STATS.....This is mind blowing.... See why we NEED JESUS

This came from the Canadian Army Journal back in the 1970s.  This gives some intersting figures and it reads like this:  Since 3600 BC the world has known only 292 years of peace.  During this period, there have been 14,531 wars large and small; in which 3,640,000,000 people have been killed.  The value of destruction would pay for  a golden belt around the world 100 miles wide and 33 feet thick.  Since 650 BC, there have been 1,656 arms races, 16 of which have not ended in war; the remaninder have terminated in the collapse of the Countries concerned.  Since the world has cast out the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, by cruicifying him 2000 years ago, there has not been one year without war.  In fact, in the last 500 years, England has engage in 78 wars, France 71, Netherlands 23, Spain 64, Austraila 52, Germany 23, Italy 25, China 11, Denmark 20, Sweden 26, Poland 30, Russia 61, Turkey 43, and Japan 9.  European nations have alone engaged in 74 wars.  During the lifetime of the first generation born in the 20th Century, even the United States in its relatively short history has engaged in 13 wars. 
          
(Received this info from a Pastor at our church)

Comparing and Judging......

This happens to be something we do on a daily basis.  We compare ourselves to others, and judge others to make ourselves feel better or sometimes even worse.  We like to look around and see how we "measure" up to people and that way we can see if we are improving.  This is CRAZY to do because we have NO clue where "people" have been in their life, or where they are at in that particular moment.  We only see them on the surface that they present and that is it.  People want to put on a good face because it is important to look well for others.  I know awhile back I read a survey on how people said facebook made them depressed because they would look at others profiles and see how beautiful people are, and how cool their friends were, and it always looked like they were going to cool places.  Well the crazy thing is that people will only display beautiful pictures, and they will post pictures of only cool places.  Everything is filtered!!!!  Once we can get this in our head then we can see that we need to only look at Gods Word and that needs to be our manual, not others.  I remember awhile back I did a study on Beth Moore and she brought up an excellent point, she said that we cannot judge people, but this goes for in church.  She brought up the point that others like to look around church and actually judge people.  They laugh if people clap, have their arms raised, on their knees, crying, singing, dancing, etc.  The truth in this is that, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THAT PERSON HAS BEEN OR WHERE GOD DELIVERED THEM THROUGH!!!  God has taken that person out of a dark valley and they are rejoicing to their saviour, and who are you to snicker and laugh on the sidelines.  Do not mock the savior of where he has brough that person out of.  Society likes to judge: too fat, too skinny, too ugly, too fake, too nice, too rich, too poor, etc.  We are not supposed to judge every single thing and pick apart each person.  We were all created from our Creator, and nobody is more special than the next.  If you are a true follower in Christ then we need to lead by example.  God uses each person as long as they are still alive on this earth, so each person is a work in progress.  We need to encourage and not discourage.  So next time you want to judge or hear yourself doing it, pick up Gods Word instead of the telephone to gossip about what someone is doing.  Pick up Gods word read it and look in the mirror, make sure you are a disciple of our Lord and Christ Jesus.  Those are the standards we need to study, we are going to have to answer to God!!!

Grace........

Grace is such a beautiful thing.  Grace is freely given to us from the Father, all we have to do is accept it.  I find it so hard to grasp the fact that Our Heavenly Father made it that easy for us.  Here he sacrifices his only Son for us to take our punishment and torture, and then all we have to do is believe and have faith.  I have never seen someone make it so easy for me, or want to love me that much to sacrifice down here in this world.  I am just so thankful that God is God and that he is Love and the definition of Love and Sacrifice.  I am so thankful for Jesus for loving us that much that he will take us at ANY cost and in any shape or form.  Praise God!!!! Let's just say THANK YOU GOD!!!!!  Talk to God and tell him how thankful you are for him being so gracious and giving us grace so freely.  Now that we talked about how gracious God is, we have an example to follow.  If God is so giving to us, we should do the same to others.  We should be quick to forgive, we should strive for PEACE!!  We should't wait for the "I am sorry's"  we need to be quick to forgive and slow to become angry.  We need to be examples of Christ and his character.  This world gives a good display of what NOT to do, so we just need to do the opposite.  Speaking from personal experience I used to get angry and have to prove a "point" and get it across before the argument would be over, now that I have done that over and over, I now have learned through grace and mercy that as soon as an argument starts, I just want peace asap!!!  Nothing is more uncomfortable when you have strife with others, it alters your mood, your day, and most importantly you peace!! So when you forgive others, you really are doing yourself a favor and giving yourself peace.  You are letting that person off the hook ,and giving them to God.  God can handle people better then we can.  We need to get out of the way and stop blocking people from God.  God needs to use us as vessels and then he works through us.  I still struggle with giving EVERYTHING to God, but I am so much closer to doing that then I was yesterday.  I am finding so much more peace the more freely I give to him and surrender everything.  I don't get anxiety as much, and if I can't figure everything out, I know God already knows today, and tomorrow.  God has everything under control.  So please, since God freely gave to us, lets do the same to others.  Be quick to freely forgive, give mercy, love, help, service, kinds words, etc.  Let's do things the way Christ would do it.  Instead of nodding in church and saying amen to good preaching, let's stand up and walk it out!!!  Most importantly express it to people that need it the most, and those are the people that are obstacles in your life. 

"Christians" please STOP doing this....

This blog is dedicated to the conspiracy Christians.  I have been seeing so many posts, facebook status's, hearing people talk, etc.  If you are calling yourself a Christian and telling "the world" that all this conspiracy stuff is going on, how are you brining them to Christ???? Let me tell you what the enemy is doing to you..... He is distracting you and when Gods puts people in your path, you are distracted by the enemy to where you want to talk about conspiracy theories, and all of the things the enemy is doing in this world.  Why are people focusing on our government.  Yes it is messed up, but does this surprise people really? It has always been like this, so why are we focusing on it.  Here we are Gods people, and we need to start acting like Gods people.  Right now this very moment we can still bring people to God, and here we are sitting around putting posts about things that distract us.  I have to admit the enemy distracted me awhile ago and I was putting stuff up on my page, but The holy spirit got a good hold of me and I was able to see what was happening.  The enemy wants to cause anxiety, the "what if's" Here God schedules divine appointments where we need to be sharing our testimonies on what God has done in our life, and all the glory to him.  We need to be a light in this dark world.  The bad things that are happening and that are to come, Jesus already told us these things must happen, everything has to be fuliflled before he comes.  So once again this is nothing new to us.  If you hear a "christian" start talking like this, tell them they are focusing on the wrong things, and they need to keep their eyes fixed on HIM!!!!  When we call ourselves Christians and make it known "the world" will look at us and see how we react, and if we react like everyone else, then we are no different.  There is no fruit bearing.  Christ died for you and for me, let's make the most of this life.  Jesus found us worthy enough to die for us while we were still sinners, so lets see the value in us that God sees and start being a true disciple.  Be encouraging to others, share the world, pray for someone, be positive when you find it hard to be.  So "Christians" start finding opportunities to preach and save souls, that is our true calling, not to be gossipers and focusing on the enemy. 

What I have learned from having children...

I have learned that children are a heritage from the Lord, I have learned that the Lord trusts me with two lives and to raise them according to HIS purpose.  I have learned that I need to equip these children with weapons of spiritual warfare so that they can survive against the enemy in this world.  I know I need to teach them and educate them on who they are in the Lord Jesus Christ.  I  have learned what it is like to "become a child again" by seeing things for the first time through their eyes.  I have learned that simple things count the most, and all children want is your attention and time.  I  have learned how to have patience through children.  I now can handle things that come unexpected because with kids you don't know what they are going to do next, so you can learn how to deal with things as they come.  I have learned a new respect for the Lord, that he loves my children more than I do.  (view "my testimony" if you would like to know what i am talking about)    I now have a REAL purpose and a calling.  I am responsible for the needs of two lives and they cannot survive without me.  I actually have two people depending on me for EVERYTHING!!  I have learned that it is not about "me" anymore, I now know what it is like to truly do things for others, and put others before myself.  I now can look at children and not cringe because now I have a new love for children.  I now see why Jesus holds children so close to him and why he values them so much, because they are the most beautiful, pure, and most joyous beings on this earth.  I can now look at "two sides" to my life and see the "selfish/independent side of me and the "family side of me" and I see the HUGE difference.  The huge difference that I am talking about is that my life actually matters now!!! Life before was all about me, putting my needs first, doing my desires first.  Wow, was I living selfishly.  There are only so many gyms you can go to, tanning salons to go to, clubs to go to, spas to go to, restaurants, sleeping, etc.  I now can find joy in EVERYTHING because i have people to share it with, and i am making memories and telling the Lord to others of what he has done for me.  Please I encourage you, if you are struggling with anything and need prayer, or having a struggle with something or someone in your life and you want to talk to someone that won't judge you and that actually wants to pray for you, please contact me: zlkaty@aol.com   There are so many people in this world that want to see you fail and want to see you struggle, we all need people we can depend on.  We need people that love the Lord and actually want to minister to others and want to help share love with others.  Please feel free to email me, I would love to share scripture with you, talk the struggles of life out, and let you know that Christ has MORE for you than this life. 

Luke 9:23

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

                  Recently I wrote a blog on "denying yourself and following Christ."  For some reason I feel it needs to be mentioned again, so I am going to make this blog about that scripture.  This blog would be geared towards people who claim to be christians.  When we get saved and accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we are saying in a confession that we are tired of doing it our way and living our way.  We surrender all to God and acknowledge him that he died for our sins and that we want to make him Lord of our lives.  When we say this we are denying ourselves, which is dying to ourselves, and being made brand new in our Lord, Christ Jesus.  So now we are a new creation, we have the Spirit of God in us again.  Being Saved is Step 1, the steps will continue until we are no longer here on this earth.  With each step it becomes harder and harder because to be a true follower of Jesus we have to deny our flesh and walk in Spirit.  Do you have any idea how hard this is??? Christians will tell you that is one of the hardest things you can do.  Some Christians even have gotten so caught up in this that it can actually end up discouraging non believers because they don't see anything different with themselves and Christians.  Apostle Paul wrote that he has to do it daily.  This is something that needs to be done on a daily basis, morning, noon, and night!!  Anytime we feel a "fleshy" desire, we have to call it out what it is , (which is sin) and ask for forgiveness and keep doing our faith walk.  Through walking with the Lord he will give you the strength you need that it will get easier.  If you just started out doing this then you really need to monitor what you watch, listen to, how you speak, what you read, who you hang with, etc.  You can't tell the difference between flesh and spirit yet, so you need to educate yourself and go into your quiet place with God to where he can speak to you.  Go to his word and see what it means to walk in the spirit.  Fall in Love with our Savior and you will find you will be eager to take up your cross and follow him.  '
                 It can be so easy to call ourselves christians, but the truth is that if we look like the world, then we aren't doing anything for christ.  We need to bear fruit and be true disciples of Christ.  We need to be different so others can see Christ in us and through us by our actions.  We cannot have offense with others, we have to constantly be walking in the spirit.  Get in a spirit filled church where you can be educated and get around other members of the body of Christ and get involved serving.  we cannot do this alone, we need eachothers help.  We need to come together as brothers and sisters and be real and walk it out!!!

FORGIVENESS

This blog is dedicated to Forgiveness.  We have all been here and maybe for some at the moment, they could be going through it.  This is one of the hardest things to do it seems.  It is so hard for us to let go of people, and actually forgive.  We  have "our terms" that we go by to choose whether we should forgive someone or not.  We sometimes need people to apologize first, then that gives us the "go ahead" to forgive them.  Lets see what  Jesus says about forgiveness.  Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you^[a] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
   Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

I am going to focus on Colossians 3:13, we are commanded to forgive WHATEVER grievances you may have against one another.  Did you just see what was said?  It doesn't say "some, most, etc" it clearly says "WHATEVER" this means any and everything!!! Nothing is too big that can't be forgiven.  So lets move on: It says to forgive as the Lord forgave you.  So let's paint a picture: God is the ultimate authority, ruler, judge.  He is the one that will judge ever single human being that has ever lived on this earth and that will ever live on this earth.  He gave us his son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but inherit eternal life.  So if we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior then we inherit his riches and glory, eternal life.  Now remember Christ died for us while we WERE STILL SINNERS.  He did way  before we ever acknowledged him or wanted him in our lives.  So since the Lord who is the ultimate judge can forgive us for WHATEVER we do and have done in our lives, what right do we have to hold "power" over someone to say we do or do not forgive them?  Why are we playing judge? Why are we playing ruler?  We should be so humble because the Lord forgave us freely, so we should just be so anxious to do the same for others.  Why do you ask?  Becuase you are so appreciative of what the Lord did for you, that you do the same for others, and that way they can see the living Christ that is in you.  Do we get hurt? sure.   Do we feel pain? sure.  Do unfair things happen? sure.  But the scripture says WHATEVER grievances you may have.  So this means whatever someone has done for you, no matter the number of times they do wrong to you, you are commanded to forgive, and you do this not for yourself, but because you are told to do so, because God forgave you!!!
   So please, if you are struggling with forgiveness cling to Colossians 3:13.  When you are in pain and conflicted with forgiveness keep reciting this scripture over and over and ask God to give you the strength to do this, because this isn't something our flesh is comfortable with.  You aren't doing anyone a favor, you are doing it because God is number one in your life, and your number one is telling you to do so, so what do good servants do? They follow in obedience and are happy to do so.  So what is your excuse now????  Forgive because the Lord forgave you!!!!!

BOLDLY.....

This is a term that I believe we are all familiar with.  Our culture teaches us to "say what is on our mind," "If you have something to say, make sure you speak up", etc.  Why aren't we this way when we enter Gods throne room?  God specifically tells us to enter boldly into the throne room and to make our requests known.  We have that authority if we are born again believers.  He looks at us and sees his son, Jesus Christ.  If your child was asking for something, I am sure they would come to you boldly because they feel they are entitled to it.  We are Gods children, we are his sons and daughters.  We should come boldly to our Father and make our request known.  Lets get bold with our faith.  It is now 2013, it can be a brand new start for some people to where they actually want to develop some good habits.  If you aren't meeting with God on a regular basis, then NOW is the time to start!! If you already are meeting with God, then why not shoot for several times a day?  Lets connect with Our Heavenly Father and let him know that he is important to us!! We do make him a priority and we do want to spend time with him!!  It seems like we never have any trouble making time for "things" that are important to us.  Here God should be number one, but sometimes people can go days without even acknowledging him.  Then they will ask God "why ?"  The answer is simple, it is because you have not made me important.  God created you, he created you to be intimate with you, and wants to give you blessing upon blessing.  Is that so hard to ask?  God makes it so easy on our part, all we have to do is read his word, fellowship with him, and do what the word says.  Our job is really so simple, it is up to us to get our eyes fixed on him and get our hearts full of his Word.  Please fellow believers, as members in the body of Christ it is our duty to become equipped with Gods Word, and it is our duty to be disciples of others.  We are here to win souls, it is a mission we do for HIM, not for us.  He says for us to do it, so we must do it.  Do you have unsaved loved ones? Then it is your duty to be an intercessor and get to the battle front line and become a prayer warrior.  Prayers are the only thing that actually matter in this world.  Our prayers make God move, it puts him into motion on our behalf.  So let's come Boldly into the throne room at the feet of our God, and make our request known.  Start today!!!!

Fix your eyes on Eternal and not Physical...

This is something I must remind myself daily.  I remind myself to focus on the things that are eternal and not of this world.  The things we obsess about are of this world and that all these things are temporary and will not last.  We have our lists of what we want and our goals but to be honest, if those lists don't help others, and if they don't advance the kingdom of God, then they are selfish goals.  The list is focused on things of this world, and we hope that once each is completed, that we will finally be happy here, but the truth is we catch ourselves writing more things down hoping that will be the next item that will do the trick.  When are we going to learn??  The things that are eternal, we don't see and we don't "feel" right away.  The reason for that is because they are stored up in heavenly places for when we are with God in eternity.  True Christians are known by their fruits.  So ask yourself what do you live for?  Is it for a job position? Status in society? The latest fashion? The next millionaire idea? Find a perfect spouse? To look perfect?  What I see from all of these is that they all are first on the list instead of God being first on the list.  God wants to bless his children, he can't help himself, but he is waiting on us to make time for him and make him our number one.  Our "flesh" cannot do this, so we must teach and train ourselves daily to get in this mind set.  God truly has a plan and loves you and your family more than anyone else could ever love.  When are we going to stop being so lukewarm and claiming to be disciples of Christ but continue to live for ourselves?  Wakey Wakey everyone, time to smarten up and fix your eyes on Eternal and not Physical.  These things will pass away just as the world will and you want your life to actually matter, to where you fulfilled Gods Will and advanced the Kingdom of Heaven!!!

This blog is NOT for Baby Christians.....

I love to read books and I am always trying to find new books to read that really help me with my spiritual walk.  One book in particular that I am speaking about is "Spiritual Authority" by Watchman Nee.  This book is not easy to follow, the context of it is really hard to get a grasp of.  If you are an early christian then this book would not be the best to start with.  If you are a mature christian and you are looking for something more challenging that will get you to that "next level" then this would be a perfect pick!!! I was going to pull a few concepts from the book that really get your  mind running.  Three Requirements for a Delegated Authority:  1) He must know that all authority comes from God. There is no authority except from God; and those that exist are set up by God (Romans 13:1 Darby) He himself is not the authority, nor can anyone make of himself an authority.  His opinions, ideas and thoughts are no better than those of others.  They are utterly worthless.  Only what comes from God constitutes authority and commands man's obedience.  A delegated authority is to represent God's authority, never to assume that he too has authority.  (from the book)
  Now this basically spoke volumes to me because we read the bible and hear what the person in authority has to say (God) and we still live our lives the way we want to.  Maybe we will even pick bits and pieces of the bible and still carry on with our way of thinking.  If we truly are followers of God then he is our source to follow fully and to follow under his authority.  When I say this I mean FULLY SURRENDER!!!! It seems like we can read Gods word and be like "wow, that sounds great, wish i could live that way, but............."  Here we are assuming that we have authority as well.  There can only be ONE leader not two.  Let this sink into your head for a moment.  Re-read it over and over, I had to.  Now number 2) He must Deny himself.  This is not to imply that before he can be used by God he must be reduced to having no opinion, no thought, and no judgement.  Not at all.  It merely means that the man must be truly broken; his cleverness and his opinions and his thoughts  must all be broken.  Those who are naturally talkative, opinionated, and self conceited need a radical dealing , a basic bending.  (from the book)
We hear this in church and think in our life we have been "truly broken and denied ourselves" but the truth is this is something that has to keep happening over and over.  There is a "start" of this process but it is continuous.  The only way it will be over is when we are no longer here on earth.  So DAILY we need to deny ourselves and follow Christ.  This goes in exact opposite with our flesh, because we naturally think of our own needs first and quench them first because we have our own thoughts, opinions, morals, views, etc.  This is where step one comes into place, we need to go under his authority and follow it and then step two says to deny ourselves.  Before we can be true followers of Christ he has to truly break us, to get our attention.  We have to see that we cannot do it alone and that we need him in our lives daily!!!!  This is a daily thing, it is for days we feel great and for days when we don't feel like doing it.  Now last step 3) He must constantly keep in fellowship with the Lord.   Those who are Gods delegated authority need to maintain close fellowship with God.  There must be not only communication but communion.  Anyone who offers opinions freely and speaks in the name of the Lord carelessly is far away from God.  Those who are near to God have a godly fear; they know how defiling it is to carelessly express their own opinions.  (from book)
So now that we know the last and final step how do we apply this?  It is actually easy....are you ready?...... MAKE TIME!!!!  We all have schedules where we make time for people, activities, working out, date nights, etc.  If we truly love our savior then we make time for him because we need to be in constant fellowship with him. We NEED to hear what he has to say to us, and we need to lay our burdens on him.  We mess up every single day, so we need him daily.  We are always going to be asking for forgiveness because we are daily sinners, minute by minute sinners.

    This material is ALOT to take in, this is a process where you need to train your mind on how to think, feel, etc.  This does not come naturally, so this is something you need to pray to God about to remind you this, to always keep him first, then that way you will always be under his covering.