Archive | Jesus RSS feed for this section

Spiritual Maturity

21 Feb

When we were younger, we were taught to say our prayers, thank God, Be kind to our parents, go to church and not to sin. But the older we get we have to realize that growing with God isn’t just about those things. The older we get the more we have to realize that God functions through our worship. How can God’s kingdom grow if we don’t share his good news.

I know. I know. I know. The whole thing about walking up to a stranger and talking to them about God seems strange. We run away from The Jehovah Witnesses when they come knocking on our doors. But I’m not necessarily talking about those who are strangers. I’m talking about those inside our own homes, the ones we text/call the most, the ones we share friendships with and yes our family members.

Spiritual Maturity is about going beyond just praying for our neighbors, it is when we HELP our neighbors, when we pray for specific things in the life of our family and friends. Spiritual maturity is about tithing and not worrying about it because all of it belongs to God anyway. Spiritual maturity is about moving on and understanding what God is trying to teach us at this time in our lives. Spiritual maturity is about obeying our Calling from God and doing whatever it takes to get there because our faith gives us  Spiritual Maturity is about no longer blaming others for your failures but trying to figure out what we need to do to get to the next step in our lives.

I’ve learned a lot in the past few years but I have such a long way to go. I have found my calling in evangelism but I am so unsure where God is trying to push me to go with it. I have embraced new relationships and closed others, I have learned to trust God when there is nothing left to do. But what I have learned most is to be specific. Specific in my prayers even when they go unanswered, specific in my desires and needs and specific in my plans. I’ve learned more scriptures by heart and their specific passages and I’ve learned that giving to others isn’t so bad, its what I’m called to do.

So today, while you are searching your heart for answers I urge you to be specific in your desires, don’t just pray for shelter and clothing and food. God’s always got your back for that, but pray for exactly what you want, exactly what it is going to take you to get there and what you need to change in order to progress. Don’t worry if the change doesn’t come immediately, just keep praying for your desires. If your desires are God’s desires they will come, if not God has something better in store. I’m learning that myself, but I’m yet holding on.

Love, Peace and Blessings..

Miss. Jenee,

Is The Church in the Wild or Are We all individual Churches in The Wild?

14 Sep

People that know me, Know that I am not a huge rap fan. I think the last rap CD I bought was TI’s “King”  Although, I love TIP, JEEZY and almost every Atlanta, artist only because I like the beat, not because I take the rap about drugs and women seriously. It’s all kid of repetitive and annoying to me and lacks so much substance.

But something (I call it the Holy Spirit) led me to listen to “Church in the Wild” by Kanye West and Jay-Z. I listened to the song 3 times, looked at the lyrics and lightbulbs started to go off.  Are all people  individual “churches” merely existing  and idolizing/worshipping our own “God’s” or is the church a part of the “wild” in the world. Has our life been literally made us animals living in this wild of life, without having any divine purpose. What are we allowing our offspring to believe in? Are we becoming a generation of wildly animals who are merely worshipping and idolizing ourselves, our music and even our churches?

I wonder, how we idolize so much but then wonder why in the world we gain the world but loose our soul? Then we wonder why we are out in the world killing each other? What do we even believe anymore?

Where is the soul of our future? What do we honestly believe in? Do we even care about our environment, our neighbors, our family? Or are we all just worshipping our shoes and clothes and cars?

Kanye said in the song “What’s a God to a non-believer” then he said “We formed a new religion. No sins as long as there’s permission”

We have created our own religions and justified our sins and our misdoings through our own beliefs and sometimes through the bible.

It also got me thinking about what John Lennon said a long time ago “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first – rock and roll or Christianity. I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong”

What was John Lennon saying here? What is Kanye West and Jay-Z saying? Did they stop believing in organized religion and create their own, do they love God? Is Rock and Roll or Rap a God? I’m compelled to say yes, in  spite of my beliefs because we all justify our own personal theologies. What is God trying to tell us as “believers”?  Is Christianity Dying or are we as a generation of believers choosing to worship other Gods?

So who do we believe in? Who is our God?  When there is so much that we worship, how can we ask our “God” to save us? Just because someone chooses not to believe in your “God” does it make them “Godless” or “Satanic” ? How can we praise and worship so many things by removing “God from it”

I thought there was only one God? But do we all have our own God’s?

SOMETHING To think about..

Open your mind to the reality of the world we are living in. My beliefs are only as big as my church. My beliefs are only as strong as I make them. I believe in the trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But who am I to say that those who see God as Allah are not worthy of God’s love. That they don’t operate under the same Trinity that I do.

I believe we all have to chose who we will serve in our lives. Yes, I love things, yes I love to make money, yes I love music. But I serve God, I believe Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus saved me from eternal sins. He allows me to receive the blessings of this world. Not because I deserve them, not because I have to get them but because that is his pledge to me because I BELIEVE. Are you willing to give up what you love for who you love? Are we willing to give up our money and our time to make God happy? Or do we even care anymore about pleasing God? Yes we pray, yes we thank God for our blessings but do we give enough our time to edify his life?

Chose ye this day, whom will you serve!

Peace

Miss. Jenee

Thought For The Day

23 Aug

I may not be someone’s first choice. But God told me that I am a great choice. I may  not be a millionairess but my wisdom ad value are worth more than rubies and diamonds. I don’t pretend to be someone I am not, because I am great at being me. I may not be proud of some of the things that I have done in the past, but I am proud of who I am today because God has granted me peace beyond all understanding. I may not be perfect, but Jesus died, so I wouldn’t need to be.  Take me as I am, or watch me walk away, because I am wonderfully made!

 

*Please note, I am taking a brief social network break*

 

Jenee

The Devil’s Already Defeated

31 Jan

This morning I sent out my weekly inspirational message to my friends and family.  The context of the message was to “pray without ceasing”. Little did I know how much I would need that message myself. The devil has been on me all morning long, especially after I sent the message,  I began to feel bad about certain things and situations, I began to get angry and upset. But then in a blink of an eye, I remembered that same message that I sent to everyone today to PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.

Have you ever felt defeated?

You know, not like loosing a game of basketball or football or your favorite video game, but sincerely feeling defeated! Feeling as though, the world has whipped you and just beaten you down to the ground? I feel that way today. I feel like, no decision I make is  right. Often times we try to believe our words that “every thing happens for a reason” but sometimes I often wonder what  the future reason is for all of this turmoil? But as quickly as these thoughts came into my mind, one of my favorite songs came into my mind.  The lyrics say “We’ve ran the race, we’ve kept the fight, we’ve shed our blood, for what was right. We’ve carried our cross, through storm and rain, because cause of Christ now we can say, we are conquerors.”

I’ll admit that a lot of my problems stem from disobedience. But I believe that maturity is truly about learning for yourself what is right and wrong. But making the same mistakes in a different way is not my  example of “maturity” however,  I know that the devil is already defeated.

Romans 8:37,
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

The times when I feel alone, the times when I feel like everything is going wrong, God always provides me with comfort and peace. The only way to get what you really want is to let go of what you know you don’t want or don’t need in your life. Removing the excess mess from our lives, allows our mind’s to stay clear and focused on God. Did you know that Satan, the Devil, is a real person… a spirit being, with intelligence, tangible characteristics, and whose incessant goal and ambition is to “steal, kill, and destroy” But the awesome thing about being a Believer in God is knowing that you as a believer have all dominion and power over Satan. So many times we are our own worse Devil. We do wrong and think we can’t come back from it! But its up to us to defeat those devil’s that plague us and work to overcome those things that make us feel defeated!  Believing that if we pray and pray and pray without ceasing that the Devil will rise up out of our lives. Just to be clear though, know the devil is always lurking and waiting for an entrance into your heart, but knowing that you have control of your thoughts and constantly staying in prayer, the devil will know that you are living only in God’s authority only by God’s voice will you move.

Sometimes we have to encourage ourselves, when things go wrong, its up to us to pray and ask God to deliver us from the past and help us move toward the future. Be blessed!

What is A Christian?

24 Sep

2 Corinthians 4

Treasures in Jars of Clay

1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

13It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”[b]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Praise God from Whom All BLESSINGS FLOW

Let he who is Without Sin…

24 Sep

When I first heard the news about Bishop Eddie Long, everybody who isn’t a member of ANY CHURCH started to bother me. Not because they are the main ones  throwing stones and they don’t belong to ANY ONE’S church. But because of the harsh and brutal words they had against this man. Many failed to realize that before he is a preacher and before he is a Bishop he is a HUSBAND/FATHER and even before that he is a man. He is a man who has feelings and one who has to provide for his family.

What the media has FAILED to mention is that Bishop Long and his church have contributed millions of Dollars to not only the Dekalb County School System but to various organization, political campaigns and has bought cars, meals, food, houses for so many of his members. How many of you can say that today you HELPED somebody OTHER than yourself?!

But this blog isn’t on my opnion on the scandal of this Bishop, because

  1. Its not my place to judge him
  2. I am  not a member of his church or his family
  3. I respect and have extreme admiration for this man regardless of this situation
  4. I know his son and was once a classmate and friend of his.
  5. The court of public opinion has already demeaned him guilty and he has yet to confirm the charges or even go to court for them
  6. Bishop Long will come out from this, no matter if his church folds, his wife leaves or he has to pay out Millions. He will always be a man ordained by God and you can not take that from him
  7. How would YOU feel if someone told about every thing you had done out to the media, you would probably be in jail.

Now  that I  got that on  out the way… on to the blog…

“The Homophobia and sexophobia of black church leaders can be found in their literature, preaching, and revivalism.” Anthea Baker

When I was about 8, I met my 1st gay man. He was in fact married and he was in fact not openly gay. He did my mother’s hair and was very well known through the city. It wasn’t until I was older and in high school that I met my 1st openly Gay woman. I never quite understood the dynamic. Call it growing up in a sheltered lifestyle or growing up in the church. I never understood what “Gay” meant.  I went to church where homosexuality was not discussed, I came home and it wasn’t discussed.  I really had to learn it on my own and I must admit other than the harsh words that the black community has had to say about homosexuality I had to learn that the sin wasn’t in being gay but the sin is in homophobia.

Yes in Leviticus 20:!3  it says NKJV: (New King James Version) “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.” but somehow the  church seems to forget the 10 Commandments.  I won’t do bible commentary in this blog but the sin is the hating of others.  How can we believe in this scripture but also believe the commandment that says “THOU SHALL NOT KILL”

When a person in the bible asked JESUS HIMSELF what the biggest commandment was he said  in Matthew 22:36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the first and greatest commandment.39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

How can we possibly call ourselves Christians and we don’t love other who are lesbians.   When I went to a good friend of mine’s wedding a month ago, I put the pictures on my facebook and my phone went insane. I got every question asking if I was lesbian and so forth because it was a lesbian commitment. I will not discuss m personal preference in this blog, because like i always say, the people who know me, know whom I choose to love and be with. I don’t put people in a box, the feelings that the homophobic have often change when they find out a member of their family is gay or a dear friend decides to come “out”.

The very scripture that we use so often John 7 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” is about a WOMAN.  Why is it that we condemn so harshly the women who has committed the crime but not the man, why is it we want to condemn homosexuality but let those who commit adultery, kill and steal get a pass. When a man admits he is gay not only does his family and his friend condemn him but he is liable to loose his job and his place in society.  We have got to stop!  I know we hold preachers and men/women in power to a different level and God does as well, but remember that it’s not about YOU. Before you cast the first stone know that you yourself have sinned. Instead of calling out what you think is NEGATIVE, be positive and help somebody!

Shoot me I’m a lover and I love people, despite their flaws and their desires. I pray that you learn to do the same

Happiness

3 Sep

In 2008 my church member 10 year old Olivia Hayes got hit by an armored truck at her bus stop and a few days later died. She was so full of life and a the middle of 3 children. I saw her and her parents and siblings week after week as she ushered and sang in the choir.  She even led a song in the choir and I will never forget.  When Olivia was in the hospital, a church member told the story about how she constantly saw yellow butterflies, while Olivia was in the hospital and gave all of us at the church butterfly pins while Olivia was in the hospital.  For the days she was in the hospital and even at her funeral, these butterflies were our hope, they were our peace and a guardian angel that was Olivia Nicole Hayes. I have Olivia’s obituary and funeral program and I look at it daily.

I believe that when God takes a child’s life its a precious and serious thing, in the little time Olivia was alive she changed so many people’s lives.  Earlier that year my coworker lost her 16 year old son to heart disease. I often questioned why God would take them at such a young age. But I know that God is in control.

Have you ever felt like things weren’t going your way or that the plans of your life were not as planned. Well they are exactly how God intended them to be. We may not have the  things we desire in life but God has a bigger plan.

For the past 2 weeks I have been seeing yellow butterflies everyday, not 1 or 2 butterflies but at least 3 a day. I laugh every time I see them and I even told “him” about my sightings and he never sees them. I know this is a confirmation from God that great things are on the horizon. I am blessed beyond measure and I have been filled with Joy for the past 2 days. I have no words to describe how happy I am at this point in my life. Not because of the things I have , but because of the awesome people I have around me and the endless possibilities that are occurring in my life . I truly know that the best is RIGHT around the corner! My love life is not exactly where I want it to be, my best friend is in NYC but God has a huge major plan that is about to happen to me soon, very soon and I am overwhelmed with Joy about the possibilities!

Have faith! The things that are impossible to us are ever so simple in the sight of  God. How great is our God? He’s greater than words could ever describe. This joy that I have the world didn’t give it to me, no person or thing can ever take the joy that GOD has given me.  I praise his name forever more!

Thank God for Butterflies!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,123 other followers