ephriam, reconciled with his brothers and forgave his brothers, took care of them, their households, his old father Israel (or known as Jacob) and took care of the nation of Egypt despite famine in the land! Another example I think about is Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. I know I've written about him quite a bit in blogs especially this year but he came from a lineage of pastors, raised in a godly home, gave his life to the Lord, and was very well educated. There was racism in the South and that bothered him significantly. He started doing bus boycotts that started with the late Mrs Rosa Parks (born 1913 died 2005) getting unjustly arrested which forced the bus companies to allow blacks and whites to sit together instead of separately. But he didn't stop there. There was a demand for neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and churches to be racially diverse and that didn't go very well in the South. Dr King Jr was arrested countless times, his house got bombed, many black protesters lives were in jeopardy, and when they marched, blacks got sprayed by the water hose and dogs bit some folks! But through that, Dr King Jr kept focusing on the vision and he shared in 1963 at Washington D.C. the ''I Have A Dream Speech'' and later won the ''Nobel Peace Prize''. In 1964, Congress passed a law called the ''Civil Rights Act'' that has allowed blacks to live wherever they wanted, work where they wanted, go to school where they wanted, and go to the same church as whites which was radical for the time. We know that later in 1968, Dr King Jr got assassinated but after that, the ''King Museum'' was founded in his honor by his late wife Coretta Scott King (born 1927 diied 2006) Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we know came from heaven above to come to earth through His virgin birth, sinless life, did miracles, died on the cross, and rose again on the third day. As we know, it wasn't easy for our Lord either. We know that in the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to the Father to let the cup pass from Him because He knew how brutal the cross would be. But I'm glad that He followed through as well as the rest of us God's people, Christ gave His life on the cross for our salvation and healing, but rose again on the third day, and after forty days, returned back to the Father in heaven. It wasn't easy for Joseph in the Old Testament, Dr King Jr, or our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but they pushed through and I'd encourage you ladies to push the challenges with your vision. Maybe loved ones are trying to talk you out of it. Maybe you're dealing with financial setbacks, career setbacks, relational setbacks, delays, or whatever it is, ask the Lord for grace to endure until the end. The last thing is be sure your vision builds a lasting legacy. That's something that I'm aiming to do and something I pray that you ladies do too. Leave a legacy for your family but also aim to leave a legacy spiritually and for your community. Think about many people throughout the Bible and throughout history that have left a legacy. I mentioned a couple of them already. Joseph in the Old Testament, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, our American founding fathers, the late Dr Billy Graham, the late Joni Lamb-Weiss and the list goes on and on. What do they have in common? They used their lives to glorify the Lord, worked hard in their vision, and built a godly legacy. I know that all of us at the end want our Lord to say to us. ''Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joys of salvation and you fulfilled all you were supposed to do on the earth!'' Ladies it was the late Myles Monroe that said. ''The richest place on earth is the graveyard''. I don't want to go to the grave or go home in the rapture and realize I wasted my life or didn't accomplish what God intended for me and I'm sure you ladies would agree too. That's the last point to remember is that building vision builds legacy for both this life and the next life. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I wanted to share something different but today the Lord put on my heart to share in this blog called "The Importance Of A Vision Board". Ladies to be honest with y'all, I haven't used a vision board until this past year if y'all can believe that! You might be thinking. "Why is having a vision board important or does the Bible help anything to say about it?" First let's start here. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision the people perish". Another translation says. "Without divine revelation people cast off restraint!" Whew! Ladies let me say it like this. Why do you think about people who are unsaved or prodigals live so recklessly? (Which is why it's important to pray for the unsaved to get saved and for prodigals to come back to Christ.) Ladies here's something else that's also troubling. It's sad to know that many people who say they're Christians don't seem to have goals in life! Let me explain what I mean. Many people that say they know Christ as their Lord and Savior don't know what His will is for their personal lives! Isn't that crazy? Besides them knowing their sins are forgiven, besides them knowing that they're going to heaven when they die, and besides reading/applying the Bible, praying, and going to church, they're unclear about their purpose! Ladies I don't know about y'all but that's not okay with me! I also know that we God's people will have to stand before Him at the bema seat of Christ giving an account for our intimacy with Him, our godly character, how we helped the needy, (see Matthew 25:31-46) and how we impacted the world with the gospel. We know He'll hold us accountable for those things but what few talk about is Christ also will ask did we walk out our lives purpose. Not only that, did we help others discover and walk out their lives purpose? That's why I'm writing this blog. I also want to share about a couple of Christians that encouraged me to go on this quest is number one Terri Savelle-Foy and the other is Pastor Ben Tankard. Terri Savelle-Foy is the daughter of the late Dr Jerry Savelle who was a well known minister (He led "Jerry Savelle Ministries" for years) and best-selling author, and she even worked for him for twenty plus years for a time! Later in 2014 she branched out to start her own ministry called "Terri Savelle-Foy Ministries" and has written many best-selling books like her late father! But what was her life like before that? Well she grew up in a Christian home, was a p.k., (pastors kid) and got saved at an early age didn't mean that life was easy. She got raped as a teenager, was in a abusive romantic relationship, (Thank God she didn't marry that guy) dated a different boyfriend who became her future husband, and got pregnant out of wedlock! (On a positive note she did graduate from high school at in 1987 and graduated from college in 1991 at the proper ages most people graduate from high school and college.) Strangely even though she got pregnant during her engagement to her future husband, she miscarried, got married and endured infertility struggles for several years before having her only child Cassidy born in 1997. As if that wasn't bad enough, she had no vision or purpose for her life, she and her husband had financially struggles, marital struggles that got so bad she and her husband separated! She worked from home for a time and as she prayed the Lord gave her strategies how to rebuild her life. God healed her from the trauma of her past, God restored her marriage, and overtime He gave her a vision for her life and her life has purpose! Another example is Pastor Ben Tankard. He grew up in the South, was raised as a p.k. (pastors kid) as well, grew up poor, and his family of origin lived in survival mode. But he was gifted in music and was a good basketball player throughout his elementary through high school years. He played tuba in the band and he was captain of basketball teams. In 1982, he graduated from high school and attended college for a basketball scholarship for a year or two years before dropping out to go for the NBA in 1984! But things took a drastic turn when he got injured and couldn't play anymore! (This was before the 21st century where sports players can have time off, go to the doctor and physically recover before returning to their sport especially baskets and football.) In 1984, Ben at twenty years old got saved, played piano for the first time in service, and his life forever changed! He worked as a dog catcher and worked at a music store for a time before starting his own record label called "Tribute records" and released his 1990 debut album called "All Keyed Up". He invented something called "Gospel/Jazz" which received a ton of rejection! He also married his first wife and had children with her while trying to balance his life as a Gospel/Jazz artist and released multiple albums. His "breakthrough album" was 1997's "Git Yo Praz On" a project I've owned since a child which propelled his musical career! But he suffered more setbacks dealing with the death of both his parents and a friend (they all went to heaven) and endured a brutal divorce! But in the 2000s he recovered, married his second wife Jewel, (a divorced mom of her only child Cyrene) blended a family, started "Destiny Church" in 2002, business owner, and is a author too. What lovely stories hugh? How does a Christian find their purpose? Number one seek the Lord in prayer. That seems obvious but sadly many Christians don't pray as much as they should and a Scripture to verify is Jeremiah 29:12,13. Many people focus on Jeremiah 29:11 but refuse to look at the verses after that. Jeremiah 29:12,13 says. "You shall call upon Me and I will answer. If you seek Me with all your heart you will find Me!" Ladies that's essential for learning your life's purpose! That's the first thing. The second thing is seeking wise counsel. The Bible says in Proverbs 11:14 says. "Where there is no counsel the people fall but in the multitude of council there is safety". Ladies it's essential to go to wise godly council who can help you navigate that. I'm sure if you ladies pray hard enough not only for God's guidance, you also need to pray to have wise godly counsel too. I know the importance of that and I have godly counsel too. The next thing is to know your talents. What are your natural or spiritual talents? What is something you can do naturally without thinking about it? What's the one thing you could do all day if you could? I'm not talking about a a vacation but what is it you enjoy doing? Only you and God can answer that question. Another thing is it's important to have a vision board! I know right? Terri Savelle-Foy said. "If your vision is clear the results will appear". Believe it or not I have a vision board in my room that I see and pray over regularly. I believe that you ladies need one too. That's why I wrote this blog. You need a vision board to gain clarity where you want to go in life. The next thing is to pray that God will help you take the right action steps to fulfill your vision. It doesn't have to be big steps but small steps to reach your goals. The Bible says in the book of James (He's the younger half brother of Christ) 2:26 that says "Faith without deeds is dead". For instance if you want to lose weight start small first. Want to pray more? Carve out more time to pray. If you want to go back to school, it's important to pray and discern what school to go to. These are small examples but if you take small steps they can improve your life. The next thing is don't share your vision with small minds or people who opposed it. I think Joseph in the Old Testament made that mistake. His brothers (we know the story) hated him and when he told his dreams they hated him all the more! Ladies be prayerful and careful who you share your vision with. I've had to learn that the hard way and I make sure to share with those who support it not try to bring it down. The last thing is to work hard and trust the results to God. I believe the hard work is the easy part but trusting God with the results is sometimes the hard part. God's been dealing with me on is after the hard work to trust Him with the results. The Bible says in a familiar passage of Scripture in Galatians 6:9 "Let us not grow weary in well doing. For in due season we will reap a harvest if we faint not." So ladies I pray this blog blessed you, I pray it will motivate y'all to have vision in life, and create a vision board. Know that you're not too old or too young age wise and whether you got saved recently or saved for many years, it's not too late to ask God for vision or make a vision board! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, enjoy the blog, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are having a great day. I also hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families also had a good fourth of July as did I and my family. We got to cook out, enjoy loved ones, and as usual watched the fireworks! The title of this blog is called "Pray For Clergy". I did a blog about this in January six months earlier but this one is a bit more intense especially with the cover blog. First of all recently a pastor who I'll call Telly Doe was outside dealing with a rude, disrespectful, and violent twenty year old neighbor who I'll call John Doe. John Doe threatened Pastor Telly he'll threaten to kill his wife, children, and congregation and this has gone on for quite some time. This incident took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the heart of the South and John Doe attacked Pastor Telly Doe again! I know right? But Pastor Telly Doe had enough so he and John Doe got into a physical fight that got very intense to the point that the police were called upon. Want to guess who the police arrested? They arrested the pastor not John Doe that started the fight in the first place! How wicked is that! That was all over the news and Pastor Doe had to be away from his family and his congregation maybe a day or two days but he did get released from jail thankfully. Now why am I bringing up this story? Because a pastor got harassed physically when he was innocent and he fought back to defend himself! Sadly some Christians got judgmental of him instead of praying for him and his family! How horrible is that! I want to share another brief story about a Christian black minister who I'll call Darnell Doe has been saved and in ministry for thirty plus years and has a mega-church maybe not as famous compared to other "well-known ministers" but has made an impact. Eleven months ago, he was at church praying and fasting, and some corrupt police, FBI, and Biden administration came and unjustly arrested him and one of his assistants too! This guy has been unjustly incarcerated while his assistant got out of jail but released in bond and can't be in contact with him or the church! Not only that some additional corrupt people harassed his staff too though they didn't lock up his staff! Another sad thing is the media lied about it making Darnell and his assistant who I'll call Molly Doe look narcissistic when that wasn't even true! Ladies stuff like this is happening in our nation and it grieves my heart that pastors are being done wrong like this! Stuff like this should make us righteously angry because that's how I get about both situations. How should we Christians respond to both incidents? Number one to pray for our enemies as it says in Matthew 5:44 which I know is easier said than done. Pray that these evil and narcissistic people repent, get saved, and take responsibility for hurting God's children. Ladies who are parents or know she who is it's horrible to think about someone hurting their children how much more does God feel when His children are harassed? We also need to pray and stand for justice against what the ungodly are doing to pastors. Let me say this. Ladies if they came after Pastor Telly Doe and Pastor Darnell Doe like this, what makes you think they won't try to come after our pastors or other pastors like this? Stuff like this shouldn't happen in our country a land of the free and home of the brave! We just celebrated Independence Day on Saturday and if folks attack pastors that's a sign that religious freedom is under attack too! We God's people need to pray and cover Pastor Telly and Pastor Darnell in the blood of Jesus and that God will avenge them. Let's declare Isaiah 54:17 over them that says "No weapon formed against them shall prosper. Any tongue that arises against them shall be condemned this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord". We must also pray and pleat the blood of Jesus over our pastors, local pastors, and even "celebrity pastors" so these incident don't happen to them! Whether we agree with Pastor Telly Doe, Pastor Darnell Doe, other local pastors, or "celebrity pastors" or not, they, their families, and churches need our prayers. Think how you'd feel if you lady would be in these men's shoes? Not only that, do you remember the words of Christ mentioned in Matthew 25: 31-46 to the righteous and the wicked, the sheep and the goats? Christ will either reward or condemn those who either helped or ignored the hungry, thirsty, naked, strangers, the sick, or incarcerated. Our Lord will say, "Whatever you did or did not do for the "least of these" you did or did not do unto Me!" I've shared this Scripture before in previous blogs where I've made sure to highlight that Christ at the end of our lives will ask us how we treated people in prison. I don't know about y'all I want to be confident before the Lord that remembered those in prison like it says in Hebrews 13:3. I want my life as a Christian to count and I'm sure you ladies want your life to count as well. That's why I'm bringing this issue up and if y'all noticed that most of June especially this year I've written about people in the Bible who were unjustly incarcerated. We God's people can't be silent about this so we must pray, be united, and stand for justice especially our brothers and sisters being persecuted both in America and around the world. Also genuine love is unselfish. Regardless if Pastor Telly Doe and Pastor Darnell Doe are from the same denomination or not whether we agree with their doctrine or not, we need to pray for them, stand with them, their families, and ministries. Wouldn't you ladies want someone to pray for you, remember you, care for you or your families if you were justly or unjustly incarcerated? Of course you would! Now's not the time to finger point or be judgmental! Don't be like other "so-called Christians" who act like that! Pray to be the opposite of that and I want for me and y'all to be rewarded by Christ in heaven at the end of our lives for praying, standing with, and remembering those in prison! I know that in the end God will get the glory. I also know that those who did evil towards Pastor Telly Doe and Pastor Darnell Doe will regret doing that and hopefully repent for being narcissistic! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies and your families, happy Lord's day, and don't forget to stand with our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ!

Hi ladies it's me again, happy Tuesday, and happy last day of June! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. Let me wish y'all a happy early Independence Day! We know that four days from now we will be honoring America's 250th year as a nation! I hope and pray that you ladies and your families will enjoy Independence Day this upcoming Saturday enjoying time with family and friends, enjoying parades, and best of all enjoying the fireworks. As y'all know God has been good to America despite our nations ups and downs. From the time that the Pilgrims left England to come to this land who had Indians, the Pilgrims took the small land the Indians had which became the thirteen colonies. The thirteen colonies would eventually evolve to now fifty states in America! Of course we know why the Pilgrims broke away from England because the English king oppressed them and the Pilgrims wanted the freedom to worship God the way they wanted. May we Americans never forget that. The Pilgrims started to build churches, schools, businesses, and wanted to establish a government outside the traditional monarchy. America became the first nation at that time to have a government outside the monarchy and we decided to have a President which we know was President George Washington. Our American ancestors, presidents, and troops wanted us to be a free nation but they understood something that we don't. They understood that you had to fight for freedom and that true freedom comes from God. Many wars have been fought such as the Revolutionary war, the Civil war, World War 1, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the war against Iraq just to name several to protect our freedoms that we so enjoy. We know there's freedom of speech, freedom to have guns, to choose what job or career we want, and most of all freedom of religion is the most important of all. We owe our American troops honor whether living or dead, those currently serving or those who have retired. May God bless them and their families and may God comfort those who lost loved ones who died while fighting for freedom. May God also heal retired veterans' minds who may be battling with PTSD to turn to Him to get saved and possibly get counseling to process and heal from their trauma. (Side note let's also pray for troopers currently serving for their protection but also pray that they get saved in the midst of battle so in case they die in battle they'll know they'll go to heaven.) May we also not forget those who fought for America's spiritual freedom such as the Pilgrims that I mentioned, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, (they led America's first Great Awakening in the 1700s) Charles Finney, (who led America's second Great Awakening in the 1800s) Maria Woodsworth-Etter first lady preacher/healing evangelist in America as well as Dr William Seymour and Charles Pantham (who led the Pentecostal revival in the 1900s) just to name some who helped bring various moves of God to further spread Christianity. Let's not forget Dr Martin Luther King Jr who prayed and fought many battles to bring racial unity among blacks and whites which was no easy task. I've written three blogs about him already and y'all know how much I honor him for that among other things. May we most of all not forget our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who laid down His life on the cross for our spiritual freedom. I believe that we're in a very critical transition in our nation right now and I'm sure that many of you ladies can feel it. I believe that more than ever before, we especially in the body of Christ need to pray for America to come back to God. I believe that God has been trying to get America's attention especially in recent years with what happened with Covid in 2020, dealing with various challenges with different Presidents, (Yes I'm talking about President Biden and President Trump and I don't say that to bash them either. I'm also not sugar coating the different crazy things that have happened since they both have been President.) the murder of Charlie Kirk last year, more riots this year, and even pastors going through legal troubles among other things God has been trying to wake America up to come back to Him. The truth is America was founded on biblical principles and the Bible says in Psalm 33;12 ''Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord's'' and Proverbs 14;34 says ''Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people''. Not only that, we've seen alot more division in our nation which I believe we're called the ''Divided States'' and strife is the devil's playground! So ladies we have alot to pray for concerning our nation and number one it's to pray that our nation comes back to God. We need to pray that God gives our President (and future presidents too) wisdom on how to govern America as well as pray that he and the rest of politicians live for Christ and His agenda over their own. Of course we need to pray for our troops for their protection and for them to get saved as well as pray for their families. Pray for those who lost loved ones who were veterans that gave their life for freedom and pray for troops who retired to get saved and healed from trauma. We need to pray against violence on our streets as well as our schools, pray that godliness comes back to the school system, pray against homosexuality as well as pray for people like them to get saved and delivered, pray for unity among the body of Christ, and pray for our freedoms to be preserved. We must remember in order for America to be great again, revival needs to hit our land. 2 Chronicles 7;14 says ''If My people who are called by My name shall humble themselves, pray, seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal our land''. I want you ladies to think about those things and pray about those things as we prepare to celebrate America's 250th year as a nation. I want y'all as well as me and other Americans to enjoy time with loved ones, to enjoy parades, as well as the fireworks but never forget to remember to pray for America about those previous things that I mentioned. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, have a blessed week, and happy early Independence Day!

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Peter Being Released From Prison". For those of you who may or may not be aware, for most of the month of June I've been writing blogs about people who have been incarcerated from the Bible mostly. One of the main reasons is because someone I know is currently going through it and I won't stop praying until it happens! I'd highly encourage you ladies to continue to pray with me and pray for a friend of mine in prison to be released in a timely manner. Let's go back to talking about the Apostle Peter. Prior to this prison incident that we read about in Acts 12, let's go over the Apostle Peter's history. If you read the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it records that Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen along with John the Beloved and his brother James sons of Zebedee and Salome! (This Salome was likely the younger sister of the blessed Virgin Mary which meant she's Jesus' aunt, and her sons were Jesus' first cousins too) Jesus called those four men to not only get saved but to forsake their jobs and go into full-time ministry and they do so! There were other male disciples too and I'll mention them briefly and they were Thaddeus, Nathaniel, Thomas, Matthew, James the younger, (Son of Alpheus and Mary) Philip, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot were called to get saved and be in full-time ministry with Christ. We know that these men (along with Mary Magdalene and the four other women of Galilee) traveled, did life, and ministry with Christ for three years prior to His death and resurrection! Peter walked on water while everyone else watched, he was with Jesus (along with James and John) at the Mount of transfiguration, and declared Christ as Son of the living God! Of course we remember the incident when Jesus was put on unjustly trial, that most of the male disciples fled from Jesus (with the exception of John the Beloved/Revelator) while Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord and wound up committing suicide! As of that weren't crazy enough, Peter under pressure denied knowing Jesus three times before the rooster crowed which broke Peter's heart to the point he wept bitterly! Jesus died on the cross for our sins but later rose again on the third day and Mary Magdalene along with her four friends/disciples of Jesus (Joanna wife of Cuza, Susanna, Mary mother of James the younger and Joses, and wife of Alpheus, and Salome wife of Zebedee, mother of James and John, younger sister of the Virgin Mary making her Jesus' aunt) told the Apostle Peter and the other ten disciples that Jesus had risen! After that, Christ appeared to Peter and the other disciples quite a few times after He rose from the dead to the point He ate with them, restored and forgave Peter mentioned in John 21! (Side note Jesus appeared to others after He rose from the dead and was on earth for forty days prior to ascending back to heaven.) Christ took Peter and the rest of His followers to the Mount of Olives and urged them to share the gospel to all the world but first to tarry in Jerusalem until the gift His Father promised (We know that's the Holy Spirit) would come. Jesus then ascended into heaven and Peter and the rest of Jesus' followers (a total of 120 which was both men and women) went to the upperroom and remained there praying until the Holy Ghost fell on day 10. We know they spoke in other tongues and fire rested on top of their heads! The Holy Ghost gave the Apostle Peter and the rest of the 120 to share the gospel which is talked about in the book of Acts and when Peter preached his first sermon, 3,000 people got saved! Also when the Holy Ghost was poured out on the earth, that's when the Church was born! God used the Apostle Peter and John to do great things such as healing a lame man from the gate called Beautiful and Peter's shadow healed people too. It even got to the point that Ananias and Sapphira for lying to the Holy Spirit and fell dead before everyone in front of the Apostle Peter! Whew! The only other leader in the Bible people fell dead in front of was Moses in the Old Testament! Now we're in the book of Acts 12 where Herod Agripa 1 (son of Herod Antipas and grandsons of Herod the Great) is king over Israel and he had tons of hatred against God's people. It was during the feast of Unleavened Bread that Herod Agripa 1 put James brother of John the Beloved/Revelator to death and had the Apostle Peter unjustly in prison! I know right? Here's another unjust incarceration that's going on and Herod's intention was to bring him out to the people during Passover on trial! But despite that happening, God's people prayed earnestly for the Apostle Peter's release! Then Herod Agripa 1 was about to bring him out and it was late at night with the Apostle Peter being fast asleep! Isn't that something? Why is that significant that Peter was sleeping? Some people think that he was physically tired and needed rest while others believed that God gave him peace despite what was going on. Either way he was sleeping and as he was resting, the body of Christ continued earnestly praying for him. Then God sent an angel from heaven and the shekinah glory of God shone in the prison and smote Peter on the side! (Side note the prison guards also were asleep along with Peter!) Then Peter woke up probably in shock and the angel said. "Get up quickly!" The chains fell off Peter's wrists and was told to take off his prison clothes and wear his regular clothes. Then the angel told Peter to follow him and as that was going on, the prison guards and everyone else in the prison remained asleep! Then as the angel and Peter walked from prison into the city late at night, then the angel disappeared! Then Peter realized it was God that sent His angel to deliver him and walked over to the house where the prayer meeting was going on! He knocked on the door and Rhoda realized it was Peter and told everyone that Peter was at the door! But nobody believed her until they actually the door and realized what Rhoda said was true! Then the Apostle Peter told them to hold their peace and tell others he escaped and Peter went to an unknown place. Then the next day Herod Agripa 1 went to the prison to get him out and searched all over town but Peter wasn't found which made him furious! Then Herod motioned for the prison guards to be executed as a result of Peter's absence! Then Herod Agripa 1 was dressed in his royal robes and he spoke to the people and they believed it was God speaking through him not man! The same angel that rescued Peter from prison was the same angel that came down and killed Herod Agripa 1 because he refused to glorify God! Not only did Herod Agripa 1 die a brutal public death, he was eaten by worms! Gross! But that's what happens when you mess with God's children and Herod had to suffer the consequences for his actions for that! Isaiah 54:17 says "No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Any tongue that shall rise against you shall be condemned for this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord". Ladies God worked a miracle in Peter's life when it seemed like his enemies were plotting to destroy him. Ladies I don't know what you're facing but to let you know that God has the final say even in the face of your enemies. I also want you to know that our God is a Deliverer and chain breaker and can deliver you, me, or our loved ones from anything we find ourselves in. If God did it for Peter He can do it for us. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Lessons From John The Baptist". Who is John the Baptist? Well he was born to a godly old couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth. Who were his parents? Luke 1 addresses his parents story how his dad Zechariah was a priest and a descendant of Aaron Moses's brother. But he and his wife were old and battled with infertility struggles for many years. But God sent Angel Gabriel to tell Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would bare a son and call him John! Gabriel told Zechariah that his son would prepare Israel for the coming of the Messiah! Wow! But sadly Zechariah didn't believe Gabriel and was mute for nine months until Baby John would be born! Whew! (Side note at least Gabriel didn't kill Zechariah on the spot because there were different times when people disrespected God or angels that they died on the spot!) When Elizabeth was six months pregnant with John, teenage Virgin Mary visited her house and John got baptized in the Holy Ghost that caused for him to leap for joy! Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months after she received her encounter with Angel Gabriel! (More details about that are for a blog for another time.) Nine months to Baby John was born and he was to be circumcised, it was time to name the baby. People told Elizabeth to name him after his father but Zechariah wrote on a tablet saying "His name is John." Suddenly Zechariah was able to talk and prophecy over his sons future. What happened to Zechariah and Elizabeth after John's birth? It's likely they probably didn't live very long and probably died. Some believe that the Essenes (a group of Jews who sought the Lord) may have taken him in to take care of him. We know that John the Baptist for a time lived in the wilderness in isolation or with the Essenes until he appeared publicly to Israel. What was God doing in John the Baptist's life in the wilderness? Perhaps giving him revelation of who God was on a deeper level, clarity on John the Baptist's calling, and perhaps God telling him about his Nazarite vow and what he was to do and not do. (Side note John the Baptist along with the prophet and judge Samuel and Samson were the three men in the Bible from the moment they were born until they died were commanded to keep their Nazarite vow. Nazarites couldn't eat grapes, raisins, touch dead things, and never to cut their hair. Also don't confuse Nazarite from Nazarene because Christ was a Nazarene not a Nazarite!) Also during the wilderness, it could be that God showed him Israel's true spiritual condition, warn about the coming wrath, and ultimately to let John know the Messiah was on His way! When John the Baptist and His cousin/Lord and Savior Jesus Christ were thirty years old, they publicly appeared to Israel. You ladies can read about it in Matthew 3, Luke 3, and John 1 that records the words that John the Baptist spoke to the Jews. Many people who were lost came to hear John the Baptist preach about repentance and many gave their lives to the Lord. After people confessed their sins and got saved, John ordered for them to be baptized in water. That's why he's called John the Baptist! (Side note in addition to him baptizing people, John the Baptist also was a prophet too.) Then the Pharisees came to John the Baptist and he publicly rebuked them to urge them to repent too. He also said any tree that doesn't bare fruit would be cut down and tossed into the fire and he confronted the Pharisees from their hypocrisy! Then our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came forward to be water baptized but John told him it wasn't right to do so. But Christ told him he needs to baptize him so John baptized Him! What a wonderful example that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did even though He never sinned, He did that to be an example for us His people! How much more should we Christians be water baptized because Christ our Lord did it first? Anyhow, when Jesus got baptized, heaven opened up and God the Father said. "This is My beloved Son with who I'm well pleased". When Christ got water baptized, not only did heaven open up but it was the start of Christ's public ministry. After Jesus forty days of testing in the wilderness, (with Him fasting, praying, and being tempted by the devil) He commissioned His first male disciples Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew, Philip, and Nathaniel. Those were the first male disciples that followed Jesus and got into full-time ministry. (There were five other male disciples such as Thomas, Thaddeus, James the younger, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot who got saved and got into full-time ministry. Jesus also had female disciples, friends, and ministers whose names were Mary Magdalene, Joanna wife of Cuza, Salome, Mary mother of James the younger and Joses, and Susanna.) As Jesus' ministry grew, it got more popular than John the Baptist's ministry! But John said. "He must increase I must decrease". So John though he had a following wasn't intimidated or jealous that Christ's ministry got more popular than his! What a powerful lesson right there for ministers today not to be jealous or in competition with someone else's ministry especially these days! Afterall John the Baptist was to prepare Israel for Christ and his job was fulfilled! But that became a threat to others of his day and because John the Baptist confronted Herod Antipas (Son of Herod the Great who threatened to kill Baby Jesus and Antipas is the father of Herod Agrippa 1 who put the Apostle Peter in prison mentioned in Acts 12) for having an ungodly marriage, he put John the Baptist unjustly in prison! That brings me to the main point of this blog. Ladies, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who a relative and someone He cared about in prison! That's a comforting thing for me to know especially now because I have someone that I care about right now who's unjustly incarcerated and I would encourage you ladies to keep praying for his precious person along with me. I can imagine how challenging that must have been for John the Baptist who passionately followed the will of God and it brought him to a place he didn't expect to find himself unjustly incarcerated. Ladies I've been writing blogs throughout this month about many people in the Bible who were incarcerated such as Paul and Silas, Samson, and Joseph the prime minister in the Old Testament! (I'll be sharing about the Apostle Peter being unjustly incarcerated in another blog.) Matthew 11 mentioned that John the Baptist sent messengers to talk to Jesus and to give John the Baptist an update on what's going on in Jesus' life and ministry. Jesus told the messengers to tell John the Baptist that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Jesus then said. "Blessed are those who are not offended because of Me!" I can imagine that John the Baptist in prison probably wrestled with doubts, questions, and prayed to God wondering if he did the right thing and would he ever get out of prison. Well as time went on that Herod Antipas kept John unjustly incarcerated until the time of his birthday. This is mentioned in Matthew 14 when Herod Antipas's wife's teenage daughter Salome (This Salome was a different Salome and not the same Salome who was a female disciple, friend, and Aunt of our Lord Jesus. There are two different Salome's one a relative of Herod Antipas and the other the mother of James and John the beloved, wife of Zebedee, younger sister of the Virgin Mary, and Aunt of Jesus as well as one of His female disciples and friend.) danced in a provocative way that pleased Herod Antipas and he asked her what she wanted. Salome had a conversation with her mom and then told Herod Antipas that she wanted John the Baptist's head on a platter! Herod Antipas instead of standing up for truth, he cared about his families opinion rather than doing what's right and he did the unthinkable. He sent people who killed John the Baptist in prison and had his head on a platter exactly what Herodias and her teenage daughter Salome wanted! Isn't that horrible? How did John the Baptist's life on earth end? He didn't live to see old age, he never married nor had children, nor did he see Jesus His cousin, Savior, and Lord die on the cross, rise again, and ascend into heaven! No he lived and died as a single man unjustly incarcerated and got martyred in prison too. What is a martyr? Someone who dies for the cause of Christ. I'm sure that's not the life that John the Baptist thought he'd have and even though he lost his life in earth he gained an eternal reward in heaven. Not only that, he got to reunite with his beloved parents Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth in heaven as well as be with the Father, angels, and other Old Testament saints who died before him! Ladies I'm sure all of us can think of times in life when things didn't go the way we planned. Maybe you lost a loved one, had an unexpected diagnosis, a wayward son or daughter, you or someone lost a job, prolonged singleness, (what I'm currently dealing with) infertility struggles, or having a loved one justly or unjustly incarcerated (like what I'm going through right now) and you're wondering where is God. Maybe you've prayed the same prayer either things have remained the same or things got worse instead of better. I want you ladies to remember John the Baptist. His life went from bad to worse but he still remained faithful to God though it led him to being unjustly incarcerated and martyred for his faith! I'm not saying that your life ladies will wound up like John the Baptist's but the question is will we follow Jesus no matter what even if it cost us people's approval, even if it means standing for truth even if it means standing alone? Will we trust God and love God even when life gets difficult instead of falling away from Him? Those are things to think about and examine about our lives as Christians. But we must remember that following Jesus doesn't mean that life will be easy or that our prayers being answered in the way we want. But it does mean that God will give us grace and will help us navigate through the difficult seasons of life. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies and hope this blog encouraged y'all. Another important point continue to pray for me and pray for my friend who's unjustly incarcerated to be released and God to vindicate them. Blessings to each of you ladies and your families and have a blessed week.

Hi ladies it's me again, happy Lord's day, and happy Father's Day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well especially on today. Even though this is a virtual women's ministry I do want to acknowledge the fathers, grandfather's, spiritual fathers, stepfathers, godfather's, and spiritual fathers wishing them a happy Father's Day! To my dad, brother-in-law, my uncle's, cousins, godfather and other fathers We thank you and bless y'all. I know for some this day is a happy day while for others this day is a hard day. It may be hard because you ladies lost your father, maybe you or someone you know grew up fatherless, (A friend of mine as well as gospel artist Kirk Franklin and Christian rapper Lecrae grew up fatherless too) or maybe your earthly father was abusive. Perhaps fathers have a wayward son or daughter they are praying to come back to Christ, perhaps you ladies or fathers have adult kids that live far away, maybe a father lost his job, or maybe adult children have a complicated relationship with their father. Another factor to consider is maybe children whether they're minors or adults have a stepfather. It's believed that one out of four children will have a stepparent at some point. It could be because of divorce and remarriage, widowhood and remarriage, or a never married single mom chooses to get married (That's the case for a friend of mines never married single mom got married to a godly widower three years ago causing him and his younger brother to have a stepdad) which is called a "blended family". While some may have a good relationship with their stepfather others may also have a complicated relationship with their stepfather. I'm sure many of you ladies or fathers looking at this probably can relate to one or several of these scenarios of different challenges of your encounter with fatherhood. What I mean by that is ladies maybe your encounter with your father or your kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews encounter with their father or your encounter with your father was positive or negative: also referring to men who are fathers or fathers with children who had positive or negative experiences with that. But the beautiful thing is that we Christians know that we have a Heavenly Father who's greater than our brokenness who loves us unconditionally and we Christians are part of the family of God because of Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross. I love how worship artist Chris Tomlin has a beautiful song called You're a "Good Good Father" and what a beautiful worship song that honors our Lord. Speaking of God we know He's God the Father and let's not forget to honor Him too since He's the Father of fathers! Another beautiful worship song by anointed worship band called "Hillsong" who sings a song called "I Am Who You Say I Am". That song reminds us Christians that we are God's children and reminds us also about God's unconditional love. If you're ready this today maybe your father is deceased, abusive, absent, you have a good relationship with your dad or a complicated relationship with your dad, remember God as your Heavenly Father. Let God also heal the wounds of your heart that happened because of your earthly father and may God fill in those gaps as well too. If there's a single mom or divorced mom out there, I pray that God puts a godly man whether it's your husband or some other godly male figure who will be a good role model for your children as well. I pray that those kids will come to know God as well too. I'd also like to encourage those who have a stepfather I pray that you have a good relationship with your stepfather and for fathers and mothers with wayward children I pray that they come back to their Heavenly Father soon. I want to take the time to congratulate my dad for being a grandfather this past year and has two grandsons Abraham who's now a year old and Baby Moses who's just days old! I also want to take the time to honor my beautiful, God-fearing, bold like a lion, wise, and loving godfather who I appreciate so much. He's like a "bonus father" to me who's been such a blessing to me especially has walked with me through the hard times and understanding our Lord's heart. If there's any other "godfathers" out there or "fathers in the faith", we honor you as well too. A father in the faith is like the Apostle Paul who "never had biological children" but mentors God's children. I believe in the body of Christ we don't honor fathers in the faith as we should do I wanted to mention that. I want to say today is a good day I got to spend time with my Heavenly Father in prayer this morning, lead worship at my church "New Life Assembly Of God Church" Sunday morning, and got to spend time with dad and extended family members afterwards. I pray that you ladies reading this enjoy your day with family and most of all in the Lord. As we honor our fathers, stepfathers, grandfather's, godfathers, and spiritual fathers, let's not forget to honor God our Heavenly Father and do you ladies remember "The Lord's Prayer?" The first words of the prayer are our Father who is in heaven! Jesus died on the cross to put us back in right standing with Father God! Let's also remember that today ladies and gentlemen as well as everyday. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, happy Father's Day, and have blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog and it's called "Joseph Prisoner To Palace". This is another blog sharing about prison awareness. Now I know many of you ladies know the story of Joseph as well as many Christians in the body of Christ. His story is mentioned in the book of Genesis 37,39-50 which take up the rest of the book! We know that Joseph had ten older brothers whose names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, (sons of Leah) Dan, Naphtali, (sons of Rachel's servant Bilhah) Gad, and Asher (sons of Leah's servant Zilpah)! That means that Jacob known as Israel has his sons from four wives sisters Rachel and Leah, and was married to Bilhah (Rachel's servant) and Zilpah (Leah's servant) which meant that Joseph grew up in a blended family. Joseph and his younger brother Benjamin were the two sons that were born to Rachel making Joseph the second youngest while Benjamin was the youngest. (Also Israel and Leah had a daughter named Dinah causing Leah to have six boys and one girl!) As y'all know Israel gave Joseph the coat of many colors which caused his brothers (except Benjamin) to be jealous of him. Joseph's ten older brothers understood what the coat of many colors meant. That was given to the favored son which meant that son would also have an inheritance. Now in those days the oldest child got the inheritance and because Joseph was the second youngest son, the brothers felt that Reuben should have gotten the coat of many colors but that didn't happen! To make matters more complicated, Joseph was the favorite son of Israel causing there to be more turmoil in the house. (The reason why he favored Joseph was because he deeply and romantically loved Joseph and Benjamin's mother Rachel. It's not surprising that Leah's six sons, Bilhah's two sons, and Zilpah's two sons were jealous because of that!) Then Joseph had dreams in the night about him being a great leader and his brothers and dad bowing down to him. He also dreamed that the sun and moon bowed to him too. He made a big mistake by telling his ten older brothers who hated him his dreams and their hatred grew worse towards him! Whew! Then his older ten brothers (not Benjamin the youngest) plotted to kill Joseph but changed their mind to sell him as a slave. One day Joseph arrived at the field because he was a shepherd his older ten brothers took the coat of many colors and threw him to the pit. Then his older ten brothers took him out of the pit and sold him as a slave and he remained in Egypt for the rest of his life until he died! Whew! Joseph at seventeen years was kidnapped as a refugee in Egypt who never again got to return back to his hometown of Canaan! Then his older ten brothers did something really bad dipped his coat in blood, presented to their dad Israel, and lied that Joseph was dead! Lord have mercy! Didn't Joseph's ten older brothers have any form.of sympathy or remorse for their wicked actions? I get they didn't like their brother which every sibling has had one of their siblings get on their nerves but to do what they had done was absolutely horrible! Israel mourned for many years and believed that Joseph was dead while Joseph worked as a slave at Potiphar's house for a season. Joseph had to rely on the Lord on a greater level going through all of that but God gave him favor despite his brutal circumstances! Joseph not only learned to depend his relationship with the Lord, he learned how to work hard, and how to serve which produced humility! He worked under Potiphar as a slave for a time and things went well until Potiphar's wife lusted after Joseph. Joseph refused to get intimate with her and unjustly got incarcerated! Some people believe he was there possibly for twelve years maybe shorter! Isn't that insane? He was wrongly incarcerated for doing the right thing! But strangely though God gave Joseph favor with prison warden. The warden put Joseph in charge of the prisoners which likely would have made Joseph a jail administrator! Joseph had a job while he was unjustly incarcerated! (Unjust incarceration is a real thing and there's someone I know going through that right now. I shared a previous blog about it and continued prayers for this friend of mine, for me, and his loved ones would greatly be appreciated! It's my prayer for him to be released in a timely manner.) Then the butcher and the baker were put in prison and they had dreams in the night! The butcher dreamed that three branches budding riped as grapes and them into a cup. That dream meant that Pharaoh would restore the butcher back to his office! The baker had a dream there were three baskets with food in it and birds eating it! That dream meant that in three days that Pharaoh would hang the baker! Additionally Joseph asked the butcher to remember him when he got restored to Pharaohs house but the butcher sadly forgot him! But despite that, Joseph pressed on to his relationship with the Lord and continued working hard as a jail administrator. As he continued being faithful as a jail administrator, Pharaoh had a dream about seven fat cows with seven skinny cows and seven fat ears being devoured by seven thin ears. Pharaoh asked for the magicians to interpret his dreams but they couldn't then the butcher remembered Joseph! Then Pharaoh sent his servants to where Joseph was forcing him to resign his jail administrator job to be brought before Pharaoh! Pharaoh told Joseph his dream and God gave Joseph the interpretation that the dreams meant seven years of plenty and seven years of famine! Pharaoh promoted Joseph as prime minister and when that happened Joseph was thirty years old! Wow! In addition to that, Joseph got married to Asenath and they had two sons named Manasseh and Ephraim during the seven years of plenty was going on! Joseph invested wisely financially and put enough crops to the side to prepare for the famine. Joseph understand the importance of planning ahead something we can learn to do! Finally the famine happened not only in Egypt but also in Canaan and all throughout the then known world! Joseph's ten older brothers Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher traveled down to Egypt to buy food and they bowed in front of Joseph! But they didn't recognize him while Joseph knew who they were! Joseph asked them a ton of questions to test and see if their character changed or not. I can only imagine how challenging that must have been for Joseph to have dealt with and remembered the ones responsible for what happened to him. Eventually Joseph revealed himself to them and his younger brother Benjamin and they were stunned to see him! Joseph's ten older brothers asked Joseph to forgive them for what they've done and Joseph did so. Later Israel Joseph's father traveled down to Egypt and him and Joseph joyfully reunited after twenty or so years of being apart from each other! I imagine they laughed, cried, kissed each other, and gave each other a monster hug! Joseph provided for his aging father Israel, his brothers, and their households and they lived in Goshen. Joseph not only was able to feed his wife, two sons, his dad, brothers, and extended family members, (His brother wives, children, possibly grandkids and great-grandkids) but also for the rest of Egypt and then known world at that time! Joseph got to reconcile with his father, brothers and his brothers households and they got to meet Joseph's wife and two sons. Their needs were taken care of despite the famine! Isn't that amazing how God works? God used what was meant for evil to turn around for Joseph's good! I don't know what you ladies are facing or what your past was like. Many of you I'm sure have endured alot in your past (as well as I) and wondered where was God in all of that. Maybe you experienced abuse, divorce, job loss, church hurt, betrayal, prolonged singleness, marriage issues, sickness, death of loved ones just to name some and those things brought scars into your lives. Give your pain to the Lord and let Him use your brokenness to not only heal you but to heal others. God can take what the devil meant for evil and turn it around for our good. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, enjoy the blog, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. The title blog that I'm writing for y'all today is "Lessons From Samson". For those of you ladies that may or may not know I addressed the life of Samson last week for Bible study and tonight about his life. His story is recorded in the book of Judges chapters 13-16 and it began that the Jews rebelled against the Lord and the Philistines oppressed them for 40 years! The number 40 is an important number because there were incidents in the Bible where the number 40 showed up. On Noah's ark, it rained 40 days and 40 nights, the Jews were in the wilderness for 40 years, and Jesus fasted, prayed, and tempted by the devil for 40 days. Jesus also was on earth for 40 days after He died and rose again before He ascended back to heaven prior to the descent of the Holy Ghost. (This wasn't the first or last time that the Jews rebelled against the Lord which was a pattern throughout the book of Judges. This wasn't the first or the last time that the Jews had a problem with the Philistines especially when David faced Goliath the giant Philistine later on!) Going back to the story of Samson the Jews were oppressed for forty years and cried out to the Lord to help them. Among the people who cried out to the Lord was Manoah and his wife who were a godly couple but they were barren. In our day we call that infertility struggles and they weren't the first or last couple in the Bible who had infertility struggles. (Other godly couples in the Bible were Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Hannah and Elkanah, the Shunamite woman and her husband, and Elizabeth and Zechariah the priest in the New Testament had infertility struggles too.) Then a messenger from heaven appeared and told Samson's parents that they'll have a child and gave instructions what not to do. His parents were told not to cut his hair, eat grapes, raisins, or touch dead things because he was to be a Nazarite all the days of his life! There were two other men in the Bible such as Samuel (son of Hannah and Elkanah) the prophet and judge and John the Baptist the forerunner for Christ who were Nazarites and were ordered to keep that vow when they were born until they died. The word Nazarite "means to consecrate" not to be confused with Nazarene because Christ was a Nazarene not a Nazarite like John the Baptist! Then Manoah and his wife offered a sacrifice causing the messenger of heaven to go up in the flames! (Side note some believe it could have been Christ Himself that talked to Samson's mother because the angels name wasn't given. Christ did appear to people in the Old Testament but that's for another blog!) Anyhow Samson was conceived after his parents were barren which is so cool. But as Samson got older that's when things drastically changed. Some wonder why did Samson become rebellious? Could it be because he got made fun of as a kid or teenager because he didn't fit in? Could it be because he wanted to make friends or tired of being "the good boy?" Either way he asked his parents to get a Philistine wife for him when he became a young adult and that was his first big mistake. The Jews understood and were warned by the Lord not to marry pagans not because of racism but because God knew that marrying a pagan could potentially turn their hearts from Him. (We know that happened to King Solomon who had 700 wives and 300 concubines and they sadly turned his heart from the Lord.) It was when Samson prepared for marriage a lion roared at him and the Holy Spirit gave him the grace to kill the lion without a sword! Then he ate the honey from the lions carcass and gave some to his parents! That was the first time he touched a dead thing but that was his second compromise. Those compromises he did opened the door to living a life of compromise instead of living a consecrated life. Then Samson proceeded to marry the woman not knowing he was setting himself up for trouble. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:14 warns not to be unequivocally yoked with unbelievers and asks what do Christians and nonChristians have in common. Samson didn't think about that at all when he should have fallen in love and married a godly woman instead! (I guarantee you that a godly woman would have done the opposite to what Samsons wife and other ungodly women he fell for did. She would have encouraged him to love God, lead Israel, and defeat his enemies!) He told her and the Philistines a riddle that it took awhile to get during their wedding time. Then the Philistines became vengeful and the father of Samson's wife gave her over to another man! Whew! Then the Philistines burned alive by fire Samson's former wife and her father thus Samson's revenge on the Philistines began. The Bible says that he judged Israel for twenty years but some of the people didn't like him though. Some of the Jews tied him up and handed him over to the Philistines. But Samson broke free from the ropes tied on him and used a donkeys jawbone to kill many Philistines! Ladies he touched another dead thing something he wasn't supposed to do but strangely God allowed him to kill off many Philistines! That shows God's grace and mercy right there. Sadly Samson continued to compromise by first dating a unnamed prostitute and the Philistines threatened to kill him! But Samson awoke and carried the gate outside and destroyed those who wanted to destroy him! But then Delilah showed up whose name means "to weaken". Another thing is that Delilah had a "seducing spirit". She used her beauty, intelligence, and flattery to try to get Samson to reveal the secret of his strength. She tied him him with bowstrings and ropes and declared to him the Philistines were upon him! Samson broke off both of those things causing him to be a "trickster" (as many men have that gift lol) and she asked again what his secret to his strength was. Then he told her to untie his seven braids on his hair to the point he had straight long hair and she warned him that the Philistines were upon him! Again he tricked her and she nagged him to tell her the secret to his strength. Let me make another important point. Delilah didn't ask it because she truly wanted to know she did it with the intention to share it with the Philistines to destroy him! I don't know about you ladies but that should have been a "red flag". Delilah had ungodly character traits such as her being a Philistine/ nonChristian, (his other women lovers were Philistines and nonChristians too) she was a seducer, manipulator, flatterer, and a traitor. Red flags should have gone off in his mind about falling in love with a woman like that period! Just because someone is good looking doesn't mean they have character! Proverbs 31:30 says "Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised". (Side note we ladies need to be aware just because a guy is good looking doesn't mean he has character. It also doesn't mean that we should date or marry him either but rather marry a man who's godly, has character, and is hard working.) Samson lacked discernment, he didn't take a step back to think about the consequences of his actions, he didn't learn from his previous romantic relationships, and worse yet he didn't seek the Lord in prayer about his choices. Another mistake is he had an "emotional bond" with Delilah and I want to say that emotional bonds are powerful. Parents can bond with children, close friends can bond, family members can bond with each other, significant others, (whether boyfriend, girlfriend, fiance, or spouse) and or us Christians bonding with our Lord. But a person must be careful not to emotionally bond with the wrong person because there's consequences for that. Forming a sexual bond or emotional bond can lead to ungodly soul ties to that are difficult to break off. Even though Samson didn't have sex with Delilah they were deeply in love which caused Samson to make the worst mistake of all. Samson finally told her the truth about cutting his hair and Delilah cut his hair while he slept! The wrong lover caused for Samson not only to cut off his hair but also cut off the power of God in his life! What do I mean by that? God gave Samson power through his hair which is why he was told to not cut it off! That reveals another big mistake that Samson made which caused to take the anointing and the power of God for granted! We Christians were given the Holy Spirit which helps activate the power of God in our lives and we better not take the Holy Spirit, the anointing, or God's power for granted. Samson woke up and knew not the Lord left him which is absolutely tragic. That made him prey to the devil and to the Philistines and Samson suffered severe consequences for what he had done. God allowed for the Philistines to capture him, gauge out his eyes, and put him in prison! Not only did Samson go to prison, he had to ground a mill in prison! I believe that God allowed that to humble Samson but after awhile Samsons hair grew back overtime! I believe that was God's grace and mercy again. The Philistines brought Samson out of prison, made fun of him, and had a feast to their false God's that they won or so they thought. Then Samson was leaning on the wall he cried out to the Lord to forgive him, asked for strength again and asked for vengeance on his eyes! God enabled Samson to push down the pillars with all his night and the walls fell on the evil people! God enabled Samson to kill more people during his death during his lifetime! Isn't that something? But ladies his story could have ended differently. Not only that his life could have been different too. What lessons can we learn? Number one seek the Lord before making major decisions especially in regards to marriage. Number two we must ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to live consecrated lives as Christians. Number three we must be aware and discern the attacks of the enemy and use our spiritual weapons to defeat him. Number four we must never take the anointing, our calling, or the Holy Spirit. Number five we must listen to godly counsel. Number six be careful who we form emotional bonds with, number seven remember our actions impact others, and number eight God can forgive and use our worst mistakes for His glory. Samson is another person in the Bible who went to prison but God brought him out! I guess it's the month to talk and write about life in prison! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.