 Written by: Georgetta Head The story below is not written by me. It was sent to me by a friend and I thought it would make a good blog post. Please share with others.
His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kind of esoteric and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick. About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can't blame him for what he's going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor? It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing. The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won't be alone. · Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he says, "What I'm about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget. "Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read." Author unknown. S.N.A.C.K. on the Word Join our Facebook Group: Journey In His Word at https://www.facebook.com/groups/679778782184830 - Select the LIKE button or JOIN
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 Photo by: Edward Cisneros Written by: Georgetta Head Superhero characters are very popular. Growing up I remember watching Superman and Batman thinking “how cool! They have masks to hide their real identity, no one will ever know who they really are.”
In today’s culture, Superhero characters are more popular than my growing years of the 50’s. Comic books old and new are being sold for large amounts of money. Movies are released yearly portraying the power of Superhero characters; and to keep one’s love for these characters, you can catch TV rerun series of your favorite Superhero. Currently, the world offers yearly Superhero conventions. So, why the attraction to Superheroes? Why is this industry very popular bringing in millions of dollars yearly? Why the popularity? Let’s examine these Superheroes! What is interesting to me is that there are two types of Superhero characters: the good ones and the bad ones. Good Superheroes, during the day are average, mild-mannered individuals; but when trouble arises, their alter-ego personality appears in the form of an indestructible Superhero ready to save an individual, city, or a group of people from the bad Superhero. The bad superheroes are usually angry individuals due to a mishap in their lives or they are seeking revenge for someone they loved and loss. In both cases, however, they trust the alter-ego inside them to become the Superhero they have identified with as they put on their masks. Why are we so drawn to the false image of Superheroes? In my opinion, many identify with Superhero characters because of hurts they have suffered through a dysfunctional family life, so they secretly long for an alter-ego within to destroy the enemy of hurt and pain. Friends, rejection in any form causes many to seek release from their emotional pain by wearing masks to keep them from showing their true identity. Individuals that know Jesus Christ as their Savior can take off the mask! Upon salvation, God gives every Believer a wonderful gift! The gift of Holy Spirit, who will dwell within every Believer. Holy Spirit is every Believer's Superhero! Faith, not anger or bitterness, but FAITH is what Holy Spirit recognizes within Believers. When FAITH rises up in a Believer, Holy Spirit works with that Believer’s faith to move mountains or obstacles. Believers also know of an evil one who thinks he is a superhero, trying to prevent us from operating by faith! That evil one is satan! But, when we take our rightful position of faith and resist satan, he will flee from us. Why is faith so important? Mark 16:17-18 states "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Believers have authority within them that they either forgot or don’t realize they have in order to perform Mark 16:17-18. Father God didn’t leave us unarmed, Holy Spirit, faith and speaking the Word of God is our activation! Believers, are you ready to take off your false mask of rejection, unforgiveness, bitterness, revenge, etc., and learn what a real Superhero can do in you for the Kingdom of God? Are you ready to identify yourself with Jesus who has all authority and has given it to us? Are you ready? Love and faith are the two keys that Holy Spirit recognizes, and you don’t have to hide your identity! Father God has given each of His children a Superhero to, first, heal us from all hurts, and secondly, to use us in His Kingdom to do signs and wonders in a loss and dying world. Holy Spirit our Superhero is waiting for our permission to allow Him to cleanse us of all bad character flaws that are holding us hostage. Father God loves us too much and wants us set free from the past of old hurtful baggage. Invented Superheroes are not real, they have been created in someone's mind to ease their pain. So, let's all come out of the make-believe world and enter into the real world in which Father God is the ONLY SUPERPOWER! The Superpower that sent His only Begotten Son to die on a Cross to pay the penalty of sin; and to send to all that believe in His Son Jesus, the gift of Holy Spirit. Eternal life with Father God is the ultimate gift for every Believer from an awesome loving Father, who has All SUPERPOWER, which He has given to us by FAITH. ".....For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Matthew 6:13 KJV Superman is no longer my favorite Superhero. Jesus is my ALL-TIME SUPERHERO! Who is your Superhero? In Your Journal:
Declare:
S.N.A.C.K. on the Word Join our Facebook Group: Journey In His Word at https://www.facebook.com/groups/679778782184830 - Select the LIKE button or JOIN  Photo by: Aung Soe-Min Written by: Georgetta Head Many have heard the phrase “God is Love” so often that they have become too familiar with the phrase and “God is Love” has no meaning to them. But, to those who know and understand the meaning of the phrase “God is Love” it brings peace and comfort to their hearts and minds. God is love means God’s love is unconditional and He loves all of His creation. God knowing beforehand that mankind will fail and reject Him, created us anyway, now that is LOVE! Furthermore, God states in the Bible that we are His crowning glory, meaning we were created for His good pleasure.
What’s even more amazing is that God loves even those who reject Him! God’s love is patient and longsuffering! He takes no delight in anyone perishing (2 Peter 3:9), but desires that all will come to repentance and come into His Kingdom of Light (eternal life). Like the thief on the cross who asked Jesus to, “remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied to him, “Amen, I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise.” He will do the same for anyone no matter what their life situation looks like, no matter the sin, because there is no sin God will not forgive. God’s gift of love is free and available to all. We don’t have to errand God’s love through works or try to clean ourselves up, we already have it. God wants us to accept His Son Jesus Christ into our hearts as personal Savior of our lives. When we accept Jesus, He is the one who will cleanse us of bad habits, old mindsets, addictions, etc. Jesus is the one who will transport us from the kingdom of darkness (satan) to the Kingdom of Light (Jesus). We may fail others in the area of love, but God’s love and mercy never fails. God is faithful with His promises. So how do we grow experientially in our love for God and for others? We mature through studying God’s Word (Bible). Friends, the Bible is alive and active and can transform anyone that trusts and believes in Jesus and His Word. Below I have listed some scriptures to help you in knowing the love of God: Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD our God will be with you wherever you go.” Psalm 36:7 “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 109:26 “Help me, LORD my God; save me according to your unfailing love.” Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 John 4:9-10 “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loves us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” In Your Journal Write:
Declare Today:
S.N.A.C.K. on the Word Website: www.journeythroughlifeministries.net Join our Facebook Group: Journey In His Word at https://www.facebook.com/groups/679778782184830 - Select the LIKE button or JOIN  Written by: Georgetta Head My last two posts were titled “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and in those posts I referenced the fact that knowing God’s character helps us to know and understand love. There are many people in the world who are angry with God for the struggles, abuse or tragedies in their lives. Little do they know that God is not responsible for evil acts done to them or their loved ones. Satan does a good job of hiding behind the scenes encouraging people (in their minds) to blame God for all bad that has happened in their lives or speaking lies to them that God doesn’t exist.
To know God’s character and love, we need to read the Bible. From the Book of Genesis to Revelation, God’s character and love is revealed to the reader in many ways through His testimonies of His tender love, mercy, grace; and judgment against evil. Today we will explore a few of God’s awesome character of love and I pray that the reader will continue to investigate the Bible to discovery even more characteristics of God and His love for mankind.
The people that are angry with God don’t understand that God has given mankind the wonderful gift of “free-will!” With this gift, we can choose to serve God or to choose not to serve God. There are many people and religious organizations in this world today that choose to live their lives separate from God. God will not force anyone to serve Him! A good example of this is found in the Bible with the account of the Tower of Babel. The men of that generation didn’t want God as their Leader. They chose another God! In the area of struggles, abuse, or tragedies. Once again, mankind is given “free-will” to manage their lives with or without God’s wisdom or help. We make choices with our finances that will one day cause us financial ruin! We are hurt or disappointed over an occurrence in our lives and take out our frustrations on our loved ones, causing them to be abused. God didn’t create us to be puppets, He created us with a sound mind to make godly choices, but because of our own lust, greed or temptations, we choose the wrong path. Should we blame God for our wrong choices in life? No! The person to blame is self and satan and his demons. In Your Journal Write:
S.N.A.C.K. on the Word Join our Facebook Group: Journey In His Word at https://www.facebook.com/groups/679778782184830 - Select the LIKE button or JOIN  Photo by: Clem Onojeghuo (unsplash) Written by: Georgetta Head So, the question still remains what message was the artist trying to send to the world with the song “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” Was she referring to life in general or in all relationships? Was she saying love is meaningless?
First and foremost, the Word of God tells us that LOVE has everything to do with life. LOVE is the key attribute in all relationships! God is LOVE (1 John 4:16) and it is His LOVE that holds the world together. God created every human being with the gift of LOVE and the ability to LOVE others and to receive LOVE from others. LOVE is why we exist! Without LOVE we have hate! With hate, we have evil! If LOVE is not so important, why then have thousands of books been written about finding love, how to love, or how to rebound from a loveless relationship. Unfortunately, we have an enemy named satan who likes to kill, steal and destroy the beauty of what God creates and the wonderful gifts that God so generously bestows upon His creation. Yes, you guessed it, the one gift that satan enjoys stealing and destroying from human beings is the natural and genuine attribute of LOVE. Genuine and authentic LOVE given from one human being to another should be the most natural thing in the world. But, satan has done a good job in wounding humans with one another so that the word LOVE is foreign to many. We are told in the Word of God the two greatest commandments are:
When we fulfill these two commandments, we are fulfilling the entire law of God. In order to LOVE God with all our heart, mind and strength, we need to be in an intimate relationship with Him. A relationship in which we know the character and personality of God. We need to know His ways and His will. Let’s think about this for a minute! How much do we actually know about God and truly LOVE Him? When we LOVE someone:
Loving our neighbors is a bit different. We are to love them as we love ourselves. Now the question is, how do we love ourselves. What is in our heart? It is filled with:
When we have a pure heart, we are filled with:
A story in the Bible that speaks loudly of genuine love is found in the Book of Ruth. It’s about a daughter-in-law (Ruth) and mother-in-law (Naomi) struggling to survive as two widows in Naomi’s native land. Ruth left all she knew and had to protect and to provide for Naomi. The love these two women demonstrated toward each other is the type of LOVE we are to offer one another with no with no strings attached. We are to love others as we love ourselves. Ruth loved Naomi as she loved herself! This kind of unselfish love pleases God! Friends, if you struggle loving others with agape love, ask Father God to show you what is in your heart that is preventing you from loving with agape love, and pray for Father God’s help in destroying that enemy. Love is not meaningless! It is a priceless gift from Father God. In Your Journal:
Today I Declare:
S.N.A.C.K. on the Word Join our Facebook Group: Journey In His Word at https://www.facebook.com/groups/679778782184830 - Select the LIKE button or JOIN  Photo by: Artem BEliakim (unsplash) Written by Georgetta Head There was a season in my life that I didn’t believe in love, and I am quite sure there are others that believe the same way! I thought it was fake and that people pretended they loved you just to get something from you! So, for many years I quoted the phrase “what’s love got to do with It” from a popular singer. The artist sang this song out her own pain from broken relationships, so I easily identified with her pain, along with another phrase from her song that “love is a secondhand emotion!” When Father God revealed Himself to me through His character of “love” that’s when I began to understand that “love is not a secondhand emotion!” To understand love, we need to truly know God’s character. Knowing God’s character of love and allowing Him to love on us, is when we come into the truth of genuine love and compassion. When we don’t know experientially God’s character, we love out of false emotions, wounding others. God is LOVE and He gave each of us the wonderful gift of LOVE. We all need to learn how to LOVE God with our entire being and to learn how to LOVE others as ourselves with genuine LOVE and not with the hurt and pain we experience now! In your journal:
S.N.A.C.K. on the Word Join our Facebook Group: Journey In His Word at https://www.facebook.com/groups/679778782184830 - Select the LIKE button or JOIN |
Charles S. Head
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