Christmas Gift

By: Monique Smith

Stone me if I’m the only one, but I am honestly so tired of hearing the story of Mary and Joseph every Christmas. Yea, I said it. I’m just tired of hearing it because it’s always the same. I personally have only heard one spin on the Christmas story my entire life and that sermon was explaining the meaning of the gifts the wise men brought, but otherwise, I’ve been hearing the same explanatory sermon my whole life. (Although, I do get pretty hype at this part: Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,“Glory to God in the highest heaven,and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.—Luke 2:11-14. I knowwww the angels were JAMMING! All hype because the plan for redemption was manifesting on that day! Whoot!)

Anyways, I’m taking it upon myself (and the Spirit of God that’s within me, of course) to bring out a few different points this Christmas season from that Christmas text. So you all know how the wise men brought gifts to Jesus? They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And these men were said to be wise in those days. So now, for us, who have been diligently seeking God for wisdom, are wise men and women, considering that, today. So as wisemen and wisewomen of this day and age, what kind of gifts could we bring to Jesus? Here are a few that I feel would bring our big brother great joy.

1. Faithfulness: And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ...1 John

2. Commitment: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. John 4:7 (Stay committed to God and His will and do not be conformed to the desires of your flesh)

3. Authenticity: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (Don’t be a counterfeit believer)

4. Harvest: For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 1 Thessalonians 1:9 (Are the people you interact with coming into closer relationship with Christ?)

5. Freshness: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (Don’t be old, be fresh)

6. Lordship: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 1 Corinthians 6:19 (Allow God to be in complete control of your life….you’re not your own anyways…)

7. Confessions: Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 10:9 (Be real to God, don’t hide things from Him)

8. Conversation: Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. Philippians 4: 6 (Daddy just wants us to talk to Him, throw Him a little convo up)

9. Patience: Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need. James 1: 4

10. Consistency: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.(1 Corinthians 15: 58) (This is a big’un! If we can remain consistent in bringing Him the gifts stated above and other things, we will be SET and on the right road to pleasing our Father.

So those are just a few things that I feel would be great gifts for our Father. Pray and read the Word and learn of other things you can offer up to Jesus on His birthday and throughout every other day of the year! J Enjoy your family this holiday season and more importantly, enjoy JESUS!

Prayer: God you are the greatest! Thank you for your love, peace, forgiveness, and new mercies each day! God, help me provide you with these gifts that will bring you joy with my life today and forever more. God I know that I cannot fully repay you for all that you have done, is doing, and will do for me, but I do want to show my gratefulness more. God I love you so much and you are so great! Thank you for sending Jesus and for the plan of redemption and thank you for this great holiday where I can spread the gospel to those who do not believe! I love you so much! In Jesus name, Amen.

“Messed up over and over and over AND over and OVER….. “

By: Monique Smith

Generational curses are so terrible but are oh so real! In my reading 1 Kings, I have been TRIPPING at the kings that have ran through Israel. I’m sitting here reading everything like, is this for real?! WHY are they doing the EXACT opposite of what God placed them in charge to do? ANDDDD if they saw the previous king get punished for that behavior…whyyyy would you go back and do it again?!

So if y’all have never read Kings before, basically it’s the information about the Kings who were over Israel and Judea and what they did while they were reigning. I have noticed a steady trend of generational curses, more so than I’ve ever noticed in the Bible before. Here’s a small excerpt from 1 Kings 16 & 17:

v.23- In the thirty-first year of Judah's King Asa, Omri became king over Israel;….Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he did more evil than all who were before him. He followed the example of Jeroboam son of Nebat…… vs. 29- Ahab SON of Omri became king over Israel…. But Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the Lord’s sight more than all who were before him.

It goes on and on and on in Kings, and its really sickening. Outside of Bible world, just last night, generational curses reared its ugly head in my own family line. My younger cousin called me with family issues and in the background I heard her father yelling at her and being really boisterous. She later told me he was fighting her. She’s in high school. Her dad’s a grown man. The generational curse here: His dad abused his mom and was mean and yelled all the time. He’s just following suit. THIS IS A SHAME and should not be! I’m still having trouble grasping the idea that people repeat things that were traumatic to them!

But Thanks be to God that there is a way out! His name is Jesus and he fixes everything, all the time! Ways to break generational curses is to pray over the curse itself to be broken and then really analyze the sin/curse and cover yourself (or other individual) in prayer and scripture even more in those areas. Pray in the spirit! Just like the situation that happened to my little cousin last night, I don’t know HOW to pray for that because my mind is still in so much disbelief, but God knows exactly what is needed and Jesus, my homie, is at the right hand interceding and praying too! (Romans 8:26-27) “²⁶Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Prayer: God I love you! Help me identify bad patterns in my life that resemble the same bad patterns of my parents and other family members. I do not want to continually hurt you by being ignorant to any generational curses that I am passing along in my genes. Lord teach me how to pray and scriptures to read to help! You’re tha MAN! I love you! In Jesus name, amen!

Status: Impatient

By: Monique Smith

So if you follow me on twitter, you may have read my tweet the other day: “Its tough realizing how impatient I am & then after asking for more patience realizing my frustration with God in times to learn #conviction “

This is some true stuff and it was very much convicting when I realized that. Basically I am seeing areas of impatience in my life so much more now, because I am being placed in situations where I have to practice patience in pretty much ALL aspects of my life. At work, with coaching, personal life, spiritually,….just everywhere. Then when I notice those things, my first thought is: GOD, give me more patience!! I know I need to work on waiting on your will and allowing you to be Lord over everything in my life. Then the very second, I am faced with a situation that will TEACH ME MORE PATIENCE, I’m frustrated with God and ready for it to end. UGH.

James 1: 1-3 “My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, ³ because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.⁴ Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need .

From the scriptures, I KNOW that the situations that frustrate me HAVE to test my faith in order to GIVE ME patience, but sometimes I disregard the scriptures and rather stay in “darkness” and be upset with God that things aren’t going as smoothly as planned.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 & 11 says “ There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven…..[God] has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put a sense of past and future in their minds, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.”

To me those scriptures are saying, regardless of the speed I want things to happened, there is a specific time for that to take place. God in his infinite wisdom has already pre-ordained the time for everything to happen in my life, and I may have a thought or idea of the future, but I will never be able to fully connect all the pieces to the puzzle!

God has promised me some big things in the future, that right now, I honestly am growing very impatient in waiting on because it just does not look like things will ever manifest. Even though I have many answered prayers that God came through on in the past, somehow I still lose sight of that in my rush to have everything when I want it. But I thank God so much, that He loves me in spite of myself. Just this week, God reminded me of some prayers I have been praying and He is showing me how certain things are connecting, right now, to make those things come to past. How great is it that we have a Dad who cares enough about us to do that for us! He saw my lack of faith and lack of patience last week, but He directed me to scripture and revealed some of His plan to me still. My goodness! I love that man! So y’all stay encouraged! Just know that if we want something from the Lord, it will take work and we have to step way out of our comfort zone.

Prayer: Lord, I love you! Help me accept these trials and situations that are in my life only to teach me patience. I am tired of getting frustrated with you, because I know you know what’s best. Sometimes, I just get so obsessed with myself and want what I want before you give it to me. Give me wisdom to realize the importance of patience and practical steps I can take to become less frustrated in this process. Lord I love you! In Jesus name, Amen.

Being in the Light

By: Monique Smith

I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8:12

Jesus was speaking this truth right here. HE is the light of this world. He is simply saying, if you FOLLOW him, you will NOT walk in darkness, but in light. Unfortunately, many people who follow Christ some how are still in darkness sometimes. How so? Here goes. Have you ever been in a situation but always going back and forth about it, or constantly changing your opinion based on some different perspectives? I have. I’ve been 100% sure about something, but out of no where, someone comes with a new spin on the situation, and I change my mind, and then I’m back at square one. Confused. Darkness could be interpreted as confusion. God does not want us confused about His will. Since His yoke is easy and His burden is light, knowing what His will is for our life is simple. The struggle comes in when we are stubborn or selfish and try to insert some of our ideas into what God wants. Even though we KNOW that’s not His will for us, we entertain it anyways. Then we are left in darkness. We start fighting around trying to connect some dots of light in our life, to simulate the “light of the world”. Those dots can be: going to church, spending a little more time in our Bible, denying ourselves from fleshly desires, or even getting into an intense prayer regimen. BUT we are STILL in darkness because we are not completely following Christ in ALL aspects of our lives. Then we may get to a point where we try to avoid light in our lives, because we might even like being in the dark a little. This is a dangerous place to be. Very dangerous. So I just want to encourage you all, to rid the confusion from your lives. Get back to the balance that you once had and remain in the light. Have things become lopsided and disjointed in your life? Then it’s time to meet with God and have Him pour into you like only He can. Let him nurse you back to good health and equip you for the next phase of your journey.

Prayer: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?” - Psalm 42:1-2. Help me Jesus to get back in your light. This confusion and darkness I’m in, is NOT it. In Jesus name, amen.