“Jehovah Shalom” which means, “The Lord is Peace,” is the REAL definition of peace. The peace the world gives versus the peace Jesus gives is a big difference. The world gives convenient peace. A circumstantial peace that says, “When there is no problem, here is peace. When there is a problem, how ‘bout you cover that pain or situation up. It will help for the time being. Don’t fix the problem and don‘t look to God for help, just put a band-aid on it.” This kind of peace is not really peace. It’s a temporary fix. A bad one especially because God is not in the picture. Juxtaposed to the world’s temporary fix, which most people view as peace, is the awesome peace Jesus leaves! Looking at John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jesus says this as he is getting ready to leave his disciples to be crucified. He references the world in this scripture and he basically says the peace he gives is not that of the worlds. This indicates that clearly “the world’s peace” cannot compete and doesn’t even measure up to the peace Jesus gives.
The peace we want is the peace that comes when the problem shows up. The well known statement, “Peace that surpasses all understanding,” is peace that over rules the situation. You know it’s God in the midst when you can’t understand it! When everything around you is in chaos and you are calm, cool and collected, that means you have the peace of Jesus! The peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Jesus! If your heart is hurting, it’s because your mind is thinking. Your emotions and mind must be surrounded by, let’s call it “the peace corps!” Don’t let your mind wonder and have you somewhere you don’t need to be. You must cooperate on what God is doing with what you dwell on. Turning to Philippians 4: 6-9, Paul says, “ Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep you hearts and mind through Christ Jesus.” Hallelujah! We are not alone, people! When the worst situation hits you and you are suppose to be up rooted and all over the place mentally and emotionally as the reaction, you won’t be because of this peace Jesus leaves! That’s how you know when you truly have his peace!
Now check this out, when something causes you to lose your peace, that is an invitation to pray. God is interested in restoring your peace so look to him when you feel the anxiety, nervousness, worry and all the other fear feelings that follow, come upon you. Bring God’s thoughts into your situation. Knowing and seeking his perspective will keep you grounded in Him and His word leaving you at ease no matter the tribulation! As I speak to you, I speak to myself! Having the peace of God and having your heart and mind guarded in Jesus is an awesome feeling and the sooner you grasp this, the better you’ll be. Jesus says in John 16:33, “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!!” All I can say is, “Thank You Jesus!”
It’s a story of some passengers on a plane and the plane is experiencing all kinds of turbulence. It goes up and down and rocks side to side. Everyone on the plane is afraid and all you hear is screaming with the exception of one little boy. The little boy is having himself a good ol’ time playing with his toys. Action noises proceed to come out of his mouth as he play fights with his action figured men. The lady sitting next to him being very annoyed at this boy said “how can you be playing at a time like this?” and the little boy replied, “because my Father is the captain. He is in control!” (YES!!) Rejoice in our Father who is in control and make a note to self. When you know who is in control, that doesn’t mean you are not in a tribulation, that just means the tribulation is not in you! Now is the time to reside in the peace Jesus leaves! His peace is the peace that surpasses all understanding!
Praise the Name of Jesus!
*Crystal M. Cherry
Monday, March 21, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Heavenly Minded vs. Double Minded
It seems like now a days, everyone is so caught up on defining each other that they don’t never stop to look at themselves. It’s easier to see someone else’s flaws sometimes than it is our own. However, when you are continuously trying to point out other peoples faults, telling them what they need to change, take a step back to view yourself. Especially if there is a negative connotation behind it. Today’s exercise is going to be focusing on self and I am going to start off with concentrating on what it means to be heavenly minded vs. being double minded.
Being heavenly minded means you’re not changing the station. As my pastor puts it, you’re not switching from AM to FM constantly. You can’t just go to Church on Sunday and think you did something just by going. The next thing you know, come Monday you back to doing the same earthly, carnal fulfilling things. When this happens you have just switched stations. This means you haven’t learned anything and nothing has changed about you. It is here where being double minded comes in. When you’re double minded, you are listening to the Word of God on Sunday and for the other six days of the week, you are listening to everyone else but God, also known as man. In other words, you don’t know if you want to listen to AM or FM, so you just be hopping from one station to the other.
While I won’t get too technical and say what AM and FM represent in this example I am using to make this point, I will say you need to stay tuned in to HBN. HBN stands for Heavenly Based Network! Pastor Evans, always talks about HBN! I know it may be easier said than done though, right? I mean nobody’s perfect except Jesus Christ and everyone slips up. So you might ask, how do I stay focused on one station? How do I stay tuned in to HBN? It is here where I introduce to you “The 4 F’s.” I was introduced to “The 4 F’s” and now I’m going to share it with you! This is some good stuff!
“The 4 F’s”
1) Establish the FACTS - ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS include God in every aspect of your life. Ask yourself, What does Christ say about what my next move should be? What is God’s statement about it? Always seek His approval, guidance and perspective and keep seeking it until you find it. If you can’t find it, ask someone in your Godly circle to help you find it in scripture. Don’t give up! This means picking up your bible and searching. When you do this, you are establishing the facts. We know that the Word of God is true. It is God-breathed, so whenever you pull something from scripture, that is a fact.
2) Respond in FAITH - This means to apply the facts you just learned to you personally. Focus on you. This is a good way to correct YOUR flaws and realize what you need to change. You have to count the facts to be real to you. This is your personal salvation. Your personal deliverance!
3) Time to FUNCTION - Let’s start off with stating a fact. When you gave your life to Christ and trusted in Him, you were made clean. But if you don’t respond in faith, you are still operating in the old you which means you are not functioning like you know the facts. This is what I call putting dirty clothes over clean salvation. After you take a shower, you don’t put on dirty clothes. At least I hope not! The reason being is because you didn’t get clean just to be dirty at the end of the process. That defeats the purpose and not functioning like you know the facts is the same concept. When you have done steps one and two, then start functioning like it. Get rid of your human point of view and start adapting to God’s point of view.
°4) Your FEELINGS- Feelings come and feelings go but nonetheless they are legit. If you’re happy, then you are happy and if you’re sad then you’re sad. It doesn’t get no simpler than that. But when you are in this step of “The 4 F’s,” God says, peace will come back to you. This means you will feel peace within you even when the craziest things happen in life because you know the facts, you responded in faith, you have been functioning off what God said in His Word and therefore you have peace! This type of feeling is a feeling from God that is awesome to have.
Staying heavenly minded simply means keeping your eyes and ears focused on the Lord. Know who is controlling the agenda in your life. The enemy loves for you to think you can’t overcome or it’s okay to switch channels but when you allow God to control the agenda, you will begin to see Him in a whole new way and switching channels will be the last thing on your mind!
To God be the Glory!
*Crystal M. Cherry
°For more information about the wonderful feeling of “Peace,” check out next week’s reading as we also learn another name of God!
Being heavenly minded means you’re not changing the station. As my pastor puts it, you’re not switching from AM to FM constantly. You can’t just go to Church on Sunday and think you did something just by going. The next thing you know, come Monday you back to doing the same earthly, carnal fulfilling things. When this happens you have just switched stations. This means you haven’t learned anything and nothing has changed about you. It is here where being double minded comes in. When you’re double minded, you are listening to the Word of God on Sunday and for the other six days of the week, you are listening to everyone else but God, also known as man. In other words, you don’t know if you want to listen to AM or FM, so you just be hopping from one station to the other.
While I won’t get too technical and say what AM and FM represent in this example I am using to make this point, I will say you need to stay tuned in to HBN. HBN stands for Heavenly Based Network! Pastor Evans, always talks about HBN! I know it may be easier said than done though, right? I mean nobody’s perfect except Jesus Christ and everyone slips up. So you might ask, how do I stay focused on one station? How do I stay tuned in to HBN? It is here where I introduce to you “The 4 F’s.” I was introduced to “The 4 F’s” and now I’m going to share it with you! This is some good stuff!
“The 4 F’s”
1) Establish the FACTS - ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS include God in every aspect of your life. Ask yourself, What does Christ say about what my next move should be? What is God’s statement about it? Always seek His approval, guidance and perspective and keep seeking it until you find it. If you can’t find it, ask someone in your Godly circle to help you find it in scripture. Don’t give up! This means picking up your bible and searching. When you do this, you are establishing the facts. We know that the Word of God is true. It is God-breathed, so whenever you pull something from scripture, that is a fact.
2) Respond in FAITH - This means to apply the facts you just learned to you personally. Focus on you. This is a good way to correct YOUR flaws and realize what you need to change. You have to count the facts to be real to you. This is your personal salvation. Your personal deliverance!
3) Time to FUNCTION - Let’s start off with stating a fact. When you gave your life to Christ and trusted in Him, you were made clean. But if you don’t respond in faith, you are still operating in the old you which means you are not functioning like you know the facts. This is what I call putting dirty clothes over clean salvation. After you take a shower, you don’t put on dirty clothes. At least I hope not! The reason being is because you didn’t get clean just to be dirty at the end of the process. That defeats the purpose and not functioning like you know the facts is the same concept. When you have done steps one and two, then start functioning like it. Get rid of your human point of view and start adapting to God’s point of view.
°4) Your FEELINGS- Feelings come and feelings go but nonetheless they are legit. If you’re happy, then you are happy and if you’re sad then you’re sad. It doesn’t get no simpler than that. But when you are in this step of “The 4 F’s,” God says, peace will come back to you. This means you will feel peace within you even when the craziest things happen in life because you know the facts, you responded in faith, you have been functioning off what God said in His Word and therefore you have peace! This type of feeling is a feeling from God that is awesome to have.
Staying heavenly minded simply means keeping your eyes and ears focused on the Lord. Know who is controlling the agenda in your life. The enemy loves for you to think you can’t overcome or it’s okay to switch channels but when you allow God to control the agenda, you will begin to see Him in a whole new way and switching channels will be the last thing on your mind!
To God be the Glory!
*Crystal M. Cherry
°For more information about the wonderful feeling of “Peace,” check out next week’s reading as we also learn another name of God!
Friday, March 11, 2011
From Deliverance to Destiny
I learned about Jehovah Rophe and the message couldn’t have been more clearer. The name means “The Lord who Heals” and is brought up in Exodus 15:26. The Lord tells the children of Israel that He is their healer after they complained to Moses about having no water. Moses just led them from the Red Sea and they went three days in the wilderness with no water. They arrived in a city called Marah and they were bitter because they could not drink the waters there. So Moses cried out unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree which the Lord threw into the waters and the scripture says in Exodus 15:25, the waters became sweet. It says there, He tested them and made for them a statue and ordinance saying “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statues, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Soon after, they arrived to a city called Elim where there was an abundance of water that they could drink!
Throughout our lives, God will test us for a couple of reasons. One is to see what we have learned and the other is to teach us something new about Him. That saying, “A lesson unlearned is a lesson repeated” is very true. How can we expect our Heavenly Father to move us along to the next step if we can’t even past the test He has for us now? You will never get the specific of what you need to do if you don’t listen to the Lord. This message is very important to me because I feel God is testing me with a couple different situations in my life right now. While I’m learning that I need God’s healing and that my healing method doesn’t work, God is showing me what He can do in my life. Situations are making me more and more humble and the pride that I once had is leaving so very quickly. I find myself relying on God with everything because my humbleness has shown me that I am not in control but He is.
We as Christians often reject God and adopt the values of society and then wonder why their problems become ours. But if we follow God, what happens to the sinners won’t happen to the saints. God can take your messed up situation and turn it around. When you truly follow God and the values of society don’t influence you and your life, God will take you places you never imagined yourself being. I find comfort in learning that because I have hope that where I am in my life won‘t be for forever. He is going to take me from deliverance to my destiny as He will do the same for you. Him testing you will be apart of the journey. Just like the children of Israel, we have to go through the wilderness first. We can’t skip Marah to get to Elim. How would we ever grow, learn and appreciate God if we make it to our destiny without going through the wilderness. I know life is hard but I speak from my heart when I say, look to God in everything. Learn to past the test so the He can show you an abundance of what He has and can give you!
Remember, turn down the noise and turn up His voice!
God Bless You!
*Crystal M. Cherry
Throughout our lives, God will test us for a couple of reasons. One is to see what we have learned and the other is to teach us something new about Him. That saying, “A lesson unlearned is a lesson repeated” is very true. How can we expect our Heavenly Father to move us along to the next step if we can’t even past the test He has for us now? You will never get the specific of what you need to do if you don’t listen to the Lord. This message is very important to me because I feel God is testing me with a couple different situations in my life right now. While I’m learning that I need God’s healing and that my healing method doesn’t work, God is showing me what He can do in my life. Situations are making me more and more humble and the pride that I once had is leaving so very quickly. I find myself relying on God with everything because my humbleness has shown me that I am not in control but He is.
We as Christians often reject God and adopt the values of society and then wonder why their problems become ours. But if we follow God, what happens to the sinners won’t happen to the saints. God can take your messed up situation and turn it around. When you truly follow God and the values of society don’t influence you and your life, God will take you places you never imagined yourself being. I find comfort in learning that because I have hope that where I am in my life won‘t be for forever. He is going to take me from deliverance to my destiny as He will do the same for you. Him testing you will be apart of the journey. Just like the children of Israel, we have to go through the wilderness first. We can’t skip Marah to get to Elim. How would we ever grow, learn and appreciate God if we make it to our destiny without going through the wilderness. I know life is hard but I speak from my heart when I say, look to God in everything. Learn to past the test so the He can show you an abundance of what He has and can give you!
Remember, turn down the noise and turn up His voice!
God Bless You!
*Crystal M. Cherry
Sunday, March 6, 2011
March Under God’s Regime
Today, we will focus on the name, “Jehovah Nissi” meaning the LORD’S Banner of Victory. This breakdown is my summary of Pastor Tony Evans message given a couple months ago. This is how I applied it to my life and how I hope you [as a reader and child of The Most High] apply it to yours. Everyday when I wake up, my main agenda is to praise God and then try all these different approaches to a solid direction and solution in my life while asking God for His will to be done. It’s so hard too, because I do not know where I‘m going. The world around me is so fast paced and I feel like I’ve fallen behind. Trying to catch up, I can’t help but to feel like I am not where I should be and at this point, I honestly don’t know where to be. But this message opened my eyes again (even though I‘ve been already told this!). It said, “Crystal, girl stop trippin! God knows where you’re supposed to be!” As long as I am under His banner, I can go, do and be everything I can be while looking to God for the Victory! Thank You Jesus!
“Jehovah Nissi,” is first seen in Exodus 17:15. The context it is used is when Moses built an alter and he named it “The LORD is My Banner.” This Banner represented not only the presence of God, but also the site of God‘s Victory. During this time, Israel fought against Amalek throughtout the period where they were being led in the wilderness, out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Amalekites were descendants of Esau, and were a fierce nomadic tribe. Their livelihood was not good, as they killed for pleasure. By Moses leading the Israelites, he served as a buffer between God and the people. Moses told Joshua to gather man and fight Amalek while he station himself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in his hand (Exodus 17:9). With him went Aaron and Hur.
On that hill, when Moses held his hands up, Israel prevailed. When he let his hands down, Amalek prevailed. See, while Moses was under God’s regime, under the Banner, he had God’s victory. It wasn’t the physical fighting of Israel that caused them to prevail and it wasn’t Moses who caused them to prevail. Yet, it was Moses’ faith and the action of Moses holding up his hands and looking to God for the victory why Israel prevailed. The banner is the sight of Victory. He in other words was dealing in the spiritual realm, not the physical.
In today’s world, everyone is so side tracked. The only world we know is this world of the 5 senses. If we can’t see, smell, touch, hear or taste it, we don’t believe in it. But the truth of the matter is, the spiritual world is the REAL world, not the physical world. If what you see is what you see, than you do not see what there is to see. There is definitely more to living in this world and fighting off our enemy than in the physical, which is why we need God. He knows what we do not know. He sees what we do not see.
I’m learning that it is underneath His authority and His authority alone why I am operating. If God doesn’t give me the victory, I won’t have the victory. When I operate under the banner, I operate under spiritual authority. Amalek is still present today, meaning we still have enemies. Your Amalek is anything that’s keeping you from realizing God’s purpose in your life. Anything that is stopping you from seeking God (your sidetracks). When we fight our enemies, we need God or else they will keep coming back. Victory is not determined by how hard we fight or how hard we try in the physical. As humans, we get tired. We try and fall, try and fall, try and fall and so on. Our enemies- we fight and they eventually come back, fight and they come back, fight and they come back and so on. Physically, we get tired but when we are under The Banner, we are working in the spiritual realm. God is doing the fighting. While Moses was holding up his hands on the hill, he started to get tired. As a human, his arms were hurting as he continued to hold them up, and this physical act became heavy on him. He began to put down his hands. But when Aaron and Hur came on each side of him and supported his hands back up, Amalek prevailed no more!
I can not stress enough how important God is in your life. Because of Jesus, we are connected to God and we are under His Banner. We can’t fight the enemy alone no matter how tough, strong, trained or equipped we think we may be. Fight the enemy spiritually by looking to God for the victory. You must fulfill your responsibility, but also look to the Lord for victory and that goes for all aspects and situations in your life. When your connection is broken in the spiritual, the enemy comes in and prevail in your life. It is easier for him to steer you in his direction when your not dealing in the spiritual realm. Note - Always stay connected.
Stay connected to God and dive inside His Word. Moses showed us how being spiritually interlinked to God, is the best direction you can go. God wants to fight your battles and Jesus defeated your enemies, so begin to act like it! Affirm this and stay spiritually connected. Everyone who looks to God will be delivered. God will use His method to deliver you, not yours. Get in a church and get connected with people who desire and commit their lives to God, so that when you get tired and weary like Moses, they can intercede for you like Aaron and Hur did as they supported Moses when he was tired. (Thank God for them!) And don’t just look to be comforted, but be a comforter and intercede for others as well! You are loved! No matter how lost you feel, if you are underneath God’s victory, you already won! So everyday as you go out into this world, march under God’s regime!
God Bless You!
*Crystal M. Cherry
“Jehovah Nissi,” is first seen in Exodus 17:15. The context it is used is when Moses built an alter and he named it “The LORD is My Banner.” This Banner represented not only the presence of God, but also the site of God‘s Victory. During this time, Israel fought against Amalek throughtout the period where they were being led in the wilderness, out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Amalekites were descendants of Esau, and were a fierce nomadic tribe. Their livelihood was not good, as they killed for pleasure. By Moses leading the Israelites, he served as a buffer between God and the people. Moses told Joshua to gather man and fight Amalek while he station himself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in his hand (Exodus 17:9). With him went Aaron and Hur.
On that hill, when Moses held his hands up, Israel prevailed. When he let his hands down, Amalek prevailed. See, while Moses was under God’s regime, under the Banner, he had God’s victory. It wasn’t the physical fighting of Israel that caused them to prevail and it wasn’t Moses who caused them to prevail. Yet, it was Moses’ faith and the action of Moses holding up his hands and looking to God for the victory why Israel prevailed. The banner is the sight of Victory. He in other words was dealing in the spiritual realm, not the physical.
In today’s world, everyone is so side tracked. The only world we know is this world of the 5 senses. If we can’t see, smell, touch, hear or taste it, we don’t believe in it. But the truth of the matter is, the spiritual world is the REAL world, not the physical world. If what you see is what you see, than you do not see what there is to see. There is definitely more to living in this world and fighting off our enemy than in the physical, which is why we need God. He knows what we do not know. He sees what we do not see.
I’m learning that it is underneath His authority and His authority alone why I am operating. If God doesn’t give me the victory, I won’t have the victory. When I operate under the banner, I operate under spiritual authority. Amalek is still present today, meaning we still have enemies. Your Amalek is anything that’s keeping you from realizing God’s purpose in your life. Anything that is stopping you from seeking God (your sidetracks). When we fight our enemies, we need God or else they will keep coming back. Victory is not determined by how hard we fight or how hard we try in the physical. As humans, we get tired. We try and fall, try and fall, try and fall and so on. Our enemies- we fight and they eventually come back, fight and they come back, fight and they come back and so on. Physically, we get tired but when we are under The Banner, we are working in the spiritual realm. God is doing the fighting. While Moses was holding up his hands on the hill, he started to get tired. As a human, his arms were hurting as he continued to hold them up, and this physical act became heavy on him. He began to put down his hands. But when Aaron and Hur came on each side of him and supported his hands back up, Amalek prevailed no more!
I can not stress enough how important God is in your life. Because of Jesus, we are connected to God and we are under His Banner. We can’t fight the enemy alone no matter how tough, strong, trained or equipped we think we may be. Fight the enemy spiritually by looking to God for the victory. You must fulfill your responsibility, but also look to the Lord for victory and that goes for all aspects and situations in your life. When your connection is broken in the spiritual, the enemy comes in and prevail in your life. It is easier for him to steer you in his direction when your not dealing in the spiritual realm. Note - Always stay connected.
Stay connected to God and dive inside His Word. Moses showed us how being spiritually interlinked to God, is the best direction you can go. God wants to fight your battles and Jesus defeated your enemies, so begin to act like it! Affirm this and stay spiritually connected. Everyone who looks to God will be delivered. God will use His method to deliver you, not yours. Get in a church and get connected with people who desire and commit their lives to God, so that when you get tired and weary like Moses, they can intercede for you like Aaron and Hur did as they supported Moses when he was tired. (Thank God for them!) And don’t just look to be comforted, but be a comforter and intercede for others as well! You are loved! No matter how lost you feel, if you are underneath God’s victory, you already won! So everyday as you go out into this world, march under God’s regime!
God Bless You!
*Crystal M. Cherry
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)