Yield Not To Temptation

Praying on a regular basis for the things that tempt you allows God to strengthen you in your weak areas.

I pray daily about "my mouth", because this is a weak area for me. Since I know this is an area of  weakness for me I pray daily about people and things that will easily tempt me in the this area. I know my weakness, and so I dont wait unitl Im in the middle of a situation to start praying. I pray ahead of time asking God that when this tempation comes, He will give me strength to not buy into the temptation.

The workplace is a good example for  praying ahead. Its where most of us spend a large percentage of our day. Its also where many people come to complain about their issues and problems. I am usually the person who feels sorry for everyone and so I am easily suckered into their pitty-party, even when I dont feel the way they do.  But because this person is going through, I either voice my opinion about the situation or get caught up in it as if its my problem ( when its clearly not). I also have a "tone" issue when it comes to my mouth. I think this comes from my grandmother, who's tone of voice sounds, firm & stern even when she's praising you. So I pray about perception, tone, and my words before I speak.

My daily prayer is that God allows me to be a light where ever I go no matter what I am doing. I pray for peace and happiness  in my heart that will calm negativity and help others see the good instead of the negative going on around them.

Another good way to avoid temptation is to start praying the minute someone brings negativity to you. The second they start talking negatively, start praying in your mind that they will speak love, life, and peace ( this totally works!)

When I am not prayed up or have not spend time with God I run into issue after issue. But when I ARM myself daily, its amazing how perfect the day goes.

Spend time with God on a regular basis.

" Yeild Not To Temptation"

"Enduring through the Struggle"

You know how you go to church on Sunday, bible study on Wednesday, and even listen to your favorite tv/radio media minister who keeps telling you that your struggle is good, and if you just endure, the reward will be much greater. You hear them, you believe me, you even try to pretend things are okay when they truly are not. Truth is you're not okay, you don't fell okay and you cannot see the light flickering or even a crack at the end of this tunnel.

You've been praying to God because you want to trust Him like everyone says you should, but your circumstances look crazy, you're stressing even when you try not to, and you have no clue how you will make it through one storm, as other storms continue to pile in behind this one.

When problems arrive, our initial though is how am I going to fix this, what do I do to make this right or just better for the moment? The problem with this method is that all that figuring out by YOU, has nothing to do with how God tells us to deal with our problems.

The bible teaches us to lean on God for EVERYTHING! And when He says it, He means it! He literally means, stop trying to fix it, stop talking, stop listening, to others and seriously lean on ME this time.

I know you're thinking, well I'm doing that I lean on Him, I pray, I read my bible, Im at church listening to the messages, I'm leaning, but I'm still STRUGGLING. So maybe the problem isn't thy you aren't leaning, it maybe "you don't know how to lean".

When I started this journey after GOD's heart, I could not figure out why I was still going through things, I was paying my tithes, but still struggling financially, I was steering clear of drama, yet it was still finding me, I'm submitting to my husband but are still going through, I was started to tell God and people, this stuff just doesn't work; I could have just kept doing what I was doing.

It wasn't until a friend asked, where did you read that living right, would make the hard times go away? As I sat and thought, I couldn't remember one scripture that read, trusting in God was easy.

You see God puts storms, humps, & bumps in our lives to force us to depend on Him with everything we have. We have a choice whether we will keep trying to figure life out on our own, or give up on our ideas and totally depend on Him.

We all do this, we spend so much time trying to work our way out of the hard spots and take control, without realizing God never intending for us to carry our own loads. He has always wanted to carry our burdens, but we just keep getting in the way.

The only way I know how to get out of God's way and give Him total control is through DAILY time spent with HIM. Not just prayer in the morning, not just a daily devotional, but a full armored, hour of prayer, studying scripture to carry throughout the day. With this time my problems don't necessarily go away, but I am better prepared to handle them.

You HAVE to spend time with God daily. I truly don't know any other way to deal, cope, go through or handle my life, without constant connection to Him.

I know I have talked about quiet time before, but I can't say enough about it. I depend of this time like like I depend on seeing my husband every morning. My body anticipates it, it expects and depends on it.  Below is what  my routine looks like. You can make it your own, to cater to your schedule.

4:00AM- Alarm goes off
4:10- 4:20- Prayer, pouring out my heart to God about me day, what it will entail, who/what I will face, my family, my friends, my life.
4:30-5:00- I read the bible. If I am currently studying something in the bible I study that. If I am going through something I find scripture on that particular thing. I love the book of Psalms, so I read that often to keep myself full of God's promises. When I'm struggling I go to Exodus and revisit the Israelites in the wilderness.
Then I start my day; making God the first person I come in contact with before any other being, draws me closer to Him and ready for the things to come. 
I believe in this routine and I have found great success in consistently spending time with God.

So when your old habits of stress, worry, solving your own   problems come up, tell yourself "God provides everything I need, I trust Him completely. Say it until you believe it.

Lord help us to let go of everything that holds us back from completely trusting you. I trust you with every single thing concerning my life. We are letting  go of trying to make things happen and figure things out. Help us to surrender to you and roll our cares on you. Amen.


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Grant me the desires of YOUR Heart

I am in awe of Jesus daily, my life was in such disarray  trying to keep up with the lives of others, asking God for things instead of asking Him MY PURPOSE. But  I'm so thankful that  because He is who His, He "still" grants us the desires of "our" hearts, even when our desires are not what He wants for us.

What do we do when God grants us the desires of "others"? Sometimes we exceed in it but we're not happy doing it, then other times we fail at it and wonder why. 
Usually because it was never ours in the first place. It was someone else's, goals, desire, dream, career, marriage, or blessing from God, and we were too caught up in wanting  "theirs" to ask Him  for our own blessing.
Wanting a great life, a throbbing career, healthy;happy kids, a nice home, a fancy car, a committed spouse are all great things, that God genuinely wants to give us, but at what expense do we want them? For what purpose?

In 1 Chronicles, Jabez prays a prayer and ask God not just to bless Him, but that He would "bless Him indeed" ( meaning bless Him a lot).
God wants to give us these types of blessings, but not for the self righteous purposes, that we use them for. He wants to bless your business, " if you're doing business God's way"; God wants to enlarge your territory, not just giving you a new house to lounge in and gloat about, but a new home to open up to those in need, a home that is inviting and used for His glory.
If we want to be promoted or in charge on our jobs so that we can be more controlling and insensitive of other people, what's the point of Him blessing that?

Your job; your business are the territories God has entrusted in you as a significant opportunity to touch individual lives, and the people you come in contact with for His glory.
If you want God's blessings on your life, use your blessings to be an influence on your job, in your home,  and with your friends. You don't have to preach and teach everywhere you go, just be the "LIGHT". Be the difference God intended you to be.
I don't just want a large home, a higher position, best friends, a good spouse & great kids; I want more INFLUENCE, more RESPONSIBILITY, more OPPORTUNITY, to make a mark for God.
You can't ask for God's best, but use them for satan' glory.
God wants to know that when He blesses you, those blessings  will be used for HIS glory, and HIS alone.

"When you are moving in God's direction, you start praying for God's desires and His perfect will for your life"

#God grant me the desires of YOUR heart#

Judgment OR Conviction

Webster refers to the term judgment as “forming an opinion based on ideas in your own mind.” In other words judging is when an opinion is formed concerning the rightness of an act or character of a person. I used to be one of those people who believed that every time I felt uneasy, constrained or discomfort from a Christian speaking boldly, that they were fake and judgmental. What I have since learned is that one person’s judgment can truly be God’s conviction.

Unlike judgment, conviction has a much different perspective; conviction is when we are convinced of our own sin or wrong behavior.In other words it is a convinced conscience about something we are doing, not doing or should be doing. There is a big difference between the feeling of being judged and experiencing a true biblical conviction. I have heard Christians in my life talk about things that made me cringe and upset my stomach as I thought to myself “who do they think they are?” or “he/she can’t be talking to me”. I would listen to people quote scriptures, and use tones that I thought were clearly directed from a self-centered tone and used only to judge others.

Recently while listening to a message I could clearly feel the message pointing at me but in my spirit I sat in denial thinking “this can’t be about me.” As I begin to evaluate the meaning in the message,God started revealing areas in my life that needed change. You see that’s the beauty of conviction and the difference between conviction and judgment. When God sends people to teach or speak on His behalf, many times those people have no idea of the background and lives of the people they are speaking and so it’s not that they are judging you but just speaking God’s truths. I had to come to a point in my life where I stopped accusing people of pointing out my faults and recognized God addressing the things that I needed to change.

Face book is a good example of this because it’s a place where everyone thinks/believes that a person’s status is about them and where people get upset and assume things that most often have nothing to do with them. What I’ve found is that God will use whomever He needs in order to get our attention and often times this attention getter will come with reality checks and hard truths. We have to grow to recognize God’s convictions when we’re wrong and not always think someone is “judging or being judgmental” in your life or situation.

Conviction is one of the best gifts we can receive from God. The ability to recognize something isn’t right in our relationship with Him. To know and feel He is speaking or tugging on your hearts through someone else is an awesome and very rewarding blessing; if you’re able to recognize it and are willing to do something about it. Conviction builds character and obedience and this type of character can only be developed when we do what God wants us to whether we want to or not.

Recognizing God’s conviction is a true sign of growth in your life and shouldn’t be viewed as “he/she is judging me”. When God began to tug on uncomfortable issues in my life as hard as they were to address, I recognized them for the convictions they were and allowed myself to become obedient to what I was feeling. When I started doing what God was asking me to do I grew. I stopped being moved by how I was feeling, or by what other people thought and I started moving towards what I knew God was saying in my heart.

Truth is we need convicting messages. Let’s stop wearing our feelings on our sleeves and start responding to what we know God is truly saying to us. When you are a place where you are hearing from God or at least wanting to hear from Him, conviction is good. You look for it, and you accept it; but when you are not there conviction irritates you and makes you believe people are judging you.

Thank God for putting a spirit of conviction in you. I am so thankful I can recognize when I am doing something wrong and immediately respond to God’s correction. #Get Convicted#

STD's

Now I know someone may be thinking , why is he bringing up the issue of STD's. Well, the answer is simple. STD's are basically plaguing our society, and we must come up with a remedy to slow this monster down that is spiraling out of control and ruining the lives of many people. Ok, let me go ahead and cut the tension that is building from this post as I am not talking about the STD's that you are thinking about. I'm talking about "Socially Transmitted Disease", that corrupt the mind and the heart which lead you to do some crazy things. 

Here is a working list of some of those STD's

- Hate

- Lying

- Stealing

-Back Stabbing

- Dishonesty

-Lack of Respect

-Unforgiving 

The STD's above have plagued every single person reading this post but the one that is really running rampant in our society more than ever today, is gossip. Most dictionaries describe gossip as a rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature. More importantly, it describes the gossiper as a person who habitually spreads intimate or private rumors or facts.  

Now there are two sides to gossiping. First, you have the one spreading the gossip, and secondly, you have the one receiving the gossip. So the question becomes, are you spreading the gossip STD, or do you make yourself available to receive the gossip STD from others?

To be continued: What does God say about gossip? 

Happy Birthday Mason

Three years ago today Chris and I sat in a delivery room anticipating the birth of our second son, Mason Christopher. The moments and days after giving birth to a child are usually a time of celebration and things getting back to normal, but for us it was anything but that. It was fear, it was wait, and it was worry. For what was considered a normal pregnancy, a healthy delivery and a fresh beginning the next few months after his birth would be some of the toughest days of our lives. Mason Christopher born August3,2009 3:20pm weighing 8lbs 5oz 21 inches, has a hole in his heart, a severe case of juandice, and (Polydactyly) better known as " extra digits" a congenital hand anomaly in both his little hands. By 6 months old he underwent major surgery to remove the extra fingers, several cardiologist visits and became a ' blue light " spokesperson for juandis. Well today as I look at this healthy miracle I praise God for this child's life and the test He allowed our family to go through as He continued to show us who He is. I'll admit, three years ago I wasnt as thankful. I questioned God, I questioned my parenting, and I wanted answers. Three years later God has come back with a response, "You of little faith, "why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31 Today is a reminder of how God will use so many things good and bad for a thousand different purposes. All for the purpose of us believing in Him no matter what it looks like. Today I encourage you to find purpose in every situation in your life. Happy Birthday Mason. Daddy & I are so inlove with you!

Welcome Back,Welcome Back, Welcome Back!

For about a month now I've had the opportunity to pull away from social media, phone calls, social settings and some of life greatest distractions.

During this time I have been able to hear God speak like nothing I've ever experienced before. Now before I continue let me explain something because if you are like me, a person who has heard other people say, " God said this or God spoke to me on that," then you too have wondered, " how do they know that its God?"

Well having fully experienced this now, let me explain... When God speaks to me its not a loud scary voice I hear saying
" Tasha this is God"; its not something that happends to me by conincident either, its so much more.
Its picking up my bible and reading a passage with understanding so clearly that it literally answers the questions I'd been asking. Its having a conversation with someone and they give you sound advice or information on the direct thing you needed before you even mention the need. Sometimes its just a thought that you know, that you know, that you know; has come directly and only from Him alone. Bottom line, its the moment you realize you've come in contact with God my friends what a moment it is.

So throughout the past weeks, I've been enjoying quiet time on my patio, before the Texas heat runs me back inside. Ive had lazy afternoons on the sofa reading and filling up on God, away from things that so often keep me from Him. Its been amazing .

In a society and culture filled with so many distractions of work, families, friends, social media, social clubs, relationships, children, activities, etc, it's so necessary to break away from it all in order to feel and hear from God.

But now that we have had our time away, Chris and I are refreshed, refilled and excited about sharing God with you. As we bring honesty, real life, and a hunger after God's heart, we pray you will journey with us as we continue to
 " Serve God with Purpose".

WELCOME BACK