Preparing For Battle

What if I died today? That is the question that I posed to myself during a church service one day. I began to think of the things that I have not yet done, places I haven’t been to, and people I haven’t met. Then I said to myself, “Wait, instead of thinking of what I would miss out on, if Jesus decided to come and take me today would I be ready?” That is when I began to realize that we, as disciples of Christ, are not prepared for battle. At the end of this post I will ask you a question that only you can honestly answer.

Let me first tell you this. As disciples of Christ we are called to join God’s army. We are his soldiers and he is the General of the army. In order to be part of this army we have to be the best soldiers that God wants us to be. We must be properly equipped! How can we fight in an army as great as God’s and not be properly equipped? Exactly, we cannot.

Right now we are not even fit to be fighting in God’s army. We claim that we are his soldiers but our spirits are completely malnourished. We claim that we are his soldiers but the edges of our swords of the Spirit are dull! If we want to fight in God’s army we have to stay nourished and our weapons must be sharpened to their best. In order to do that we need to fill our spirits with the word of God day in and day out. It must be something that is ceaseless! We cannot afford to not be in God 24/7. I urge you brothers and sisters, feed your spirit. FEED YOUR SPIRIT! Do not EVER let your spirit go hungry. That is what it is going to take to be a part of God’s army.

One thing that I’ll tell you right now is that the army of the enemy is always preparing. The enemy has their weapons sharpened and drawn. Believe me when I tell you that they are being well fed. Their goal is to exterminate our soldiers one by one. They want to diminish the army of God but we won’t allow it! Because they are always preparing we cannot give them even the slightest of chances to attack. We must stand firm as a whole, filled with the word of God. The power of God’s army is second to none. There is no one who will be able to overcome the power of God’s army!

I leave you with this question: Are you prepared for battle?

SN: Joel 2:11 says, “The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?”

Fight For Your Purity

Well-written post!

URBAN DISCIPLE

I had the privileged of finally attending the International House of Prayer-Kansas City (IHOP-KC)’s Onething Conference. I honestly couldn’t summarize my experience there. It’s one of those things you have to be there to fully understand.

For one of the sessions, Allen Hood was scheduled to teach, but before he started he had his 17 year old son come up on stage. His son started pouring his heart out about how he wants to see the youth at his high school transformed.

You know how believers get once they start talking: the Spirit takes over or they have a case of holy verbal diarrhea; went from 0 to 100, real quick! Before we knew it, ‘Lil Hood’ was talking about saving the goods: he was waiting for his wife! In today’s society, it is remarkable, that at a young age, he was thinking about purity and respecting the covenant of…

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Discipline

First of all, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year! This is my very first post of the new year. I am sure that a number of you have made resolutions that you each hope to stick to. “I want to be less angry this year”, “I will get right with God this year”, “I won’t fall into that same temptation anymore”. Regardless of what your resolution may be, the basis of sticking to your resolutions and anything in life in general, is discipline. I know many of my readers have resolutions of getting right with God this year but how exactly can we go about this?

Here are a few steps of discipline to help us all throughout the year:

1. Discern between what you want to do and what you should do. When making decisions throughout the year, think about what will be pleasing to God first and foremost. If it is not pleasing to God then don’t do it, simple. We must not think about what we want or try to do things our own way before consulting with God. Who are we serving? Ourselves or God? Do the right thing!

2. If you say you’re going to do something, then do it. A lot of us have said in the past, “This year I’m going to stop doing this and that” or as I previously stated, “I will get right with God this year”. How many times have we said it and actually followed through? Make this year the year that you actually follow through with your resolutions and whatever else you do. If you want to get right with God, that is what it takes so do not waiver. Continue to practice following through with your actions and you will become closer to God. A top athlete trains to be the best that they can be in whatever they do. They practice and follow through, resulting in success. If we as believers can practice and follow through, just imagine the potential relationship we can have with God!

3. Keep away from people/things that can cause you to waiver. If you need to get rid of those couple of friends who will cause you to waiver and be off track, then do so. If you can’t see them as beneficial in your discipline with Christ and with anything else then why keep them around? That good-for-nothing boyfriend or girlfriend that keeps bringing negativity to your life is a hindrance. If there is anything that you do that has no benefit in your discipline with Christ and with anything else, then why keep doing it? You will have to make a choice. Keep people/things that will make you falter or get rid of those things and watch your growth as you progress throughout the year.

If we truly want this year to be a year of growth, we must discipline ourselves. Focus on God and you will never go wrong; He will see it all through if you just try! Believe that! God bless.

SN: Hebrews 12:11 – “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Being a Better You Through Christ

Let me pose a few questions to all you readers. How can you become a better you through Christ? What exactly do you have to do to be at your best? Why should you want to be your best? Think about these questions as you read this post. I will be talking about different ways in which you can become a better you through Christ and why you should want to be your best.

There are various things that we could do in order to become better individuals through Christ but I will only name two in this post.

One way is by removing those unnecessary things/individuals in your life. Let me give you an example. As a man/woman who is in a relationship with someone who is disloyal, deceitful, and lustful, why would you choose to stay with him/her? Those three traits just scream negativity and you do not need that in your life! Titus 3:10 says, “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.”. You do not want to keep something/someone in your life if it/they are hindering you from being a better you through Christ! Only seek what is best for you and what will keep you in Christ!

The second thing that we can do in order to become better individuals through Christ is simply doing what God wants us to do, not what we want to do. So often we want to do our own thing. How often have you said to yourself in the back of your mind, “Ok, I’m in college and I’m young so I’m going to do what I want to do right now. I can get right with God after I’m done doing me.” OR “I can be right with God later, let me live my life “.? When thinking in this way, we do not realize that we are basically pushing Christ to the side! How can we be so selfish? Just think about it, when we think like this we are only thinking about ourselves and what we want to do! 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” Our lives belong to God so we should be living for God, not ourselves! Let that resonate!

Let me tell you why we should want to be better through Christ.

This past Sunday I attended church and there happened to be a guest preacher who preached about being better, the basis of my post. At the end of the service, he got really personal with us. In September of this year, his cousin passed away after being sick for some time. I believe that she was only in her 40s. Her 40s. That is just too young. In October of this same year, the guest preacher told us that he lost his 27 year old sister. She was shot in the head by an ex boyfriend and her life was gone, just like that with four children left behind without a mother. What am I trying to tell you all through this?

We should not wait to change for the better through Christ. Why wait? Why not be better now? A lot of us say how we do not want to regret not doing things that we want to do in our lives, so we try to have as much fun as possible doing our own things. Let me tell you something. This life that we live is temporary while the life in heaven is eternal. Instead of regretting not doing things that we want to do in our lives, let us live for God so that we do not regret that instead.

Let us BE BETTER!

SN: Matthew 7:21 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Sin: Friend or Foe?

Sin is that “friend” who back stabs you. You think you guys are cool now and are good friends until it shows it’s true nature. You realize that sin is NOT your friend and only want to see downfall.All it wants is to completely destroy your life and hinder you from everything good. But you know who is your friend? A friend that will never back stab you? A friend that will pull you up in time of tribulation?
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We want Him to be our best friend. Surround yourselves with like-minded THINGS and PEOPLE. People who want to be best friends with Jesus Christ as well. Because sin is death. Realize that sin is death and that you don’t want to be cool with sin anymore.
Matthew 5:30 says “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast in hell.”

Sin is death. Point. Blank. Period.

An introduction: What’s 9+10?

I am extremely thankful to God for allowing me to see another year. It’s important to always give God the glory, which I try my best to do at all times. Today, I am more grateful than ever because 21 is such a momentous age. There are so many people who did not make it to even see 21. I’m just grateful that I am alive and able. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. To God be the glory!

SN: Prayers up, be thankful in all things!