JournalingForGod

John 8: 11 NKJV

“She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.””
‭‭ I want to start off by telling you that this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I feel like my whole life I’ve condemned myself. I was always my own enemy and sometimes I still am. I can be so hard on myself but now God is teaching me to be balanced. I love this verse because it teaches you that God is so merciful and graceful to us. That Gods love for us is great and matchless. But what I really wanted to talk to you guys about was that last line. It’s going to be a little rough but essential. This weeks post kind of goes hand in hand with last weeks. You see Jesus forgave and freed this woman. But what he also asked of the woman was a crucial thing. He asked her to “go and sin no more”. You see when you come to the feet of Christ, which is what this woman did. God asks for you to stop your old ways. Living a lifestyle that doesn’t gratify God. You want to know the things that pleases the Lord and what does please him, read the word. God in his word tells you clearly do’s and don’t. Also when you allow God in your life he is constantly transforming you. When you have a relationship with him and first accept him as Lord and savior, God renews you everyday. When you invite God into your situation, you best believe what comes after is challenging. How do you stop doing something you are used to? Most of us before coming to Christ were used to toxic behaviors and lifestyles. When you come to Christ he comes not only to heal and forgive, but to transform/restore. This woman wasn’t perfect, she was an adulterer. But God forgave her and told her to stop doing that very thing that God dislikes; sin. This is the very thing God does with us. Time and time again we fail him, and he still rescues us. But let’s not abuse of his grace. You see the Pharisees were somewhat right, the law of Moses does state “do not commit adultery”. But the Pharisees clearly didn’t “know” “know” Jesus. If they did, they would have known that he was coming to fulfill the law! That he was coming to save EVERRYYONEEE. Meaning he came to show people that in him there is true life. You have the true way of living when you live and believe in Jesus Christ. He came to model that through him and following him is the right lifestyle. They followed him religiously. The thing about doing something religiously is that most of the time it becomes ingenuine. Sometimes you do it just to check up a box, but you didn’t do it wholeheartedly. The Pharisees didn’t do things with their heart, they wanted power. They wanted to maintain their own power, not understanding when you come to God and know him truly you must lay it all down. Meaning your plans, your ways, your life/flesh and desires. It’s no longer about you, but Jesus through you. Now let’s not get things twisted, God does not tell us to stop following the law of Moses. Jesus says in Mathew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”. He came to fulfill the law, meaning He came to bring us a new way of living, because the old way couldn’t save us. That’s why we are now saved and justified through Jesus Christ and not by works of the law. We must still follow the law but we must understand that the law can’t give us eternal life, only Jesus. The law could not justify or sanctify us, which we need in order to have eternal life. So understand when you come to Jesus your life changes completely. You can’t live the same way you used to. It’s either sin or God, you can’t be in two waters. You know why you can do it? You can do it because “it’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me”. When you choose to believe in Jesus Christ, it’s no longer you it’s Jesus through you. God no longer sees your sinful nature, but Jesus who makes you just and sanctified before him. We are forgiven through Jesus Christ. This world teaches sinful natures, meanwhile Jesus teaches a sanctified nature. The law only exposes our sinful nature but it doesn’t give a solution or free us from it. If I want something to leave with you after reading this, is that when you come to Gods feet like this women, he doesn’t want to just forgive you but renew you. He wants to remove you from that sinful nature and give you life again. He wants to do life with you, show you his ways so that you can go back to his original design before sin came into the picture.
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Did you know New Years to God is everyday. It’s funny because many people wait to clear out and restart on New Years. They wait for New Years to remove junk from their homes and beings. Let me tell you a secret… Everyday through Jesus we get a new slate. God sent his only son on the cross to die for our sins and he beat death. Now, only in Jesus Christ can we have new life. He gives us a restart everyday. We don’t have to wait until January 1st, we can do it right now. Which to me is wayyyy better. I don’t have to wait that long to be free, to be a new creature. It’s crazy because lately Gods been confirming left and right about what Jesus dying on the cross really meant/means. The process of being able to connect to our Father in heaven was tough back then. You see back then people had to sacrifice animals in order to be redeemed. You had to be cleaned in order to meet with God or else you couldn’t. Jesus broke the veil that was between us and God. Now once you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, that veil you have is removed. That’s why we used to be blind, now through Jesus we can see. Jesus says he is the truth, the way and life. So to know how to live, to know the truth and to live you need to get to Jesus; by believing in him. We are justified through Jesus. If God saw us alone, he would see sin alone. As you know, sin and God don’t connect. But through Jesus, God sees us with another lens; pure and clean human beings. I was talking to my colleague and he was asking me, do you not think Christian’s can have mental health problems? You see this is a sensitive topic, but it’s quite simple. When we have Jesus in our hearts truly, we should no longer be living like the world. When following God, if the word of God says Jesus beat death and sin why are we still receiving it. In Jesus Christ there is power, power to heal, free, redeem, and control. Now of course there are certain things that are not easy and quick to do. But that’s why it’s not you, it’s Christ through you. “ It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me” Galatians 2:20. That’s why the word of God tells us to die to our flesh everyday. You can’t live like your old self. You must let Jesus renew you through the Holy Spirit, “To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” Ephesians 4:22-24. Meaning it’s not a one day thing, you can’t change your life in one day; the way people pretend they can do on New Years or the day before. It’s a constant renewing and dying to the flesh. You leave your former lifestyle and receive the living/walk/lifestyle as Jesus Christ. This happens as you get to know This world comes with a lot of flaws and sinful natures. Since some of us haven’t always lived with Jesus, we’ve received certain attributes from the world. But let me tell you something, through Jesus it can be broken. You see God loved us so much that he couldn’t stand anything standing in the way of us getting to him. The way to get to the Father is through believing in his Son; Jesus Christ.

Good news! You can be saved right now… I pray if you are reading this right now, that you receive Jesus as your Lord and savior. I promise it will be the best thing you could ever do in your life. He gives you eternal life, not temporary.

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
‭‭John‬ ‭11‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In our walk with God let’s not be like Judas. Who walked with God, saw his signs/wonders and still betrayed him. We ask and ask God for things, when we get it we forget where it came from. Sometimes we are like, God I want a car; a month later you receive a great car. Sometimes we say God I want to get out of depression, the next week he gets us out of depression and we are full of joy. Sometimes we even pray God I want to burn for you; he gives us a burning passion. We pray God I pray that I lack nothing. He gives us a home, family, food and clothing. We are receiving blessings left and right from God. But sometimes we fail to recognize Gods hand at work in our lives. Just because sometimes these blessings don’t arrive when we wanted them to, it doesn’t mean Gods hands wasn’t at work in it. God is constantly protecting us, warning us, blessing us, revealing to us, talking to us, ministering to us, removing from us, healing us, comforting us, transforming us, etc. Let’s not be like the people back than in the Bible, where Jesus constantly showed he was the messiah and still people chose not to believe in him. God, time and time again shows he is working for our good. Even when you can’t see it, believe it. Even if in the current season you are in, you don’t see it remember the other seasons where he clearly showed you. Sometimes we even do that to the people we love, we turn our backs on the people in our lives. Just because they don’t do one thing we expected them to do, we completely disregard the 10 thousand things they did for us before. God is evident in our lives even if we see it or not. God is always working, you can’t see everything the way he does. Trust me, there are things happening in the spiritual realm that you can’t see. The credit truly belongs to God because he truly is always working on our behalf. It was his hand that did what you prayed for, not your hand. Don’t disrespect him or allow the devil to blind you into thinking it was you who did it. No, God heard you and did his thing. It may have not happened the way you expected it, but it happened the way he knew you needed it too. So give it up to him because he is the one who deserves all the glory and honor. (Point period)

You hear about breakups but you never think about how much it can affect a persons life. I remember breaking up with my ex and me being depressed for about 3 months straight. It still stayed around for a while but those 3 months were like hell for me. I cried every single night, those nights. But I never failed to remember who was there through the whole time. It was God, he made me feel safe and seen. It’s crazy because my family were home, but never had the ears to hear me. I knew God was there because I felt him everyday, I would worship and leave it all in his hands. Heartbreak is no joke man! It hurts so bad, it feels like someone literally took my heart out. I remember worshipping in my private place with God and crying; I told the Lord I would never forget that moment. I said this because it marked me. God reminded me in that season of this verse, “But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me. Yes, I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12:9-10‬ ‭ERV‬‬. It was really in this season that God was working on me understanding this verse. This means that even when I am not okay I should be worshipping God even more. It’s through our trials and tribulation where God is glorified. He uses what we’ve been through and what we sometimes put ourselves through, all for his glory. He also uses it to mold us and to turn us into the wonderful beings he’s always intended us to be. The line that really stuck out to me “because it is when I am weak that I am really strong”. That line really got me man! I was like God, HOWW is it when I’m weak I am really strong!! That line really got to me, it kind of frustrated me. It didn’t fit in my head how I could possibly be strong if I am weak. How do they coincide, but in God those two correlate perfectly. Once I understood this, the way I worshipped and lived was different. I understood that God makes me strong when I’m weak, but it’s because of HIS power that’s doing it. It wasn’t my power or strength that caused this, it was and will always be his mighty hand. So after that when I went through something I comprehended that God gives me strength when I’m not okay. So I should praise him and give him my hurt. I should give him my situation and problems, because it shall pass. I just worship in the midst of pain and trials because when I’m the most vulnerable is when he is going to lift me up. Pain sucks, but at the end God always uses what the devil meant to kill and destroy you, to lift you and his name up. That season was so hard for me I genuinely felt weak, but that season also brought me closer to my Father in Heaven.

Corny I know, but I truly do want you to understand what it means to be a true friend in God. Something I’ve learned about my Heavenly Father is that he loves community. He loves for us to have people around us that show us and draw us closer to him. A true friend portrays or exemplifies who our Father in heaven is. When I used to be part of the world I would curse, be depressed, feel lonely, have hatred, etc. I was always a happy child but inside of me I wasn’t full. I had a lot of anger and things that weren’t healthy inside of me. The worlds definition of healing is take drugs, get revenge, party, etc. When I say you are who you hang around with, you really are…. Even if your intentions isn’t to do bad if that’s all you fill yourself up with, that is what you will be. For example it’s like an empty cup, If you fill it with garbage it will be full of garbage. But if you fill your cup with living water, that is what your cup will be full of. In 1 Corinthians 15:33 it states, “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character”. God is clear in the word even if you are a good person if you surround yourself with the wrong people you will be distorted. I believe that a good friend models God. They correct you when you are wrong, with love. They lead you to do better with your life. They also hype you up and remind you of who you are. Good friends don’t put you down. I thank God he’s brought good people in my life. There have been people in my life who have hurt me more than they have done good. But we live and we learn. God removed them and is leading them to greater things. He’s healing and delivering them. When you want different you look for different. In life you become the people you like to surround yourself with. If I hang out with lovers of God. People who are passionate for the Father. Who want to please him, who want to serve him. That is exactly what I will pursue as well. Whatever you are passionate for that is the type of people you should surround yourself with. If you want to be wise, hang out with people who are wise. You want to surround yourself with people who have the same vision as you. Who’s going the same direction as you are. A true friend prays for your life. A true friend leads you to the truth/answer, Jesus Christ. A true friend wants to give you heavenly answers, not emotional answers. A true friend also pauses and asks the Lord what you need to hear. I write to you today to help warn you about friendships. Not all friendships are perfect, but good friendships push you closer to your Father in heaven rather than away.

Focus on you and your process. Sometimes God can’t finish our story because we are too busy focused on someone else’s. When you are too focused on someone else’s process you lose sight of your own process. I mean think about it, let’s say you are on a race. When you are running you have to look straight ahead. I’ve seen races and it is known when people lose it’s because they are too focused looking to the person running to the left and right. That’s not to say that when they are running they don’t look to the left or right, they do but they just take a glimpse. The point is not to stay focus on the other runner. When you stay focus on the other person that is a form of distraction. It is distracting you from the prize coming a head from you. Distraction makes you behind and lose focus. I used to be like that a lot. I would focus on saving everyone else’s salvation that I was losing mine. I was focused on everyone else’s relationship with God that I lost my own. God wants to work on us but sometimes we just look on everyone else. You matter as well… Just like we have unique relationships with everyone in our life, God wants a unique relationship with you. God doesn’t want you to worship anyone else other than him. No one else knows you the way the Father does. Just like when you are connected to your friends, you feel or know what they are feeling. It’s the same thing with God. When you are connected to him you know when he is happy or disappointed. You also see his signs and wonders. He reveals to you a lot that we could ever imagine. God doesn’t want to be half connected to you, he wants you fully. He’s an all in type of being, isn’t that amazing ! That’s why he allows for you to have moments in your life where it brings you to full focus on him. So what I’m saying today is stop allowing distractions to enter to come steal, kill and destroy your race with God.

If I can be honest with you guys, this is something that God has had to minister to me for a while. All my life people have judged me and made me feel bad about myself. I’ve heard people say I’m annoying, ugly, overwhelming, stupid, slow, too happy, too emotional, too loving, needy, that I don’t have a backbone, etc. I’m not going to lie, although all these things that were said about me sucked! God used it to restore me, make me stronger and make those people look foolish. But at the time it was said I didn’t truly comprehend what the devil meant to destroy me, God would use it to lift me and His name up. It’s about letting God show you his perspective even in the midst of the devil trying to plot evil against you. Let me tell you, and I want you to really comprehend this. God needs you for who you are, not pretending to be someone else. God in his word says that we are all one body with different functions. If we were all the same that would be boring. But also God created us different because he knew we would all be different puzzle pieces that he would use for his kingdom. God has specific plans for you alone. Stop focusing on other peoples calling, beauty, gifts, relationship with God, etc. Focus on what God has given you specifically and embrace it. When you compare or complain about who you are, you are technically spitting in Gods face. You are saying that he made his creation wrong. That he isn’t purposeful and specific. When on the contrary he is. Have you noticed, if you take a look at your fingerprints we all have distinct ones. That alone shows how detailed, specific and intentional God is. The devil wants you to be confused of who God created you to be. He wants you confused, comparing, depressed, lost, dismayed, etc. If you are distracted that means you lose sight of what God has in stored for you and that’s a win for him. Something I do want us to be aware of is that some habits or traits that we have are not from God. Since we live in a broken world there are tendencies that we’ve allowed to attach to us that if you are going to be in God must be released and healed. Which means we must be patient and not judge those around us. We all struggle and go through things differently. We must teach and correct each other with love. You have to put yourself in peoples shoes. When God corrects us he doesn’t go around telling people; gossiping, judging and making fun of us. When we mess up he doesn’t go shaming us. To me he reminds me about the cross; Jesus. So why do we think we should model anything other than that. A wise woman once told me, if everyone wore their sins on their forehead no one would judge each other. That’s true, you wouldn’t be able to. You would be a hypocrite and have nothing to defend yourself with, you are equally as wrong. The problem is that now a days there are sins more visible than others. Or some people just completely hide or disregard their past. I’m not going to lie some people do get frustrating. You see them constantly doing what they know is wrong. It gets frustrating because you love and want the best for them. But God was and still is patient with you. We must pray and wait patiently. The way you treat people will show how connected to God you are and if you truly know him.

“When his parents saw him, they wondered how this was possible. And his mother said, “Son, why did you do this to us? Your father and I were very worried about you. We have been looking for you.” Jesus said to them, “Why did you have to look for me? You should have known that I must be where my Father’s work is.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭48‬-‭49‬ ‭ERV‬‬

I absolutely love this chapter. It reminds me of where I should stand as a child of God. Sometimes people may not understand what God is doing with us. Jesus’s parents thought he was lost but he was actually seeking God and his kingdom. I can relate to this because of my own experience. My family think I’m crazy because I’m always in the Lords work. I’m always at church serving and with my godly friends. Honestly it’s not even just worldly people that might not understand but sometimes not even your godly friends are going to understand the things God is doing in your life. What God has allowed me to see and understand is that sometimes when God reveals certain things to only you, not everyone is going to comprehend it. You can’t understand something that isn’t being directly revealed to you; it wasn’t meant for you. With my family I’ve always had a problem because they don’t understand that I need to be where my Fathers work is. Yes I’m their family but I also have a more important role which is to please my Father in heaven first. He’s the one who even believed and thought that I should be born for such a time as this. He saw and knew me first before everyone else did. Yes I have an important role of being a daughter to my mom, of being a sister, of being a friend, etc. But I have an even greater role of being a daughter to God. When you are a child of God, God reveals things to you. You must remain in him and trust him. It doesn’t matter if God doesn’t show others, for we live by faith not by sight or what others tell us. In this chapter Jesus was stating to his mom why would you think I’m lost, I’m just where my Fathers work is at. He understood that the one he was called to primarily please was his Father in heaven. When people don’t see clearly with Gods lens it’s hard for them to see Gods plans. I say this not to go against our parents but the reality is that we don’t live for them we live for our Father in heaven. I know that sounds harsh but it’s not. We were created to give glory to God, not our friends, parents, bosses, spouses, etc. Yes it may have been our parents who were used to conceive us, but at the end of the day it was God who formed us and thought we should be born in the first place. It’s not to say we aren’t to honor our parents because thats actually something God calls/states for us to do in the Bible. What I am saying is that we should seek to please God first because he’s the author of our story. He’s the one who breathed life into us. He just used our parents as vessels to bring us out into the world so he can have his way in us. It was still always Gods hand at work in our lives. If we first have God in our lives all our other relationships will flow rightly too. Why? Because you are connected to the fountain, the source. The one who gave you life and knows how your story ends. That’s why we all need to be connected to God, as parents, spouses, friends, siblings etc. Once we connect to God we know his will for our lives and our loved ones lives.

Let me start off by saying Happy Valentine’s Day guys! Alright, now can we please talk about the one who is love… GOD! He proved that he is love when he sent his only son on the cross to die for alll of our sinnnss. He loved us so much that he had to find a way to break that barrier that was between us and him. He wanted to have a genuine relationship with us. So he did that by breaking that veil that impeded us from getting to him. He did that through Jesus’s blood shed and by raising him from the dead. Jesus is the one who stands in the gap for us, and who leads us directly to the Father. If anyone knows how to express love it’s God himself. His love conquers all, trust me I’m a witness. It’s because of his love that I am still here. If not I would be lost, depressed, confused, suicidal, broken, etc. His love gave me undeserving saving, grace, favor, joy, etc. I don’t deserve his love guys, I’ve failed him immensely and still he has forgiven me. Let me tell you, you may not have a boyfriend/girlfriend, friend, or maybe a family member to say Happy Valentine’s Day to. But you have the one that created love and is love himself. So I’m going to say Happy Valentines Day to the one who is deserving of it- He is the true meaning of love…

This is a shout-out to God, thank you God for loving me. For thinking that I was worth it. For believing in me and for forgiving me. Thank you for showing me what true love is. For teaching me that the only way to know what true love is, is by connecting with you wholeheartedly. For showing me the only way to abide in love is to abide in you. I owe it all to my God.

1 John 4:8 – Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:19 – We love because he first loved us.

Why do i say be teachable? I say this because many people have a problem in doing this. Honestly i get it, we humans don’t like to be told what to do. But i want to dissect and explain some verses in the bible that prove to us that God calls us to be teachable in this life we were given…

1. “To learn the truth you must long to be teachable, or you can despise correction and remain ignorant” Proverbs‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬ ‭TPT. ‬‬God is clearly stating in this verse if you want to know whats true and the right way to life, you have to allow him to teach you. You must yearn to know the right way to live in this life. The way is through Jesus; getting to know Jesus. In the bible God says,” Jesus is the truth the way and the life”. Meaning if you know Jesus and follow him, you’ll know the way, the truth, and life. Jesus is the simple answer to life, he paved the way for you and for me. It means if we don’t choose to learn the truth, we will continue being like this world; Ignorant because they are choosing to disregard Jesus.
2. “A fool is in love with his own opinion, but wisdom means being teachable” Proverbs‬ ‭12‬:‭15‬ ‭TPT‬‬. WOW! I don’t know about you but this verse “ESTA FUERTE”/ “IS TOUGH”. You are ignorant or unwise if you try to follow your ways. Meaning your own selfish ways, that simply pleases you. That doesn’t care whether it is wrong or right, it benefits you alone. God considers you wise if you allow yourself to be taught by what’s actually righteous. In order to find wisdom you have to be docile. In researching what the word “docile” mean’t its quite interesting that it means someone who is ready to accept control or instruction; submissive. Which is what you need to do when learning wisdom. It will definitely challenge you.
3. “You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self gets worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil they want to do. You must be made new in your hearts and in your thinking. Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to him” Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭22‬-‭24‬ ‭ERV‬‬. You see in order to follow this verse you need to be teachable. I say this because when you follow this verse it requires for you to learn a new way of living. When you accept Jesus as Lord and savior, it requires for you to live differently. Meaning the old habits that you learned from the world cannot persist or remain. You can no longer live and think the same way. You see the world is used to living in Sin, God can’t and does not sin; so it can’t work together. I’m not going to tell you it’s easy, i’ll be the first to say it’s not. It requires daily sacrifice and allowing God to constantly teach you his ways; removing your old sinful ways #nolongerconformingtothisworld. Im going to be honest its definitely not comfortable at first. But this i promise, it will be so worth it- you’ll live a life of eternal joy and peace<—- that surpasses all understanding. It will get easier the closer you get to God because you just want to please him and live fully in him.

So i challenge you if you are reading this, allow God to teach you his ways. Think about it, when we were in school we worked so hard to learn because we believed that it would get us to something better a long the way; our future careers. A future we believed would set us for life. If we continue to study and follow Gods ways, we will be led to something much greater than that; eternal life.