Therefore encourage one another and edify one another, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Guest Post: How to Experience God’s Best for This Life

Please welcome our very first Guest Poster for today's blog is Ms. Deaquelynn Williams. She is the founder of Quelynn Inc. and mPOWERd 4 LIFE Girls Network

Her post is really going to bless you so, grab a seat and your favorite cup of tea, coffee, or soft drink and enjoy.

How to Experience God’s Best for This Life

How to experience God’s best in this life. So, why this life and not the next? Heaven is God’s best for each of us. So, we don’t need His best then. Yet, here on earth we want to experience God’s best for our lives in all areas: spirit, soul, body, relationships, finances, and professionally.

So many times we wander through life desiring God’s best. It seems that the desires we have grow more and more each moment, day, week, year that we are alive. Often we look at other people’s lives and wonder what they may be doing differently that perhaps we’re not doing to experience this “best” we feel we deserve to have.

The issues is not whether or nor we deserve God’s best. As His Children should not only desire His best, but we should experience it every day that we are alive.

“What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.” -Matthew 7:9-12

Three ways to experience God’s best in this life: seek, surrender, and serve.

You must seek God, surrender to His will, and serve His people.

Seek

Seek - search for something; strive for something; ask for something; head for or go towards something; attempt something.

Notice, if you will, that all the definitions for seek are moving words… search for, strive for, ask for, head for, go towards, attempt. What are you moving towards?

What are you attempting to do to make success happen for you? In order to succeed, you must seek (search for, strive for, ask for, head for, go towards) God’s direction for your life.

“But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” - Deuteronomy 4:29, NKJV

The responsibility is on YOU! You must seek God for yourself. Intercession is a wonderful, beautiful and needed tool in the Body of Christ. But there are some things you have to go to God for yourself about. YOU must seek Him!

Questions: Do you want to be blessed? Would you agree that to be blessed is to be successful?

“Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart!”
-Psalm 119:2, NKJV


You can’t seek God and His direction for your life unless your whole heart and soul is in it. If your heart is not in it, you will not commit to it.

Think about relationships. If both parties involved in a relationship (of any kind - business, marriage, etc.) are not committed, then that relationship will not last. It’s the same way with seeking God, if your heart is not fully committed to seeking Him and abiding in Him, you will not succeed in anything you set your mind to.

Be fully committed! I remember being in a one sided, long distance relationship with a gentleman once. In that relationship, it seemed that I was the person who was always committed to calling, visiting, and just working to make the relationship work.

As we were talking one day, he realized that he had pretty much neglected the relationship and began to apologize. After he shared his feelings, I told him, “People commit and make time for what’s important to them.” And in that truth, he made changes and became more committed.

Question: How committed are you to seeking and living God’s purpose for your life?

In 1 Chronicles 28:9, David told him son Solomon, “…know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you…”

“Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.”
- Ezra 8:21, NKJV


“And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, LORD, have not
forsaken those who seek You.” - Psalm 9:10, NKJV


“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” - Psalm 63:1, NKJV

“With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” - Isaiah 26:9, NKJV


Here is a great promise from God…

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.” - Proverbs 8:17, NKJV

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
- Jeremiah 29:13

“For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: ‘Seek Me and live;’” Amos 5:4, NKJV


God does not want you to seek Him for Him; He wants you to seek Him for YOU! So you can prosper and live the abundant life. (John 10:10)

“...but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.” -Psalm 34:10, NKJV

Surrender

Surrender - give up or agree to the power or possession of another; relinquish possession or control over.

Before we begin to talk about surrender, I need to ask you, “Is Jesus the LORD of your life?” If He’s not your Lord then it will be difficult for you to surrender.

Lord - a person who has general authority over others. Master, commander, captain, chief, ruler, dictator, leader, director, king, head.

How do you make Jesus the LORD of your life? Here are three way to do that...

1. Loving the LORD - Luke 10:27, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind."

2. Obey the LORD - Hebrews 5:9, "… He became the source of salvation to all who obey Him."

“Surrendered people obey God’s word, even if it doesn’t make sense.” -Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

Surrendered people are people of faith, and it takes faith to obey God. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” -Hebrews 11:6

3. Trust the LORD - Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight."

In order to fully surrender, you must lose your life in Christ and Christ alone.

"He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.-Matthew 10:39:”

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" -Matthew 16:24-26

How do you lose your life? You lose it by relinquishing control of your life to Jesus Christ. In other words you must give Him control over spirit, mind, will, emotions, body, relationships, jobs, money, children, spouses... everything! You do that by simply praying a prayer of surrender.

Just pray...

Jesus, thank you for being my Savior and saving me from sin. Today, seek You as my LORD. Today, I relinquish control of my life to You and I ask You to be my LORD. Help me to lose my life in You today and always. Amen.

The great part about praying this prayer is that you did not lose your life... instead you’ve just found it! From this day forward, consider Jesus in all that you do. Whenever you make a decision, consult Him. Whenever life seems hard, consult Him. Whenever you’re stuck at a crossroad in life, follow wherever He leads you. When you do this, you’ll begin to experience a new dimension of Him and this life that you’ve not known before.

Serve

Serve
- work for, help, aid, attend, assist, oblige. Also supply, dish up, serve up, hand out, hand round, give out, dole out, provide, distribute.

You are to serve God and serve His people. In order words you are to “work for, help, aid, attend to, assist and oblige” God by “supplying, serving up, giving out” whatever He tells you to His people.

Did you know that God in all of His sovereignty has chosen to operate in the earth through man/people? Yes, that’s right! We are His body in the earth – His heart, His hands, He feet, His arms, etc. Therefore, it’s up to us to serve God and to also serve His people.

“Worship the LORD your God, fear him, obey his commands, listen to what he says, serve him, and be loyal to him.” -Deuteronomy 13:4

“If you faithfully obey the commands that I'm giving you today, love the LORD your God, and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, I will send rain on your land at the right time, both in the fall and in the spring. Then you will gather your own grain, new wine, and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your animals, and you will be able to eat all you want.” -Deuteronomy 11:13-15

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like God’s best to me!

By Deaquelynn Williams

http://TheQuelynnClassroom.com

http://mPOWERd4LIFE.org

Thank you Ms. Deaquelynn for your faithfulness and taking time out of your busy schedule to be our guest blogger on today. I look forward to having you back again. God Bless You!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Racing Thoughts


Good Morning Sisters Of Honor,

What a lovely day that God is springing forth to once again allow us to bask in his glory. This morning's message hits home for me, as I am a believer that I can never take you further than I've been. Let's take a journey into the battlefield of our minds. Have you ever just woke up and thoughts begin to race in your head? The constant reminders of the hurt, pain, shame, irritations, betrayal, self pity, the guilt, bitterness, ragging emotions, and the failure of yesterday and we all know the list is never-ending. We thought once we laid down for the night  we would most certainly awaken refreshed without worries and residues of yesterday issues. Have you tried praying and it seems as if you are spiritually ADHD (prayer is all over the place and you cannot seem to tap into the source without interruption or fail) or you are simply paralyzed due to the thoughts that are flying uncontrollably in your mind? I understand, because that was me.

I woke one morning with my train totally off track thinking about the plagues that seem to own the deed on my mind. I wanted to pray and couldn't seem to find the words when Father was able to read me heart and he simply responded "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" Hear that in your minds and spirits this morning "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" remember every knee bows before the Lord our God so... depression, oppression, worry, anxiety and confusion has to obey God's command to CEASE and be SILENT in your life. Once the message has been delivered to every signal in your mind then you must guard your mind, your peace and your stability. You do this by following these simply steps of training your thoughts to stay on track. You do it by... Taking ACTION!!!

A= Acknowledge any emotions that presents themselves (if you are angry, upset, furious ect. Acknowledge that. Don't be legalistic with yourself and not allow yourself to feel what you are feeling this will plague your mind later. In other words if you are upset say that "I am upset, but God..."

C= Consider the cause, force and source! Where on earth are these emotions or thoughts coming from?

T= Thank God (Assuming a position of worship and praise confuses the enemy. Remember whenever a war broke out in the Bible notice the musicians went first. There is a sound that reclaims your peace that same sound of praise and worship helped sooth Saul when demons harassed him. He called on David to play the Harp and the demons would leave. Well expect those forces that have caused your mental battles to LEAVE also! So, thank God for providing you with an release.

I= Identify the Biblical Response! You need the word, your (Sword)  to identify the response needed to apply to your situation. A good source is the Fruit of The Spirit love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,faith, meekness, and self control(the key to keeping your thoughts and actions on track). Which one of these fruit need be applied to your situation.


O= Obey the BIBLICAL response.  It's important that once you find the right way to respond that no matter how you feel you OBEY it.

N= Nurture that response! Whatever you feed will grow. So feed your mind and spirit with the word daily.

Today's Prayer:
Lord I thank you for causing all things to become silent in my life so that I may connect to you the source for a response to my situation. I turn in all of my ways for your witty inventions and guidance in my life. I recognize my need for you and my situation is depending on me to trust and obey you. Today Lord I release myself to walk in peace that surpasses all understanding. Because I trust you I have shut down the tracks that allow my thoughts to race. In Jesus name I submit my prayer, my mind and my life. I will have an awesome day, on purpose!

Virtuously Yours,
Armetria M Charles


Monday, June 27, 2011

Exciting Updates



Glory to God!!!

I am so excited for the many things God is doing in Sisters of Honor Ministries.

I am pleased to announce that we now have added a Contributor to Sisters of Honor's Blog. Help me welcome Sisters of Honor Honorary Member Mrs. Armetria M. Charles. She will be sharing a weekly message on what the Holy Spirit has given her. Tomorrow is her first day and I tell you her message is going to bless you!!!


Also, We are now having Guest Blog Posters. It is a pleasure to connect with so many God fearing women. Lookout for our upcoming guest.

Giveaway Coming Soon!!!

If you have a product or service you would like to add in our upcoming giveaways, please contact us for more information.

Remember, you can also signup to receive our blog post in your email or click on the Follow or Follow us on Facebook Link.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Check Engine Light

I wanted to share with you a post my sister-friend posted on facebook. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.





Morning Beloved,



If you have been driving a while and have run into some car troubles your vehicle has probably presented you with the "Check Engine" light! Everyone knows when the that light comes on you don't go and see no penny annie mechanic you probably have to take it into the dealership. That's the price of luxury!



Just recently the check engine light had come on in my truck and my husband and I sent it to our trusty mechanic. Unfortunately, he couldn't help us with this type of problem because he doesn't have the tools that Cadillac has to identify what cliches were in our system. Although we dread going to the dealership b/c they are going to hit our heads financially this is what's required when you choose luxury.



You beloved are luxury! You are the workmanship of his hands, HIS Hands!!!! Think on that and then start shouting! With you being such an awesome work anybody can't work on you! Sometimes spiritually our "CHECK ENGINE" lights are on and are indicators that we need to seek his face and enter into his presence for a while. I remember finding my peace interrupted, or I might start fussing, become easily irritated, or get to backsliding a bit, or maybe even depressed... these are all "Check Engine" lights blinking in the spirit realm telling you come on to the manufacture to get diagnostic and the problem resolved!



In the spirit the Engine represents our hearts. Our heart is the thing that runs our thoughts, our words, and determines out actions. The Bible says this about the heart (Our Engines)Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). and it also states in Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it. Our Engines are important and High Maintenance. When we take our hearts to God he places in on the DIAGNOSTIC machine (PLACES UNDER THE WORD) to X-Ray and see where the vehicle is not meeting it's intended standards. Once the diagnostic is made according to the word The manufacture is able to tell you what condition is causing problem indicating lights to flash... whether it's jealousy,laziness,depression, oppression, the list goes on and on.



In his presence lies the fix all for your check engine problem! What areas has their been an indicator that you need more than just a tune up? God is waiting and there is no line to wait in b/c he does all things well in decency and in order. Now you may find it to be a bit pricey because the price you will pay is with your time and self denial. However if you are willing to pay, you can send the light packing and you will be on the road again in no time. Don't ride around on a faulty system when the lover of your soul is willing to fix it ensuring you a smooth and safe ride through this life!!!



Love you all,

Armetria M Charles

You can find more information regarding Mrs. Charles by visiting her website.
http://armetriamcharles.com/

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Shhh



During our lifetime, we all will experience many storms. Although some will be worse than others, either way you can expect a storm to come your way at some point in your life. It is up to us individually to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in knowing when to respond and what if any action should be taking place.

As humans, our first initial reaction is typically to defend ourselves. Sometimes we may even think we have to reciprocate some form of retaliation. Time to get real! We Must get to a point and BE STILL and LET GOD FIGHT OUR BATTLES.

Be still, and know that I am God; Psalm 46:10(NKJ)

Please know that being silent DOES NOT show a sign of weakness; instead, it shows a sign of BEING SMART!! God can and will fight our battles far more greater and wiser than we ever could. Take pleasure in knowing you don't have to lift a finger or say a word but THANK YOU GOD for shielding me. There is nothing or no one that could possibly give us the protection like Our Lord and Savior.

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NIV)

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19 (NKJ)

I know all too well what it feels like to want to respond to lies and rumors but in Every Single Instance God would not allow me speak. Yes, it was difficult (Extremely!!!) because I wanted to tell my side. I wanted to set the record straight but the fact remained I had to be obedient. God has and always will work things out according to His time.

Don't let the devil steal your Joy!

Are you speaking when you are suppose to be quiet? Are you reacting when you should be still?

Psalm 27 (NKJ)

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

4 One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
5 For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
10 When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the LORD will take care of me.

11 Teach me Your way, O LORD,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.

14 Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Thank You

Photobucket


I would like to take this time to say a BIG Thank You to all of the Sisters of Honor Supporters. No matter what part you have taken in this ministry, it is greatly appreciated. Your presence, patience and diligence has not gone unnoticed.

Giving all honor to Our Lord and Savior. There will be some new things springing forth throughout this ministry. I am so excited. God is Good!!! AND Worthy to be Praised!!!! Sometimes we have to sit back, be quiet and be still in order to hear and receive our instructions. We can't get in the habit of doing things because it is what everyone else is doing. My Lord!! (Saving that for another day.)


Thank you for your prayers and the faith you have in Sisters of Honor.

God Bless You!!!