L-O-V-E!!!

Do EVERYTHING in LOVE - 1 Corinthians 16:14

My pastor has been talking a lot about LOVE. At first, I didn't understand why it was so important for him to "overstress" LOVE. But listening to his sermons, I realized that LOVE is the key to a successful life in Christ. God is LOVE (1 John 4:16) so if call ourselves Christians & God lives in us then we MUST have LOVE & show LOVE. LOVE became part of our DNA when we accepted Jesus as our Lord & Savior. Jesus gave us two commandments to follow which is found in Mark 12:30-31 "LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'The second is this: 'LOVE your neighbor as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these." When we obey His commandments, He will bless us but if we don't we will be lightly esteemed. The bible says that if we don't LOVE, we are liars (1 John 4:20) & murderers (1 John 3:15).

It is so critical that we as Christians not only LOVE God but LOVE our neighbors, & our enemies. Regardless of what someone may have done to us, we must show them LOVE. Loving someone who mistreated us or hates us is not weakness but it is showing our strength in God. As living epistles, we must show God's light in a dark world. We must not repay evil for evil but with blessings (1 Peter 3:9). Loving someone who mistreats you or hates you can be hard but remember, we can do ALL things through Christ who strengths us because of our Heavenly Father's grace. We must renew our minds to start loving. So if that means we need to make an effort to be nicer to strangers, volunteer, tell our family members & friends that we LOVE them, apologize to people even if we believe we did nothing wrong, we must DO IT! Those small steps will start becoming good & Godly habits of LOVE. Glory be to God.

Well BeLOVEd, You may wonder what LOVE is? In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8,a clear illustration of LOVE is given.

LOVE:

• is patient
• is kind
• does not envy
• does not boast
• is not proud
• is not rude
• is not self-seeking
• is not easily angered
• keeps no record of wrongs
• does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth
• always protects
• always trusts
• always hopes
• always perseveres.
• never fails

So my brothers & sisters in Christ, what will you do to establish or build your LOVE walk?

Below is a song called "LOVE Never Fails" by Brandon Heath. I think that this song truly describes the kind of LOVE that God wants us to possess and show to His people on earth. Enjoy! I LOVE you all & I pray that you all show God's love to the world.

Virtuous Women

This weekend, I attended the 2010 Taffi Dollar Women's Conference in New York. The theme of the conference was "Authentic: Dare to be Real". The conference blessed me very much. In society, women are seen as sexual objects, 2nd class citizens, and a lot of other negative stigmata. But at the conference, I learned through the Word of God that He highly esteems women.

In Genesis2:18-25, we see that God saw that Adam was alone so He created every beast of the earth & every foul of the air (from dust) to see if Adam could find a helpmate. However, Adam saw no suitable helpmate. So God put Adam in a deep sleep, and He made Eve from Adam's rib. Everything that God made was made from dust except for the woman. Why is this? God made the woman to be a helper. A helper is a powerful aid; one who supplies what is lacking & power to accomplish a task. After Adam couldn't find a suitable helpmate, God, the great Being that He is, made the crème de la crème for Adam. He didn't create Eve from dust but from Adam's rib. He took His best creation, man, and made woman. That's how special God sees women.

If you thought that was powerful, think of this: God used a woman (Mary) to bring our glorious Savior, the Son of the Most High - Jesus Christ, into this world without the help of a man (Luke 1:26-38). Throughout Jesus's ministry, women helped to support Him and His 12 disciples out of their own means (Luke 1:1-3) .

So ladies, if you every feel that you are not worth much, remember that woman are VALUABLE! The Lord used us to do some AMAZING things & continues to use us. The women of God are VIRTUOUS WOMEN (Proverbs 31:10-31)!

THIS SONG IS DEDICATED TO ALL OF MY VIRTUOUS, SUPER WOMEN... THE WOMEN OF GOD ARE LOVERS, FIGHTERS, LEADERS, PROVIDERS, HEALERS, COMPANIONS, COMFORTERS, CONSELORS, CONNECTORS, & SO MUCH MORE! Much Love to all the Godly women of this world!

My Testimony

*Disclaimer: I received revelation from the Holy Spirit to write this blog. It is truly a blessing and an honor. I pray that this blog blesses you and hopefully encourages you to come to Christ.*

I have been saved since 2001 but I didn’t start doing the Will of God until 2010. During those 9 years, I have been living in the dark. Sure, I knew that Christ was my Savior but I didn’t grasp the concept of how important the shedding of his blood was or what it meant to be a living epistle of the Word. For the first 6 years of those 9 years, I was a Sunday Christian, where I would go to church almost every Sunday, learn the Word of God, go home and that’s it. I wouldn’t’ t open my bible until the following Sunday. I forgot what was taught to me after I left church and I did act like a Christian or follow the Word of God. I would have the occasion burst of good living and godliness but lust, depression, fear, selfishness, and anger were so deep rooted in my spirit that those burst wouldn’t last long. The last 3 years were the worst in my life spiritual. I stopped going to church regularly and lost my way to God. I allowed myself to be the target of manipulation, mental abuse, and pain. I didn’t care how I treated others and friends grew tired of my ways and walked out of my life.

I told myself in 2010 that I would make a change for the better. I was tired of living a life that was not in line with the Will of God. I was tired doing things my way and wanted to make a change and do things His way. I knew this was not easy task. I knew that in order to fully grow, I had to deny myself and trust in the Lord totally. I had to walk in love even when I didn’t feel like it; I had to forgive even when I was hurt, I had to be obedient to God even when my flesh was screaming, “Do you”. As I starting spending more time in the Word, going to church twice a week, and renewing my mind to Christ, my life has done a 180. I see the manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit in my life (Galatians 5:22-23) and because of that, God is blessing me. I feel like a refresh person, a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17) full of life, love and prosperity.

It is very easy to start or come back to your journey through life in Christ. I created some steps that will help you along the way if you want to start a life with Jesus or come back to Him:

1. Get saved!!!
• Getting saved is the most fulfilling thing a person can ever do in their lives and it is a very easy task. Getting saved means that you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the one and only savior and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9) Pray this prayer: “Jesus, come into my heart. I’ve made some mistake in my life and I repent of my sins. I ask that you to be the head of my life. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and rose on the 3rd day and are now sitting at the right hand of God. I boldly confess that you are my personal Lord and Savior. In your name I pray, Amen!” If you prayed that prayer, you are now a child of God!

*My Sister in Christ has an awesome video on Salvation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPeekDZmr70&playnext_from=TL&videos=qAF08HYDxt8

2. Join a local, bible-based church.
• Now that you are saved, it is very important for you to join a church that thoroughly teaches the Word of God (the Bible). It is written in Hebrews 10:24-25 (The Message) – “Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” Not only do you get to fellowship with Godly people, you also get to hear weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) sermons that will teach you about the bible and help you live a Godly life.

3. Stay committed to be a follower of Christ no matter what!
• Being a follower of Christ is not easy at first. You have to fight temptations and turn away from sin. But it becomes easier once you commit yourself to following Christ. You will start to hate doing the things you did in the past because you know it does not please God and as a child of God, you want to please Him because you love him. Before you know it you will hunger and thirst for time with God. You can start being committed by reading your bible (even if it's a children's bible), attending church services, and meditating on scriptures.

4. Connect with Godly people and limit or eliminate your time with past friends and/or family members who hinder your way of thinking
• When you hang with a person or a group of people for a long time, you start to act like them. Connecting with Godly people will help you grow as a Christian & before you know it you’ll start doing the things that Christians do (i.e. Read the bible, Pray, Worship, Turn from sin, Love & Trust God, etc.). But if you spend a lot of time with people that aren’t Christians or don’t do Godly things, you might be persuaded to go back to the lifestyle you once lived before becoming a Christian. In 1 Corinthians 15:33 it states “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character." As a Christian, you have to protect your mind & heart from worldly things. If this means that you have to limit or eliminate your time with worldly people, so be it.

5. Don’t allow ANYONE to condemn you or make you feel guilty of your past.
• One of the reasons why Jesus died on the cross was to pay for your sins. When you accepted Jesus as your Lord & Savior, you became the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. God does NOT condemn you nor does He want anyone to condemn you or you to condemn yourself. Hebrew 10:16-22 states "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. "Then he adds, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. "And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God [who is Jesus], let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” He loved you so much that He died on the cross while you were still in sin so that when you do accept Him as your Lord & Savior that you may be free from the sin you did in your past, present, & future.

6. Be happy of the progress that you have made as a follower in Christ and look forward to further progression
• As you start to pray more, read the bible, attend church weekly (or bi-weekly), listen to gospel music, spend more time with Godly people and do Godly thing, you will begin to change. Change does not happen overnight but you will start to see yourself being more Christ-like. Be happy about that. Don’t look at anyone else’s walk with God. Be concern about your personal, intimate relationship with God and smile about YOUR walk with Christ.

If you do these things, you will be well on your way to an awesome life with Christ! Be blessed, Beloved!

With agape love,
Nisheena Q. Smith