Hey darlings ❣,
Hope you guys are having a good day so far. So my question is, Does one every fully get to know God? Well its something I don't have an answer to but I'll tell you this much, there are ways to communicate with God and to become more aware of who he is and what he does.
Prayer!!!
Prayer is Key. The key to like everything in ones Christian life. Literally think of prayer as a key, when the door is closed what do you use to open it? a key. And what is the key? Prayer.
Prayer is essential when getting to know God. Why? Because prayer is communicating with God, speaking not to him but with him. What other way would you get to know a person in your secular life than by communicating with them. Communication is Prayer and Prayer is Key.
One can see many times in the bible that with prayer many things happen, when we pray we express our love, thanks, and need of having him. Matthew 7:7-8 shows that when we call he will open and how do we call? Through prayer. Prayer opens doors. Philippians 4:6-7 also shows that prayer is a way to getting to know God. When we pray and we set our anxiety on him he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7
) In this verse we can see two things. Cause and Effect. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Cause). 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Effect). We can see that when we call out to God we get to know him. Here we can see that God cares for us and that he will give us strength, this is us knowing him, knowing he cares for us and he will guard our hearts and minds from anything that can harm it. He is our protector.
Always remember, that in this world everything seems to be going the wrong way. This world is displeasing God in almost everything they do and there has to be a strong a faithful remainder that seeks him and get to know who he is. Many times we may question the existence of God or even if he listens to our prayers but we must have a conviction and always be sure that our God is and that he rewards of those who believe in him! Whenever you find yourself doubting or feel like you don't know him as much as you need to, dive on your knees and pray and talk with him and he will give revelation at his time.
Dear God, Please allow me to get to know you more and to be able to understand how you work. I ask you to give me conviction and revelation, as well as wisdom to know that you are real while being surrounded by a world and a society that doesn't always favor you. In Jesus name, Amen.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Dress Code for the King
Good Afternoon lovelies,
So I've been thinking, its actually kind of hard to dress appropriately when you're a server of God. There are many things that we shouldn't wear because of immodesty but take a look at this.
In the bible God many times tells us (women specifically) that we should dress modestly and appropriately. He says in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 "Also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." so lets break this down for a sec, shall we...
The first part is pretty clear "I also want women to dress modestly"
What is modesty?
Modesty is a mode of dress intended to avoid encouraging sexual attraction in others. In this use, it can be considered inappropriate or immodest to reveal certain parts of the body. A modest person would behave so as to avoid encouraging the sexual attention of others.
Now that we know what that means we can see that God calls us to be unrevealing of the members of our body. We as women, shouldn't display the intimate body parts that God has given us to provoke men or to draw attention to ourselves. Its hard sometimes because sometimes the most attractive things to the eyes are the immodest ones but that's something God has to work in so one will no longer desire to wear things that don't please God. Modest clothes are very hard to find sometimes but they're not impossible. Later on I'll leave some suggestions of stores that sell pretty cute modest clothes :)
When we dress immodestly and reveal too much not only are we sinning but we are also causing others to sin. In Matthew 5:28 God says, "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." If we walk around the streets with inappropriate clothing men will be attracted and with just one lustful look he has committed adultery in his heart. This then becomes our fault of dressing that way and his for having such thoughts and desires.
Next... "With decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes "
Decency is behavior that conforms to accepted standards of morality, meaning we must carry ourselves as respectably and with good behavior (which is what propriety means). So what does this mean? We must not let ourselves be touched or treated as something that we are not. We are severs of the king, a royal priesthood and we must treat ourselves and let others treat us as so.
God also tells us that we mustn't adorn ourselves with elaborate hairstyles or gold or peals or expensive clothing. You may be thinking "Hold up, you mean to tell me that buying expensive clothing is a sin?!" No, lets break it down a bit.
In the next part it says "but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God"
This makes it clearer. Here God is saying not to buy expensive clothing, not to wear gold or pearls or elaborate hairstyles but this is when referring to drawing attention to ourselves. He's saying that instead our attention should come from the good we do in his name. If one professes to worship God it means she states or claims to do so. It isn't appropriate for a women who claims to worship and serve God to want attention coming from the wrong places. Those expensive clothing or pearls and gold or showing cleavage or a tight short skirt, shouldn't be a source of attention, instead our praise should come from the works we do in his name and from the testimony that we display because of who we are in him.
I know it may be hard sometimes to be the only one in school or at work who dresses modestly, with skirts and unrevealing tops but this is what God has called us for. We need to follow his commandments and let him be the one to draw the attention to us, we my be teased or treated differently but that's okay because we aren't called to fit in but instead to be the difference. Romans 12 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Its al under God's will and he will help us through it.
Dear God, thank you for making me understand that you want me to be different from the rest of the crowd. I know that I have to please you in everything that I do; even in how I dress. Help me to be modest and to not be tempted by the trends of this world. In Jesus name, Amen.
Stores where modest attire can be found:
h&m
Cotton On
Forever 21 !!!!!!
Banan Republic
Zara
Express
New York and Company
Old Navy
Gap
Loft
Hollister (very few)
Juppe de Abby
Pkidchics
So I've been thinking, its actually kind of hard to dress appropriately when you're a server of God. There are many things that we shouldn't wear because of immodesty but take a look at this.
In the bible God many times tells us (women specifically) that we should dress modestly and appropriately. He says in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 "Also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." so lets break this down for a sec, shall we...
The first part is pretty clear "I also want women to dress modestly"
What is modesty?
Modesty is a mode of dress intended to avoid encouraging sexual attraction in others. In this use, it can be considered inappropriate or immodest to reveal certain parts of the body. A modest person would behave so as to avoid encouraging the sexual attention of others.
Now that we know what that means we can see that God calls us to be unrevealing of the members of our body. We as women, shouldn't display the intimate body parts that God has given us to provoke men or to draw attention to ourselves. Its hard sometimes because sometimes the most attractive things to the eyes are the immodest ones but that's something God has to work in so one will no longer desire to wear things that don't please God. Modest clothes are very hard to find sometimes but they're not impossible. Later on I'll leave some suggestions of stores that sell pretty cute modest clothes :)
When we dress immodestly and reveal too much not only are we sinning but we are also causing others to sin. In Matthew 5:28 God says, "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." If we walk around the streets with inappropriate clothing men will be attracted and with just one lustful look he has committed adultery in his heart. This then becomes our fault of dressing that way and his for having such thoughts and desires.
Next... "With decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes "
Decency is behavior that conforms to accepted standards of morality, meaning we must carry ourselves as respectably and with good behavior (which is what propriety means). So what does this mean? We must not let ourselves be touched or treated as something that we are not. We are severs of the king, a royal priesthood and we must treat ourselves and let others treat us as so.
God also tells us that we mustn't adorn ourselves with elaborate hairstyles or gold or peals or expensive clothing. You may be thinking "Hold up, you mean to tell me that buying expensive clothing is a sin?!" No, lets break it down a bit.
In the next part it says "but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God"
This makes it clearer. Here God is saying not to buy expensive clothing, not to wear gold or pearls or elaborate hairstyles but this is when referring to drawing attention to ourselves. He's saying that instead our attention should come from the good we do in his name. If one professes to worship God it means she states or claims to do so. It isn't appropriate for a women who claims to worship and serve God to want attention coming from the wrong places. Those expensive clothing or pearls and gold or showing cleavage or a tight short skirt, shouldn't be a source of attention, instead our praise should come from the works we do in his name and from the testimony that we display because of who we are in him.
I know it may be hard sometimes to be the only one in school or at work who dresses modestly, with skirts and unrevealing tops but this is what God has called us for. We need to follow his commandments and let him be the one to draw the attention to us, we my be teased or treated differently but that's okay because we aren't called to fit in but instead to be the difference. Romans 12 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Its al under God's will and he will help us through it.
Dear God, thank you for making me understand that you want me to be different from the rest of the crowd. I know that I have to please you in everything that I do; even in how I dress. Help me to be modest and to not be tempted by the trends of this world. In Jesus name, Amen.
Stores where modest attire can be found:
h&m
Cotton On
Forever 21 !!!!!!
Banan Republic
Zara
Express
New York and Company
Old Navy
Gap
Loft
Hollister (very few)
Juppe de Abby
Pkidchics
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Dont be Ashamed!
Guys I am so extremely sorry, once again I haven't posted consecutively because I've been caught up in other things but I'm back for good :) I would really like it if you guys left comments on whatever you think I should write about next, just if you have suggestions, or just saying whatever you want to say :)
Yesterday I was at work. There's a lady that works with me and she kept asking me questions. She knows I'm Pentecostal but the things she was asking me made me feel intimidated and kind of ashamed. I was talking to her and she asks me "What are the things you cant do?" and I began to list them and I realized that there are a lot of thing. It doesn't please God for us to smoke, drink, wear the wrong attire, curse, listen to worldly music, adultery, fornication, lying...and so on. As I listed them I started to cut them short because I felt ashamed and it made me remember this time I was in school. I was sitting outside my classroom waiting to go into class and there's a kid there and he starts to look at me and asks me if I'm religious (because of the skirt) and since that's one of he words I dislike the most I say no. I don't like the word religious because what I believe in isn't a religion, its a God, THE God. Its a relationship with him not just another imagination or fantasy. So I told him it was more of a lifestyle which it is and he began asking me the same questions about what I can and cant do.
At that moment when I was feeling ashamed I remembered what God said in Matthew 10:33 (But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.) and I thought about how sad it would be to be before my king and to have him disown me because of my ashamedness of him here on Earth. This makes me want to talk about him to everyone as we were called to do. We mustn't be ashamed of who we are in him because we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, we are his chosen people to announce the praises of him who has called us from darkness to his admirable light (1 peter 2:9) so if he has done so much for us, why must we do so little for him? He took us out of the miry clay and has gave us value, he has placed us in high places and made us his children so the least we can do is not be ashamed of him and freely speak of who he is and who we are in him.
Dear God, I know that its hard to speak of you to those that don't know you or love you but I ask you to help me and give me strength and courage so I may not be ashamed of my identity in you, instead may I freely proclaim that I am yours and that you are my savior. Allow me to be clothed in valor to walk as a representation of you in my daily journey. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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