![]() John 15:2 “Every branch in me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.” ~CSB Yolanda and I moved into our home in 2006. It was a brand-new home and with it came new vegetation to enhance the beauty of the home. Now in this beginning stage, the bushes and the tree planted in the front yard, were new and the fullness of their appearance had not yet fully developed. Each season I would trim the hedges of the branches that were growing faster than the other branches. This pruning made room for other branches to grow and fill in the spaces. Eventually, the bushes and the tree became full and rich in appearance. Our home benefited from this beauty. Blessings that are our inherited gifts from God work in that same way. In order to receive the blessings God has for us, there are traits within ourselves that need to be ‘pruned’. This is why we have trials and challenges in our lives. These challenges, if we see them through and endure, will allow us to become stronger and wiser. God will take what has troubled you and transform it into the blueprint of what is needed to receive, maintain and distribute your ‘custom made’ blessing. Unlike those times when you were not in the word of God and you wondered why your blessings come and go; now you will have the wisdom to hold on to these blessings because what kept you from holding on to those blessings has now been ‘pruned’ through those sufferings you’ve endured. In addition to maintaining these blessings, you now have the strength and wisdom to receive more blessings as God wants you to live abundantly. 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.” ~CSB Every good work! Live your life in the direction God created you to go and the blessings will continue to come. Consider the trials of this world an opportunity to ‘prune’ your spiritual ‘hedge’ so that you will be complete and lacking nothing when you receive the blessings God has just for you. May God keep you in His strength and wisdom as you journey on your path in the name of His one and only Son Jesus Christ. Amen
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2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” ~CSB
There were times in my life when I remember taking too much. It was a time where the world taught me, ‘Don’t let anybody talk down to you!’ The world instilled in me that if there was an audience around, and someone insulted me, I’d better snap back as fast as I could with the first thing that came to my mind. I remember doing that one day when I was young. Another kid tried to insult me. I snapped back. Verbally I hit him hard and made him look really bad. I had won that battle but I didn’t stop. I kept on and the other young man was really hurt and embarrassed. I remember saying some things about his home life, his mother; just things that hit below the belt. And those words I can never take back. In my spiritual state today, seeking forgiveness is in my heart for things like that because I was wrong. I was taught wrong. Now it is time to unlearn what the world has taught us. How do we do that? How do we learn how to position ourselves for our transformation, so that we can move on as godly Christians? By immersing ourselves in God’s Word. We must first surround ourselves with godly people who can help us become familiar with God’s Word. So that we may apply His Word to our lives. The text says in 2nd Timothy that, “All Scripture is inspired by God…” If we need to unlearn what the world has taught us, we must allow the Word of God to “...Teach…” us new ways; “...Rebuke…” our dark spirits, attitudes and actions; and “...Correct…” our perspectives and way of thinking. This will be our, (as the text continues), “...training in righteousness, so that…” we, “...may be complete, and equipped for every good work.” May God bless and keep you in His teachings as you continue your journey in Jesus’ name. Amen ![]() Proverbs 4:20-22 “My son, pay attention to my words; listen closely to my sayings. 21 Don’t lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to one's whole body.” ~CSB Have you ever witnessed a situation or an action made by someone, and your mind immediately takes you back to a scene in a movie? Or maybe you remember a quote from a book you’ve read? You didn’t memorize the quote or the movie scene, but all of a sudden, that quote or scene comes back to you. For you to remember it so vividly, the scene must have been funny, sad or heartfelt. This particular scene or quote stayed in your heart, so when the similar situation in real life presented itself, what you had in your heart from that movie or book, reappeared in your memory. This is the way God’s Word is. When you read scripture, and the Word touches you, meaning: you receive what God is giving you, and you allow those seeds to plant in your heart, you will find that you don’t have to memorize it. When the situation comes, when the opportunity for a miracle presents itself, the key to unlocking your blessing will be the Holy Spirit bringing out the Word of God in you at the right time. That Word that’s already seeded in you from what you have read and received. His Word of instruction, His Word of comfort and healing, His Word of prosperity, grace, and peace, will overflow from your heart and bring to mind His desire for you at that moment. This is how God’s Word works. We cannot be the Christians we need to be and were created to be, without it. The Word has done His job, we need to do ours in order to become aware of our instructions. God says, “...pay attention to my words…” Listen to what God is telling you, not what you ‘think’ He is saying. When He says in His Word, “For they are life to those who find them…” This is where the Holy Spirit takes what you have read and received, then brings it out at the right times in your life. In a great relationship with God, you will be able to receive the information He provides to be the best Christian He created you to be. Don’t worry about remembering. When you receive His Word as a gift from Him, and "...keep them within your heart…”, that Word will bring you life and will be forever in you. And it will be ready for the Holy Spirit to use in you, at the right time. May God bless and keep you as you journey in Jesus’ name. Amen ![]() Hebrews 4:9-11 “Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 10 For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His. 11 Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.” ~CSB Ever worked so hard, or worked long hours, days and weeks, where you not only feel tired, but also frustrated? On days like that you are liable to say something to someone close to you that you can’t take back. How about a ‘work’ situation? You may ‘pop’ off and say something to a co-worker or supervisor that may get you in some trouble. It may even cost you your job. All because you are tired. I know we have to do what we have to do sometimes and fatigue comes with it. But as Christians we need to understand that the devil knows about our levels of frustration and he will use those levels anyway he can. He prowls and waits for you to get to that point. Then he will command your flesh to say or do something you will regret. This is why God will allow days for you to rest. Be careful, on these days of rest, because the enemy can make a hard working person think they are being lazy. But actually God has taken everything ‘doable’ away so that you have no choice but to rest. God does this because things are about to happen for you and He needs you at your strongest. Mentally and physically. The more you are aware of God’s gift of rest, the more you should embrace it. The text says, “Make every effort to enter that rest…” Take a nap, read a book, listen to that soft ‘Jazz’. Whatever you need to do to relax your Spiritual heart. Then you will be prepared for God’s work. Preparedness and awareness will be strengthened in you so that you do not fall for the tricks of the devil. The text continues, “...so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.” May God allow you the rest you need to continue your journey in good health, in Jesus’ name. Amen Deuteronomy 8:17-18 “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’ 18 but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth…” ~CSB
I hear all the time, “I made all this!” “Nobody gave me nothin’!” And yeah, I see successful people doing things I pray to do someday. But I always remember that God has plans for me. Other people’s blessings are theirs, and mine are waiting for me to be strong enough to carry them. But the one thing I will not forget is that whatever comes my way, I did not get it on my own. First God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has, “...plans for us…” He goes on to say that those plans are not for disaster. They are plans for our, “...well being…to give us a future and a hope…” Again these are His plans for us. But we often get in the way of His plans by doing what we think we want, or need, or desire. But God knows what’s best for us and His plans will carry us and cover us in everything. Our plans, however, will only take us so far. For example, we may achieve wealth beyond imagination, on our own. But oftentimes we will lack joy. This wealth cannot buy us health, nor add years to our lives. But with God, we will experience a whole different type of wealth beyond our imagination. This wealth will come in all aspects of our lives, our health, our families, our futures, and our financial status. They will all be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ because God has already made plans for our ‘...well being…’ We must remember that when our children grow to be great men and women. When our legacies have strong roots that bloom into great flowers. When our lives have been lived full, it is because of God and His plans for us. Those plans for us to be prosperous in the lives He created for us to live. It is because of Him we have what we have. And it is because of the Son, we are saved! May God bless and keep you safe, healed, guided and protected as you walk your journey in Jesus’ name. Amen ![]() Romans 8:6 “Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace.” ~CSB If you ever encounter a roundabout during your daily travels, you already know there are rules to follow. You must yield to the car already in the circle. You must make sure when you enter, you follow the direction of the arrows. But when the opportunity arises and there are no cars in the roundabout; the desire to avoid going around the entire circle, (just to turn left or right), becomes much too easy to resist. So we avoid following the rules of the ‘roundabout’. Some might say to me, “Hey Billy, it’s not that serious.” But look at it from a spiritual perspective. Maybe it is hard to follow ‘Bigger’ commands of God because we have strengthened our flesh by constantly and persistently walking in disobedience in breaking smaller rules in the world. The text says that, “...The mindset of the flesh is death…”This means that the enemy has already determined that he can control us through our flesh. The devil has made it easy to do this by commanding the flesh to make us feel comfortable in dismissing what we are directed to do. We practice and practice breaking rules. We begin to make reasonable conclusions in our minds, on why we don’t have to follow rules and commands physically. When we do this, we are unprepared to follow the rules spiritually given to us. This will eventually lead us away from God’s intent for our lives. But if we want to ‘live’, if we want to enjoy God’s love and blessings while here on earth, we need to unlearn the teachings of our flesh and practice following ‘all’ orders and rules. No matter how small. We must practice by following the smaller rules on a daily basis, like the ‘roundabout’. Following the rules of etiquette and patience when standing in a long line at the grocery store. Following all simple rules of life so that when it comes to God’s commands, the larger rules, the spirit will take over and guide us through. The Spirit will change your mindset from a “Have to…” mission of duty, to a “Want to…” heavenly position. When we become comfortable in following the commands of the Word, life will begin for us and the peace of God will heal our mood and attitude. Peace of mind will rule us on our journey. May God bless you and keep you under His umbrella of love, protection and strength as you continue to walk in Jesus’ name. Amen ![]() Ephesians 5:19 “...speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord…” ~CSB When I was younger, I heard someone say, ‘Music is universal’. Some time after that I watched a movie called, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. In this movie, an alien spaceship was able to communicate with earth through notes played on a keyboard. You know being a kid, I couldn’t help but think that there may be some truth to the ‘saying’. As I grew older, I began to recognize that music in general would be responsible for some of the moods we get in. For example, when we fall in love, the best music would be some of the great ballads during the time we grew up. For me it would be Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass or Peabo Bryson. There were songs that made you cry, hate and even fall more into depression. Music plays a role in increasing or decreasing our moods. When it comes to our relationship with God, our song choice can be completely different. We don’t have to rely on a song written, produced or even sung by someone else because God already has that song written for us. We just have to make the choice to receive it. That song is written in our hearts as we journey in this life. A song with a verse about our trials. A verse that explains our struggles. And those verses will lead to a chorus that will sing out our redemption, salvation and transformation. When this has run its course, we will sing that song out loud. It will be a praise to God on how He has delivered us from all the devil tries to take from us. That song that was uniquely written for us before our transformation, will be our testimony. And don’t get it twisted, it will be a song that chooses us. And this song will only manifest if we allow ourselves to be chosen. And after we have received that spiritual unique song in our hearts, we can go out and make disciples as the Word says we should. By sharing the praises of God to all who cross our paths. Using the situations of pain and struggle in song, mixed with God’s saving grace and power in delivering us from evil, as the text says, “...speaking to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs…making music with our hearts to the Lord…” May God continue to keep you in His love, protection, power and healing as you journey in Jesus name. Amen Proverbs 19:23 “Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm.” ~NLT
When I was young, I felt the most safe when my dad was around. He was a strong man and seemed like he did not fear anything. I knew that whatever would try to come into our home or threaten our family, had to deal with him first. Nothing bothered me because of that security I felt. When he wasn’t around, I was more nervous or afraid. I felt like we and our home were vulnerable. This can also be a reference on how we should view God’s love and protection. Often we forget that God is watching over us. The world and its distractions weigh heavily on us. Makes us afraid and that fear causes us to make bad decisions. These bad decisions take us in different directions. From those decisions come struggle and pain. But if we can remember God, we can become aware of his power and promise to us. God stands alone. There is none greater. Because of this He is our protector. In Jeremiah 29:11 He says, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” When you understand this, we take hold of this awareness that God did not cause this fear around us. This fear was only put in place to keep us from seeing and knowing God as our Father. To keep us from having a relationship with Him. But when we realize that God is bigger than our biggest problem; when God’s security is stronger than what the world is using to scare us; then we will know that our Father will protect us from anything that will try to come after us. Nothing the world can do, will keep God’s promises away from us. So live with joy under the umbrella of God’s promises of protection, provision and love. Knowing that the best in blessings have already been gift wrapped just for us. “Fear of the Lord leads to life…” and it brings, “...security and protection from harm.” May God continue to bless you with His peace as you journey in Jesus name. Amen ![]() John 15: 1-2 “I am the True Vine, and my Father is the Gardener. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.” ~CSB Jesus is the ‘Vine’, the Source. Meaning we can do nothing fulfilling without Him. Without Him nothing lasts. To remain connected to Jesus means we must be productive in His name. Jesus says that, “...My Father is the Gardner…” This means God will take care of the removing and pruning. Let us not get this text confused and understand what is meant by ‘removing’ and ‘pruning’. We know that God loves us and wants us to get it right. He allows us opportunities for this. Those opportunities are found in our pain and struggles. Remember He has a plan. We are the ones that miss this plan because we mature in life and want to develop our own plans when one is already set in place for us. In the book of Jeremiah Chapter 29:11, God says, “For I know the plans I have for you”-This is the Lord’s declaration-”plans for your well being, not for disaster, to give you a future of hope…” Going back to the text in the book of John, God doesn’t mean ‘disaster’ by removing you if you are not productive. Instead, in the trials you go through God removes what’s keeping you from being productive. Maybe you don’t love like you should because you are holding onto hate, anger, jealousy, or unforgiveness. These things must be removed before God can fill you with His powerful blessings. And then there’s pruning. Let’s consider this a spiritual fine-tuning. We may be the Christians that go to church, attend Bible Study, preach or teach. But we also may be holding onto some things. Things in our hearts that we have tried to forget, things we don’t want to remember. But God wants to prune those suppressed feelings so that the devil won’t get the chance to use that against us one day. Also it will allow God to release His full power in you to bless others with those feelings of pain in your heart as He already has victory over all of them. So stay connected to Jesus, “...The True Vine…” and allow the Gardner to do His work in us through our trials and struggles so that we can be the ‘Fruit Providers’ we were created to be. May God bless and keep you in Jesus name. Amen ![]() John 7:37 “...If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…” My addiction to alcohol was rooted in me finding something to fill a void inside me. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I thirst for what was missing and I needed a replacement to fit in the hole or void in my soul. One of the things I sought to quench that thirst was alcohol. It helped me to run away. At first I may have tried watching a lot of movies. When that didn’t work, I’d find something else. I kept skipping around until I found alcohol. That was my escape and I allowed it to take over my flesh. The desire grew to become an overwhelming addiction. I became even more thirsty. Now, this was my way to fill a void inside me. Others may thirst for something in other ways, like eating during depressed times. Committing adultery or maybe just using drugs. Whatever the case may be, we become dependent on something in our efforts to fill voids in our souls that lead to many failures in our lives. Here is the problem…those voids never stay filled with what we ‘find’ to fill it with. We are searching in the wrong place. The world may give us its way to fill our voids but they do not last long. And before we know it, we are looking for another ‘fix’. In the book of John, Chapter 7, we find that Jesus offers us a way to quench that thirst and fill that void. We were created by God to do His will in this world but we cannot be successful Christians without Him. That void we have is like a ‘USB input port’. And the USB is Jesus. We need Jesus inserted in that port for us to make it in this world as believers. Nothing else is supposed to fill that void, or go into that port. Jesus tells us that, “...If anyone is thirsty…”, like the thirst we have when we seek the ‘quick fixes’, He says to, “...let him come to Me and drink…” That void is the place where we fill it with the Word of God. When we have this, life becomes sustainable! You will find that you don’t need to go here or get there. You find that you don’t need a drink or certain foods to ‘take you away’. All you need is the peace of God and that void will forever be filled. Jesus continues in verse 38 by saying, “The one who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow deep with him.” God has the power for you to only ‘want’ from him. There is no power like this that the world can give you. So look up to God! Believe in the Son and that void in our souls will cease to exist. Remember, God promises us life and He wants us to have an abundance of it! May God bless you and keep you under the umbrella of His love, protection and healing in Jesus’ name. Amen |
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