L.O.V.E.

Do people still believe in love at first sight? I know that love at first sight exists because the moment I saw Jessica Ashley Davis ( no relation) I was hooked like a bass. That one chance meeting jump started a string of events that would not have been possible if not for God. Proverbs 31 tells us of a woman that we should all aspire to have. The Lord wants us to come together with our mate and be happy. He wants us to confide in our spouse, treat them with respect, and share a connection on a spiritual level. God says, " An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels." I take this passage seriously. We can put weight in worldly possessions or we can claim a bigger gift the Lord has for us which is the love of a spouse. Proverbs 31, 13-31 explains all the great things that come with the right woman. I will spare quoting the whole chapter but I do urge you to take the time to read it. No matter if you are a man in search of the love of the right woman, or a woman in love and you just want to see a few things that God says make a great woman. This chapter is so powerful, and the amazing part that speaks to me is that my wife aligns to all these points made. I am a blessed man. For some of the mistakes I made, the women that I took advantage of I don't deserve my wife. The wonderful grace that God has promised us is evident to me every morning when I can wake up to my wife. Grace is receiving something we don't deserve, a virtue from God. That is what my marriage is and that is how I treat my marriage. Stay thirsty my friends... 

SEX AS A WEAPON

Couples find themselves in this position all the time. Boy meets girl. Boy pursues girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy starts relationship with girl. Boy and girl argue. Girl withholds sex from boy. The ultimate way for a woman in the relationship to get back at her beau is to stop the sex pipeline. This may be hard to believe, but God wants us to enjoy the bodies of our wives/husbands. Sex is something that is beautiful between husband and wife and it should not be held captive by either. Share your body with your spouse. If you start to hold back on sex it opens the door for infidelity. It does not justify it, but it opens a crack in the armor. Monogamy is hard enough without putting our own obstacles in the midst like not having sex with our spouses to prove a point. 1 Corinthians 7: 5 says, "The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.Do not deprive one another, expect perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again,so that Satan may not tempt you because of you lack of self control." Take heed to these words next time one of you wants to prove a point in the relationship. Sex is an important part of a healthy relationship not be taken lightly of ransomed off. We belong to one another, our bodies are given to our spouse the moment you give them your heart. Cherish your spouses body/feelings as you do your own. Stay thirsty my friends....

2ND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION

I almost did not write my blog today. I felt in my personal battle vs my flesh I let the Lord down today and the effect of that was me feeling like I had no right to blog about the Lord. Then I thought to get on my knees and repent. Humble myself, repent with all my heart. We often do things that when we look back in hindsight we just feel awful and disgusted with ourselves. We know we are better than the person that lost his way for however brief the transgression was. I often feel that I let God down. I try to overcome my flesh but at times I too succumb to it. Does God give up on me? Technically I gave up on myself by my actions that were not of the Lord, but what am I to do next. We must repent, that is the only way to truly ask forgiveness from our father. We must mean it in our hearts for God to forgive us and give us a clean slate. Luke 5:32 says, " I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." God wants us to come back into his arms and his loves. The Lord does not want us to stay in the dark no matter the sin we committed. Sin is sin, no sin is greater than the next so we always can go to God for forgiveness. " therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:6) We do not have to beat ourselves up over our missteps ashamed to talk to the Lord. The shame is to not ask for his grace and go through your life with this sin inside of you ripping your soul apart. The burden is not for us to bear alone, our shoulders are not broad enough to hold it up. Ask God to intervene, repent and truly mean it in your heart so you can move on with your life in a positive direction. The grace God gives us is our trump card to deal with the sins we endure. When we repent and truly mean it God is happy with us, in turn our lives are filled with joy because we are not weighed down by sin. "Just so, tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10) That is powerful, just one of us sinners repent the heavens rejoice. It is right here for us believers. We do not have to live our lives carrying around our sins like baggage. Stay thirsty my friends....

PREACHER ASKED FOR TITHES, AND I CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY

One of the things that a lot of people on the fence about God says that keep them away from church is the money involved in the tithes and offering process. I too fell under this myself for many years until I read more of the word and used it as my justification that I was doing the right thing by giving tithe and offering.  We can not allow these false prophets that parade around in Gucci and gold playing pastor scare us away from our duty as Christians. God has given us so much and the fact that 10% of our riches is all he asks for is another testament of his love for us. For all that he has done, God could very well ask for 25 or 50% and be justified. We pray for wealth and success in all things monetary, yet when the gravy train comes in we forget the very things we asked of God. We become greedy and want to keep our new earned little fortune. The next thing we complain about taxes, well Jesus will ask us who is on our money? In those days it was Caesar, so we pay Cesar then pay of offering. Now its presidents so we pay the government. We pay taxes then pay the Lord. There is no way getting around our obligation to God. We owe him everything. Others argue, well I don't see the gross just the net so I tithe the net. Fine, but when you want a blessing does God deliver a half blessing, or does he give you his all. We want the all from him, so why not give God our all. As a football player we get paid 17 weeks, so for 17 weeks a gave 10% of my gross income. Tithes and offerings are really a tug of the heart, God wants to see if we are obedient enough to give. The floors of heaven are gold, he doesn't need your money. God wants us to be obedient in all things, even the things we hold near and dear to our heart. Money included. Let us let go of these earthly possessions and give Glory to God through offerings. Stay thirsty my friends....

I MAY HAVE GOT A LITTLE H#%D BUT I WASN'T REALLY CHEATING

Every morning growing up as a child I saw my mother and father together. The family structure in my home was strong, a blessing. A blessing because many of my friends didn't live in homes with both parents nor did they understand the significance of a promiscuous relationship between man and woman. I did not know it any other way. The bible says that when a man finds his wife he finds a good thing. Where did this go? So many men and women now feel it is alright to cheat on their spouses. The family structure of a Family Matters or Cosby Show has given way to dating shows like Flavor of Love where on odd little man can date tons of women and make out with them all! This was not Gods plan for us. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam, Eve, Yevette, and Evon. We must have accountability with the gift of marriage the Lord has blessed us with. As the heads of our households, us men have to be the example for our wives and children. We must learn that our flesh wants us to chase women and succumb to lust. Let us not allow our flesh to become powerful enough to make us choose a path to emotionally and physical destruction. When our flesh becomes too much to bare alone share with God, ask for will power and the courage needed to get through it. The bible says even if we look at a woman in a lustful matter we have already sinned. True. he did not however say by that sin alone we have lost the battle. In this sex driven society it is hard to avoid, it is in our face at every corner. You would have to be in a cave with Bin Laden to avoid seeing these things. Don't get down, yes you may have stared too long but repent and try to get better the next time. That is all we really can do, try to get better and remain solid in monogamy. Stay thirsty my friends...

IN HIS TIME FRAME

We often want things we pray for to come to us when we are ready. When they don't come fast our patience runs low and we get down in the dumps. God will give us all we ask for in prayer yet he does not say that we will get it as soon as we want. I am a victim of this. I pray for things and when they don't come fast I allow the devil in and let my faith run low. My whole life I wanted to play in the NFL and through the grace of my Lord and Savior I was afforded the opportunity. God kept me in his arms even when I turned my back on him. After college and after going undrafted the Philadelphia Eagles gave me a shot. I was in the NFL.  My rookie year I tore my ACL in my right knee and had to sit out the whole year. Then that was followed up by two seasons of practice squad service. Now, by being in the NFL  my dream is somewhat fulfilled, but I did not garner the success's I prayed for. Did the Lord forsake me? In my ignorance he did but in reality I have yet to reach the full blessing. At 26 years old there is still time for the Lord to grant me what I pray for every night. I have to remain in faith and remain patient. I have to do all the things in my power not to block my blessing. I have to be humble, humble enough to accept a chance to play in the upstart UFL football league. This is a second chance the Lord has given me to work my way back up to achieving my NFL dreams. Forsaken..... never, challenged... yes. The Lord has put a challenge in front of me and through his strength I will prevail. Stay thirsty my friends...

PSALM CHAPTER 17

Do you ever wake up and feel like you cannot get out of bed?

Do you ever go through your day feeling as if each foot weighs 180 pounds and gets heavier with every single step you take?

Do you ever ask yourself, "is this really my life?" or "what did I get myself into?"

Life is tough sometimes and quite frankly life is just not fair.  Every day will not be perfect.  It's ok to have a bad day.  When you approach that day that you wish you could just roll back over, go back to sleep and forget all of your responsibilities cry out to God.  That's what he is there for. 

Psalm Chapter 17 shows us a perfect example of crying out to God for help.  Why try and live this life all by yourself with no help? What do you have to prove?  We all have been tested, scrutinized, lied to, hurt, angry, disappointed, fearful, upset... devestated.  But you don't have to go through life by yourself.  Your Lord your God is there, waiting for you to just ask him to fight your battle for you. 

⁶ I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God.
      Bend down and listen as I pray.
 ⁷ Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways.
      By your mighty power you rescue
      those who seek refuge from their enemies.
 ⁸ Guard me as you would guard your own eyes.^[a]
      Hide me in the shadow of your wings.
 ⁹ Protect me from wicked people who attack me,
      from murderous enemies who surround me.

Submit your problems to the Lord, tell him you need help... you have nothing to loose!

PSALM CHAPTER 16

 It comes a time in our lives when the light bulb goes off. Like in the old Tom & Jerry cartoons when a good idea comes to one of them. This is kind of the same. We realize that perseverance is only found through our Lord. The moment we realize that we can take refuge in Him to guide our lives, we are on the right track. Without Gods hand on our lives we are nothing but lost souls not living our lives rather just existing day to day blind to all that God has in store for us. It is easy to be like the rest of the world, it takes a special person to set themselves apart and follow the Lord. These saints that do follow the Lord are to become our role models on this journey to salvation. "As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight." These are the people we lean on in the physical form down here on earth, our spiritual crutch is God who we can always turn to for adjuration.
 Men will seek other gods in abundance in efforts to make religion fit their life styles rather than the other way around. Do not fall in the company of men trying to take shortcuts towards salvation. The only way to truly be redeemed is through accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Psalm 16 says, "their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips." We know better, we know our God is a forgiving God, but he is also a God that wants all of our attention. We don't have time to listen to other gods or their teachings as we are too busy washing ourselves in the word. "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot." There is only one God, so there is only one cup to drink from . In the Lord's cup and his cup alone lie our inheritance. God shows us the paths for our lives, he knows where our happiness will be. In him we are secure, he will never abandon our soul. We have a father that does so much for us, can we be returns on his grand investment? Do we have the courage to be Christians?
 

PSLAM CHAPTER 15

" O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?" The answer to this lies in Psalm 15. Like I blogged about in a previous chapter the bible is our blue print to life. All the answers to salvation and living a righteous life are in these pages. The question is not who will dwell in the tent with the Lord, no rather who will have the courage to follow the blueprint laid out to sit atop His holy hill? The type of person that the Lord wants with him is not perfect, far from it as all us humans are, but he is able to be genuine and speak from his heart. Just because one speaks from his hurt does not mean that he is always right. The fact that he had the courage to do so makes him honest, and God adores the honest man. Sometimes its hard for us to tell the truth in certain situations. It is easy to lie to save face or spare feelings, these half truths can begin to have a snowball effect and before you know it you find yourself telling one lie to cover up another. When that happens we have dug a hole of lies that is near impossible to get out. God doesn't have a place for the dishonest, we must have the courage to be honest. Our neighbors also deserve respect from us, we need not talk behind there back nor push them away. Our arms are to be open so they feel comfortable enough with us that they allow us to share the word. "nor takes up reproach against his friend;" This means that along with neighbors, we should not try and discredit our close friends. Being friends does not mean you have to always agree with that person. As a believer, and one who wants favor from God does mean that even in the midst of a disagreement you stay respectful to your friend and value you there opinion. We don't always have to agree with a friend  but we can take the time to understand their point of view. We often in the church turn people away with our know it all attitudes. Christianity is not an exclusive club that we have to keep people away from. Salvation is not a secret, its a gift. It is up to us that know of the gift to tell others, not to push them away because if prideful self agendas. The company we keep can also hamper our chances of being on that holy hill. How the Lord views us can be somewhat altered by the company we keep. Watch your circle because a person's qualities can be contagious. In football we say winning in contagious, but so is losing. The same thing is true in our walk. Sinning can be contagious so we have to stay conscience of the the people we let in our circle. Not so much turn them away, but influence them with the word before they can get to us. This holy hill the bible speaks of is not one that we work to get to so we can look down on "sinners". It is not a buffer between us and the unholy, it is our inheritance from our Father. Even though the hilltop is our goal we have to humble ourselves to get off the high horse long enough to come down and spread the blood of Jesus. It is not enough to pull yourself up, bring as many souls with you as you can. The devil is trying to so why not us too. God says if we walk blamelessly and do the right things we shall not be moved. Don't be moved.

PSALM CHAPTER 14

When things go wrong, it is so easy to blame God for not doing "what he is supposed to be doing." My husband and I pray that God's will be done, that he will be in the driver's seat of our lives; leading and guiding us throughout our decisions, obstacles, and everyday challenges.  However, why do I get frustrated when things do not go as I plan?


When thing go wrong I sometimes forget what God has done for me. When I follow God and not my own agenda my life is so much easier. Things tend to run smoother because I am allowing God to lead not me.  I have always been a leader and not a follower; however sometimes it is best to just follow.  I cannot be a good leader when I am not equipped to lead.  Why be so selfish to want to lead others when surely I have no idea how to lead in certain circumstances?  I choose to follow God's lead.


Months before my husband and I prepared for our wedding we sought ballroom dance lessons.  I love to dance however I can never seem to stay on beat.  So Jason and I learned how to Waltz and guess who tried to lead? ME! Imagine, how silly it was for a girl who did not know how to Waltz and had no idea how to ballroom dance lead my husband on the dance floor. Needless to say, I continued to step on his feet, I went the wrong direction and I definitely did not stay on beat.  I lead us into a big mess!  


My patient husband quietly whispered, "don't worry, I can lead us through this just trust me."  Immediately, I realized how foolish I was acting.  Why did I feel the need to lead when my husband can lead us through and do an even better job than I can?  That is what I have to remember about the Lord. Why the heck do I want to lead when he can do a much better job than I can?  Now, what do we do while he is in the lead and something goes wrong?  Do we take the reigns and try and lead on our own? 


I think this is what happened in Psalm Chapter 14, their lives were not going as planned so they got angry at God. The fool ^[a] says in his heart,  "There is no God."    To forsake God, lean on my own understanding and try and lead during a bump in the road is foolish.  God turns stumbling blocks into stepping stones.  I am just Jessica, I can barely survive the Waltz while staying on beat so why not let someone who is better equipped to lead, lead?  Why would I choose to lead when my great, all mighty, and all powerful God is capable of doing so much more than I can.  I need to trust God, lean on him, and let him lead me through this dance called life. At least he can keep me on beat. I choose to keep dancing even when it rains. 

PSALM CHAPTER 13

"How Long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" When things start going bad we tend to want to rush the Lords work. We get antsy with our Father wondering if He has chosen to ignore our prayers. Patience ladies and gentlemen is an important step in spiritual growth. We must learn to be patience with the Lord as he is patience with us. How many times have we fell short of his glory yet still received grace? Our relationship is a two way street, we cannot have the Lord on our time and in our way. This is salvation not Burger King. We must stay in prayer and continue to ask the Lord for what we need. He will answer our prayers and we will be able to prevail over all those who seek our demise. "Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;" As long as we stay the course the Lord will consider us and he will give us everything we asked for. The thing is that it may not always be when we want it, it is when God feels we are prepared to handle it. Yes pain is hard to accept, but so is success. The Lord does not want us to squander or blessing so the process of preparing us to appreciate them may be a little ruff. There is nothing wrong with going through ruff times in the valley as long as you can still have a few of the mountain top. That view is our hope and that hope is that one day we will be on top of that mountain with the help of our Father. "But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me."

PSALM CHAPTER 12

Life seems to throw curve balls to us all. It seems like one day we are fired, or our 401k is losing value every day. The easy thing to do now is to give up. Things are not going our way so we decide the fight is no longer worth the trouble and we quit. We lose faith. The faith we had gives way to the ways of the world. We are now like the liars, the thieves, the same people who we are here to minster to and be examples to. Its easy to be deceitful, its easy to be wicked. "Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak." We can not give up just to become another drone that follows this path. Let us not be the same as the masses, let us be an example. Let us be different than the status qua. The Lord will will arise and take care of these who plunder all and take advantage of the weak. When he is ready they will be dealt with. It is on us not to be in the same situation as they are. We must fight the flesh and stay steadfast in the word. The wicked feel they can talk their ways into a prosperous life. "Our lips are with us; who is the master of us?" They fool themselves, they say,"Who is the master over us?" That answer is as simple as pie, The Ruler of all, the King of Kings.  As believers we must understand that all eyes are always on us, the same people that think they can talk their ways into Heaven are the same people we must be examples to. It is our duty to be upright and peculiar. God is alive in us, we must stay faithful to him and allow ourselves to be the vessels to spread the word. Never give up.

PSALM CHAPTER 11

The Lord is in the corner of all those who find refuge in Him. If we come to God and chose Him as our Lord and Savior then he will fight all our battles from that point on. He is the foundation of all we do, there is no need to look elsewhere. Doubt is a part of our flesh, we say things like, "if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" What can we do? Well for starters we can cast away this doubt and submerge ourselves in faith. God is the foundation and there is know wind or evil force strong enough to shake it. "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man." In those test that God puts in front of us we will encounter the wicked who set out to fulfill the devil's work which is our demise. They will attack us every chance they get, but we must stay assured that the Lord is right there fighting the battle with us. He will not forsake us. I like to look at as if we are back to back with the Lord in a dark alley fighting the wicked like crime fighting sidekicks. It is obvious I've seen too many cheesy action films, but that is in sense how the Lord protects us. He abhors the evil, "Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup" That is a pretty painful reminder of the lengths the Lord will take to protect his children. In Christ, in faith we shall be protected.

PSALM CHAPTER 10

When we decide to take the Lord up on this awesome gift of salvation the war with the devil really starts. Before we chose eternal life there were maybe a few bumps along the way in our lives but not to the scale that we are to encounter now that we stepped forward and chose the Lord. Here comes the devil with his angels of destruction in an attempt to oppose their will on our lives. In the face of this adversity we must stay upright in our faith, we must not grow weary. The human flesh will naturally go into an defense mode saying things like, "Why, O Lord do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" That is the type of spiritual propaganda that the devil wants us to engage in, we must fight those temptations and do the opposite. The opposite would be humbling ourselves enough in front of the Father to drop to our knees and give glory to the Almighty in times of sorrow and happiness. I for one feel that when I go through times where everything seems to be going wrong that I have a blessing coming. God preparing my blessing is the reason I have to go through a few ills because I know He loves me and would never forsake his promise to me. I stay under His umbrella-ella-ella eh through thick and thin, that is the faith I have in God. Strentgh is what we will need in these times, we cannot let our guard down because the times that we seem oppressed or weak is when the wicked will strike. The wicked know when we are down because like the devil they are predators. What do predators do? They prey on the sick and wick. Cowards. Well I say we have to be predators too, espesecally in times of hardships. We must PRAY as much as possible to the Lord not to let us be delivered in these evildoers hands. They want us to be weak so that we can succumb to them with little to know fight back. Their hope is, "God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it." He wants us to think our situation is upon us because the Lord turned a blind eye but that is not the case. He loves us enough as a father to let us scrape our knees a little and get up on our own before he steps in with the band-aid. He wants us to learn lessons from every slip, fall, and scar. He knows that will make us better children, the best experience we can get is life experience. Choice, what to do next. He placed the two trees for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with instructions not to eat from one. He didn't put the yellow tape around it he gave them a choice. God will let us choose, and if/when we choose in him he will never leave our side. God hears our prayers. He hears when we cry to him throughout the night. He will not allow us to be continually oppressed. He will enforce His will upon any man who's objective is to do us harm in anyway. These acts the wicked have implemented will not go unpunished. God documents them all. He gives these guys enough rope to hang themselves, and when the time is right he acts swiftly and harshly. Let go and let God, no worries. The wickeds' rein on the top will be short like leprechauns, ours is everlasting as the children of the King. " man who is of the earth may strike terror no more." Our time will come.

PSALM CHAPTER 9

Chapter 9 gives us the chance to stand up on the highest mountain and give praise to God for all the wonderful things he has done for us in our life. He does not turn his back on us so we have to show the same if not more love to God. He is a fair and awesome God but he is also a selfish God in that he demands our undivided attention. If that is all my father asks of me I have no problem giving him my all. I look at the blessing he has giving me and look at the life I sometimes choose to live and know that grace God gave me allowed the blessings to take place. He rewards me in spite of me. So yes I shout out how much I love the Lord and appreciate his hands on my life. He brings my enemies to their knees in front of me, fights the battle before I have to lift a hand. "When my enemies turn back,  they stumble and perish before your presence." Wow! He is a no nonsense Lord and we are his children, God will not let our foes get the best of us. He will strike down with a vengeance never before seen to protect his children. They will be destroyed for generations, he will, "blot out their name forever and ever." All for his children. God is a fair God that judges us harshly as his flock because he expects so much out of us, he also is swift in his defense of us as his children. He is with us when we feel down and that the world has turned its back on us. The Lord assures us that through him every form of oppression we face on earth can be overthrown. " O, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you." In times of oppression we must not forget the Lord's promise for us, we need not worry too much because God has promised that he will always be in our corner as long as we accept him and keep our promise to him. It is a two way street. He will not let mere man prevail over us no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. We must have the courage amidst turmoil to shout the praise to The up most High to ask for help and it will be granted! "For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall perish forever." We will not always be the have nots, our time will come and when it does we should draw on the times were we felt hopeless and give thanks to God for bringing us out of that state and to Glory. Man can not hold down the believer, he is far to inferior to what God has at his disposal. They are but men, we as Christians are Christ like, and through God albe to move mountains with our faith.

PSALM CHAPTER 8

Chapter 8 gives all the glory to God. God has given dominion over all we see. The Earth is an inheritance that God has laid out before us and all we have to do its put ourselves in the position to receive it. He is the best quarterback money could never buy; all his passes are perfect, he will not allow himself to get sacked, and he never throws interceptions. As his children, his receivers, all we have to do is show up and be in the right frame of to receive Him and we will win in all things. Psalm speaks on how the gift He gave is so great do we really deserve it, "what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" We don't deserve it but grace and love is the reason we fall under the blessing! We are created in His image, so we are Godlike. Not Gods on earth, but Godlike in the fact we rule over all we survey. We are Kings and Queens by the choice God made for us at the origins of the creation of earth. He decided that He would make man in his image and allow man to rule land while still given God the Glory. That is the gift the keeps giving. I for one wake up every morning and give thanks for all I see. This earth beautiful, God gave us this while we are in our human form as a show of good faith, but what is in store for us if we stay the course when we ascend next to Him in the kingdom of Heaven is unexplainable. The words have not yet been created to describe what is in store for us in Heaven. If you think Earth is wonderful wait until we are allowed to sit next to the Father for eternity! All we can do is say thanks! " O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

PSALM CHAPTER 7

When we decide to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior the war really begins. The devil has know need to put adversity in front of us if we have not yet chose a side. When we are in the "recruiting" faze things in our lives are pretty much on a even keel between the good and bad... wait until you choose God! The moment you chose God here comes the whole kitchen sink. The devil will try everything in is bag of tricks to get us to turn our back on God and our birth right which is the blessing. "O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver." You do not know what is in store for you when you chose God, it is right here for us to read in Psalm 7. How do we attack it? Well the first thing we do is ask God for direction, we ask if we did anything to bring this grief upon our home, not to blame ourselves but to take ownership to what we had done similar to David and Bathsheba. We have to understand that accepting the Lord does not give us free rein to do what we please then repent asking the Lord to make it all better. No, we must be accountable and willing to suffer the consequences of our Father just as any believer or non believer. When we do find the root of our current problem and truly ask for the Lord to intervene then he will come full force to counter any primitive attack that the devil has set forth. Psalm 7 says, "lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;" He will handle that we need not worry, but He also warns, "The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, according to the integrity that is in me." We must be careful in how we interact with others because yes the devil will attack us, but it may be the Lord trying to get through to us as well. If we are not living right the Lord will not hesitate to get our attention as well! He expects more of us because we know better! The non believer has an "excuse" for the simple fact he is ignorant to the word. What is our excuse as believers? We know the word yet we still do as we please. The devil will hit us with the gambit when we chose the blessing but we too must stay righteous to insure that God does not have to intervene and get our attention. Life is hard enough so it is no need to begin a two front war with good and one side evil on another and you alone in the middle. Repent in all negative transgressions so you have God's full arsenal at your disposal to fight the devil.

PSALM CHAPTER 6

The Lord never places too much on our shoulders to handle. Like I stated yesterday it is all a test of our faith and obedience. Chapter 6 talks of how when the anguish has started to seem overwhelming we can always turn to the Lord. The turmoil we go through could test our faith to the point where we feel the Lord does not love us such as in the first verse of chapter 6, "O Lord rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath." That is an example of us as mere humans having self doubt. The Lord loves us in spite of us, and just because things don't always go as we would like does not mean the Lord has cast us aside. We must stay in faith. It is essential to our growth as Christians. We get so down on ourselves in times of misfortune that we stress ourselves out. We get caught up in everything that's going wrong that we forget to open our eyes to the blessings around us. We take those for granted and focus on the bad, "I am weary with my moaning every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping." That sounds like faith fading to me, no I am not saying that it is no time for grief but it can't consume our nights. We all get sad from time to time but we have to let God do the work and don't rush the process. If we take the time to look at our situations of distress and pray on them good things will happen. God hears our prayers, as said here,"the Lord accepts my prayer." and I for 1 believe in that if we have the faith of a mustard seed we can move mountains. My stock is in the Lord handling every aspect of my life! I let go and let God, he is the controller of all I do. I don't rush the process, I give the process to God for his control.

PSALM CHAPTER 5

Does it sometimes seem that your prayers are in vain, and that wicked have favor in all they do? That is not the case as stated in Psalm 5. "For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you." It goes on to include the boastful and liars as well. Later in verse 12 it even tells us the being faithful to God allows his favor to cover us the same as a shield would. That is an awesome God! He is here for us through thick and through thin. Our faith has to ultimately get to the point where we are grateful in times of prosperity and times of not. Can we handle the blessing for the good and the bad? Psalm 5 shows us the if you are in any way tied to unjust that the Lord is not on your side, so when we pray and feel like God doesn't hear us we must first check ourselves and our faith. We should know that His favor is the shield of the believer. He hears us in the mornings, He accepts our righteous offerings, so why do we grow weary when we face a obstacle? That is the devil trying to infiltrate into our lives because he feels ruff times will cause our faith to dwindle. He does not have to attack every Tom, Dick, and Harry who you see living wrong yet are successful in the world, for the simple fact they are already on his side. The devil does not have to get them because he already has them. "But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;" Our time will come if it is not already upon us, we just have to continue to grow in Him. Everything is a lesson, everything the the Lord or devil for that matter throws our way is an learning experience. You face it with God, you hurdle it with God, then you share testimony about it and how God helped you through it. That's what it comes down to in my life. I take the good with the bad, never get too high and never get too low. The glory goes to God in both accounts weather I am a 4X Pro Bowl fullback or I am no longer in the NFL. God will get the glory and his favor is my shield against all that have negative things to say about me. They will have so much to say when things from the outside world look grim. They will ask where is YOUR  Lord now? If He loves you so much why did he allow you to get cut so many times? Hey, Psalm 5 tells us,  "For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue." I read this so I know their angles, their words lose their venom and cant get to me. They should not get to you, we know our faith in Him opens the door for his favor in our lives, and in that favor we will prosper in ALL we do regardless if the world views it as prosperity or not. Their opinions matter not!