"New Year, New Me"

Many people make New Year resolutions at the beginning of a New Year and the most common resolution is "New Year, New Me". People solemnly swear that they will not repeat the mistakes of the previous year, they will not fall victim to the deceptions of the previous year, and they will be so radically transformed that people who knew them before the New Year will be shocked at the changes. While all of this is good, in most cases, the people who make these resolutions only implement those changes for the first few weeks of the New Year. By the time February rolls around, the same people who swore how they will change will be back in the same destructive patterns of the former year. 

Why do these changes not last for the year or better yet, the remainder of the individual's life? The changes are not long-term changes because by our own power, we can only mask parts of our former selves. We don't truly change; instead, we suppress our habits and attempt to start fresh. As a result, while we might be able to live a "changed" life for a few weeks, the remnants of our old selves will always be around, ready to resurface at any given time. This is likened to putting on new clothes on top of dirty clothes. If you do not remove the dirty clothes first, you will still smell despite the new expensive designer clothes.  Only God can take us as we are, break us down, and mold us into His image and His likeness that we may fulfill the purpose He has given us. 

"But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You are our potter; And we are all the work of Your hand."- Isaiah 64:8 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!

By the special grace of God, we are in 2015! Happy New Year to you all! This year will be the best one yet as we walk with the Lord. He will order your steps and lead you to green pastures in Jesus name! Amen! To You alone, Oh Lord, be all the glory forever!

Yorkamazing <3
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TMV -Isaiah 43:19

"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert."

2014 Closing Remarks

Hello everyone,

I wanted to write this short post just to wish my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance. I pray that the joy and peace of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ fill your houses and hearts and remain with you into the new year. Wherever you find yourself at the end of 2014, I pray that you are content and may the year ahead be the best one yet. Thank you all for supporting this blog in 2014. I know that school keeps me preoccupied so I do not blog as often as I would want, but I thank everyone who has read anything I've posted online or has been printed in the newspaper Christian Entertainment News. The support and encouragement from people far and near has been overwhelming and I thank God for you all. You are appreciated.

 As we look forward to 2015, I want to encourage you all to sit before God in the remainder of this year and ask the Father what He requires from you in 2015 and what He Wills for your life. It is so important not to enter a new year without first hearing from God. This year I remember really needing to hear from God about a certain situation and the Holy Spirit ministered unto me using this verse.

"Then they said, "Ask God whether or not our journey will be successful." -Judges 18:5

This passage showed me the importance asking God about my tomorrow. When you think about it, it is the only logical thing to do. Why would anyone want to miss the opportunity of knowing tomorrow from the One Who WAS, Who IS, and Who IS TO COME? The Creator of ALL things holds ALL things in His hands and knows ALL things. You should ask God not only about where your journey is taking you, but also what things and people you should take on this journey.  It is also vital that you ask the Lord to equip you with the resources you will need along the journey. Going to God about your tomorrow is like going to the teacher and asking the teacher what is going to be on the exam that is coming up. Unlike the professors I have in school, God actually will reveal to you what is to come....if you ASK. He desires to let you in on the plans. The Scriptures tell us,

“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets"- Amos 3:7 

Against All Odds

Faith and trust have been the two words resonating in my heart lately. This is the scary question the Holy Spirit has been asking me: " FeeFe, when you say you trust My Will and you will thank Me for however the situation concludes, are you saying that because you really trust that I can do what I said I will do against all odds because My Will is perfect, or are you saying that because you've already given up and it is just a cover up to not expect Me to do the impossible?". To be honest, as the Holy Spirit questioned me, I had to go before God to really lay it all at His feet and when I say lay it all, the "all" includes all of my fears, all of my doubts, all of my insecurities. We cannot hide anything from God so He is teaching me to confess my trust issues to Him and to acknowledge that it's an area I am struggling with so that just like every other area of my life, His strength can be be made perfect in my weaknesses. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, the Word of the Lord says,"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (NIV) As christians we may at times feel we have to have it all together, but the power of God is activated in our weaknesses especially in circumstances where the odds are against us. It is in these moments when the sun is not shining, when the pain we feel may not be reflected by our social media statuses, when we smile though our heart is crying, that we need to remember the Word of the Lord and encourage ourselves with His promises. The Scripture tells us, 

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."-Hebrews 10:23

As I studied this Word tonight, the Lord began to minister to me that there are two players involved in the above Scripture. The first part of the verse starts with an instruction, "let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering." The "us" in the verse shows that the believer is the first player. Before God enters the picture, we must first be convinced of the faith we profess and confess. This conviction must be without wavering meaning we cannot have lukewarm faith that is hot one day and cold the next. How can we expect God to do the impossible, when our very faith in that God is unsure? The Word of God says "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation", (Romans 10:10). The power of what we declare with our mouth and the strength of the confession of our hope will be limited by the confidence we have in the God we serve.  When the odds are against you is not the time to lose confidence in God, but the time to hold fast your confidence in His power and in His capabilities. We are told in Hebrews 10: 35,

"Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward."- (NKJV)

Unapologetic

"Who can find a virtuous women, for her price is far above rubies"- Proverbs 31:10

The definition of worth that I want to lay emphasis on in this post is " having excellence of character or quality as commending esteem" and "usefulness or importance, as to the world, to a person, or for a purpose" (Dictionary.com) I've been sitting before God a lot lately, just me and my Bible, reading and one of the things that has been on my mind lately is worth and standards.When it comes to having standards, as children of the Most High God, we are to be unapologetic about them. Standards are not meant to be compromised. Do not allow the devil to shortchange you in life by offering you less than what you deserve in terms of friendships, relationships, and life goals. I heard someone say "You cannot complain about what you allow", and that phrase, along with countless other experiences this year, has really made me think about not just who I am, but more importantly, who God made me. It has made me stop and ask myself, "FeeFe, what do you allow in your life, and what are things you cannot compromise on?". I want to encourage you also to ask yourself those questions. One of the areas that God has really been teaching me about is the area of marriage and self worth. 

What Are Your Intentions?

When I started this year, I had a few goals in mind. There were things I wanted to accomplish physically, like prioritize my health and make heathy decisions throughout the year. I had financial goals which included learning how to save money and not buying every pair of shoes I see. I also had many spiritual goals, of which one was to be more intentional with my kindness. The scripture that God used to bring me to this goal is found in Philippians 2: 3-4. It says,

" Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others" (NKJV)

I always knew that God created me to be very sensitive to the needs of others. It's an innate nature that even when I do not feel like caring for others, I find that my conscience will hunt me until I finally cave in. The stronger I became in my walk with God, the more I realized that the conscience that hunts me is the Holy Spirit, who knocks at the door of my heart, prompting me to be more selfless and serve those that He has strategically placed around me. At the beginning of the year, God began taking me up a notch in my spiritual maturity. He then began to teach me that it's not enough to nice. Kindness must come from a pure heart and it must first be Christ-centered.  If your kindness is attached to conditions or has alternative motives behind it, then it is not pleasing unto God. The passage I shared in Philippians talks about not doing anything through selfish ambitions or conceit. Selfish ambitions may include things like "I will help you, but you owe me", or constantly reminding the person you helped of your good deed months or years later as a way to manipulate them or keep them indebted to you. Another example of selfish ambitions is making the whole world think you are a good person by broadcasting your good deeds that you may get the applause of people. The Bible tells us in Matthew6:3-4, 

"But when you do your giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gift may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you."( NET)

What we do for others, whether it is rendering them a service, providing financial assistance, giving them your time, or even praying for them, should be a private matter. We should help with the intention of serving Christ, not stroking our egos. "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men"-Colossians 3:23. Having pure intentions, especially in an age where social media makes showing off so easy,  is not always an easy thing, but as we mature in our Christian faith, we must be willing to allow the Holy Spirt to break us and mold us. The older you get in your walk with Christ, the more Christ-like you ought to be. He must increase, and you must decrease. (John3:30). God wants us to do good, but He desires that we do good consciously and be aware of our intentions and purpose. One of the ways to mature is to begin  evaluating the driving forces behind why we do the things we do. The Holy Spirit began giving me a series of questions to ask myself and He has taught me to evaluate my intentions with these questions:

1. If the person you are helping never says thank you, will you be okay with it? 
If the intentions behind our kindness is to serve Christ by serving people, we should not be bothered by whether or not the people we are serving appreciates or acknowledges the service. This goes back to Colossians 3:23 that tells us to serve with our whole heart, like we are serving God and not people. When we realize that our service is unto God, it becomes irrelevant whether or not we are thanked because the intention was to glorify God, not ourselves.

2. If no one will ever find out that you did this, will you still do this?
This question placed in my heart by the Holy Spirit deals with the scripture in Matthew 6:3-4. If your intentions for your help is to get public recognition, this question will reveal that. The Bible warns us about this. In Matthew 6:1 it says "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."  In the age of social media where people can "like" our deeds so easily on Facebook, we must check our hearts to know what our intentions are.

If we honestly answer these questions and the answer to them is "No", then we have to stop and go before God to work on our hearts. The Scripture tells us that as water reflects the face, so does the heart reflect the man (Proverbs27:2).  Answering "No" to any of the questions reveals that our heart is not pure and everything that is done for God must first come from a pure heart. In essence, God is more interested in the heart with which you give than the help or service you give. It serves you no purpose before God to serve others with unclean hands and heart because while the world may applaud you, you have not touched the heart of God. I constantly ask myself these questions before I write any of my blogs. When I sit to write, the Holy Spirit adds an additional question by asking me if I will still write even if what He instructs me to write is only read by one person. I have to first search my heart and know that I write to serve God, not to get personal fame. If it's for His glory, whether ten people read or one person reads should not be my worry. Why? Because" God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."-1 Samuel 16:7b

The old widow in the Bible had two pennies which she gave with all of her being at the same time many rich people gave millions out of pride and it was the two pennies that Jesus said pleased Him most. Why? Because it was given selflessly! (Luke21:1-4) In another example from the Scripture, Jesus tells us that if we are on our way to the alter to give an offering, and we remember that we have an issue with a brother, we should first go make peace with the person before proceeding to give our offering. (Matthew5:23-24).  This Word of God reveals that in the same way God doesn't want us serving with ill intentions, He doesn't want us offering Him anything with a heart that is not pleasing unto Him. Just as it's commanded to first go make peace with the person we have issues with before giving to God, we must first make peace within our hearts before serving others.  It is only when we can confidently say "Yes" to the questions above that we should proceed to serve others. The Holy Spirit is a teacher so if you find yourself struggling with your intentions, go before Him and ask Him to teach you how to be selfless in service. We may not be perfect, but we are asked to strive for perfection. As we strive to be and look more like Christ, God will give us grace. He is not a respecter of persons. As long as the desire is in you to be more Christ-like, God will supply the grace to do so, and the God that sees in private, will honor you publicly as His Word promises. Ask yourself today, why am I doing the things I am doing? What are my intentions? It is my earnest prayer that our intentions and our lives as a whole bring God the glory and not elevate us. Amen.

Yorkamazing <3

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T.M.V- 1 John 3:18

"My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth"

You Are Where You're Supposed to Be

"How precious are Your thoughts towards me, O God! How great is the sum of them!"-Psalm 139:17

Everyone comes to a point in their life when they stop and wonder how they got to where they are presently. For some, they wonder this in amazement because they know in their hearts that they have not made it this far in life without the grace of God. Others wonder with regret because somehow, with the course of time, they've found themselves  at a position in life today where they thought they should've been 10 years ago, or shouldn't have been at all. Well, whether you are among the first set of people who are perfectly okay with where they are today, or you are with the second half who have hoped for a better today, just know that you are where you are supposed to be. The thoughts of God towards you are good.

Today in Sunday School I learned about avoiding covetousness. Covetousness is looking at what others have and desiring it for your self. It is a fruit off of the tree of discontentment and greed that has been planted in our heart by ourselves. We volunteering choose to take our eyes off of the many things that God has blessed us with and jealously wander over at our neighbor. We purposely start to compare ourselves, our looks, bank account, social status, wives/husbands/children,  education, job, even the very number of people you have following you on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. When we do these things, we are coveting our friends and family and this is a sin before God. The Bible in the book of Exodus 20:17 says

"  You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor"-(NLT)

You have to come to a realization that God's plans for your life are good plans irrespective of your present circumstance. God did not create you to be someone else nor desire what someone else has. Even when God blesses a family with twins or other multiple births, each child is unique. I opened this writing up with Psalm 139:17 which says " How precious are Your thoughts towards me, O God! How great at the sum of them!". The interesting thing about this scripture is that right above it in Psalm 139:14 is the verse everyone knows which is, "I will praise You, for I am wonderfully and fearfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. " We are quick to spit out scriptures, but do we really believe God's Word? If you believe God's Words, have you gotten to the point where you believe God's Words for your life? David in Psalms spoke to God out of experience. He spoke with assurance that what God meant for him, was truly for him. He didn't say " How precious are Your thoughts towards them, O God", but he said towards me! When he praised God's marvelous works,  he didn't say "my parents know very well or my friends know very well, but rather "my soul know very well". The time has come for you to personalized God's Word to your life. I've heard it being said that a person with a theory cannot overcome a person with an experience. This simply means that we may have a theory that God is good, but knowing out of experience that God is good is a conviction that the circumstances of life cannot shake.

So what does this all have to do with being where you are supposed to be? The answer to that question can be found in Psalm 139:16. It says, " Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be". Read that over to yourself. All the days that you will live on this earth, including this very day, were all written out in the Book of God before you took your first breath! God has already ordained you. He has already ordered your steps. He has strategically brought you to this moment in time, to fulfill His purpose, for His glory, even if we do not understand how and why we are where we are today. Take your eyes off of what everyone else is doing. Yes, it may appear everyone else is moving forward while God has you at a standpoint. Yes, someone who you started work before has gotten a promotion and you are still here. Yes, your mates are married with children. Yes, you find yourself on step one when everyone else has moved on to step two. Yes, the grass seems greener on the other side, but hear the Word of the Lord today,

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, " Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."- Hebrews 13:5

The Lord has not forsaken you. Hold your head high and give thanks to God for what you have and where you find yourself, even if it's not what you expected. The same God that started a good work in you, He also will finish the work in His own time. What is left for you is to trust Him. A song by Sinach that I've been listening to all week says, " my faith reaches out to You. Lord I believe Your Word for me today. Lord I believe, I receive." Stretch your faith to God today and with that same faith, be content and praise Him right where you find yourself today. You are where you are supposed to be. Do NOT move faster than the pace God is taking you. Walk with God.  God makes no mistakes so stop wondering, stop comparing, and start praising! May God give us all grace sufficient for today. Amen.

Yorkamazing <3

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T.M.V- Psalm 37:23

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and He deligheth in his way"