Refresh: My Heart, Soul and Mind

Hey Girls,  so I decided to write a post today just, because my life has been crazy the past two weeks, let me give it to you in a nutshell, so I first moved to a new apartment, was preparing a huge mother's day event at my work, finished up Bible Study Fellowship teaching, and lots more things so I was just feeling run down, tired, and distant from friends and family, So finally this weekend I did some reflecting  and was drawn to Psalm 63:1-8 The first verse really touched my heart I was feeling drain because I was so focus on my busyness in my life that I was not taking the time getting the refreshment I needed. It is so amazing how my attitude and every day life changes when I don't have that quiet time in the morning sitting at my Savior's feet and listening to His words I am more tense, not wanting to perform my best, I lose sight of what my purpose is on this earth. and become self absorbed this is the sinful nature that we are born with. if we do not step away from the world even for a brief moment, it effects every area in our life this is the lesson I learned this week. that for me to be my best I need to be filled with the word of God. So girls, I encourage you to take a break from the our busyness and just sit at our saviors feet. and be refreshed and recharged each week. I know for me this is what I need to do my best. I realize each day I go out into the world I need to be armed with God's word to combat temptations, sinful desires or, just trying to do things on my own and always keep Christ at the for front of my everyday life! So I wan to challenge you and myself to at least spent 10-15 minutes with our Savior!  I will journal also to see the difference that happens inside my heart! I am going to start this right away and I will do a follow up video on my YouTube Channel Fiercely Real. Check it out! new content coming soon! Girls I hope you enjoyed this short post. But man is it an important one! Take time to refresh your heart, mind and soul in God's Word! and I will see you in a week!

Keep it fiercely real girls, until next time!
Natasha

Facing Your Giants

Happy New Year Girls!!! Yes.. I know it is February!!  but that is not going to stop me from wishing you happy new year. This new year already has been amazing and  a lot has happen to me since my last post that I never believed would happen to me and pushed me to a point where I had to step outside my comfort zone. So to start, I got another promotion at my job, so that is why I haven't been posting. My new position requires a lot more responsibility. But I realized I needed to look outside myself in order to fully engage in this new job title, and realize I have tried to my times to do things in my own strength, but every time I did, I struggled and totally failed.  Once I decided to choose to lean on Christ and realized I can only do this in His Strength, Let me tell you girls it was so hard to let go of that control and say God I give this Job to you and I pray that I will use it to glorify you and only you. Girls, as  soon as I let go and gave it to Him the doors flew open! He has given me the confidence to step up to the plate in my new leadership role and not be nervous or doubting my position. The negative lies I was telling myself, doubting myself, telling myself I am not capable to do this job, was all wrong, trusting in my own strength, falling prey to the devils fiery darts  of self-pity, doubt, anxiety, and all those other lies. Man, how I struggled, but now when the darts come at me I am reminded of who I am in Christ. Don't get me wrong there are times I still struggle but I know where to turn, and don't allow myself to fall victim to that wrong thinking, because when I did I would spiral into a depression of self- absorption, focusing on everything that was going "wrong" in my life. when in truth it was me allowing the devil to take hold of that stronghold, and me being consumed with myself . I want to give some tools that really help me to overcome those time the wrong thinking train stops by.

1. Captivate your Thoughts

• this one is huge, it starts in your heart. Proverbs 4:23 girls, everything we do starts from within it is a spiritual battle that we have to face daily. the more we are in the word the more our actions, attitude, and thoughts change to a more Christ-like image. When we are in the word the times when those negative thoughts start to drowned us we can look to our life line which is Christ Jesus and stop that way of thinking.
• When we look to our Heavenly Father and pray God help me to fight these giants, and look to Him instead of yourselves. He will help you.

   2. Speak Scripture

• Jesus quoted scripture when the devil was trying to tempt Him in the wilderness, Matthew 4: 1-11 Yes, Jesus was God but he also was human and face all the same temptations but he never acted on it. when we quote scripture out loud. the devil can only flee from it. so this is why it is also important to be in the word.
• I also love writing out verse that help me focus on the right things, here is a couple of my favorites. Philippians 4:8-9, 2 Corinthians 10:5, and Colossians 3:2-4.

 3. Pray

• This is pretty self explanatory, when we come before God in pray and ask for help in changing our hearts, and minds. He will answer, it may not always be in the way we want, but we know for a fact that, in Whatever way He answers it is in our best interest. For he is the only one who fully understands and knows us!!

Girls I hope this was encouraging, when we take these steps, God will use us for his glory in ways we can't wrap our minds around. But learning these tools will continue to stretch and grow us to become more like Him, "Although the stones are small in our hands God can use it to take down our giants. So learn to trust and rely on Him to combat the fiery darts of negative thinking. even if it is saying out loud "Satan you will not have this stronghold in my life, for I am a child of the King, who has already defeated you!" I hope you dive in to God's word to strength you faith daily.

Until next time keep it fiercely real,

Natasha

Ignite: Rekindling Passion for Who God Is?

Oh My Goodness!! Has it really been over a month since my last post? Wow! I have missed this time sharing my heart with you gals,  But some times life gets busy and in the way!!  So I am so excited to jump right back into sharing with you girls!!!! and continuing on this journey of Igniting you Heart! So today we are going to talk about who God is!!! so we can once again fall in love with Him!! God has so many characteristics, and I want to dig deeper into his beautiful character so we can understand and grow more like Him in our own lives. So lets hop into it!!!
So I have been hearing a lot lately from people saying If God is a loving God why does he allow, suffering, pain, and evil, to exist? I know I wrote a post regarding why does evil exist? but it is actually so much deeper. I also hear people say if God is a loving God why does he send people to Hell.....yup, I said the H word... this is an extremely sensitive subject to talk about. Do you believe in Hell? well guess what we aren't going to talk about hell yet..... if you want me to do a post on this subject comment below or email me. Okay back on topic... So God's Characteristics... where do I even start their are so many. lets dive into some scripture that talk about who He is. This will give us a fuller understanding about God, and as I discuss these things, please know that their are many things we may never know or understand about God. Isn't it kinda of exciting that God gives us my of his attributes in Scripture, but also left some mystery to who he is...because if  we knew everything about God we wouldn't need His salvation and grace. Okay, so what does Attributes mean? this means; we learn to understand who God truly is. I think sometimes we forget how powerful and amazing are God is, because He is watered down so much in our society. It is time as believer's once again to discover who He is and how he is different then other deities in different religions.  Really take your time as we go through many of his attributes. I am only going to go through ten of  his many attributes that really sum up who God is. this only is going to be a glimpse of who he is. Here  we go....

Omniscient- Okay your probably like Whoa!!! Natasha way to jump right in to a difficult word, it actually really isn't that difficult so what does it mean?  This means that God knows everything and His knowledge is complete. Check out these scriptures

• Psalm 147:5 

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

Romans 11:33

 

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

• Isaiah 40:28

 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? 

The Lord is the everlasting God,

  the Creator of all the earth. 

He never grows weak or weary. 

No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

Omnipotent- God has no limitations, he is able to bring to pass everything he chooses, He is in control and he is outside of time.

• Genesis 17:1

 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.

• Genesis 18:14a

  Is anything too hard for the Lord?...

• Job 42:2 

“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.

Omnipresent- God is present everywhere at all times.

• Proverbs 15:3 

The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.

• Jeremiah 23:23-24

Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the Lord.

 “No, I am far away at the same time.

 Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? 

Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?”

says the Lord.

• Psalm 139:7-12

 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—  but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

Immutable- God is absolutely unchanging, He will will always be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow....

• Psalm 90:2

 Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.

• Malachi 3:6

 “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.

• Numbers 23:19

 God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? 

• Psalm 33:11

 But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.

Holy- I believe this attribute of God is of great importance, He emphasizes it so much in His Word. Holy means "...To be set apart.." through out scripture when God has revealed himself to Man he always mentions His Holiness.... so as believers we need to take to heart this meaning, because we are also called to be set apart....from the things of this world.

• Psalm 99:9b

... for the Lord our God is holy!

• Habakkuk 1:13a

 But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil...

• 2 Corinthians 5:21

 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ

• 1 Samuel 2:2

There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.

Righteous- His attribute of righteousness is the way His holiness is expressed when
dealing with men.

Psalm 116:5

How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!

• Ezra 9:15

 O Lord, God of Israel, you are just. We come before you in our guilt as nothing but an escaped remnant, though in such a condition none of us can stand in your presence.”

• Exodus 9:23-27

So Moses lifted his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed toward the earth. The Lord sent a tremendous hailstorm against all the land of Egypt.  Never in all the history of Egypt had there been a storm like that, with such devastating hail and continuous lightning.  It left all of Egypt in ruins. The hail struck down everything in the open field—people, animals, and plants alike. Even the trees were destroyed.  The only place without hail was the region of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived. Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he confessed. “The Lord is the righteous one, and my people and I are wrong.

• Psalm 145:17

 The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness.

• 1 John 1:9

 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Sovereign- God's sovereignty is how He rules His creation, This shows us that God is in complete control, but he also gives us free will to obey or reject Him.

• Genesis 1:1

 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

• Colossians 1:16-17

 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together

• Psalm 90:2

 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

• Psalm 97:9
  

  For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

Love- TheThis is the attribute that we as humans love to embrace, it is true that God IS love this represents, this is so different then many other gods of different religions who are thought of as angry and hateful.  One true God is so much more, He loves us so much that He wants a relationship with us.

• John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

• Ephesians 2:4-5 

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved ...

• 1 Peter 5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Merciful-  God's mercy is Him not giving us what we deserve, for example as sinners we all deserve eternal punishment and separation from God.  But in his mercy he offered us a choice, to except His salvation through His son Jesus death on the cross and resurrection, so we can share in eternity with Him in heaven.

• Psalm 103:8

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

• Micah 7:18

 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

• Isaiah 30:18

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him

Trinity- So this one is always a hard one to explain, but again God is Incomprehensible (like how I threw in another attribute of  God :)....... we will never fully understand who He is). So God is one, but he reveals himself in three distinct persons. God The Father , God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. Here is a perfect example of the Trinity.

• Matthew 3:16-17

 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

• John 14:16-18

 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be^] in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  This is talking about how the trinity works as one unit, in every believer. but still they are all God.

Well I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the beauty of  who God is, and just how powerful He is, we as believers need to understand just how mighty God, and not be blinded by the the worlds watered down version of who He is. If you want a more in depth study on God's Characteristics(attributes). I would be happy to go more in depth I hope this reignited your curiosity of who God he is amazing,, powerful, majestic, holy, and pure...... Yup I just had to throw more of His attributes at you... I pray you will take to heart these attribute and pray asking God to instill these in you as well. Remember we are created after the image of God so we need to learn to apple these attributes to our own lives to continue grow more like Him!!!!! Until next time!!!!!

Keep it Real...Fiercely Real!!!!! Natasha

Ignite: Extinguishing Toxic Thoughts and Taking Captivate Every Thought

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Hey girls! so I have been thinking and praying about the first truth to share with you, to Ignite that passion in your heart, I had so many different directions I want to take you, but the one thing that stood out to me was how much the world and our own thoughts control us, to the point where we feel that we are chained to that negative thought or emotion that we feel as those we are drowning in them and grasping for that lifesaver. So I want to start with the mind this is a huge battlefield for us females, because the world throws at us what the so called standard of beauty, and power that should define us as women.

So before we dig in about transforming the mind I think we need to understand how and why we tend to be influence by what others think about us or tell us. Girls, I have been there, I worried so much about what others thought of me, that I lost sight of how God sees me. Man.... it takes a lot of energy to be in  that mindset, it is a full time job!!!! So wouldn't it be amazing if we could change that mindset to be a vessel for God! no matter what others think? So lets dive in!!

Okay, so you my be wondering how can God change my thinking? well lets go to Ephesians 4:17-5:7

 what this passage says is that when we believe in Jesus we are to throw off our old nature and put on the new. so this means when we believe this our thought process changes because our heart has changed. Are thinking will change but lets dig even deeper, did you know that our mind is a battlefield? yup that's what I said, meaning a lot more is going up their then we realize. Check out the scripture below!

2 Corinthians 10:1-5(NLT)

10 Now I, Paul, appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of Christ—though I realize you think I am timid in person and bold only when I write from far away. ² Well, I am begging you now so that when I come I won’t have to be bold with those who think we act from human motives.

³ We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. ^4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. ⁵ We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

There is a battle over our mind, as believers we have an enemy who wants to control our thought life, not just the wrong thoughts but the very foundation of our thinking. This enemy is Satan, he is someone we should not take lightly or joke about, he in fact is the very center of sin and evil. In all seriousness we need to know exactly who he is. and what he is capable of. Satan means:" adversary" This name indicates Satan’s basic nature: he is the enemy of God, of all God does, and of all God loves. other names he is know by:

As you can see Satan has many names and each one is true! so how can we win this battle in our minds? we need to response as this scripture states:

 Deuteronomy 6:5-6 (NIV)

⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

IGNITE:Extinguishing Spiritual Apathy and Re-igniting Spiritual Passion

Apathy is a spiritual numbness that creeps in and corrupts the good that God intends for our life and the good that He wants us to accomplish for Him and His kingdom.

- Elizabeth George

Begin each day with God. It will change your priorities.

                           -Elizabeth George                                  

Spiritual Apathy:  absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement

Have you girls every done something without realizing you have done it, because your on auto-pilot?

Girls, I want you to think of an example of this happening in your life. I could list a gazillion things that I have done in auto-pilot. We need to realize God cannot re-ignite our passion for Him until we are willing to call on him and surrender. We need to ask for forgiveness for putting Him on the back burner, and not making Him the priority in our lives. Girls, if you really truly want your heart, soul, and mind to be ignited or set on fire for God we need to be willing to surrender everything in our life to Him. We need to ask God to give us a discerning heart, just like King Solomon asked of God.

• 1 Kings 3:5-14 (NLT)⁵ That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
  ⁶ Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.
  ⁷ “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. ⁸ And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! ⁹ Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
  ¹⁰ The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. ¹¹ So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies— ¹² I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! ¹³ And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! ¹⁴ And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”

This is where we need to be as believer's. Humble enough to admit to God, we can't do this by our own willpower, realizing we are as young children not knowing are way around (1 Kings 3:7). Girls, as your read the scripture above did you notice how King Solomon asked for wisdom? He asked for understanding in CARRYING OUT his job as the new king. He didn't ask God  to DO it for him, but  asked for discernment in directing him to do his job. We need to ask God not to DO for us ,what He has planned for our lives, but to work THROUGH us to accomplish whatever He has planned for us. We need to ask God to give us wisdom to know what to do and give us the courage to follow through on it.

If we want to fully re-ignite are passion for God we need to remove anything from our lives that steals our hearts away from God. I want you girls to write a list of things in your life that is holding you back or distracting you from fully being on fire for Christ. This can be anything from electronics to heart issues, such as pride, and laziness, etc. ( you get the picture) Now, once you have written this all down and don't worry you can always add more later. Post it... somewhere you can see it, remind yourself everyday, to place Christ first in you life. Next  give it to God in prayer. Here is a definition of prayer from a book I am reading right now.

• " Fervent prayer is fueled by Passion, by Faith, by Fire."

             ~ Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan for Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer

                                                                                                             by Priscilla Shirer

Here is your challenge, I want you to keep going back to during this series. With the list you have written, I want you to start taking it to God in prayer for 2 to 5 minutes a day, surrendering whatever idols are preventing you time with Him, this will build a habit to always be aware of what is holding you back from spending time with our Heavenly Father. This will only work if you are willing to truly surrender your life to serve our mighty God, only then will God be able to use you in mysterious and mighty ways! This means willing to put aside all distractions and idols that are stealing your time and attention from God. To be willing to be stretched in a way that may take you outside your comfort zone and  grow your faith immensely. To discover your true potential as a child of God. During that short period of time that you are putting aside each day to spend with God, either in prayer, reading his word, or journaling, will become a time of renewal, and re-igniting of your heart, soul, and mind. Girls, I know this can be hard, in our crazy, hectic lives, believe me I have been there, but it will be the most rewarding time of your day. To help, PRAY.... ask God to calm your thoughts, distractions, and anxieties so you can solely focused on Him. and give Him the attention, worship, and focus that is due Him. After all, He is the Creator of the universe, but He loved and cared for us so much that He was willing to send  His only son to die for us... He so longs to be in an intimate relationship with us, to rebuild and mend our broken relationship with Him, that was severed because of our sin. He wants to transform and use us for His glory. Shouldn't that alone re-ignite our passion for Him and His precious word? Shouldn't that alone re-ignite the passion for our Savior in our, hearts, soul, mind, actions, and attitude? When we are willing to solely surrender to God in everything we do, we allow God to work through us. We are taking the time to engaging our Heart, Soul and Mind to be transformed, renewed, and re-ignited to live as followers of Christ. When we physically challenge ourselves to slow down and take time to be with our Heavenly Father. Satan is defeated, because he loves it when we are to busy in our daily lives  to put God first, he wants us to dwell and focus on ME FIRST, because he knows  we will fail on our own. But putting GOD FIRST in our lives changes our perspective of the world and how we deal with everyday stresses, temptation, and trials. and only through that, can God use us in mighty ways to shine brightly for Him in a dark and broken world. Wouldn't it be amazing for the world to see a generation of young women rising up, who shine with confidence, inner beauty, true joy, and passion to serve others... that can only come from a heart that is sold out for Jesus! Girls, this is what it means to be a fiercely-real girl, someone who is so in love with their Savior, that those around them, sit up and take notice of something genuinely and uniquely different about you, that they are so drawn to you infectious spirit, they want to have the same passion for life, that is radiating from you because of who you love and truly follow and who is that.... He is the only one who can fully satisfy and fulfill your life..... Jesus Christ.  So over the next couple of weeks ( I don't know how long this series will be, but it will be an adventure.) I will try and breakdown this down even more, to teach you practical ways to apply this to your daily life. Through personal experience of mine, help of many amazing Christian authors, and most importantly through God's Word. Are you ready to start this adventure and journey with me? It won't be easy, but I promise you it will be extremely rewarding in so many ways!!!! Let the transformation begin!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Heartbeat of Christmas~ PEACE

Hey Girls! It is time to close up my Christmas Series, so today we are going to talk about the PEACE that we hear so much around the Christmas Season. When you hear the word Peace what do think or maybe feel when you hear this word, I hope that during Christmas you get to experience peace, it is such an amazing feeling, okay, I am not talking about the worldly peace but a spiritual peace. You may ask what's the differences? so lets dig in to God 's Word to understand the differences.

Worldly peace I don't believe we will ever experience, on are own strength, we may try to find stability through desires, pleasures, and control of situations, and others in our lives. But we will never be satisfied or have peace because no matter how hard we try we will never be content, Why? because as God's creation and being created in His image, we will never manage on our own, because I believe deep down inside we all long for God ,even if we suppress that longing, by diving into the world of desire, pleasure, and sin. We have peace when we aren't worried, stressed, anger, or afraid of situations in life,  but when we are not at peace our minds usually race, amd our hearts beat faster, we think about everything that will go wrong. God does not want this for his own. so how can we gain peace?

~Philippians 4:6-9 (NLT)

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.



In the words of rickwarren.org http://rickwarren.org/devotional/english/christmas-brings-the-peace-of-god
"Once you make peace with God, that’s spiritual peace. Then you get the peace of God in your heart, and that’s emotional peace. 

This is the one you really need for daily living. The peace of God happens in your heart when you’ve made peace with God. All of a sudden, the stress in your life goes down. You’re not as angry as you used to be. Things don’t bother you as much. You’re a lot more patient. You’re filled with a lot more love and peace. Why? Because once you have peace with God, you have the peace of God in your heart." 
So your question may be how do I make peace with God?  It is actually quite simple, Check out the verses below!

~Romans 5:2 (NLT)

² Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

To have faith in Jesus means to trust Him. Simply. Fully. Without reservation.  Taken from  when we have faith it means that we believe in who Jesus was and what he did on the cross. To have faith in Jesus is to reject all other ways of salvation. We cannot trust in Jesus and anything else. We trust in Jesus alone. http://www.gotquestions.org/faith-in-Jesus.html

~1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NLT)

15 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. ² It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.^[b]

³ I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. ⁴ He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.


~ John 3:16-17 (NLT)
¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave^[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.


To experience true PEACE this Christmas season we must come to God. Peace is a gift from God and is consistent with his character.


~1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NLT)
²³ Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

~Hebrews 13:20-21 (NLT)

²⁰ Now may the God of peace—
    who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
    and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
²¹ may he equip you with all you need
    for doing his will.
May he produce in you,^[a]
    through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
    All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

The verses above say that God is peace, so in order to have that peace we need to draw near to Him and be grieved by our sin that put Jesus Christ on the cross. So how do we draw near enough to experience His peace?

~ James 4:8-10 (NLT)

⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. ⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

~John 14:27 (ESV)

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

In closing I would like to share gotquestion.org. answer to understanding true peace.

Living in peace can be compared to the petals of a flower unfolding in the morning sunlight. The petals of peace in our lives unfold as we learn more about God. We discover that His character is always faithful. We experience His continual goodness. We read more of His promises (Psalm 100:5; 115:11; Isaiah 26:4). We learn to bask in His overwhelming love for us (Romans 8:38–39). We refuse to allow ever-changing circumstances to determine our level of contentment, relying instead upon the character of God that never changes (James 1:17; Malachi 3:6).

When we develop a lifestyle of making the Lord our refuge, we begin to live in the peace of God (Psalm 46:1; 62:8).

Psalm 91:1 holds the secret to living in the peace of God: “He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” That secret place in our hearts is where we go to meet with God. When we choose to live there and hide away under His shadow, staying in constant communion with Him, we can remain peaceful, even when circumstances may not be. When we learn to cry out to Him in times of trouble, we find that His peace really does pass all human understanding (Philippians 4:7).

http://www.gotquestions.org/peace-of-God.html

Thanks for walking this journey with me, through 4 words that are heard a lot around Christmas!! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did writing them, Can't wait to see what 2016 brings!!! hopefully, I will get one more post in before the new year!! If you have any ideas or suggestions of what you would like to learn about feel free to email me!!! God Bless!! Until we meet again!!

The Heartbeat of Christmas~ JOY

Hey Girls!! Christmas Eve is officially here!!! So we are going to talk about JOY. So you are probably like me when I was little, I could not wait for Christmas Morning!! To see what I got for Christmas!!!! it was extremely hard to fall asleep on Christmas eve, that excitement  and the joy of unwrapping presents, being with family, and lots of Eating!! But there is a deeper meaning to the Joy I want to share with you. First, lets look at The announcement of a Savior.

~Luke 2:8-12 (NLT)

⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. ¹¹ The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! ¹² And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Wow what a scene!!! Jesus' birth was announced by angels, but did you notice that they proclaimed his birth to shepherds. during this time,shepherds where consider the lowest of lowest people. God didn't send his son Jesus into the world  as a conqueror, but as a baby, why? Because of his love for us. He wants us to Choose to be in a relationship with Him. Then we will be filled with true Joy!

~John 15:9-11(NLT)

⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

So how can we as believers experience true Joy this Christmas?  I believe as Christian we should be the most excited, during this Christmas season. We shouldn't get caught up in the secular way the world celebrates Christmas. This will be expected of them because Jesus is sadly getting smaller in our world we can't change that,Shouldn't we be focusing on the big things like strengthening our own faith and preparing our hearts? Shouldn't we be like Daniel in the Bible where we can only be found guilty of loving and serving our Heavenly Father? Instead ...of making a fool of ourselves by attacking those in the world on meaningless topics? We need to LOVE them. Yes, their are going to be bigger things we need to stand against, but we need to have the evidence from God's Word backing us, not just our opinions for we will only push away the lost! But if we are silent in the little thing that don't attack our God, and are just opinions or choices of companies, groups, or individuals they have a right to that. So I Pray that as believers we think twice before we jump on the band wagon and pray to our Heavenly Father to guide us on when to hold our tongue and remain silent on issues or situations that come into our lives and when to be bold and speak up trusting God to guide what we say in love, joy, and gentleness, but piercing truth to make them hear what God wants them to hear. Remember we live in a loss and dark world and Jesus will become smaller, and we will be tested this is how we show true joy by being rooted in God's Word so we are equipped to respond to the world correctly, joyfully and truthfully. We need to be examples of who Jesus is and be ready to answer peoples question about why we are so Joyful, and not bothered by how the world celebrates, by lighting up our social media accounts with our disagreements, annoyances, or by being anger of needing to be politically correct this will not get us anywhere. I think if we keep getting upset by little things that the world does we will not be showing the lost God's amazing saving grace. but we will continue to push them farther away. We need to focus on the bigger things the world throws at us,We should be sharing with the world the true joy of Christmas. Which is the birth of a Savior, who is Jesus Christ who was born to change hearts through his Journey on earth, by spreading the news that He was the Messiah and then was willing to dying on the cross to carry the ultimate burden of our sin to free us from there chains.

I would like to close in the words of InTouch.org Christians shouldn’t react and become gospel Grinches. Christmas is not a time for austerity, but a time for generosity.

Amid a broken and fractured world, we can tell the story of a God who broke in with redemption and grace. Fallen humanity and a flawed cosmos are in the process of restoration. And our feasts, our gift giving, our joy are mere glimpses of life in the coming heavenly city. Christmas, done right, is a portal into the Kingdom to come.

This is why we shouldn’t fret too much about a culture that has lost the ability to see Jesus in Christmas. Rather we should use this opportunity to tell the world why Jesus is the only source of joy and hope. Instead of rolling our eyes at the tired retail worker who says “Happy Holidays,” let’s imagine the joy of the season by embodying Jesus as the reason for the season... We do it because there is no better story than the story of the babe in the manger, the God-man who entered our world, lived a sinless life, died an unjust death, bore our sin, defeated the enemy powers, rose again in victory and is now seated at the right hand of God. There is no more compelling narrative than the Bible’s story of a sovereign Creator God, a fallen humanity, a redemptive Savior, and a coming Kingdom.

Christians can embody this “Joy to the World” because our Lord has come. The “War on Christmas” has already been won, not in the boardrooms of Madison Avenue, but 2,000 years ago in a cattle trough in Bethlehem. Want more Info?? Click the link below:

InTouch Ministries

I think that was a perfect closing!!! and yes I have one more post of my Heartbeat of Christmas series, and I will post it on December 26!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love This Version of Joy to The World! Enjoy!