The Kingdom of Darkness: We Must Protect our Children

I ask you for a moment to take a look at these children. Their beautiful smiles are radiant. Look at the purity and joy that illuminates from them. Now, imagine them being taken advantage of to do unconceivable things. Imagine those smiles are now frowns filled with darkness and void. Their hearts have been turned to stone. These precious children have been made agents for the kingdom of darkness. {disclaimer]I prayed as I typed this that none of those things had happened to these childern. In the Bible, Jesus shows a deep sincere love for children. He had a protective nature when it came to the little ones. Matthew 18:6-7 says: 6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. We see in this scripture that if anyone causes a child to sin they will truly pay for defiling the pure nature of the innocent. In another scripture we see that Jesus understands the power in being like a child. We sometimes overlook children but there is much we can learn from them. In Matthew 18:2-5 Jesus shows us this: 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. 

The Nature of Children

Jesus said that Children are humble. I looked up the word humble, the synonyms for humble are: meek, respectful, submissive, unassertive, resistless and unpresuming. This tells me that children will submit to their leaders. Children will not assert their will over yours. They don't resist what you are teaching them. I'm also a fifth grade teacher so I see these traits with children everyday. They believe what you tell them for the most part. They may ask why to get more clarity, but will submit. This is how we must be to enter the kingdom of Heaven. We should not try to assert our Will over God's Will for our life. We are to submit to God by repenting and turning from anything that is unlike him. We do not resist God but surrender our Will to him. 

The Kindom of Darkness Desires to Recruit Our Children

Satan and his agents are working nonstop. He too knows the humble nature of children and how easy it is to trap and turn them. He has demons in every part of this world promoting wickedness through lies and deciet. I recently watched two videos of young ladies who were in Satanism and are now followers of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah! I thank God for their deliverance. I also thank God for their testimonies. The Bible says that we will overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies. Through these young ladies sharing what they experienced in the kingdom of darkness I now have a better understanding of satans plan. I found out that his goal is to recruit young people. Both of these ladies were recruited in their teen years. They explained how they target young people. In one case there was a man that would stand outside the school to talk to young girls and recruit them. Clothes, music, false prophets, movies, social media, etc. are use to snare our children to forfeit their soul. These ladies were made to kill people, do human sacrifices, sexual immorality and more. Many of our missing children are taken for this purpose according to these ladies. They are stripped of all innocense and made to be killing and sex machines void of feelings. This breaks my heart as I type these words knowing we have some fault in this. Nevertheless, my hope comes from knowing that there is a way of escape for matter. God does not leave us ignorant. He makes a show of the enemy by bringing his tactics to the forefront. Now it is our time to act. 

Defense Strategy

The Bible says: Train up a child in the way that they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it. Many Christians are failing at this for a few reasons. First, we are taking our children to Church and leaving it up to them to train our children. The church is the village that helps, but they are not to do the parent's job. As parents we have to practice what we preach. In Deuteronomy God instructed parents to put Him first in all they did and teach their children to do the same. We are to follow God's word in action and not just words and teach our children to do the same. Many of us are merely church goers with no action behind it which in turn teaches our children nothing about the foundation of our faith. Therefore our first defense strategy is to lead by example. God should be taught at home along with prayer.  Our children should know who Jesus is because at his name everything will bow. Secondly, we are allowing our children to hear and see wicked things created to snare them. Our eyes and ears are open doors to our soul. When we as parents listen to sexual immoral music, Watch sexual immoral videos and movies, curse and use God's name in vain and any other act that involves sin, we open our children up for possession. Therefore our second line of defense is to first make a conscious decision to eliminate those things from your life. Remember we must lead by example. Children do what we do not what we say. We must show our children how to live a Godly life and why it's important. You and your child may learn the reasons together and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact that is beautiful to learn the fullness of God along with your child. Third, pray without ceasing, which means pray all throughout the day. We must cover our children in prayer. This will keep them protected by angels sent by God.  We must take this walk more seriously if we want to save our children. There are children being left open with no defenses because we are not praying and teaching them the right way. This causes them to fall for the kingdom of darkness lies. We must teach our children the name of JESUS! We must teach them how to pray. The Bible is what teaches us how to discern the difference between evil and righteousness. How will they know without you reading with them?

Our job is to protect our children. Pray for any children that are around you. Pray for the abducted children to be returned safely. Pray for believing parents to begin to walk righteously in front of their children, that their children may follow and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Teach them the importance of Jesus and what his sacrifice did for them. Let's take our children back from the hands of the enemy. Stop freely giving them over by allowing them to see and hear anything because of your fleshly desires. Make a decision to be hot or cold. I pray you be hot for Jesus and teach your children to be the same. My prayer is that through your walk with God, your children will begin to teach other children that they encounter. My prayer is that you will begin to form prayer groups with other parents. My prayer is that you will teach the blue print of the Bible which is to Repent, be Baptised and Filled with the Holy Spirit. Be Blessed☝ Feel Free to leave any questions in the comments.

Prayer: How to enter into God's presence

Did you know you were created to live in God's presence? Adam and Eve was in God's presence daily because there was nothing separating them. Everything they did coincided with God's will and purpose for them. God guided there decisions until they fell for deception. Mankind was pure, blameless, without spot or wrinkle. We were perfect! We had no sin, wickedness, blemishes or transgressions. We were created to reflect God's character and personality, which is his nature and moral character. We are made of three parts: Body, Soul and Spirit. Because man has a spirit we are able to communicate with God in spirit as he is spirit. The Bible says God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.(John 4:24) Even though we were created in God's image, we can't reflect that image if we don't have a relationship with him. Remember our image changed once mankind fell because we became slaves to sin. We became enemies of God Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled (restored back) to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his (Jesus) life. Therefore the very 1st step to getting in God's presence is accepting his son Jesus Christ as your savior. Without Jesus blood there is no remission of sin. No Jesus, No God! The only way to be restored back from our fallen state is through his son Jesus. 

God's plan was for man to desire what he desired, for man's will to line up with his will. When this happens your prayers will be asking God to accomplish his will on earth as it is in heaven. Then goodness and truth will reign on earth instead of darkness and evil.  When we are born, we are born in sin. We are born conforming to the world and its systems. Thus we are born following satan whether we choose to or not. The only way to change that is to be reborn by dying to sin and raised in righteousness through Christ. This is what baptism does. This is not a quick fix pill though, the transformation is an ongoing process. In this blog I'm going to list some principles that are essential to having effective and powerful prayers that God honors. 

1. Deal with your sin- We must first deal with our sin when we prepare to pray. We must evaluate our day and actions to see if we have done anything God would be displeased with. Then ask for forgiveness of those sins. We can even ask God to forgive us for sins we don't know about because what's right to man is wicked to God. This means sometimes our decisions are not in alignment with God unknowingly. Psalms 19:12 David asks God to forgive him for his hidden faults, meaning sins he's unaware of.  1John 1:9  says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. This is very important not to skip repentance because sin causes God to separate from us and not hear our prayers.

2. Put on Righteousness- This means being right with God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Your life should be reflecting his light and moral code. Remember we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, there will be areas you slip in, this is your opportunity to ask God to help you in those areas. We can do nothing by our self but through God all things are possible. 

3.Be Honest with God- Remember God knows everything 😉 we sometimes forget this and try to tell " little white lies" or " extract information" in our prayers. This will get you no where with God because that is sin. Remember the Bible says we must worship him in spirit and truth. God doesn't judge us like man. He loves us unconditionally. You can go to him with your darkest secret, in fact that gets you closer because you're laying it all at his feet and this is what he desires. 

4. Read your Word (Bible)- The word of God cleanses us. This is why God tells us to meditate on his word day and night. This just means keep God's word on your mind. The word of God is for reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness so that we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works( 2Tim. 3:16-17) Without God's word we can't truly know him. The only way we can truly live in righteousness as God desires is by living according to his word (Psalms 119:9-11). When we read the word it also trains our senses to discern between good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). Lastly, we can remind him of his word. Because he values his word above himself he will honor it always. 

5. Separate Yourself- When you prepare to pray you must separate yourself from outside interference. You can't have a powerful and effective prayer while watching television or listening to the radio (unless you have certain worship music to set the atmosphere). Your total attention need to be on your time with God. Adam and Eve didn't have interference remember but we do. We have work, school, kids, worries, Fbook, instagram, etc. We have to shut all that out for alone time just to bask in his presence. This allows your spirit to become one with his and he will speak to you and through you in prayer (this may not happen every time). The more you build your relationship with God, the stronger your prayer life will be. 

6. Have Faith- We must have Faith in God's promises when we pray. Remember, you can only know his promises if you read the Holy Bible for yourself. The Bible says without Faith it is impossible to please God. One reason is because you have to first believe that he is and that he sent his son to die for the sins of world. When you pray, you must believe that it is done. This means you live as if it is a reality for you that just has to manifest. Many pray and get off their knees and speak death to the very thing they just prayed for. The Bible says in James 4, that is like a man that look in the mirror and turns around and immediately forget what he looks like. This is another reason his word is so important because it builds your faith in him. Go into your prayer knowing that God hears you and will answer you. 

7. Give God glory & remain in Righteousness- Take some time to just praise and worship him for who he is to you. Your prayer shouldn't be all about petitions only. Praise God  for his mercy, grace, and atonement for your sins. This is just examples, but just as you like praise God does too and he totally deserves that and more. Often people try to live righteous just to get something from God, once it's done they regress to worldly living. How do you feel when you've been used? I never want to grieve God. He's done to much for me. Romans 12:1 say to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, because this is our reasonable service unto him. This is my daily goal. 

I don't profess to know it all. I'm learning daily as you are.  I'm a fellow believer trying to grow in Christ and sharing with others what I've learned on this walk. My goal is to strengthen my prayer life to take it to a higher level. I want my will, purpose and pleasure to line up with his so we can do amazing miracles in the earth just as Jesus did. In fact we are instructed to do greater works than Jesus. This means if God said that, I can trust that I will be able to accomplish it because he honors his word over himself. When we position ourselves by making our vessel (body) available to him we will be awesome change agents in this earth and the earth to come. Please post in the comments about your prayer life or any questions or advice you may have for me or others. Be Blessed.  

Why Do I Still Live Bound If I'm Free From Sin?

First let's begin by explaining what Sin is. Sin is any lack of conformity to the moral law of God, either active or passive, whether in act, thought or disposition. Hamartiology is the study of sin. This tells me if a study is devoted to sin it must have some importance. According to the Christian Bible reference site the word "Sin" is mentioned over 400 times in the Bible. This tells me that God thought it was important to speak on it so often. Therefore if there is a study devoted to it and God says its important then I need to understand it to know what it means to be free from it.

Sin the old ball and chain

God created this world sinless. The world was a place of utopia (heaven on earth). Humans were able to talk to animals without fear. Animals ate vegetation, they didn't desire flesh and blood. Can you imagine petting a lion without fear of being eaten. Can you imagine cattle not worrying about being eaten by us. We too had no desire for flesh. All of our food grew on trees. We had no need for clothes because we were clothe in the righteousness of God. This had to be amazing to never feel guilt, shame, fear, low self-esteem, lust, rage, etc. The only feeling were those of peace, joy, serenity, kindness, love, truth, godliness, worship, etc. Just stop and think for a second how different the world would be. There were no religions. It was just God and his creation. We knew who our creator was because we had an intimate relationship with him. There was no interference or competition. Then entered Satan our enemy and God's enemy who was once one of his most treasured Cherubs. 

Bound By Sin

We can't talk about sin without talking about the cause of it. Satan wanted to be like God so he rebelled and took a third of the angels with him. These angels are now called fallen angels. Satan hates us because he has no chance to repent, he will never inherit the kingdom of heaven. His inheritance is to be locked in hell with his fallen angels. Therefore he wants to make sure we never inherit it either. When Adam made the decision to eat the fruit sin entered the world. Having knowledge of what sin was meant you had to choose sin or godliness. We are now all born into sin because of Adam's choice. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Romans 3:23. God looked down through generations and saw that the law he created with Moses couldn't be kept. There could never be enough animals sacrificed to totally cover our sin. So God sent the ultimate sacrifice, his son Jesus Christ the Messiah. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:16 This broke the chains of sin on our lives. Instead of being mastered by sin, when we believe and accept Jesus as our Savior we are mastered by righteousness. 

Walking in the Newness of Life

Paul asks a question in Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin, that grace may abound? In layman's terms Paul is asking " So do you think it's o.k to sin since we are now covered under Gods grace?" "Should we sin so his grace can increase more and more?" So before we answer that question let's talk about grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Grace is God showing his mercy, patience, and kindness instead of our just punishment for sin which is death. Grace isn't earned, it's a part of God's character. Remember "For God so loved the world", his heart toward us is to give us a choice to choose him and be free. Now back to Paul's question. In Romans 6:2 he answers his rhetorical question. His answer: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Again in layman's terms, Paul is saying " God refuses to allow us to walk in sin after his ultimate sacrifice for you to free. Why would you want to live in sin after being freed from it?"

The problem is that Sunday after Sunday we here we can never live up to God's standards. This doesn't mean we should live carelessly. We hear REPENT but we don't hear change and turn. Therefore we cry at the alter repenting but never changing. We get baptized but never open the book on how to live. We barely pray and often don't understand what prayer is. How can we live free from sin when we never open the manual (Bible)? Our mindset should be to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, not for what he can do but for what he already did. When we have a love for God like this our desire changes from a sinful nature to wanting to please God. We have a zeal to read more about him and his standard(will) for our lives. We begin to talk to him more and get to know his character. Then chains begin to fall off because we begin to say GOD I CHOOSE YOU! He already chose us with his sacrifice, now we must choose him to be able to walk in total freedom. We must take the power back from our enemy. Romans 6 (read full chapter) tells us that we must die with Christ and be raised with him by the glory of God . This means that our old sinful nature must die in order that we walk free from sin. Walking free from sin means we no longer serve sin but the father who loves us. We have the victory through Christ's death. We should live everyday manifesting our resurrected life free from sin's control. 

 Now that you know what sin is, where it comes from and what God did to free you from it, Here are some steps you can take to walk in the newness of God and become a servant of righteousness.

• Read your Bible daily. It doesn't have to be a whole chapter. Start where you are and increase as the spirit leads you.
• Pray daily, morning, midday and before you sleep. Very important to pray before you sleep. Prayer is just talking to God, nothing fancy.
• Try to connect yourself with other believers. You will be able to strengthen and encourage one another. In addition, they are seeking the same thing you are which is to live a righteous life. Ungodly people will never steer you towards God and his desire for your life.
• Always ask God to give you wisdom, knowledge and understanding so you never put your own interpertation  to his Word.
• Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit which will lead and guide you in God's truth. 

As you begin to implement these steps in your life God will begin to reveal himself to you. He will begin to show you the areas that need cleaning. This is what he did for me once I asked him instead of trying to do it on my own. I found that I can only do what God wants through his power. Through him we can do all things. Nothing is impossible with God. The Joy of the Lord will be your strength. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment section. I look forward to hearing your testimony. 

The Lukewarm Church: Will Jesus Know You At His Return

My biggest fear as a follower of Christ is displeasing God. I know what it is to be a lukewarm "Christian". I straddled the fence for awhile myself. I believed I was doing fine until God showed me I was far from him. This wasn't because he left me, it was because sin separated me from him. He has to turn away when we are filled with sin. God even turned from Jesus when he took on the sins of this world. Sin cannot exist in God's presence. 

God woke me up in the middle of the night to pray. I didn't really know what to pray for until I opened my Bible. I asked God to lead me in his knowledge, wisdom and understanding before I begin to read. When I looked down at the Bible  I was in the book of Jeremiah. I begin to read and saw God's love and anger at the same time. He sent Jeremiah numerous times to prophesy to his people. He sent his judgement of what would happen because of disobedience, iniquity, and the worship of idols. The message sent was very serious. There were some bad things going to happen to them because of disobedience. God sounded the alarm so many times before he punished them. It's the same way today. He loves us so much that he will wake me out my sleep to pray for his people to get it right. There's nothing special about me, I'm sure I'm one of many. My point is so many feel it's not that serious. They feel as long as they go to church they are fine. Some feel there are many paths and if they are on one of them they're fine. Some people feel like if they identify as Christian they are saved. These are all wrong. The truth is that we are instructed by God that we must love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This means to love God with your entire being. Living in sin while saying with your mouth you love God is being lukewarm.
Doing the bare minimum just doesn't cut it for God. He wants our all. The Bible says this is our reasonable service. Think about it. How would you feel if your child dishonored you after you've done everything for him/her? I would feel hurt. angry, sad, rejected and unloved. Now, how do you think God feel being that he sent his son to die so that we could live free of the thing we still hold on to, SIN? In Revelations Jesus says I wish you was either or, hot or cold, choose a side. Think of being in a relationship where someone tells you they love you but you never see them, you never hear from them, you can't depend on them for anything and there's no intimacy. They come around every now and then when they need something and once all is good they're gone again. I would rather they just leave me alone if I always have to question their love for me. We string God along just like that scenario I just presented. He's saying I AM ABOUT TO SPIT YOU OUT OF MY MOUTH! YOU MAKE ME SICK! I never want to make God feel like that. It saddens my heart to even know that I once did. At Jesus return I want him to know me. I want him to say well done my good and faithful servant.

Disconnect the Yoke

In order to begin to be hot you must separate from the cold. Lukewarm is a mixture of hot and cold, it's being halfway in the world and halfway with God. To be with God we must separate from the world. You may say, how can we live in the world but separate from it? Romans 12:2  says don't be conformed (comply with the standards)  by this world but be ye TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind. This is what God did for me and he continues to do it daily. I've changed in so many ways with no power of my own but by God changing the way I think. People that I used to connect myself with I don't anymore. I don't hate them, I don't think I'm better than them. If I see them I'm happy to see them but similarities are not there anymore. The music I listened to, I don't listen to it anymore. I used to workout to worldly rap music with cursing at times and now I listen to Godly music while exercising. I loved scary movies and spent a lot of time watching television, now my desires for that has changed. I don't look at those type of movies anymore and I hardly ever watch television. Instead I watch documentaries and sermons a lot. That's just a few changes of many that God has made in me. GUESS WHAT! I don't miss them because God is more important to me than anything in this world. Now is the changes always easy? NO. but the peace that the changes bring are awesome.  I don't want to be lukewarm. My desire is to be all that God intended when he created me. I don't want to be connected to anything or anyone if it displeases God. In order to be all in for God we MUST disconnect the Yoke to sin. There is no bargaining in that area. 

Jesus Message to the Lukewarm Believer

Be Zealous and Repent! Behold I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh "will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with the Father in his throne. Revelation 3:19-21

Bad Company Corrupts Good Character: You are who you hang around

As a little girl I always wanted to be liked. I always wanted to be with my friends. I followed the crowd and adapted well. My original personality is meek, mild mannered, quiet, kind hearted and compassionate. This person didn't always show up. She was hidden at times. My character was compromised a lot growing up even to my adult years. Most people that connected themselves to me were strong willed controlling people and I followed very well. I was always a follower growing up. My mother was a drug addict and my siblings were in foster care. I felt alone. My grandmother raised me with very good morals but I always wanted to belong somewhere. I always was who people wanted me to be instead of who I really was. Finally I found myself about 30 yrs old with no idea of who I really was and why was I even here. I had spent a life of trying to please everyone but myself. I felt void, empty and lost until one day my friend invited me to church after I poured out my feelings to her. This is when God pulled me away from everything and began to illuminate my true self. He showed me that he created me to be a leader and not a follower. He showed me that he created me to be strong and not weak. He showed me that he didn't create me to live in lack and uncertainty. 
From years of being connected to the wrong people my character was shattered, not just to the world but to myself. I had no idea who I truly was. When God pulled me from the world's influence and put me in the midst of his people, my character was on the road to reconstruction. I stopped drinking. I was never a big drinker because I can't tolerate much but I did drink at times. I also dabbed in weed some and I stopped that. I couldn't really tolerate that either. I was a what you call a light weight😂. I stopped going to clubs and parties. I was in church at least 4 days a week. I was at prayer on Mondays, Bible Study on Wednesday, Choir rehearsal on Thursday, Kids rehearsal Saturday and church on Sunday and I loved it. The company I kept was totally different. They wasn't perfect but we were all trying to live a life pleasing to God. We were having clean fun now with no consequences. I begin to learn how God wanted me to live as oppose to how I actually was living. 

Sowing and Reaping

Galatians 6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

I'd spent a lifetime of reaping from bad decisions I made. I was in debt because of poor money management. I can't tell you how many times my phone was cut off. I always owed more on my rent. I was basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. God dealt with my husband and I in this area. We paid off our credit cards. We paid off every bill we owed. We stopped spending mindlessly. All our bills were now current. This wasn't easy. I went about a year of not getting my hair professionally done. I had to do my own hair which I really don't like to do:) There was no manicures and pedicures. We didn't eat out often. We bought groceries and cooked our meals. We also had to work on being to our jobs on time, no calling off unless for emergencies. We became responsible adults.

Forsaking Relationships

Proverbs 9:6
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

The funny thing is when God begins to bring you into the light your relationships begin to fade. Usually people feel that you're different, you think you're better than them or you're acting funny or weird. This causes people to pull away from you because you are no longer living like them. They can usually see your change before you see it. Notice the scripture above says Forsake the foolish and live, You can't really start living until you let go of foolish things because they keep you in bondage. It's like chains are on you and you can't break free when you are in the counsel of the ungodly. God had to pull me from among them to show me my purpose, to give me a life and that more abundantly. I don't know where I would be today if I'd not excepted that invitation to church. Now I surround myself with people who are going or have gone where I'm going. I don't compromise my character nor do I put myself in situations that would cause for it. My life is peaceful. I'm not skirting the mountain year after year with the same problems like I once was. 

This Doesn't Mean you Can't Have Friends

The Bible says Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." emphasis on Bad Company, God wants us to have righteous people in our circle. God wants people around that will edify you and not pull you down with them. If you are going through a tough time check your surroundings. If you continue to have lack and stay stagnant check your surroundings. It's not wise to get counsel from people that haven't been where you're trying to go. Why would I ask a nurse how to become a teacher? Why would I ask a drug addict how to kick the habit? Why would I ask an irresponsible person how to be responsible? I shouldn't because they will only pull me down because they are still living in error. Therefore I would have to change my group of people I surround myself with. Proverbs 13:20

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Wise people help to enhance your character, The foolish helps to corrupt your character.

You are blessed when you allow God to pull you from among people that are not good for you. The best way to do this is to build your relationship with God by reading your word and talking to him. Instead of drinking when you are stressed call him, instead of calling that person who means you no good, call God. Tell him your feelings, he won't make fun of you. He doesn't think you're stupid for dealing with that guy who really doesn't love you. God knows the hurt and pain you have and wants to relieve it. He wants you to be successful, peaceful, joyful, and filled with love from him. Forsake the bad relationships in your life today and begin to see what life God intended for you. Be blessed. If you have any questions please leave them in the comment section. I would love to talk with you.