Wednesday, April 20, 2016
"The Wait" becomes the "Game Changer"
Friday, December 19, 2014
It's Been A While
Monday, May 6, 2013
OPGL: Pastors
I just want to start off by thanking God for my Pastor, Pastor James McMenis of Word Of God Ministries in Shreveport, La.
(Jeremiah 3:15-NLT) says, " And I will give you leaders after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge abd understanding", I firmly believe this referring to our pastor J. McMenis. Since I've been a member of Word Of God Ministries my spiritual walk has been nothing short of amazing.
God has blessed him with an anointing (to dedicate to the service of God) to minister the Word, to teach God's Word. Pastor McMenis said something in the part 5 lesson on the series "The Gatekeeper", he said, the easy part of being a preacher is preaching, the hard part is teaching so that the congregation can understand God's word (not in those exact words but basically) and that's a true statement, to teach Gods word comes with wisdom, knowledge, & understanding of Gods word. It takes more than just getting in the pulpit, reading a couple scriptures, taking tithes and going home. It's about using God's word to be planted as a seed to manifest itself in the lives of Gods people, it's about Teaching.
***(2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NLT)
Pastors have some big shoes to fill don't they? Some have to worry about judgement, being ridiculed by people, even christians, because they don't agree with their method of teaching. But would any of that really matter or make a difference if your life is aligned with Gods word? (*1 Peter 3:15-16 NLT) tells us, "instead you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ."
I commend preachers & not just the ones that minister in the pulpit but also the ones that are in the streets of their communities & different countries ministering Gods word, the ones that sit in the congregation, listen & get an understanding of what's being taught, they study the word & spread it to the rest of the world. God has his hands on us, He gave us purpose through His word.
(**James 1:19-25 NLT) talks about (19) being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.... (21) humbly accept the message that God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save souls...(22) it is a message to obey, not just to listen to, if you don't obey you're only fooling yourself... (**Read to vs 25)
Some of us sit in church listen to the message and for whatever reason get angry at the Pastor, but why? It's because most of us are sitting there not wanting to hear the truth! You'd rather your feelings be babysat & watched over, well Gods word doesn't work that way and neither should the people teaching it.
Pastor McMenis said something funny but true. He said he's not a coochie-coo preacher, in other words, he's not called to satify us and our feelings by holding back on Gods word ( that was just my take on it) he's in the pulpit to teach the manifested Word Of God so that we can not only recieve God's word but be able to understand it in a way that we can apply it to our lives and bless others as well.
I thank God for our pastor & I pray that God continues to cover his family and bless the ministry. Since I've put fourth my time in Gods word, my life has changed physically, mentally, financially, & most importantly spiritually. I can humbly say that at Word Of God Ministries I'm at my place called there, I'm home & to my pastor, I hear your heart.
OPGL-Xo♥
If your ever in the Shreveport area and you're looking for a place to worship, Word Of God Ministries is open arms to visitors near & far
6645 Bert Kouns Industrial Lp
Shreveport, La 71129
(318) 364-8977
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Success
Well, I have. I've felt ALL of these things. Some may be able to relate to my situation. I've always been the type of person that I had a plan, in my head, it's great and when I presented it to others it sounded AWESOME but as time passed, I never executed that that "awesome plan". I just thought about it, talked about it but never did anything about it. It wasn't until I got TIRED of hearing myself talk about what I wanted to and where I wanted to be . Success and being successful takes GREAT SACRIFICE!
For several years, I started cosmetology school and for several years, I quit cosmetology school. I got so wrapped up in what I thought I wanted to do and not what God had planned for me to do. So finally in 2011, I took that step and applied for school at Regency Beauty Institute, those 12 months were the most up and down moments of my life and at one point in time, I wanted to quit, all the drama, foolishness, and rules just overwhelmed me. I remember in workshop, I had a falling out with one of my classmates, I was mad beyond the point of understanding, but I remember Mrs. Nett kept me in her office and these are her exact words "No ma'am, No ma'am, you will NOT, this is your PURPOSE", that was the first time someone directly said anything to me about "Purpose", she told me not to let anyone take me or move me from MY SPOT and from then on I humbled myself (for the most part). I think all of us Shreveport Regency Students that graduated between May 2011 - July 2012 broke down a time or two.
Rotation B was the TRUTH (lol) our talks, our jokes, out tears, our whispers, we were a family, a big DYSFUNCTIONAL family BUT it worked, for US! We formed bonds that'll last a LIFETIME.
Regency and the people in it showed me a lot, they prepared me for life outside of being a student, not having Ms. Kim, Mrs. Nett, or Ms. Blanche to hold our (my) hand. At this point, I'm ready, I'm ready to get out there and be SUCCESSFUL, to live out my purpose that God had set up for me.
Now that I'm a professional, a licensed professional (as my sister would say) I'm in the real world and I'm working around/with the best and I'm going to be honest, its a bit intimidating but never the less and experience, a good one at that.
These past couple days I've been here and there about if this is whats for me, I think about what people might say, what they might think of me and my skills, and how they feel about my craft (kind of crazy cause outside of the business, I wouldn't give it a second thought) but inside the business, its nerve recking. God said to me something I'll never forget 1 sentence 4 words, "I'm waiting on you". Sometimes we wait on God and them there are times He waits on us, He waits on us to stop worrying about what it looks like ans start believing by faith that in what it is and its success and being successful through Him and His Word.
(2 Kings 18:5-7 NLT) talks about how Hezekiah trusted the Lord, saying that he remained faithful to the Lord and he carefully obeyed the commandments God gave Moses and the Lord was with him and Hezekiah was SUCCESSFUL in everything he did... The key in those scriptures was that he trusted God, he care obeyed Him, and he remained faithful and with those 3 things Hezekiah was successful.
Sometimes we sit back and wonder why or we ask God why. Then God turns to us and asks us WHY. Why haven't you trusted me? Why don't you have faith in me? Why won't you obey me? Before we ask God why, we should look at ourselves and then maybe all of our questions would be answered.
Lord why am I not successful?
-Because you don't trust me.
Lord, why can't things just fall into place for me?
-Because you wont obey me.
Lord, why cant i just get a break?
-Because you don't have faith in me.
I'm sure a lot of us have asked these questions over and over again to get no answer, why because you already know, sometimes its better to answer your own questions, to get the revelation your trying to see and the revelation God is trying to get you to see.
If you read (2 Kings 6:1-7) this DECLARATION OF FAITH will make sense:
*I DO NOT SHOW FEAR IN ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES. IN WHATEVER STATE I'M IN, I KNOW THAT GOD IS ON MY SIDE AND WILL PROVIDE THE MIRACLE THAT I NEED TO SEE ME THROUGH.
To apply the "declaration of faith" to your life, you must have FAITH! (Matthew 9:28,29) talks about how Jesus touched the eyes of a blind man and made him see but He asked a question, He asked the him if he believed that He (Jesus) could make him see. Their reply "yes". Jesus told them that it's because of their FAITH that it happened.
World, we need to come to the realization that we can't do this alone, it's not just about us becoming successful or having more, it's about knowing that God will do all that we ask or think, all we have to do is have the faith to know and believe that He can and will do it by faith.
(Matthew 17:14-20) talks about how the disciples couldn't heal the demon possessed boy (Matt. 17:19) the disciples asked why they couldn't heal the boy and the answer was simple, they didn't believe (have faith). (Matt 17:20) [ most of us know this verbatim] "if ye have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place and it shall move and nothing shall be impossible for you."
In life period, it takes faith to succeed to the highest level that God has planned to takes us. Let's stop waiting on God to answer our questions and revert those questions to ourselves and then when they're answered, let God know that you have the faith, he obedience, and the trust to go where He's willing to take you and follow his unquestionable lead.
OPGL-SUCCESS
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Let's Win Some Souls For Christ
A part of being a Christian we have a job to do, a mission to accomplish in the body of Christ and our main objective is to be a Soul Winner. How can we do this? First, stop just saying you're a Christian (Child Of God) and live like one. I've seen so many FB post where an unbeliever have mocked God, questioned God, & made fun of His Word & "Christians" get so offended that instead of Blessing them with Gods Word, they chastise them for believing the way they do. But the thing that we as a body of Christ must understand is that that's their God given right (because God gives us the choice to choose to follow Him) to think/feel that way and we can never change their minds or even get them to think about Salvation if we're cursing them for being unbelievers, that's not how the body of Christ works, that's most definitely not how God works.
God said in His Word in (1 John 5:1) that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a Child of God and everyone who loves the Father loves his children too. But how can the body of Christ (Gods children) love Gods children if we're not saving Gods children? (1 John 5:4-5) says (4) for every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the Victory (5)And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:9) says since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the testimony that comes from God.
So whats so hard with going out into the world, city, community and making believers out of non-believers, it's not. God won't change the minds of people with abracadabra, the minds of unbelievers are changed with believers, who live according to Gods Word, who minister His Word, & most importantly understands and knows His Word. You can't bless someone taking the Ministry half serious, with Salvation comes those hard questions, that we as children of God must be ready to answer without hesitation.
Live life to where there's no room for judgement (even though there will be), people are always waiting on someone who testifies about the Glory Of God to slip up and make mistake and with that gives them the opportunity to shun away from Gods Word.
We as Children of God should always keep (John 3:28) in our hearts and minds. "Let unbelievers know that we are children of God to prepare the way for His return."
Salvation is set up through Jesus Christ he son of God who died for us that we may have eternal life. (John 5:6-11) Put forth the effort to seek out the lost don't wait for them to come to you, go to them, every opportunity is an opportunity to ask the question , "Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross so that you and I can live an eternal life?" "Do you believe that Jesus was sent by God for the purpose of our salvation?" (Salvation- the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction). Ask those questions to yourself, do you believe these things? Can you go out into the world and minister Gods Word so that unbelievers would believe these words that Jesus spoke? So that non-believers can know the truth about Gods Word.
Before you judge, take a minute to think about Gods expectations for our own lives and the lives of our peers.Know that the same Salvation we received, He wants the world to have the same but it starts with US, it starts with the body of Christ.
OPGL:
I encourage you to read Gods Word on your own time, ask Him to give you clarification on things that you may not understand. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins but the reward we receive is free!!
(Hebrews 2:11 ; Ephesians 2:6 ; Luke 9:1,2 ; 10:17-19 ; 1Corinthians 14:5 ; James 5:14-16 ; Psalms 91:10-13 ; *1John 5 ; Isaiah 61:1-3 ; Colossians 1:23 ; John 3:18,36 ; Mark 16:15-20 ; Matthew 28:18-20 ; 2Corinthians 5:18-20 ; Acts 2:4 ; 5:12-16)