Rhema Word

By: Monique Smith

I absolutely love when God takes the time to speak directly to me or my situation through His word, especially when it seems to be “right on time”.  This, is referred to as a “Rhema Word”.

Can I teach a little today friends?

"In Greek, the word rhema means "an utterance." Therefore, the rhema word in Biblical terms refers to a portion of scripture that "speaks" to a believer. In most cases, a rhema word received while reading the Bible applies to a current situation or need. In essence, the rhema word is timely and extremely valuable in a Christian's walk with God." -Jamee Rae (sharefaith.com)

Here’s a clear example of how you will know you are experiencing this gift from God. Let’s say that since you were a child, you have been reading Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Then one day, when you are 20 years old, you flip open your Bible to Psalm 23:1 and it seems to jump out from the page at you! “The Lord IS MY shepherd, I shall not WANT!” The passage that you deemed “familiar” no longer seems that way. You receive a completely different understanding of that passage. The Word “arrests” your spirit, brings clarity to your situation, and provides divine insight. This my friends, is an amazing gift that we receive as being a part of God’s chosen generation!

Today at work, I read Colossians 4:6- “Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.”  Approximately five minutes after reading that scripture a situation occurred that challenged my ability to remain calm and peaceful.  My flesh quickly volunteered to react in an ungodly manner, however, my spirit was quickly reminded of the scripture I had just read minutes ago. God knew I needed that word in my spirit to prepare me for the atrocity  that was soon to follow.

(For y’all nosey folk (LOL), a parent sent me a nasty email in which I wanted to get buck and respond ungracefully to, but I was reminded of the scripture, phoned a friend (who wants to be a millionaire lol), and was able to make a wise decision concerning the email…which was to not respond).

So friends, I encourage you all to spend time with our Father daily so He can share all the great mysteries and cool things He has the ability to do.

Prayer: Father, I thank you for the grace, mercy, and love that you have shown me today. Lord, you are the love of my life and I never want to replace you with anyone or anything. God, I thank you for the ability to hear you through your Word. It is amazingly cool to have a strong connection with you and I pray you give me the desire and strength to improve our relationship. God, also, please comfort the hearts of everyone experiencing pain from losing a loved one. We know that the last enemy is death, and YOU have already defeated it! “Death, O Death…WHERE is your victory? Death, where is your sting! God we praise you and love you! Can’t wait till you come back and get us though! In Jesus name, Amen.

It's All about your perception

Hey everyone!

Check out this great video devotional by Pricilla Shirer!

http://vimeo.com/47491757

You Influence the Countenance of your Friends

By: Donovan Parker

I first heard the scripture - Proverbs 27:17 before an MVP Men's Conference at New Covenant Christian Church in the summer of 2012. The Scripture reads as such ...

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. -Proverbs 27:17

In my research of the term 'countenance' I came across the following definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary ...

1 obsolete : bearing, demeanor

2 a : calm expression b : mental composure c : look, expression

3 archaic a : aspect, semblance b : pretense

4 : face, visage; especially : the face as an indication of mood, emotion, or character

5 : bearing or expression that offers approval or sanction : moral support

In summation, as sort of a working definition, the term 'countenance' can be thought of as an external expression of internal influence.

Mood, emotion, and character each have to do with issues from within.

If we take and apply this particular definition to Proverbs 27:17, we know that you influence the being of your friend.  The reason why this is exciting is because the influence that you have is so great that not only will change occur internally, but it will be evidently EXPRESSED in the appearance.  

Most importantly, we must note that it is the contact of the iron with the iron that sharpeneth each.  Likewise it is the interactions and contact that we share with one another that elevate us in Christ.  

I am so fortunately blessed to have a body of brothers and sisters in Christ to grow alongside and fellowship with.  If I never express how encouraging it is to be in attendance with the like-minded - let me take this opportunity.  

To all those who shared moments in fellowship (whether on the court, at the crib, or even in passing), I appreciate you! 

Proceed in Christ knowing that your interactions with others affect their character, mood, and emotions.  Those will be reflected in their countenance.  YOU must make it your duty to be a reflection of Christ.

Dear Lord, 

Thank you Jesus for being the ultimate example of Victory by coming to earth in fleshly form to show us the way. Continue to help us become more like You. Thank You for the influence and dominion You've given us here on earth until Your second coming.  Extend our reach.  Thank You for allowing us to fellowship with one another.  You are PERFECT in ALL Your ways. Thank You for these and all of Your many blessings. Lord, we love You.

Amen.

Trust

By: Monique Smith The one who understands a matter finds success, and the one who trusts in the Lord will be happy. (Proverbs 16:20 HCSB) Life is tough and having faith sometimes is even more difficult, but it is a must when following Christ. Simply think about that phrase, "following Christ". It's not anything we tangibly do, as far as visibly seeing a man in front of us daily and walking where He walks. Even that statement is a faith proclamation! When our life is going good, it is so easy to trust God! We don't even think twice about it! But once situations come to challenge/increase our faith, that's when what we have seem to break down.  Romans 8:28 says- We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 HCSB). Since this is a FACT, we must begin to understand all matters in light of this scripture. When we do so, that is when success will come from that matter and we will be happy! I love being happy! With all of that said, the crux of this devotional is: Trust in God is vital.  Prayer: God thank you for life! God you are so cool! All I have to do is ask you to help me serve you better! That's crazy! If it's faith I lack, then when I ask for it, you will give it to me. If its love I lack, you will provide me with that as well! So I'm asking you to fill me with those things I lack! Help me maintain and not grow weary also! Love you! In Jesus name, amen. 

Eden Situation

     One of the main things Christians say at some point in their lives is something along the lines of “None of this would be happening if Adam aint mess up.” People are quick to blame his bad decision for the struggle that we have to go through and the reason for Jesus coming to earth to redeem us, but what about your part in all this? For starters the fact that you would blame Adam for the things you have to go through is already like him since he blamed Eve for causing him to sin.

            But there’s no need to get overly deep or intellectual on this one, this devotional is about not giving up your Eden situation. Jesus came to make us who we were originally when God made us, before sin came in and had us settling for less and confused about who we really are. Thus Jesus is called the second Adam, partly because essentially He led us back to Eden. So at this very moment while you are reading this (if you have given your life to Christ) you are presented with the opportunity to have/be EVERYTHING God has presented you with, or like Adam you can pervert God’s plan with sin.

            Sin is simply separation from God, which is why it leads to death because God is the very source of life and all things good; the further away you get away from that…well that’s the reason the word death was created lol. But let’s examine Eden in order to present the parallels between Adam’s choice and ours. Once Adam sinned and part took of the fruit, (this passage can be found in Ch. 3 of Genesis) mankind began settling. God didn’t kill them, I’d say because He loved them too much, but He put them out of the garden. Instead of chilling with God in the cool of the day and having all their needs met by God, they had to work the ground  to get their food and it’s even mentioned that man would sweat from the work that he was doing. Furthermore, the earth began to change, now animals hunted and killed each other, sometimes even man! Trees became poisonous, later brothers began to murder brothers all the way until today with all the horrible things that happen in our generation.

            In your situation, once Jesus redeems you, you are on your Adam tract. Once you compromise to sin; you began to alter your Eden. Instead of the original plan of God where He provides you food to eat, you get to chill naked with your spouse all day,  name animals and learn from God which in our generation would look more like God leading you in your career,  putting you together with the spouse that will aid you in completing the Kingdom work that’s on your account  as well as whatever other needs you have of them and receiving witty inventions and other lucrative ideas that allow you to help others without exhausting yourself (this is a crucial run on sentence smh);  sin will cause you to choose to be stressed trying to figure your life out on your own because you won’t seek or recognize the voice of God, not eating right which slowly complicates your health, and pushes back the prosperity that God has laid up for you.

            Now I’m NOT saying that once you sin it’s over Eden burns up and you’re stuck in the desert. But I am saying that there are consequences of sin and your original Eden changes based on the decisions your make. Jesus has redemptive power that is FAR greater and stronger than sin, but we HAVE to realize we are simply giving away the things of God (our power, worth, finances, self-esteem, health, etc) when we choose to step outside of God’s will to please our flesh. Knowledge is power and people perish from lack of knowledge, thus the more you learn about sin and holiness the more power you’ll have to walk upright. But in that process I would encourage you not to lead yourself into temptation and ultimately to understand that the pleasure of sin is only for a season; while the works and blessings of God are for eternity!

Over and Out 

Storms!

By: Monique Smith Quick point-- I was just reading John 6:16-21.  When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,  got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them.  Then a high wind arose, and the sea began to churn.  After they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I. Don't be afraid!"  Then they were willing to take Him on board, and at once the boat was at the shore where they were heading. (John 6:16-21 HCSB) I have come to realize that everything in the Bible is there for a specific reason, so I kept pondering about the details in this passage. If you notice, when the disciples started out to sea, the sea was calm. But soon after, a storm came, followed by Jesus. This is significant because many times right before God does something spectacular in our life, we may go through a "storm". Think about the scripture again, right before Jesus WALKED ON WATER, a storm came up! Walking on water is miraculous! It's not something you normally see!  This has been true and evident in my life as well. For example, right before I got a job as a college adviser, I went through the "storm" of being rejected from a consulting firm, rejected from Teach for America, deferred from my  graduate school of choice, and experiencing high levels of fear, doubt, stress, and frustrations due to possibly not having a job after college. BUT after that "storm", here comes Jesus, providing me employment with UNC- Chapel Hill admissions as a college adviser! You all don't know how truly thankful I am to be employed by this program and the joy I feel while serving my students! It's an overwhelming feeling! I'm so blessed! So you all just hang in there and stick  it out! This may be your "storm" or you recently experienced a "storm" but If you stay on track (staying faithful and in the Word-- notice in the text the disciples didn't stop their journey or turn astray during the storm, they stayed on path--), God WILL come through in a major way! Prayer: God, you are my best friend! Help me love you more! Help me with my unbelief and eliminate my fear! Help me meditate on your word and realize that your plans are best for me and help me not lose faith in the process! I love you DADDY!

I'm a snitch!

Snitchn’! The title comes from a song called “Snitch” by our brother known as Trip Lee.  The song is based off of James 5:16 about confessing your faults to those who you “walk” with.  One quote from the song is “I ain’t just trying to look Christ like, I’m wanna walk this!” and that’s really what I’m trying to do.  I want to live inside out with no dirty little secrets so I thought I’d start with this testimony.  Pray my strength! “Snitch” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrOjxo3b9EA&feature=related James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So, my homie Monique came to my dorm yesterday and asked me if I wanted to ride to ATL.  I was a little hesitant because I don’t have money for gas or a hotel at the moment; it’s not really in my budget (if I had one lol) but she told me not to worry about it!  I started thinking about the work I have to do as well but then I promised myself that I would get work done if I go (I’m up and about to get started on some work after I finish this).  So yeah, here I am on my way to ATL, out of the blue!  Another one of our friends who was “in charge” of finding a hotel for us decided that maybe we should stop in Charlotte to not have to drive the whole way to Georgia at once.  She told us that we could stay at her Grandma’s house.  She called her Grandma and let her know that we were in need of a place to stop on our way to Atlanta and she welcomed us to come. (I’ll come back with another testimony about her Grandma next time!!) On the way to Charlotte I sat in the back seat and reflected a little on this past week.  It has been a rough one.  After church on Sunday for some reason I was frustrated.  I can’t recall my thought process but somehow several things were heavily on my mind.  I am focusing more on trying to apply messages that I receive from services rather than just hearing them and that message was so powerful that I honestly did not know where to start in terms of applying it to my life.  My family was on my mind as well, along with things that I want but don’t have.  Of course this frustration and anxiety was from the enemy because I had just been empowered after that service. Long story short all this week I felt myself reverting back to the old, dead, buried DD.  I just shut down.  I didn’t want to be around anyone, I felt bitter, aggravated, a little depressed, and stressed.   Small things were bothering me, I was upset with my roommate and avoided her most of the week.  I didn’t even sleep in my room, but in the lounge in my dorm instead.  Many of you don’t know but for about two years since I’ve been at UNC that’s how my life has been.  Of course no one knew because I can easily put on a smile and act silly to hide what I’m going through.  There were several weeks in the past two years where I have avoided close friends, wouldn’t sleep in my room, cried myself to sleep, walked around feeling depressed in my spirit, etc. all while wearing a smile when need be.  During this time was when masturbation became my stress reliever and during this week of resurrecting the old DD I fell into that sin and I subjected myself to movies (not necessarily porn) but movies with sexual scenes that I should not have been viewing. Whenever I fall knowingly like that I learn from Adam and Eve’s mistake and make the choice to go to God immediately.  I know I have victory over sin and every sin I commit will be forgiven so I confessed and repented.  I felt forgiven by God but I still felt guilty because I know that I also let you down, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the body of Christ.  I did not want to stay in this guilt and condemnation so it didn’t last too long. I made myself listen to the Holy Spirit encouraging me not to isolate myself any longer.  I honestly believe there is a spiritual reason for everything that happens.  My friend Moriah wanted me to chill with her after class on Thursday (this was before I fell but still during my time of isolation) which forced me not to go back to my room and sleep for the rest of the day and fall more and more into a “pit.”  Then today after my first class I told myself I was going to skip my next class and just go back to my room and sleep.  However, during my first class my TA told me she wanted to see me after class to talk about my paper.  She knows I have a second summer class so I’m sure during our meeting she would have stopped to give me time to go to class.  It may sound weird but In my heart I would have felt guilty and probably would have told her that I wasn’t going to go to class (idk why but my conscience makes me do stuff like that lol) I don’t like feeling that way in front of people so I decided to skip all that, let her know that I would need to meet with her later since class was running over the allotted time and I needed to get to my other class.  She said that was cool and told me to come to her when my second class was over.  In my mind that was going to mess up my plan to go back to my room and sleep after class (even though I could have slept after our meeting it wasn’t the same because I had a plan to be in my room at a certain time to sleep my “problems” away but to still wake up at a somewhat decent time so I could get other stuff done).  After my meeting with her (it was around 1:30 pm by this time) I remembered that I signed for an experiment at 3pm, so if I went to sleep I knew I would miss the appointment!  I decided to just walk around the Arboretum (our school’s garden) and started talking to God.  Then one of the girls I mentored last year popped in my head and I forgot I hadn’t returned her text from the other day.  I found out that she was in class on campus but didn’t think I’d run into her.  I was on my way to get food before the experiment; to relieve my hunger so that I would be able to go back to my room well fed after the experiment and SLEEP, when I heard someone call my name.  I turned around and it was her.  I talked with her for a few minutes and told her I’d join her again after I ate.  She ended up leaving before I finished my food so instead of going to my room and risk missing my appointment I went to the library to read and pray.  The Holy Spirit led me to write a letter to my roommate explaining what’s been going on with me this week because I had been rude to her earlier that week and had been avoiding her.   All of this lifted a weight off of me and my desire to sleep everything away was diminishing because I was actually casting all of my cares onto God and he was giving me things to do to handle my stress instead of sleeping.  However, after the experiment was over I still ended up going to sleep but only because I was sincerely tired, not to sleep on any cares.  I was sleep for about an hour when Monique and two other friends showed up at my door.  I’m glad I decided to join her on the trip because although I was feeling a lot lighter, I still would have stayed to myself this weekend because that was my plan to get my work done.  Isolation for me is a killer though!! Although sometimes it’s healthy for me to be alone I’m able to discern when it is or isn’t.  I honestly believe that the enemy would have had his way with me this weekend had I not decided to go and be around my strong sisters in Christ. Final Note: please obey the Holy Spirit when you feel led by Him to give someone a call, invite them somewhere or to encourage them in some way.  You really have no idea what may be going on with them and in the spiritual realm where that one simple act of obedience may change their life!! Prayer: I thank you Daddy for who you are.  I thank You that you use my terrible choices to display your grace and mercy and I am humbled by it.  Thank you for my angels around me; my friends.  Thank you for your love and light that shines through them.  I am so glad your love for me is unconditional because I am not perfect.  I thank you that I can finally admit that I am not perfect and that my mistakes serve as a testimony of your goodness, forgiveness and love.  Help me to never be ashamed of the power of the Good News and to never steal your glory by not telling others about my testimonies.  Help me to uphold the standards that you have given me to walk in holiness and purity!  Help me to go back to abstaining myself from ALL things (TV shows, music, movies, conversations, etc.) that don’t glorify you despite what others may think so that I can truly please you.  From this day forward help me to have more evidence of the fruit of the spirit in my life, especially those I seem to be lacking like self-control, peace and goodness.  In Jesus name, Amen. Deborah