Tag: Salvation

Be Prepared.

Author, Nicole L. Ross1 Comment

be-prepared

One of the biggest lessons I was taught while growing up was always be prepared.  At the time and even to this very day, I understand the importance of being prepared.  Some people tend to think that preparation takes away from having faith in God.  I disagree.  I feel as though preparation and faith go hand in hand.  What I mean is this, you have the faith that God is going to protect you when you get in your car and drive, yet you still put on your seat belt.  Or you know that God will provide all of you and your families needs, yet you still have life insurance.  The attitude in which you operate while getting prepared is where faith comes in.  If you do something because you do not know if God will do His part or “just in case” God does not do what you think He should, then you are not operating in faith at all.  You are leaning and trusting on your own free will more than that of the Father.  We are to most certainly walk by faith, but I also feel that God gives us common sense as well. Unfortunately, common sense is a flower that does not grow in everyone’s garden.  Think for a moment, God promised to provide for all creation, even the birds.  He does not build a nest for them, He created trees so they can make their own nest.  Before they can do that, they have to prepare by gathering sticks and shrubs then knitting them together to make their home.

Preparation is essential in so many different areas of life.  God gave us a brain, we have to be smart and use it.  A lot of what I was told to do in my younger years, whether it be homework for school, chores around the house, and even work on my actual job all prepared me for my future.  The things we do today help pave the way for tomorrow.  As adults we have to be mindful that not only does it pave the way for tomorrow, it paves the way for the legacy we plan to leave behind for our bloodline.  Our children’s, children’s, children.  You have to think beyond yourself and help prepare the way for future generations to come.  Think about it like this, blessing happen when preparation meets opportunity.  Next time that big opportunity presents itself, if you are prepared, great things can happen.

It is so imperative that we not waste away time because as we know, tomorrow is not promised.  There has to be balance in our lifestyle.  God gave us the need, need for food, need for water, need for shelter, these types of things.  I believe He did so in order to turn us away from everything in the world and focus on Him.  By focusing on Him we exercise our faith, and trust that God will do what He says He will do.  While also doing our part to make sure we have what we need.  We do our part by getting ready.  Go to work so you can have income, so that when the bills come in you are now ready to pay them.  Let God do the super and you do the natural.

Jesus is coming back again, so set aside all the preparation of day-to-day life, will your soul be ready?  Are you saved?  Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  Stop saying you aren’t ready yet.  Ready for what?  To be delivered? To be set free?  To have peace, love and joy in your heart?  God is not expecting you to change anything about your life on your own.  All He wants is for you to say yes to Him.  If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  When you do that and begin to build your relationship with Him, He will do the rest.  There is no better time than now to prepare for the returning of our Lord and give your life to Christ.  The bible declares that He will come like a thief in the night.  If you knew someone was coming to your house, wouldn’t you be ready?  No difference now, you just have to get your soul ready.  My brothers and sisters it is time to get our acts together.  Stop putting off for tomorrow what you can do today.  As the saying goes, ‘when you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail’. #iDeclare #beprepared

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Prayer:

Father God in the name of Jesus, I thank you for preparation.  I decree and declare that I will live a life where my faith will walk hand in hand with preparation.  Thank you for the many blessings that will flow into my life when the preparation that I have put forth will meet new opportunities.  Thank you God for common sense, and the brain that you have given me.  I will use them both to the best of my ability to live my life in a manner that will keep me in your will.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Scripture Reference:

Matthew 24:44 ESV “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

1 Thessalonians 5:2 NLT “For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.”

The Importance of Right Relationships

Author, Nicole L. RossLeave a comment

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Just recently I experienced a situation that made me realize the importance of right relationships.  A lot of times when we think about relationships, we think about a romantic relationship.  It is not until you consider the definition of what a relationship is that you are truly able to understand that in spite of your marital status, most people are involved in several relationships in their lifetime.  For instance, if you have people you consider to be friends then you have relationships with them because you are connected to them.  Truth be told, you have a relationship with your employer, the phone company, the cable company, I could go on and on.  The point is, as long as you are connected, a relationship will always exist.  I am not going to talk about having a relationship with the phone company, although it is important to stay on the up and up with them, because you and I both know that if you do not then you probably won’t have a phone.  What I would like to talk about however is the importance of right relationships.

Some people are very outgoing and others such as myself tend to be a little more of an introvert.  Whatever personality type you have, everyone desires to have friends.  People who would make your life different if they did not exist.  People who know you, but choose to love you anyway.  Individuals who are there for you no matter what and who you can trust and depend on.  Those are just a few of the concepts that define what I consider to be a true friend.  This is also what I think of in regards to what it means to be in a right relationship.

Now all of this sounds good in theory, but my questions is this, how do we know when a person we are in a relationship with is truly a friend?  We meet new people everyday and obviously some you connect with better than others.  To answer the question however, I’d say that you really do not know.  You just have to take a chance.  It is tough as a parent however, because in most cases when you are friends with someone your family meets that person which means now more people are connected and have that relationship.  The dangerous part is when you take that chance only to find out that person was never really a friend in the first place.  Stuff happens, I get that and although it hurts, you are able to move on with your life.  The most unfortunate part however is that now your children, who are completely innocent, have formed a bond with them and you have to explain to them why that person is no longer apart of your family’s life.  This has been a real wake up call for me and I want each and every one of you to learn from my mistake.  So please allow me to change my answer a bit from before.  I still think we have to take a chance when we meet people, but we are to acknowledge God in all things and this includes whom you should be connected to.  We must pray and ask God.  I believe that if we do this, it will prevent us from a lot of heartache.

I will be the first to say it is tough to find not just people who are trying to live right, but in my case married people.  My husband and I desire to find other couples who are headed in the same direction we are both spiritually and mentally but we must relinquish our desire to the will of our Father and trust His timing.  Often times we get so caught up in what we want, then get excited when we think it has come.  Never allowing our Heavenly Father to show us who’s who and what’s what.  Instead of getting excited, we have to keep a sound mind.  What I’ve learned is that satan will send us a knock off or fake version of whatever it is we are asking God for to distract us from the real thing.  He knows that when God answers prayer, it is going to draw us even closer in our relationship to God and it is going to push the devil further back into hell, where he belongs.

In spite of the hardships of life and understanding the ins and outs of relationships, there is good news.  I am a friend of God, and so are you.  He is the best friend we could ever have.  You never have to worry about Him walking away from you, turning His back on you or hurting you in any way.  No greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.  That’s exactly what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did.  Please be mindful of your relationships.  Pray and ask God who is supposed to be in your life, when they are supposed to be in your life and for how long.  That’s the answer, simply put.  Take a chance, but above all seek God.  #iDeclare #theimportanceofrightrelationships

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Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for calling me friend.  I need you to please help me understand the importance of right relationships.  I have complete understanding of what a relationship is, so please God help me to discern who is my true friend and who is not.  As I meet people, help me to know why I’ve been connected to them and for how long.  I decree and declare that I will not be thrown off by knock offs, but I will know the real thing when I see it.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

Scripture Reference:

James 2:23 ESV “and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.”

John 15:13-15 KJV “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. From now on I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.”

Make The Most of It

Author, Nicole L. Ross2 Comments

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Lately, I’ve been thinking about how our environment can effect our state of mind.  I was thinking of this because I was reminiscing on how it was when I first moved to Germany.  Coming from Atlanta, Georgia, this moved literally flipped my world upside down.  I absolutely despised it when I got here.  I did not want to come in the first place because I had never been so far away from my family.  Then when I got here the weather was cold, we are in a small country area where there really isn’t much around, it is cold, I did not like the food, I did not understand the language and did I mention it was very, very cold.  It took me about a year to really adapt and accept the fact that I was living in Germany.  In that year of adjustment I was not a very happy camper.  I did not want to go anywhere.  I did meet a few nice people but within a few months they all slowly started moving back to the states.  It was just a very tough transition for me.  I said all of that to say this, I was in a new environment and even though I did not like it, I allowed it to control me in a sense that it changed my entire outlook on life.  I allowed it to stop me and slow me down from truly operating in the full purpose of me being here.  I knew that God had sent me over here for a reason, and oddly enough I even had a strong spirit of expectation coming over.  I was expecting great things, but I was so stuck on me and being selfish that God could not begin to work in me like He wanted to.  Instead of me making the most of this new country I was living in, I chose to be miserable.  That’s right, I made a decision.  Therefore I was unable to be very effective because I was so stuck in my unhappy living situation.

How do we still fulfill our purpose and make the most out of situations where we are unhappy?  This is a tough question to answer.  I think it all goes back to perspective and not allowing your environment, or even people you surround yourself with to hold you back.  We have to accept life as it is handed to us and decide to make the most of it.  No matter who, what, when or where.

I’ve also noticed when talking with a few people about their job lately, they’ve mentioned how the environment at their job has had a negative impact on them.  I can see this happening, mainly because your workplace is somewhere you typically go on a regular basis.  This is no different from when children go to school and their behavior begins to rub off on each other.  For Christians however, having your own, individual, personal relationship with God is how this can be avoided. When you have your own special relationship with Him, you realize more and more about who He is, but you also realize more and more about who you are in Him.  When you know who you are in Christ, you have a confidence about yourself.  You go places knowing you have the power and authority to shift the atmosphere.  So whether it is work, school, or the grocery store, you take God with you.  Instead of the folks around you having a negative impact on you, you begin to have a positive impact on them.  The roles are reversed.

Learning how to take the good, the bad and the ugly and truly optimize the moment is the purpose of this message.  In order for us to fully be used at our utmost potential by God, we have to make a choice to do so.  When we make the choice, we should not allow anything, including our environment to stop us from moving forward and walking in our destiny.  #iDeclare #makethemostofit

 

Prayer:

Father God, in the name of Jesus.  I thank you for pushing me towards my destiny.  Forgive me for times when I allow the things going on around me to hinder me from moving forward.  Thank you for loving me and desiring a personal relationship with me.  As I draw closer to you, please help me to learn more about you and about myself.  Help me to walk in the knowledge of who I am in Christ at all times God.  I decree and declare that no matter what my environment is, I will make the most of it.  I will shift the atmosphere for the glory of God.  I will be a leader and not a follower.  Instead of me conforming to the ways of the world, I decree and declare that I have been transformed by the renewing of my mind in Christ Jesus.  Thank you God for hearing my prayer, In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Scripture References:

Romans 12:2 ESV “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Philippians 2:5 KJV “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”