I initially started blogging because I wanted an outlet where I would be able to share my journey with Christ, share my experiences with Him but also to have a platform to hear and learn… More
Twenty 9 Teen!
Okay, so I have been gone for quite some time and here I am on the first day of the year trying to fix a few things and unfortunately for you this blog is one of them.
I am truly sorry I went AWOL on all of you. I stopped blogging because…….Well honestly, I don’t know. I struggle with procrastination quite a lot but I am hoping this year things will be different.
In my quest to change a few things in my life my main aim currently is to understand Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” more specifically how I am supposed to tap into these fruit and make them manifest in my life. I don’t want to isolate just one because they come as a package (correct me if I am wrong) but the one that I would really love to see blossom in my life is self control. Please share your thoughts with me in the comments section below. I am always open to learning and receiving from my brothers and sisters in the Lord.
The aim this year is to be more productive and that I will be!
I wish you all a blessed and beautiful 2019.
Love,
Mo.
Prayer Minute With Mo: For Those Feeling Hurt And Discouraged
Father,
I know nothing passes Your eyes.
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book
No matter how deep a pit I find myself in, I know Your arm is not too short to reach me and I know that whenever I cry out to You, Your ear is not too heavy to hear me.
In the midst of pain and confusion I do not despair for I know that You work all things together for my good.
I fix my eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of my faith. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Because of that I am not discouraged, nor do I lose heart in the face opposition and rejection, knowing my present suffering is only but for a time.
I look forward to that day when I will receive my crown in heaven.
Like Job I do not charge You with any wrongdoing, instead I worship You.
You are my God.
Go before me, lead me, call me by my name and I will l follow Your voice because You are my Shepherd. And no shepherd leads their sheep astray, how much more You who holds the title of Chief Shepherd.
I know I am safe in Your care.
I am at peace in Your presence, my heart is not sad.
From today I will not disfigure my face before man in search of pity but I will instead smile and speak of Your goodness.
Thank you for being so good to me.
In the Name of Jesus.
Amen.
Scripture references: Psalm 56:8, Isaiah 59:1, Romans 8:28, Hebrews 12:21, Job 1:20,22, John 10:11-16,26-29.
Lots of love,
Mo.
The Favour Of The Lord
This blog post is inspired by a daily devotional I recently received from Joseph Prince Ministries. It touched my heart so much, I couldn’t help but write on the same thing as Pastor Prince.
Let’s get into it.
The world seems to think things happen by chance or coincidence, ‘luck’ they call it. They also seem to think that hard work or as we young people call it nowadays ‘hustling’ is able to guarantee success.
Well I beg to differ.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with working hard but because of God’s favour on my life and on your life as a Christian, a lot of things come to us effortlessly.
It could be anything really: a job, a house, a car, healing, peace. The list is endless.
God is always working behind the scenes on our behalf. He orchestrates everything and ensures that we are always positioned right to receive from Him.
What a mighty God we serve!
Let us look at the life of Ruth for a little bit.
After the death of her husband, Ruth refused to be separated from her mother in law Naomi (Ruth 1:16 NIV) But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Naomi did not have much to offer Ruth but in that moment when she said ‘Your God (will be) my God” she did a powerful thing. Those words placed her life in the hands of the Almighty God.
In the second chapter of the book of Ruth, we see Ruth leaving Naomi behind to go find a field where she could possibly pick up any grain left behind by the harvesters. She left hoping to find favour in someone’s eyes, God granted her that plus more.
The field Ruth found herself on, was Boaz’s field and this is what he said to her. (Ruth 2:8-9 NIV)
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
Wow! So who is this Boaz? Naomi clarifies that for us. (Ruth 2:20 NIV)
…“That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”
A guardian redeemer in those days was someone that was obligated to redeem a relative facing difficulty. Of all the fields in Judea, Ruth wound up in her guardian redeemers field and as Pastor Prince puts it, God placed her in the right place at the right time.
Ruth went on to marry Boaz, a man that took her out of her poverty.
May I also add that Ruth is one of the few women that appear in the genealogy of Christ in the first chapter of Matthew.
Coincidence? Luck? Chance? No, only the hand of God.
Lots of love,
Mo
A Letter To God
Dear God,
In light of everything that has been going on in my life lately I saw it fitting to write this letter to You. Yes, I could’ve gone down on my knees and prayed or simply just had one of our impromptu conversations but I wanted to share what is on my heart with others and not only reserve it for the secret place.
The past few months have been quite a challenge. I am even ashamed of the fact that I accused You of messing up my life at some point, the very life You created. I have since apologised for this and I know You have forgiven me and that only makes me grow even more in awe of how big Your heart is. My mind is not able to fathom how You’re able to endure such abuse from us and yet continue to love us unconditionally.
I have to admit though that whenever a new season looms and I begin to feel the chill of the night I get very uncomfortable. I yearn after the sun as it slowly disappears in the distance and wish I could hold on to it forever. Day has gone and night has come.
Change, as I have come to learn is like an uninvited guest, you open the door to it unwillingly and it always seems to overstay its welcome.
Lord, I know the last two paragraphs were very negative but you know better than anyone just how much of a baby I become when I know it’s time to move from my comfort zone and into the unknown. I have begged, pleaded and maybe even rolled on the floor a few times over the years in the hopes that You’d take me out of certain situations.
I have unfortunately grown to become what I call an ‘in hindsight’ type of Christian.
Let’s take a little trip down memory lane.
I remember a few years ago You closed the door on a certain relationship I was in and I tried on several occasions to kick that door down, but now in hindsight, I am so glad that happened because it allowed me to grow and it propelled me to new heights in lots of areas in my life.
Recently I was not allowed to participate in a certain activity that I had really set my sights on and I was devastated, but now in hindsight, I am glad things worked out that way because it wasn’t time yet and guilt would’ve followed because I didn’t follow the correct process in getting accepted.
It’s time I learn to trust You.
You say in the book of Jeremiah 29:11 ‘My plans are to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future’. You are not man to lie, nor are You the son of man that you should repent. Your promises are yes and they are amen.
Forgive my doubt and my unbelief.
Being in the driver’s seat of my life has proven to be a difficult task and now I’m letting go and allowing You to take the wheel (Thanks Carrie Underwood).
I love You.
Thank You for loving me first.
From Your Daughter,
Mo.
No One Deserves To Burn In Hell. No Matter How Bad They Are.
We live in a world that is full of evil, front pages of newspapers reflect this and news headlines never fail to leave us with our mouths hanging in shock.
Coal fire by freefoto.com licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
I have to be honest with you about something, some time ago I heard of a man that had done some pretty horrific things and my reaction was ‘well he deserves to burn in hell’. I mean that is where all these people who clearly have no conscience deserve to go right? WRONG! I have since repented from that statement and I will let you know why.
2 Peter 3:9 NIV
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
That scripture up there is the reason why.
We serve a good God, He does not desire to see any of us end up in a place of torment and hurt for all of eternity.
John 3:16 says For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. The word ‘WORLD’ does not refer to a specific nation or group of people but it refers to EVERYONE, including that person that stole from you or offended you or broke your heart.
This makes our assignment more clear and more urgent, we need to spread the gospel to all so God’s desire for all human beings to be saved becomes realised.
One thing you also need to note is these so called evil men and women could actually make a great contribution to the kingdom of God.
City on a hill from freefoto.com licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
Not convinced? Let me share something with you that recently came to my attention.
Saul was a man that was greatly feared and he made it a point to make life very miserable for the church of Christ in the Book of Acts.
While we see unpleasant qualities in Saul, God saw something totally different in him. Remember this:
Isaiah 55:9 NIV
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”.
This is what God probably saw in Saul:
A man who was fully committed to what he had set out to do without fear (Acts 8:3 NIV)But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison,
As someone others looked to for leadership (Acts 8:1 NIV )And Saul approved of their killing him…
And maybe even as a man who showed consistency in his mission (Acts 9:1 NIV)Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.
God saw a vessel He could use to bear His Name to Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. God saw a vessel that would be able to withstand suffering.
This is totally different to what I thought of him when I first read the Bible. Saul to me was a murderer,a rebel and a trouble maker but from Saul came Paul. Hallelujah!
God does not place anybody in this world with the purpose of them being mean-hearted, this was a man God had created for good but instead the devil used him to do terrible things.
And when God chooses to use someone, do not question His decisions as was demonstrated by Ananias:
Acts 9:13-15 NIV
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel…”
Whoever God uses to advance His kingdom is totally up to His own discretion and frankly sometimes we need to mind own our own business and stop questioning Him. Let’s look at this scripture here: (Acts 1:6-7 NIV) Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority…”Some things are just not meant not for us to know or try to make sense of.
Let us instead come before God in prayer and ask that He have an encounter with all these people that make our societies such miserable places to live in and ask that the scales be removed from their eyes so they are able to see clearly: He loves them, cares for them and wants to change their identity.
Lots of love,
Mo
A Force To Be Reckoned With.
Hello,
Welcome to my blog, this has been a dream of mine for quite some time now so I am so excited to share what I learn from my alone time with God with all of you here. I look forward to teaching you what I know and hopefully learn from you as well.
This first blogpost is something God put in my heart a few days ago while doing my chores; yeah I literally had to put the mop and the bucket away to write this down so I wouldn’t forget it and I have to admit, I love such moments. I always get so excited when I get to view God’s Word in a way I had never thought of before, it always fills me with joy to know that God trusts me enough to reveal a new aspect of His Word to me.
Without further delay, I am now going to dive into today’s topic.
This is based off of a message Jesus taught to His disciples in what has now come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. He put a fresh spin on a particular verse when He put it in my heart:
“14You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16”Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16
Let us think about of one of the biggest cities in the world, I know there are lots but for us to be on the same page I would like to suggest New York.
Statue of Liberty-New York by freefoto.com licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
I mean who doesn’t know New York? Personally I have never been there but I surprisingly know a lot about it; the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Empire State building, the major fashion shows and how about the fact that people there choose not to have cars but take cabs all the time instead. I don’t recall ever intentionally reading up on New York City or researching it to have in depth knowledge of it. I guess you could say I stumbled on everything I know about it as a result of it being a force to be reckoned with. They mention it in songs, movies, newspaper articles, TV shows and almost every other media platform you can think of. In simple terms you can’t ignore New York, it cannot be hidden
It is the same with us as children of God, we are not meant to be subtle with our faith “..A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden”. We are meant to proclaim who we are in Christ boldly for all to know, we are meant to share the gospel with no shame whatsoever ( read Romans 1:16). As Christians we should have a great impact on the world, influence it so much that it reflects us instead of us reflecting so much of it.
People should be drawn to us as the world is drawn to all its great cities because they are hard to ignore, sort of like a moth to a flame. Multitudes of people followed Jesus because He was different and had something new to offer them. I would love to go to New York because it is different to where I currently live (Johannesburg) and because it could probably have something new to offer me (like a different wardrobe). Let us refuse to be meek and apologetic about our faith and also refuse for our lights to be extinguished so that others take the platforms that are meant for us 15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” We are to help lead others and open their eyes to the Truth: Jesus.
Based on what I have seen of New York I have a desire to go there, people should yearn to come to Christ based on what they see in our lives. If I am always complaining, never display love to others, always hold grudges, always stress and worry how exactly am I representing a lifestyle others would love to adopt? Yes we’ll have trouble but we should rejoice still, yes others will push our buttons every now and again but we are to resist the urge to fight them and turn the other cheek, yes we’ll lack certain things but ours is not to complain but to come before God and ask Him for whatever it is we have need of (Mark11:23).
Show love to others, teach them how to forgive just as Christ forgave you, give as much as you can and share the goodness of God with them. 16”Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”
Remember you are an ambassador of Christ and you are here to make His name famous.
Lots of love,
Mo.
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