Stay Calm

You have probably seen the “keep calm” pictures on Facebook, Instagram and other social media. What does it really mean? If you type the phrase into Google, you will find that the slogan goes all the way back to World War II. It was introduced as a British public safety poster to strengthen morale during wartime. However, for me, the saying has a spiritual connotation.

One of my favorite past times while reading my Bible is breaking down scriptures into simplicity to help me apply it to my life. Actually prior to doing a little background on the slogan, I searched out calmness in my Bible.

At the time of this particular Bible study, I was struggling with a personal relationship with another believer. As I grow older, it bothers me how people believe they are justified in their critical, condescending, and judgmental natures about other Christians. Let’s be real- women can be especially prideful and belittling in this manner toward other women. I am guilty of being on the receiving end of this teaching by the example set within the church!

I have now come to believe that God is not pleased with this nature. It is truly ungodly and it is confirmed in Romans 14:10-12 MSG, “So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture: “As I live and breathe,” God says, “every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God.” So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.”

In my nature to fight for what I believe, I was tempted to continue my quest to be heard. But, God said no. As in any war, including the spiritual battle, there has to be a period of silence. He led me to one very valuable scripture in Exodus 14:14 NLT, “The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

The word “calm” reminded me of the keep calm pictures online. Although entertaining, they have a point. Calm is defined as freedom from agitation, excitement, or passion. It is further defined as absence of motion or animation, to remain still or near still. Being calm is staying at peace, in a resting position, and remaining harmonious. The call of this scripture is to stay in sync with God despite the issues going on-He has got this.

The bottom line is that when people, even church folk, are putting you down, acting holier than thou, and passing judgment, stay calm. That person has to answer to God and that mentality will not get them very far. Not to mention, staying calm is a biblical command from God. It is confirmation that he will fight for you.

He promises that those who judge will be judged: Matthew 7:1-5 MSG, “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.”

We do not have to do anything when people judge us. It is hard lesson to learn but God is a better teacher than we could ever be on this topic. Keep praying that eyes, ears, and hearts are open to seeing and repenting of this nature. Meanwhile, the Lord continues to fight for you- just stay calm.

Prayer Starter

My dearest Lord! You are so compassionate with us even when we fail You. We ask forgiveness for the stiff-neck and obstinate ways about us that are offensive to you. Forgive us for being so troubled in our character that we cause other people to stumble into unbelief. We are often unaware of our own blindness, but You see it all. You provide correction, direction, and an escape.

We pray that we will adhere to your command to stay calm in the mist of trouble that we encounter in any shape or form. We all will answer to you eventually. Let our goal be to lift each other up and encourage one another daily as your scripture further commands us to do (Hebrews 3:13). In the precious name of Jesus we pray- AMEN!

 

References

dictionary.com

knowyourmeme.com

biblegateway.com

WHERE IS YOUR FAITH

Here’s Petey! ❤

MATTHEW 6:25-33

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

More often than not, when I hear people speak or when I am reading I hear what I call, “TITLES” in my head. This morning while reading it happened again. What I read was, “Where is you faith,” but what I heard was “Where IS you Faith?” Is your faith in yourself? Is in the government, your job, your bank account, your friends, or is it in GOD?

So many times because of disappointments, distractions, and let downs we tend to lose our faith in God or we just lay it aside not really realizing that it was ever missing. When we do that we unknowingly are putting our faith in ourselves or other things and not in God. Through the distractions and disappoints that arise in our lives the enemy has lulled us in to putting our shield of faith down. God does not want us worrying about anything at all. I know that is a hard thing to comprehend sometimes especially when life is hitting you hard but its the truth. We see from the scripture God is saying, “What are you worrying for, if I can feed the birds, if I can clothe the fields with beautiful flowers, then surely I can handle what you need.” Its our job to BELIEVE that, to put our faith and trust in Him and His word.

Philippians 4:19 And My God shall Supply ALL my needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.

So today, I challenge you to ask yourself, “Where IS my faith, where did I lay it down?”

CHANTEEA

Testing the Spirits of Media Faith

Testing the Spirits of Media Faith

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. (1 John 4:1 NLT)

I’ve done my share of following the trendy crowd of TV evangelists. It is really easy to turn on the TV, get a good word in quickly, and go about your day. There are excellent TV programs and evangelists that promote the word of God correctly.
There are some evangelists on social media who give an encouraging word during the day. However, it is necessary to acknowledge that some of the messages delivered through media avenues such as TV, radio, internet, social media are not always aligned with the word of God. Some messages sound good and they make sense, but are they spiritual or worldly? That is why John said that not everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit should automatically impact or overrule our belief. There are people who manipulate the Word for their own purpose. Paul communicated the same message to the Galatians in 1:6-7 by saying, “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.” If Christians were being led astray even back then, how much more are they being misled now. We have to test the spirits against the word of God.
Media faith should be rated PG for parental guidance. God is our Father in heaven. He desires that our whole heart to be devoted to Him. As His children, he wants us to listen and view media faith responsibly. In order to do that we must screen what our eyes see, ears hear, and our heart receive. We have to discern the truth of what is being said. Media faith needs to be a supplement to our faith and not a replacement. Anything that we hear through media channels should be our confirmation of God’s message to us. In doing so, we are testing the spirits.
Spreading Good News is definitely aligned with God’s purpose. It is still our responsibility to spend personal time with God, test the spirits, and discern the truth of media preaching.

IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS

As a man thinks in his heart so is he…. Proverbs 23:7

Have you ever really paid attention to your thoughts? One of the definitions for the word thought is; the product of mental activity that one thinks. So what kind of activity do you have going on in your mind? In the book, The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, she says that thoughts are magnetic and have a frequency. As you think a thought it is sent out and it magnetically attracts or brings to you on the sane frequency what you are thinking. She says if you want to change anything in your life change your thoughts. The bible puts it this way. Do not be conformed to the world, but transformed by the Renewing of your Mind. Romans 12:2

Your thoughts will transform your life either for good or for bad. If you are always thinking thoughts of lack then lack is what you will have in your life, If you think, God will supply all I need, I want for nothing then you will see that, that is what will come in to your life. It’s not a one time deal. You have to constantly think on the good things in life. Sure there are a lot of negative things going on in our lives, some that require our attention and some that do not. The choice on what to think is solely yours.

I love Christmas and I love to give, I love to be a blessing to people. Not just the people I know, but people I see in the stores. I wanna pay for layaways and groceries for people, I just want to bless people especially around Christmas. The problem, I don’t have funds to match that desire in my heart. As I was sitting here this morning talking to God about this very thing, the phrase, “It’s The Thought That Counts”, came to my mind. Now I am sure we all heard that saying before and we all know what it means but that is not how I understood that thought this morning. I understood it to mean the most important thing in what you are desiring to do is in YOUR THOUGHTS! Not the money or the lack thereof, but your thoughts. If all I continue to think on is how I want to give but don’t have the money then that is all that will manifest, “a want to thought” but if I choose to think the thought “GOD HAS BLESSED ME TO BE A BLESSING” everyday then someway some how God is going to make a way for me. I BELIEVE THAT!!! The key is staying focused and paying very close attention to you thoughts. Once you make up your mind to do this the enemy will get your mind on everything but changing your thought life.

Your most dominant thoughts are what you will have in your life. As a matter of fact your life is the sum total of your thoughts. Your thoughts are the lumber you used to build the world you live in. If you don’t like the way things are going in your life right now change your thoughts. Go to the word of God find out what HE has to say about your situation and think on that and watch you life change. I know I am.

Blessed To Be A Blessing,

Chanteea

PS……Leave me a thought below…. I have some shopping to do. 😀

Perishing People Hinder Progress

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? 2 Corinthians 2:15-16

God is just amazing with his revelations. When we ask a question, He will answer. After I wrote “Let the Lord Handle the Fools,” God gave me an insight that had gotten away from me earlier in my Christian walk. The word from Him came during a time when I was seeking comfort from someone’s demeaning comments to me. I needed to respond, but I couldn’t do it without stooping to that person’s level. I was angry and felt like retaliating. I began to ask God why this person was seeking to embarrass me and put me down in such a way. Then He gave me the word perishing.

The person on the other end of the hurtful, offensive comments was perishing. Immediately, I felt empowered in my spirit again and went to the scriptures and the dictionary. The dictionary.com definition of perish is to die, be destroyed, to pass away, and to suffer destruction. Another description, to suffer spiritual death, is right on the target. Some synonyms include: to be lost, checked out, to corrupt or be corrupted, decompose, expire, vanish and to crumble. These are all of the ways people can be suffering in their spirit right now.

Spiritual death is occurring to many of the people who we are encountering. These people are dying little by little in their spirit. While these people are perishing, they are trying to bring us down with them and discourage us in our walk with God. They fight even harder when they cannot break us. Like the scriptures say, we are the smell of death and doom to those who are perishing.

Second Corinthians two 4:3-4 explains the reason why people are perishing, “If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. ⁴ Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” Once again, Satan who owns this world, has robbed some people of their right to see the glorious light! That is why people are responding to us like vampires who burn up from the light. They cannot see the light that we are. They attack us because their understanding has been stripped. It is part of Satan’s ploy to hinder everyone’s spiritual progress.

Jude 1:10-11 reminds us what happens to people who remain in their rebellion and make no attempts to avoid perishing, “But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. ¹¹ What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. And like Korah, they perish in their rebellion. In efforts to keep history from repeating itself, we have a job to do.

As Christians, it is our responsibility to pray for people who are perishing. They are crossing our path for a reason. They need to see, hear, and be exposed to the truth so they do not end up like, Cain, Balaam, and Korah. The truth be told, although we believe, we may be perishing a bit in some area of our life as well.

I praised God for the revelation. I was able to take my power and rise above the insults and respond righteously. Perishing people will try to hinder your progress. Realizing that and applying the scriptures to your life and heart will make all of the difference. God has made us to stand up, stand out, to shine, and be divine! For His glory we continue to believe, stay in the right, and let God take control. Preach to and pray for the perishing and then praise God for the progress!