Thought For Today

In God’s economy, our hardships work for us, not against us.

— Florida Made (@RichardMIATL) January 24, 2020

Thursday Gospel: Venting

Sometimes, this is easier said than done especially when the situation worsens.

Today's Thought: Knowing Christ vs. Relationship With Him

The below caption is self-explanatory. You can know about Christ, but without a relationship with Him, knowledge is nothing.

Running The House From Jail/Prison

This is a good topic for discussion. Can a man still be head of the house while incarcerated? My answer is no because a leader is hands-on; he's there to lead by example. Yes, he may make sure his family is taken care of financially, but he's not there for key events in his child(ren)'s life. I see why most people say when a parent is incarcerated, the family serves their sentence with them. The incarcerated parent misses out on a lot, and it's tough on children who have to see their parent from behind bars. At the same time, the child learns what NOT to do. They learn from their parent's mistake(s) that landed them behind bars, and hopefully won't repeat the cycle. It's tough to lead from behind bars.

Press Your Way To Victory

When I'm going through hard times, I think about verses like this. It gives me the strength to go harder, knowing there's a major blessing on the other side. Easier said than done, especially when you're constantly being tried. I would hate to give up, miss my blessing and have to start over.

When you see the blessing God has for you it will make sense to the battle you went through! Keep pressing!

— Paula White-Cain (@Paula_White) January 24, 2020

Your Story

Everyone has a story that's shaped them into who they are today. Some stories have a happy ending and the person emerges joyful, other stories start and end bad & the person emerges bitter, feeling like life dealt them a bad hand. Regardless of your story, don't get upset if others don't understand your story. It means they couldn't handle what you're going through or have been through. Keep your story between you and God because He is the only one who understands, and can bring you through if you lean on him.

Forced Growth vs. Comfort Zone

I'm living this right now.

Today's Message

Will The Real Christians Please Stand Up?

She's telling the truth. Not only on prayer, but for same-sex marriage as well and other policies that go against Christian values. There's a reason why the Bible calls Christians to pray for those in authority, so they will make godly decisions. In today's world, it seems like many believers go along to get along. They don't want to be seen as bigots, so they stay silent on issues they know God is against. I do respect the LGBT community because they come together and get things done in their favor, the same with atheists. If believers could click up, there's no telling how the tide would turn in God's favor. I don't know if anyone is familiar with Murray O'Hair, but she was one of the people responsible for getting prayer removed from schools. There were a few before her, but she's been most influential in getting prayer taken out of schools. Years later, she and her family were found dead. One person should never have that much power, but where were the believers? It's easy to talk about standing for righteousness, but it's another thing when your beliefs are tested. It costs to stand for righteousness, one that some believers aren't willing to pay.

You Have Discernment? Let Me Show You

Discernment is one of those spiritual gifts that is best kept silent because people who claim to have it, don't. You can tell by some of the decisions they make. If some people claim to have so much discernment, why do they let others finesse them? True discernment comes from being observant of people, examining their hidden agendas and acting accordingly. If someone's shady to others, they'll be shady to you. Therefore, it makes 0 sense to let the wrong people get close to you because for the right price, they'll cross you.

God, When? To "God, Now!"

This will shake up the prayer lives of believers. Telling God, "Now!" is expecting him to do what he says he would.

This is the year you stop praying, “God, when?” and start saying, “God, now!” #SermonHighlights

— Christian Heritage Church (@chctoday_) January 5, 2020

Keep God First

I try to live by this daily. Whenever I put God first, everything falls into place.

“But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.”

Matthew 6:33 CEV https://t.co/RaaLiZD7Zi

— Florida Made (@RichardMIATL) January 12, 2020

Today's Thought: Your Mouth

G.O.A.T.

Losses Can Be Blessings

Every loss is not a loss. Some losses are blessings.

— Florida Made (@RichardMIATL) January 10, 2020

Soar Like An Eagle

I want to be ready for every level God takes me to. I'm not afraid to fly solo, I've been doing it for a while. Everybody that comes with you, can't go with you. I've noticed that successful people have few friends because they don't need dead weight in their lives. Dead weight can take the form of people riding with you for the blessing.

When God puts you with eagles, don’t have a chicken mentality. Don’t start talking about how that could never happen for you. Let it take root on the inside. Breathe it all in. Get used to it. That’s where God is taking you. He’s exposing you to new levels.

— Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) January 8, 2020

The Good, Bad, and Ugly

I don't know about anyone else, but I thank God more in the good times than bad, because I know what it took to get through the rough patches.

Man's Rejection Is God's Protection

Rejection Is A Blessing

I'm grateful every day for rejection. It took a while for me to reach this point, but I'm glad I have because God is keeping me from something or someone down the road that could be detrimental to me. My prayer is that God keeps me hidden from the wrong people, and so far he's done a good job of that. I used to get in my feelings over rejection, but now...I couldn't care less because most times, I don't want to blend in, I want to continue standing out, and if that means riding alone, fine. I've been riding solo for a long time, so it's nothing to me when some people reject me. It's a certain breed of people that are built to stand alone, everyone can't handle being solo.

Getting The Word

With technology the way it is, there's no excuse for any believer not to get the Word. It's plenty of Bible apps you can download on your IPhone, Android, etc. Then you can listen to sermons on YouTube, etc. There's more than one way to get that Word.

Today's Thought: Serving God Under One Roof

Shout out to one of my cousins for this post

Some believers don't like to serve. So many people in the body of Christ are intimidated instead of using each gift to make the 5 fold ministry. Pastors are in competition for most members. It's not a lot of pastors that are willing to work together. Some pastors want to have the biggest congregation to where they'll undermine each other to get on top. Jesus doesn't care who has the biggest congregation, all he cares about is who's bringing souls into his kingdom. There's also denominational differences. How many believers have visited another church? I'm not saying leave your home church, but at least visit another place of worship to see how other believers worship, and maybe you'll discover that we all serve the same God.

God Is Undefeated

It may seem that way since months or years can go by without an answered prayer, but something that helps me is that a year is like a day in God's eyes.

God Or Man?

At some point, both will give contradictory orders. Believers (and people in general) must make a decision, we need to be all in for God or man.

Daniel Fast: You Need To Eat

One time for my FB friend LaTonya for this humorous spin on the Daniel Fast. There's always truth in humor.