A Sinner’s List: Seeking Forgiveness (Insight from Billy Graham, inspired by the Holy Spirit)

                               

Beloved, as I thought about what I would write for this day, being (March 15, 2014) concerning relationships, I really did not know what I would write to finish off a week of relational posts directed to marriage. So, I went into my drafts and found this one, I started some time ago, and like money saved away for a rainy day, is this great wealth of insight from Billy Graham. With that said, I now invite you into my HEART...

The Marriage Bed: Husbands, let it not become corrupted

There’s no getting around it. In this day and age, the statement “I do” has been so undervalued and abused and I speak from experience, that marriage is seen as a joke, and it has become such a perverted, misconstrued notion, where fidelity, holiness and purity are relative—you uphold it, you don’t uphold it, what’s the bid deal! This has been the evidence and witness of marriage today and its plastered all over the news headlines, the magazine racks by the grocery store checkout, as well as in the Church. There must be hope still and indeed there is. But where does this hope come from and where is this defining order and harmony to such a holy union? With that said, I now invite you into my HEART...

Cleansing feet: A mans reasonable pursuit of his bride to be

This washing of the Word is not some reciting of scripture written in the Holy Bible. It is a Person you experience and then extend to others. Let the man who experiences the Word of God Himself, share Him with the woman who he is pursuing. With that said, I now invite you into my HEART...

Emulating God in our relationships

Beloved, it seems more and more God has me to speak concerning relationships, and I rejoice in this. Why? Because all of life is relational. However, the greatest of relationships is not human-to-human, but God-to-human. If we would only embrace this and witness it being our truth and our joy and our strength, all other relationships will experience the love of God. With that said, I now invite you into my HEART...

An honoring Conversation: Jesus at the center of it all

“Jesus is not like any other friend we may encounter over the course of our lives. His friendship is MONUMENTAL. His love for us isn’t a mere shared interest—It’s an Eternal Investment into our lives, our futures, our Salvation and our personal relationship with God Himself!” —F. Lugo

Beloved, this post is inspired by a conversation between Mishel Estrada and myself via text messages concerning my love language “Words of Affirmation” and the monumental breakthrough Jesus Christ brought into our relationship. It’s my hope and my prayer, that this personal and intimate conversation will spark into the minds and hearts of others especially in relationships, to look to Jesus, who facilitates honor among the sexes and reveals how to love someone respectfully with all your heart, mind, body and soul. With that being said, I now invite you to see this conversation unfold that brought happiness into our HEARTS...

The Golden Rule: Jesus was speaking to our hearts and not to the one to the right and left of us

The above illustration, points out a very honest depiction—It shows the perspective of two peoples. Many times our perspectives can be misconstrued when we do not allow ourselves to be educated. Upon being educated, we will gain the right perspective and only then, can we truly experience growth and prosperity. 

Beloved, I confess to you, that I too, have many times looked at others with the wrong perspective, and came to my own conclusion without learning and knowing the facts. How wrong I am in those times, and I appeal to God’s grace and mercy to forgive me, and restore me to a proper perspective; a right perspective, in order to grow and experience the prosperity my soul longs for—a people being reconciled to God by experiencing His wonderful love that is only known in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen. With that being said, I now invite you, into my HEART...

To My Beloved: An Unveiling of A “New Thing”

YOU ARE FAVORED BY GOD AND DEARLY LOVED

My beloved Mishel, how I rejoice in the Lord to have had this awakening and that He has declared it so. On January 1, 2010 a great unveiling took place in my life. As I sat at your dinner table among your family and taking in the scene of celebration. I rejoiced to have been invited to be a part of celebration but greater than that, to be a part of your family even if it was for that night as we were just friends. With that being said, What God has unveiled to me concerning you, I now invite you into my HEART...

UNGODLY SOUL TIES

This phrase I have been hearing lately more and more concerning relationships, and this morning the Lord placed it into my heart to speak on the matter as He will shed light. Beloved, we are all called by God to do something of great significance and although everyone will not share the same enthusiasm or calling we do, that doesn’t mean those relationships are not birthed and ordained by God. You may not have the same calling, ministry, talents, gifts, skills or background but as long as you are heading towards the same direction; that is Jesus— You are on the right path. Amen.

Let’s begin by defining this phrase, “ungodly soul ties.”

You Are There... I Am Here: Relationships Strained Can Be Mended

Mended (Dictionary.com): To make (something broken, worn, torn, or otherwise damaged) whole, sound, or usable by repairing: to progress back towards recovery.

I think of you... Do you think of me?

I miss you... Do you miss me?

If only I could be with you... Do you want to be with me?

In my day, I heard your voice but it didn’t resonate with the person I knew. I heard your voice and it wasn’t the love I’ve known. I heard your voice... happiness in it. I heard your voice... a friends voice is it?

Your attention isn’t the same. Your time for me has gone away. Your embrace I no longer feel. Your face I no longer see.

When I’m before you it’s awkward. Before you it’s cold. Before you, I want to grab hold of you, but I won’t be so bold.

The opportunity was before me. The opportunity to be with you. Your voice said I’m in this with you, but my voice didn’t say the same to you.

You say “I do this only because I love you!” I know this, but inside I faint to respond back confidently the same to you.

You are there... And I am here.

I say to myself, if only you would reach out to me. If only I received word. If only I could hear that voice I know. If only I knew.

You were there for me, but I failed to be there too. You are still there for me... But, I hear a voice say, ‘you sure that’s true?’

How can I reach out to you? I reach out to you in here.

I know my words will be seen, and they are in my heart to be heard.

I feel so overwhelmed to be someone I don’t know.

I am scared but I know I’m not supposed to.

Will my tardiness in becoming who I’m supposed to be, have you taken away from me?

You are such a short distance away, and I want to run to you.

You are a quick call away, and yet I can’t seem to find my voice.

You’re close enough to touch, and yet I dare not to.

I don’t want to get consumed by a lie, but I only ask you to be here for me.

I need to take action; I want to take action, but I freeze up in fear.

You tell me “I believe in you” but I say, “I don’t believe in myself.”

You repeat I believe in you! If only my actions made that true.

You say again, I believe in you! This should motivate me to believe in myself.

 

You’ve said, I believe in you! Please help me to believe in myself.

You believe in me... And I believe in you.

I don’t want to believe the lie, because I want to believe the truth.

I believe (in my head), but help me with my unbelief (in my heart).

Beloved, I can only share with you what I know, have gone through or witnessed myself. In this time I’m struggling like I’ve never struggled before. I feel the choke hold of my enemy unlike before. My dreams are fading away, my relationship (from my end) is falling apart.

I wrote this, because I know we all can struggle in relationships and in our RELATIONSHIP with God.

Today I was reminded that God is near to us, we are dear to Him, He loves us, stands up for us, and will protect us. As I said I was reminded of that, but I know many of us know this in our mind, but fail to grasp it and live freely with it firmly planted in our hearts.

I also know many times, we experience such weakness that we don’t find the strength to do anything. But I believe, that when we experience that, we can call on God to strengthen us. We can call on God to help us. We can call on God to protect us. We can call on God to guide us. We can call on God to revive us, refresh us, to deliver us, and give us a new sense of purpose that leads to hope and a future.

The Word of God tells us, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

Just now, this verse in Scripture spoke to me in a whole new way. It opened up to me that saving, isn’t for a time to come later, but saving is for a time like NOW!

If we call on the Lord Jesus, we can be saved from our thoughts, from our actions... From our unbelief.

I wrote this because I know we can all be tricked into believing a lie. Although we want to be mighty men/women, we are susceptible to trickery; to lies.

So let us place our trust in God, not only for what we don’t know, but for what we know. Let us trust in God, not only for what we can’t do, but also for what we can do.

Let us not listen to the lie that doesn’t allow us to move forward because of what we did in the past, or those who said we couldn’t, or those who have experienced us failing. God is faithful and just!

Here is a seed of hope, of faith and love; a powerful promise from God, that I know we all need to have planted firmly in our hearts as well as our minds:

“If we confess our sins, he (God) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NIV emphasis added)

Sin, is simply missing the mark. Whatever promises and dreams we all have left behind, forgotten, gave up on, abandoned, stop believing God would get us to that dream; that promise.

Let us as the verse in scripture above invites us to do, confess it (whatever that may be) to God, and allow the moment of forgiveness and the process of rightly living again in God’s grace, to see our dreams and God’s promises, start to come to life in us all over again.

Beloved, I believe that when I was strong, God used my testimony to help you see He is strong. And I believe that as I am weak now, His testimony will help us all become strong again. Amen.

Here’s Jesus’ testimony to strengthen us all:

“Looking (gazing) unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured (pushed pass the pain) the cross, despising (disregarding) the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (obtaining the promise).” (Hebrews 12:2 NKJV emphasis added)


Beloved, I have to believe that all we do in this life isn’t by accident, and if that is true, then God dying on a Cross then we can live free isn’ by accident either. God knows our weakness, yet He still loves us. Let us live right in the light of His glory. Amen.

As always... YOU ARE LOVED.