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Striping away self is painful…initially. It is NEVER easy… initially. Striping away is a process…initially. It is a process of becoming HUMBLE before God. We are realizing and acknowledging we are NOTHING without Him and that we NEED Him. On page 10 in the book, Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, it talks about crucifying our flesh or self. As stated before, self is a mess and we must place it on the shelf. Crucifying our flesh is relinquishing those things we may want to say or do that we know is out of the will of God. It is so unnatural for us to do this because usually when we do or say something we know we are not supposed to, depending on the circumstance; sometimes it makes us feel good. We get a sense of satisfaction from it. Sometimes we justify it and say the person deserved what we did or said to them. It satisfied and sometimes massaged our flesh (self). The good news is if it made you feel bad afterward, that is God pricking your conscious chastising you to let you know it was wrong or was not right. If it does not bother you of the wrong thing you did or said, then you need to ask, why? Has your conscious been seared? The bible warns of doing wrong for so long that wrong seems right and right seems wrong (Isaiah 5:20). It is a sign that your heart is so harden toward God that you no longer know the things of Him. Of course, this is exciting for Satan because he has you where he wants you to manipulate you and have you to kill, steal, and destroy others as alluded to in the book. Arrogance, bitterness, pride, fearfulness, and, anxiety are some of the tools Satan uses to keep us for away from God. We do not recognize it because we are so Full of Self. That is why I keep emphasizing we have to put SELF ON THE SHELF because SELF IS A MESS! So, initially when self is being stripped away and we crucify our flesh it is uncomfortable and painful.

The process of crucifying our flesh is something we cannot do on our own. We NEED the supernatural strength of God and Jesus to help us (page 10). The beauty of getting and receiving this supernatural strength is the more you rely on this strength the easier it becomes. This is not to say you will like it, but your spirit is in relationship with God. Part of the process is learning how to lean and depend on Him. We need to look to Jesus to show us the way because Jesus is our example. The Holy Spirit comes along to help us navigate the situation. It truly is a beautiful thing when it all comes together! You realize it is the Almighty God working in my life. You get these first hand experiences with God and after a while the striping away of self is not as painful as it was in the beginning of the process. As you go through the daily process of renewing your heart, mind and spirit and you see how God will fight your battles, you then yield to this process more and more. It becomes a part of the new creation we become in Christ.

One of the BIGGEST revelations Christians can receive in this life is to recognize life is not about US. Satan deceives us to make us believe it is and we become consumed in SELF. Our lives are not about US! In the book, the revelation is our purpose on the earth is about GLORIFYING God! He made us. We are His creation. This is the bigger purpose for our lives. Once we can remove ourselves from the throne of life, it FREES us up to be God’s hands, mouth, and feet in this world. That is the mission for us as Christians to spread the Gospel. However, all of this is done by our choice; God left us with free will. We can continue to serve self and our flesh which ultimately leaves us empty and miserable or we can choose to drink from the fountain with God that will never be empty and that is fulfilling. Again, this is not to say we will have problem free lives, but it gives us an anchor and a foundation to hold on to and stand firm upon because God is our refuge and our strength. He is a very present help in the time of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

Part of having an awesome relationship with God is that the more of flesh or self that is stripped away in your life, you come to the realization, oh, this is not me! This is the Christ that lives in me which the disciples experienced and talked about in the Bible. Now, you and I are experiencing it, too! It is abiding in Christ. The experiences become unforgettable and it gives you the strength to move on, in Jesus’ name! The more we crucify the flesh the less painful it becomes because we become a new creature in Christ. Again, we cannot do it on our own. It will only frustrate and exhaust us. It is why we renew ourselves EVERY DAY. Otherwise, we will slip back into pride and ego thinking I can do this on my own. SAVE YOURSELF and allow the supernatural strength of God to help you. Thank you for joining me this week! Next week, we will talk about, Abundant Life, Chapter 2, in the book. Stay safe from COVID-19… Love & Blessings!

There are sometimes misconceptions about the Christian life that need to be corrected. One in particular is that once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you open your heart up to God you will have a problem free life. I will be the first to say that is certainly not the case. Because of sin in the world, no one has a problem free life. If it is not some problem we have caused for ourselves or one that someone else has caused, we will have problems in this life. In Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, Chapter 1 titled, Striping Away, hopefully the understanding is clear, there is no problem free life! On page 10, I state, “We all will suffer.” Remember, Christ came to experience EVERYTHING we will experience on the earth. Additionally, John 16:33 (KLV) reminds us, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” So Jesus tells us about the tribulations we will have in this life. Jesus came to teach us how we should handle our tribulations and problems in life. He demonstrated his connection and relationship with God over and over again. Some refer to Jesus as our God-man. Because as Jesus said, “I and the father are one.” (John 10:30).

Oftentimes when we have problems, those HUGE problems that break us or we cannot understand what is going on, we wonder where God is in different ways. We may wonder if the problem came because we stepped out of God’s will. Sometimes we knowingly did step out of God’s will trying to make our own thing happen hoping God will bless it. Then other times when God wants to take us to the next level with Him we experience those growing pains. In those growing pains we should learn to lean and trust on God through the experience. And of course sometimes it is just the messes of living in the fallen world we live in that problems come our way. However, when the problems come, the first conversation and thought should be to God! He has allowed the problem for whatever reason. Remember, God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We humble ourselves to Him. Our intimate relationship should be so close to Him that He is the first one we should run to. Why? Because He knows the purpose of why he allowed it and he knows how long the problem will last. COVID-19 is a world-wide pandemic. It is clear no one has the answers. Man is trying to figure out a vaccine and in time God will grace that answer to us, but this is truly a time to humble ourselves to Him. For some of us, humbling ourselves to God is easy. For others it is difficult. However, EVERYBODY goes through the process of striping away of self. Again, we have to put self on the shelf.

The subtitle of the book is, Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, Mathew 5:8. What a beautiful realization! Jesus taught the crowds and us that truly if our hearts are pure, we can see God in everything! But first we have to be striped, ouch! Striping away is a process and it starts in our hearts. We have to have an open heart to God (page 9). It also speaks to the importance of having an intimate relationship with him. When your heart connects with God and you yield your life over to Him, your life is never the same! Once you experience the Fruit of the Spirit working in your life and you experience the presence of God in your life nothing compares. You may have witnessed other people’s passion about God and you know what they are talking about and you know where they are coming from. The love of God in you wants everyone else to have it and experience it too. We can relate to the disciples after they realized after Jesus rose from the grave, that it was everything Jesus told them and that He and God were one and the Holy Spirit was now upon them. However, in order to experience any of this, we have to be stripped away from SELF. SELF is a MESS and it has to be placed on the shelf. When we do not put self on the shelf we harden our hearts to God making it very difficult to see Him and being God’s hands, mouth, and feet in the world. In the book, page 9, says, ” We become confused, fearful, and full of anxiety, hateful, bitter, prideful, and arrogant.” We see much of this in our world today and it creates all kinds of problems for self and other people. Then people wonder why we have no peace. When we harden our hearts to God it is fertile ground for Satan to create havoc in our lives and in the world! When problems come the first thing we have to realize is that God is not the author of confusion. So if the situation is not right the first thing we do is pray and ask God for His help. We have to be tuned in and have that open heart to him to see him and hear what He is saying. Remember, our battle belongs to God and He does not need our help!  However, it would be beneficial for us to cooperate with Him as He leads and guides us through. We will talk more next week about Striping Away. Stay safe from COVID-19… Love & Blessings.

Welcome Back Beautiful People! I’m Gwen your host for this blog,  Where Is God Now and author of, Where is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God. I pray all is well with you and your family as we remain in place at home to flatten the curve of COVID-19. This is a wonderful opportunity to cultivate and build our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father. He truly is a good God. This is a time to grow our faith and to trust him more. Don’t waste this precious time. Part of trust and faith involves moving forward when you are not sure what the outcome will be, but believing there are things on the other side that are good and will help us to grow.

This week we are still exploring the introduction of the book, Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God. On page 7, we see we know where God is. He lives within our heart!  He lives in our bodies. He shows up in us when we show the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control (Galatians 5:22). Because God is a spirit, He has placed the seeds of the Fruit of the Spirit in us. It is something that has to be cultivated in our lives to grow these seeds so that we and others may see. It is part of the Power we have in Jesus Christ. Some of these Fruit may bear witness in our lives more easily than others but we ALL have these Fruit once we accept Christ.

We serve an awesome God who is supernatural! We don’t understand ALL there is to know about Him and why He does what He does. However, He has given us what we need to know to believe He is the one and true God of the universe. It is a choice we make each and every day to believe and trust him. Hence, why we pick up our cross every day to follow his son, Jesus, who came to set us free! Jesus came to earth to show us how these Fruit will look in our lives. He is our model, example of how it is to live it out in our lives daily.

As we live our lives in the world, part of our mission is to be God’s hands, mouth, and feet. This mission should not be strange to us. We have the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. However, Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy the Fruit we try to bear out in our lives. In the book, we refer to him as a masterful deceiver (page 7). Our challenge is to recognize him when he comes to kill, steal, and destroy things in our lives. He is relentless! His ultimate goal is to kill, steal, and destroy our faith! This is why we need Jesus. We cannot complete the mission of being God’s hands, mouth, and feet on our own. We are wise when we can recognize Satan as a masterful deceiver, because when he tries to penetrate our lives, and he comes in many forms, we can exercise, with the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Fruit of the Spirit against him. Believe me; it upsets him when he knows he is not winning the battle of shaking our faith! We should get some satisfaction, too, in knowing we are not allowing him to win the battle of shaking our faith.

In becoming God’s hands, mouth, and feet in this world we have to place Self on the Shelf. It is difficult to place self on the shelf when we want things our way. Hence, this is why we have to die to self daily. We have to be willing to trust God in everything (page 7). In order to trust God in everything and being able to SEE him in everything, we have to have a child-like faith and a pure heart. This is how we can SEE God in everything. Situations that arise in our life, good or bad, it is wise to recognize God in it. We praise God for the blessings and we try to learn the lessons in the trials. The thing about trials is if we do not learn the lessons God will bring it to us in another situation. I call it, Different Faces Different Places, of learning the spiritual lessons of God. In the Bible, with Moses, the children of Israel are an example of what happens when we do not learn the lessons God has for us. They wondered in the wilderness for 40 years which should have taken them 3 days to get to the promise land God had for them. The murmuring and complaining had them going around in circles.  Has that ever happened to you? Sometimes we wonder in our wilderness, year after year after year. Could it be we are not learning the lessons God is trying to teach us?

When adversities, trials, and tribulations come in our lives, we should ask, “God what do you want me to learn in this situation?”  Or, “Lord, help me to handle this situation in the right way.” Believe me; He will give us the help that we need through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah Praise God! They are our best friends and comfort during those difficult times. Because we truly cannot do it on our own, leaning and depending on them is what we should automatically do. When we are weak God shows himself STRONG in our lives. It is truly a beautiful thing when you think about it. The beauty about our lives is God wastes NOTHING that we go through, good or bad. It is all to grow us up and to become closer and closer to Him. He LOVES us! And we should become more and more like His son, Jesus.  So we look at our trials and tribulations as opportunities to grow. In the natural, we do not necessarily like them, but the sooner we accept and come on board into what God is trying to do in our lives, the sooner we can go through it. God ALWAYS has something better for us on the next level if we shall not faint and make it to the next level… Stay safe from COVID-19. I’ll see you next week! Love & Blessings!

Sunday, July 19. Today, I received great news on someone who is recovering beautifully. When illness befalls us or someone we love and are close to, it reminds us how fragile our lives are. Often times we take things as breathing, walking, talking, and I could go on and on, as an automatic. But is is not an automatic. Our maker, God, helps us out each and every day with these skills. We seem to cherish them more when we lose these skills. It is a reminder of how worthy our God is. It should also serve as a reminder of how we need to trust God more and more each day. If He can provide these basic skills to us on a daily basis, imagine the other things he can provide for us if we would just allow him to mold and shape us in the purpose He has designed us for… Amen.

Monday, July 20. Today, I was fortunate to donate blood. Anything I can do to help my fellow man I want to in wisdom. As i was being prepped to have my blood, the young man who was doing it, bared his fruit as a believer; hence, “You will know them by their fruit. ” Matthew 7:16. I also was blessed with a spiritual revelation. Because there is nothing new under the sun, although Satan’s fall from heaven happened long ago, it continues to happen today. The example was Satan’s fall, but today, man continues to fall when he does not accept Christ. Satan knows he is defeated and he wants to take many with him into eternal damnation. So the fall never ended it is still taking place and will continue to take place until the end of this world. Conversely, God continues to call man to Himself, through Christ Jesus. He will continue have us, as his ambassadors, to disciple as many into the kingdom that we can. What an honor and a privilege!

Tuesday, July 21. Another day in paradise! A productive day of me purging a lot of paperwork. I made quite a dent and I thank the Lord for that. I cannot tell you how many times I have said I need to do it and did not get around to it. What has been helpful is I am on vacation and the upstairs AC unit is not working. This is keeping me downstairs much longer all day giving me the opportunity to start this much needed project… All things work together for GOOD!

Wednesday, July 22. We have been in a heat wave for a good 3-4 days. The AC unit for upstairs has been Saturday, most of the heat wave. I have had to sleep on the sofa since that time in my family room. God has kept me and looked out for me because upstairs it is in the upper 80s. I go and take my shower because I do have ceiling fans, which is a blessing. Otherwise, I could not be able to do that. The other blessing is the downstairs unit is WORKING! It could have been that the house was designed with only one unit OR both units were out at the same time. So, I thanked God for the working AC unit downstairs and that I could stay in my home and still be productive… God is GOOD! Thank you, Lord!

Thursday, July 23. RELIEF! The AC contractor came this afternoon! He knew exactly what the problem was when I told him what was going on, He had the part in his truck and replaced it. My upstairs is now cooling off… Praise God! After the contractor left, I saw it was an overcast day outside. As I mentioned earlier, we have been in a heatwave. When I saw the overcast outside, I thought, Lord, this is a good time for me to do some yard work. I got outside and edge, trim (a new skill I have learned!), mow, and blow the lawn. Well, as soon as I finished, the sun came back out! Praise God I was able to do all of that underneath the clouds where is was cooler for me to do so. Later, the rain came, but I got my outside chores done… Bless God! When I came in I was able to go upstairs and get into the whirlpool in a cool comfortable bathroom… God is Good! He works situations for our Good!

Friday, July 24. COVID has discombobulated all schedules. It seems it takes much longer to make appointments, namely doctor’s appointment. During the beginning of the pandemic when everything shut down, doctor’s offices were shut down, too. As they slowly opened back up they have new guidelines to open offices, which is great, to keep everyone safe. I called my doctor’s office on Monday to make an appointment. Today is Friday and I still had not heard from them. They specifically said in the message when you call to make an appointment to please not call them more than once. Otherwise it would just prolong them returning your call. Well, today I had a decision to make. Do I call the doctor’s office back and risk the chance of my return call to be prolonged? Do I wait until next week to see if they call me eventually? Do I go up to the doctor’s office as a walk in and see if they will allow me to make the appointment. I chose the later. After prayerfully weighing my choices out with God, He led me to this peaceful choice. When I arrived at the doctor’s office I did not mentioned I had called the office on Monday and no one returned my call. I remained calm and told them why I was there. The receptionist took my information. Five minutes later I am sitting talking with a scheduler and three minutes later I am out the door. PEACE is a gift from God! When your first attempts do not pan out, remain peaceful and God will show you another way… Thank you God for being my PEACE!

Saturday, July 25. This morning I woke up praising God in my heart and spirit! His sweet spirit was upon me. I felt so encouraged. Well, Satan decided he was going to test my spirit. When I went to start making breakfast and pulling everything out of the pantry, the powdered hot chocolate dropped out of my arms onto the floor. Needless to say, it made a big dark mess! I didn’t panic. I calmly placed the other items in my arms on the cabinet and got the broom and long handled dust pan out and started sweeping. Well, because it was fine powder it did not come easily up. I knew I would have to get the residue up with a cleaner. After sweeping up as much as I could, I started focusing on fixing breakfast and knew I would have to come back to this task later. When I returned to clean the chocolate powder off the floor, it took some time. Eventually I had to get down low to the floor to wipe the baseboards and corner cracks down as I wanted to make sure I got up every speck of the chocolate powder. The blessing is Satan did not shake me or frustrated me. When the PEACE of God is upon you, you are able to walk in that PEACE no matter what comes your way. PEACE is a gift from God! Could it be upon waking this morning, God wanted to bath me in His spirit as I started my day. I am sure He knew I was going to drop the hot chocolate powder. However, God covered me with His spirit as I started my day because He felt I would need the extra protection as so much has been going on… Lord, once again, I thank you for your BEAUTIFUL Peace!

Sunday, July 12. Some desires may come to fruition in time. Today, I was able to find a fabulous bargain on some Juniper Blue Rug ground cover! This was the original ground cover in front of my house. It was once a beautiful spread, but died away along the years. I am hoping to restore the front entrance of the house with this beautiful ground cover. With the help of God, like everything else, I am sure it will come to pass. Today I found out a good friend passed away. I felt sadness… Help me, Lord.

Monday, July 13. This evening I went out for the first time to edge my property. After talking with my sister, girlfriend, and seeing other women do it, I believed I could do it to… I did it! I have to learn to tap the coil string before it becomes too short that I have to wind the spool again, but it was fun and empowering to do! Thank you Lord for your help.

Tuesday, July 14. Today, I went to my friend’s funeral. It was very lovely. I believe she was very pleased with what she saw. As I was telling my sister about it today, I realized her dying set her FREE to be the person we all grew to know and love. When an illness takes your mind, it seems to take everything. I thank God He allowed our paths to cross and become friends. Although in the later years, she did not remember me fully, when we sat to talk I could sense a calmness and peace in her. I knew that God was still with her in her illness for PEACE is a GIFT from God,,, REST IN PEACE My FRIEND

Wednesday, July 15. For those of us who live in States who have State Inspections, July is my month. I really have to strategically plan these inspections because most places I go tell me they have a back log of inspections to do. The Holy Spirit told me to go up to the place last night I was planning to go I thought I was going to find out about their COVID procedures as most businesses have them posted on the door. Instead when I arrived I also so a big sign that said, “No State Inspections”. Well, thank you Lord for sparing me the frustration of going in the morning to a place that was not conducting State Inspections. I had to come up with a plan B. There was another business a couple of blocks away. I drove by. They had their COVID sign up, but not a sign that they were not conducting State Inspections. So this morning, I arrived bright and early, the second customer. I was out the door in 2 hours… Praise the Lord!

Thursday, July 16. I believe NOTHING happens in our life without God knowing about it. If it is happening, good or bad, He allowed. And it can be used for our GOOD, if we allow God to use it for that purpose. I had a situation to happen today that I thought was set. However, after a phone call I found out IT WAS NOT SET! Well, immediately I asked God what was he trying to do and what did He want me to know? I was thinking maybe what I thought was a plan/path He was leading me was not what I thought. I remained calm. The importance of PEACE and CALM in our lives Cannot be overrated BECAUSE it allows us to hear or pay attention to what God is doing. Two hours after that phone call and I was told the plan/path that was set was back on schedule! Praise God! We always want to be sure if we are hearing God correctly. It is our act of FAITH when we move forward in what we believe God is moving us. God sends us signs and confirmations along the way in which we can know he is leading the way. I believe God sent that hiccup in the plans for ME to see how I was going to react. Consistency in our lives is important too if we walk in PEACE and CALM we must be consistent in that in good and uncertain situations. It lets us know how solid we our in our relationship with God. He already know, but sometimes those hiccups are there to encourage ourselves in our Faith. It gives us the confidence in ourselves and our God in the relationship we have together…It is a BEAUTIFUL thing!

Friday, July 17. Today is my Birthday! It was a very productive day for me. I had to take care of some business matters today and they were ALL taken care of that was on my list. I got my favorite meal from Olive Gardens…Take-out, and it was sooooooo DELICIOUS! Later after dinner, I was able to go out a ride my bike for some exercise and the ride was nice as the sun was not shinning brightly to drain my energy. I LOVE to praise and worship God in song. Certain songs I sing it is an immediate hook-up and puts me in the presence of God, which I LOVE. There is NOTHING else that is better. So I sang my songs and played my music, too, today. It is this indescribable PEACE and LOVE that it sometimes brings me to tears just to sit in His presence and I realize how deserving He is of our LOVE and ADORATION. He has done it ALL for us. He gave us His precious son Jesus who died and suffered for us. They treated Him cruelly. Yet, He understood what God’s plan was and suffered it to be. It was revealed to us His humanity in it all, so He knows the sufferings and the pains that we go through. How can we not LOVE a God and Savior like that… I Thank YOU!

Saturday, July 18. God cares and he hears our heart’s desire. This has happened time and time again in my life. I do not always get the desires I ask for. Sometimes I have to wait quite some time before I see it. Other times, I can see it sooner rather than later. Today, I desired a green pepper to put on my homemade pizza. My sister called me yesterday to tell me she some vegetables to give me from her garden. I called her this morning to see if she had any green peppers. She told me no; however, when I arrived to her house she told me she went out to her garden and found ONE ripe green pepper… Thank you, Lord! As I left her house I told her I was waiting on a soaking rain so I could plant the ground cover I purchased last Sunday that I shared in this journal. I told her once the ground is a little wet it will make it easier to dig. Late afternoon, God sent that rain I had desired! It enabled me to plant those five ground covers I purchased. God is GOOD!

Sunday, July 5. Dear God thank you for this day. I Thank you for the wonderful deal you provided for me of the two orchids… $5 a piece! It made my heart so happy to find such a wonderful deal. I can’t wait for them to bloom once again. My spirits were a little low and it was just what I needed to lift my spirits. I thank you for that.

Monday, July 6. I had to go and get my bike tire fixed today. I went to two stores near the beach to get it fixed. I came home and put the tire back on the bike and rode it on the road to test it out. I was happy with what I had done. Later that evening, my neighbor, his wife, and I met in passing while riding our bikes in the neighborhood. My neighbor saw my chain on my bike was not indeed tight enough and offered to fix it for me at his house. I followed him and his wife to their home which is a block away from my house for him to make the adjustment to the chain and my seat! The seat got me where I wanted to go on the bike so I did not worry myself with that but WOW! what a difference! Thank you God for my neighbor. My bike rides more smoothly. Thank you Jesus!

Tuesday, July 7. I just discovered the most delicious fruit drink that I am going to go and get more. All of the fruits are pureed to make this wonderful substance. Normally I do not like to waste my calories on a drink, but this was so refreshingly GOOD that the 220 calories can easily be substituted for a desert and I will not feel like I have been cheated. It is nutritiously GOOD–YUM! Work was very productive today, too. we started the process of researching and discussing how we would redo our standards of operations with COVID-19. Thank you God.

Wednesday, July 8. My God moment today was being able to navigate a website to get a project done. I do not consider myself tech savvy so any accomplishment I have on ANY computer, phone, desktop, soft ware, etc., I thank God for His help!

Thursday, July 9. I had a lot on my plate today at work. I asked God to help me with one particular project that was very challenging…I completed the third part of that project and was able to work on the two additional ongoing projects. That relieved some of my stress and I thanked God for that!

Friday, July 10. Today was yard day! I love working in the yard because I it brings me such a sense of accomplishment to complete. Of course I recognize without God’s help I would not be able to do any of it. I thank God for the ability to take care of this beautiful home He has given me.

Saturday, July 11. It was a full day today. I had many errands to run in the hot heat… I SURVIVED THANK GOD! I left the house in one piece and returned in on piece. That is a blessing and Lord I thank you. Having uneventful days is a blessing. Recognizing God’s PEACE in your life is a blessing because it is a free gift he gives us that we should cherish each and every time it is present in our lives.

Welcome back to Where Is God Now blog. This is not the blog post I had initially prepared for this week. Usually I am posting on Saturday night, but today I am posting on Sunday morning. For those of you who know me well, I often say God speaks to us every day. It is up to us if we are paying attention to him. Our world has been turned upside down. It is in turmoil for so many. All schedules have been halted. Everyone has been impacted. Many are wondering what is going on in our world. It is my understanding that COVID-19 has reached all continents except Antarctica. I cannot say God caused this virus to invade our world. However, because God is all-knowing, this virus did not catch God off guard or by surprise. He is not even wondering what happened. I do believe God allowed it to be. It is a humbling time for all as we see we are not as in control of our lives as some seem to think. God gives us each and every breath we take in this life and MORE. We serve a loving and gracious God. Today, I believe he is still speaking to each of us. The question is if some of us will continue to tune him out or will more tune him in.

We are feverishly trying to figure out a cure for this virus. We know God has the answer and He will reveal it in time. Last evening at 5:30 p.m. as I was eating my dinner and watching a 1991 Billy Graham Crusade program, God spoke to my spirit and shared COVID meant in the spiritual realm, Christ Over Virus Is Defeated. There lies our HOPE! If there is any fear, CHRIST removes all fear! We win! We win in Christ! Our answer is in Christ, which should not surprise those of us who are of the Faith. Christ always intercedes for us! Jesus always gets his prayers answered through God, our father.  God is in control of COVID-19 and the answer is in Christ. Last Sunday was Easter and we know Christ was raised from the dead for our sins. It is up to us if we accept Christ in our lives. It is more than just lip service, though. It is heart service… God wants our hearts! Jesus helps us to give our hearts to God.

There is so much confusion that is starting to unfold in our world. We know that God is not the author of confusion. This is not a time for us to be rebellious. Sometimes our memory becomes short, but in the Bible the children of Israel became rebellious after God set them free out of years of bondage. They never saw the promise land. I believe God put those events in the Bible for us to learn from.  We do not have to learn from the school of hard knocks. Things should be done in decent order. I do not know what all of the fall out and implications will be as we head to our new normal. What I am confident about is as long as I keep my eyes on God, He will get me through this with his supernatural PEACE. This PEACE is available to all who will keep their eyes on God.  This is what I have been living on since COVID has struck our society and it is a beautiful place to be.

God has been speaking to me each and every day since COVID struck as I was already homebound recovering from surgery. I immediately asked God what I could do for Him as I was sitting home recovering and wanting to do something. God starting pouring into my spirit thought provoking and positive affirmations to share. I have been sharing it each morning on Facebook. I pray those affirmations have been of help to all who may have read them. God shared with me even if it makes a difference for one soul that is one soul that has been helped. 

I am confident that God holds the time of when COVID-19 will be no more. In the meantime, as he has us in this appointed time, I pray that each of you will hear the message that he has for YOU! The message does not have to be anything profound or drastic. The message may be sweet and subtle. Only you and God will know that.  He has given us the time in our schedules to call on Him and spend time with Him. He wants an intimate relationship with us and this is a time to cultivate that intimate relationship with him. He is our CREATOR. He is our GOD. Give him your ear. Give him your time. Most importantly, give him your HEART. Thank you for visiting the blog. Next week I will post what I had prepared for this week and finish unpacking the book, Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, unless God say otherwise. Amen… Love and Blessings!

Praise God! Christ Is Risen! Happy Easter Everyone! Jesus should be our HERO! He suffered mercilessly and died cruelly for US! Still, as in the introduction of the book, Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, on page 8 we discuss, although we see it as a privilege to be God’s hands, mouth, and feet, it is also a daring risk when we live our lives for Christ. We risk being shunned, misunderstood, mistreated, taken advantaged, mocked, scorned, laughed at, devalued, uninvited, humiliated, embarrassed, ridiculed, persecuted, and killed. But Jesus endured the same. St. John 19:1 reads, Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. (KIV)  The Gospels of Matthew and Mark speak on how Jesus was scourged as well. I was curious to know what was scourging all about, so I did a little research. Please note the inserted picture:

This is very similar in what was used to beat our Lord; it is what He endured for us. A scourge is a whip or lash. The multi-thong type, was used to inflict severe corporal punishment. It is usually made of leather with multiple throngs of hard material designed to tear the flesh. This was the custom of the day under Roman law to prelude crucifixion. However, in Jesus’ case, there seemed to be added visceral. This was a deep hate and contempt for Jesus as proven in how they beat him. It was vile, wicked, and morally unjust. Some have described the beating so horrendous that Jesus endured that it left him looking less than human. Oh, the cruelty!

However, Jesus knew what his mission was on the earth. He knew he was to be the sacrificial lamb  for our sins. On page 8 in the book, it reads it takes courage, guts, and grit to be a Christian. I wonder if there is ANYONE who would agree with me on that. We know what Jesus endured took courage, guts, and grit. He is our example. There are things that happen to us in life that we come to a cross road and have to decide if we are going to cave and not represent Christ because as we say sometimes, “It’s hard.”  Yes, it is not always an easy road to travel. Yet, Christ demonstrated in God’s strength that He had to complete the mission that was given him. It is one of the reasons why I love him so! The Bible tells us He did not want to do it. He asked God if the bitter cup could be removed. But then He resolved it was not His will, but the Father’s will that should be done. This is our example! When those cross roads come in our lives, we have to ask ourselves how many times will I say, I don’t feel like being a Christian right now. I am going to do what I feel like doing. However, being a Christian is not about a feeling. It is about our commitment to God through Christ. Knowing EVERYTHING that Christ endured on the cross, not even mentioning all of the great and wonderful things that He did BEFORE his crucifixion, should be enough to compel us to do the right thing even when we do not feel like it. Again, it is not about feelings. It is about commitment, gratitude, and thankfulness to Jesus. If Jesus did ALL of that for me the least I can do is stand up and represent him proudly. This is what BEARING OUR CROSS is all about. As the book says, “It is not always pretty and wrapped in a bow (page 8).

How deep is your love? How deep is your love for Christ? When we operate in our natural strength we cannot do what is asked of us, but through Christ we get this supernatural strength. It gives us the will and know how to do what we need to do God’s will for our lives. Jesus will give us the strength to display the courage, guts, and grit. The beauty in that is you know that it is Him that is working within you and it is an awesome humbling experience. You will know it is his strength that you move in. The preciousness of Jesus is that he came to the earth to live out the Christian life for us. Again, he is our wonderful example! I keep saying this because I believe some people gloss over the example that Jesus is to us! It a beautiful thing and I do not want people to miss it. It is not always easy, but we can do it through His strength. And let me add, it will probably hurt our flesh, too. But we have been talking about putting flesh on the shelf where it belongs, right?

Now once the disciples realized who Jesus was after he bled, suffered, and died, their lives were never the same. And our lives should never be the same either, especially once you have encountered His presence in your life! They lived their lives boldly and courageously with guts and grit because they knew the son of God had walked and lived among them. It transformed their lives! Our lives, too, should be transformed once we have entered into an intimate relationship with God. Jesus’ life was transformed through His relationship with our Father God. Jesus spent time with God to cultivate their relationship. Through this intimate relationship God was able to teach Jesus what He needed to know. It is no different for us! Our lives, too, should be transformed as we cultivate our relationship with God through Christ Jesus. It is not enough to know God. Satan knows God. It is all about a true relationship with God and accepting Jesus as our Savior. We cannot live the Christian life on our own. It is impossible! Once we drop our pride, die to self, and yield our lives over to Christ, we start living a transformed life and those Fruit of the Spirit we talked about previously start to show up and out in our lives. Then we start to realize, oh, this is not me! This is the Christ that lives in me that is allowing me to manifest the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is a beautiful thing! Knowing that is enough to draw you in even more because you have experienced God’s supernatural power in your life! Hallelujah and Amen! Stay safe from COVID-19 and I’ll see you next week. Love & Blessings!