Well, well, well...

Family,

Have you ever been in a room of people and someone you haven’t seen in a while walks in and says..."Well, well, well?” I have. That saying could mean so many things depending on the relationship and interaction. If the person was surprised, it would be a good thing and probably followed by “looks who’s here.” But if not, the sarcasm can hit your soul like a fiery dart. There is power in tones and in most cases it can have a strong impact on a person’s morning, noon, or night.

In the book of Matthew 7:12 (AMP) it says: So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.

We live in times where applying scripture is a lost art. People seem to grow further away from just good ole sound doctrine. Treating someone the way you want to be treated is very important in any interaction, verbal or nonverbal. Now, are we going to treat others the same way we want to be treated, by taking into consideration the power of our tone and words? Let’s read Proverbs 17:22 (TPT): “A joyful, cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul. But the one whose heart is crushed struggles with sickness and depression.” 

Just for today, is it possible for you to treat someone with kindness and allow joy to enter into your heart? Remember life is too short to live with regrets.Have you ever had to think about what it means to be alone, let alone soak in negativity? So many people are living in their head and God may send them along your pathway. The question is will you make time to bring joy or treat them kindly? In the words of Benjamin Franklin ~ “Lost time is never found again.”

Well, well, well, it’s never too late to get it right. Today love on someone just for the sake of kindness and work to treat others the way you want to be treated.  

Question:  When was the last time you really laughed?

Post your comments.

Love your sister in Christ,

LolaInspired

Christ Paved the Way. Now follow...

Family,

Can we trust in the word of God to show us the way? Of course. Please read Colossians 1:15-29 for some very detailed insight on how Christ paved the way. The focus scriptures are Colossians 1:16-17 (NKJV) - “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

If you haven’t read the story of Paul who wrote the book regarding the church of Colosse please journey to the book of Acts and read up!

Let’s think about it. If you had only one route to get to work, home, local store, or doctor and suddenly it’s blocked, would you switch? Sadly many of us do not see the irony behind patience. 1 out of 364 days in a year the route to one of these locations was blocked and instead of waiting to see if it cleared you switch. In this world, we have many religions that have solid words spoken by their leader and it is followed down to the exclamation mark. 

There is one religion that many people cannot seem to be steady in and that is Christianity. If you define the word Christianity you will find it means: religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or its beliefs and practices. However, many people associate the word Christian with a behavior and not the person Jesus Christ. When reading Colossians 1:16 (AMP) it says: “For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him.” 

After reading that kind of scriptural truth it is hard to deny that Christ paved the way for us to follow and everything created, including angels, exist through Him. It’s hard to go astray when Christ paved the way. It’s hard to comprehend that He was before all things, and all things are made of Him. Nothing was made without Jesus and nothing was written without Christ (John 1:1) We have no excuses Christ paved the way, now follow.

Love your sister in Christ, 
Latoya

The Pit Experience

Family, 

Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!

Praying this blog inspires you to appreciate the story of Joseph in the Bible. Before reading any further, could you pause, take a deep breath, and think of one good thing. If you don’t know the story of Joseph please read Genesis chapters 38 - 50.  I would like to focus on Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) - “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” What a liberating scripture spoken by Joseph.

When Joseph spoke this truth he was talking to his brothers, who sold him into slavery in Egypt and convinced their father he was dead (see Genesis 45:1-28). Thinking back to Genesis 50:20, do you have a story similar to Josephs’? Think of an experience you went through and you could not understand why it happened. Now that you have thought about; would you be able to say as Joseph did with wisdom in Genesis 50:19 - Do not be afraid, for I am in the place of God, meaning I am where God needed me to be?  To understand how Joseph could say this leads me to this truth: God has a plan for mankind, to give us hope, a future, and expected end (see Jeremiah 29:11). When He sent Jesus there was an expected end for his life and it involved saving the world, but it was not without trials and tribulations.

In the world, we will have to interact with people and that starts from birth. People differ from one another but somehow we are relatable; and that is because God planned it that way. So learn early to forgive often just as we read above about Joseph. He received the evil done to him as good. 

In Matthew 6:14, we learn that if we don’t forgive, we will not be forgiven.  It’s a known fact that if we don’t forgive as Joseph did and instead let things like anger, resentment, bitterness, money, rejection, failure, and pride consume us, our relationships will suffer.  It will cause us to think that we are incapable of loving church folk or people in general, but we can love God because He knows our hearts. There is no wisdom in this type of thinking 1 John 4:20-21 says: If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, [d]how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. We must comply with the word and pray.

Prayer of the Day: according to scripture, Romans 8:28 (KJV): Lord, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to Your purpose, help me rest in your word of truth today. In Jesus name. Amen.

Love your sister in Christ,

Latoya

God reigns!

Family, 

God reigns which means He is sovereign.

Lately, I have been reflecting and shining a mental flashlight on words, unmasking how painful the tongue in our mouths can be. It took me some time to accept that just as much as I have been subject to the words of others, I have subjected others to my words and caused someone to experience the issues of my heart (see Proverbs 4:23). 

I was compelled to revisit Psalms 57:1-11. This was a Psalm of David who at the time was still on the run from Saul (if you don’t know the story of Saul trying to kill David - see 1 Samuel 19).  Saul’s son, Jonathan told David to go into hiding. Now all of this stemmed from Saul's disobedience to God earlier in the same book. Take some time to read it on your own. Let’s focus on what David said in Psalms 57:4 (NKJV) - “My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men Who are set on fire, Whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.”

Saints of God we are in a season of correcting, facing a deadly disease, vaccines with side-effects, and all while the world is moving to reopen trying to get to the “new normal.” I want you to remember this: God is still in control, no matter what man's mouth has spoken, God is watching and is our deliverer!

So let’s do what David did - praise God and declare His glory - see Psalms 57:5 (NKJV) - “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.”

As the world turns people will talk, there is still a devil out there, and in life, you will be met with challenges. But you can say with confidence, no matter what happens, as long as my heart is with Christ Jesus I will follow Him, and my mind is made up to serve until I die. Just like David did in Psalms 57:7 (AMP) - “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident! I will sing, yes, I will sing praises [to You]!”

Love your sister in Christ,

Latoya

If my people...

Family, 

In 2020 we were hit with real challenges from a pandemic, to shutdowns, grief, isolation, and the biggest for me no more church.  I began to pray and ask God what must me do, and His word came so clear to me from 1 Chronicles 7:14 : if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

This seems like the easiest solution. All God asks is that we humble ourselves, pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.  Many of us are unable to see past uncertainties, fears, violence, pain, and the worst of them all loss of hope.  Instead we hate, we fear, we riot, we scream at each other, we kill, and follow the crowd blindly. 

We are in the height of hatred and the god of this world has blinded us as 2 Corinthians 4:4 says: among them the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving to prevent them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God see color and block the truth. 

Word to the wise: sin originated with Satan not “man." See Genesis 3:14 as it says the serpent deceived the woman and  Revelation 12:9 tells us who the serpent is. There was no secret as to who Satan was; this exposure occurred in the beginning of the Bible right to the end. If we only see color/race, remember God sees sin. If we say them/they, God says my creation. When we separate and treat others unfairly, God sees disobedience.

It is important for us to ask God to remove the blinders and help us see the truth as He sees it. As the scripture says in 1 Chronicles 7:14 if we (the people of God) really humble ourselves and pray, that is when we will see change. However, in the world today, it seems we are busy with the many distractions portrayed in the media and constantly blaming God and asking why. Truth be told: We are blinded.  We have been robbed. We are uprooted from true love. We lose and become defeated. We push against the very nature of who we are and through it all we cease to resist the adversary. We would rather give in, fold, bend, submit and fall deep into sin before we turn from our wicked ways.  We use every excuse as to why we cannot do what is right, which is to love one another.

Now as I end, read this truth: if the people which are called by God would just humble themselves and pray and seek God, and turn from our wicked ways, then and only then will God hear from heaven and heal this land we call our home.

Prayer: Lord open our eyes to see what you see and do what you sent us here to do: cast out devils in Jesus name, trample over serpents,  baptize in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost, and make disciples. This power is given to everyone one that believes, no color stated.

Love your sister in Christ,

Latoya

Standing In Awe of God

 Family, 

There is a wise saying amongst my friends and I - no God, no Jesus...know God, know Jesus. 

Seek Him with me. I am standing in awe of God for He is all powerful and today is a day only He made and only He knows what will happen in it! Do you know what it is like to embrace the power of God? It was 4:00AM and cloudy outside, the rain was falling and God was waiting on me to wake up and meet with Him. This time I did not hit the snooze, go to the bathroom, or get on my phone. I sat up and said yes Lord, here I am. He began to speak and what I heard was this biblical truth. Ecclesiastes 9:11: I returned and saw under the sun that, The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.

Well what do you know...until you realize there is a power beyond belief, a peace that surpasses understanding, and a truth that creates; you will miss the beauty of God’s holiness. He inspired Solomon to record this truth explaining that under the sun things aren’t given to those of selected speed, strength, wisdom, understanding, or skills but time and  chance happens to them all.

This is what I like to call early morning praise. It doesn't matter who you are, if there is a possibility of something happening, then that chance will come and that is a fact. Interesting enough, we all have something or someone who comes into our lives and they are used by  God with boldness to help us see what we may be missing. It may not be what we want to hear at the time, but if we read what Solomon wrote we will take a seat and realize we don’t know it all and that there is nothing new under the Sun.

If you are in awe of Him today, comment. 

Love your sister in Christ, 
Latoya

Updates

 

Family, 

Good tidings and love to you all, please get ready for some powerful insight. I wrote a blog on April 22, 2021, titled: High Definition Fatih which focused on the quality of what we see and how faith impacts our vision. Well just like our “high definition” gadgets we need updates!

To update is an act of  modernizing or bringing something or someone up to date.  This reminds me of the bible verse Luke 16:10-13 (please read all the verses but for now let’s focus on verse 10) ~ One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

In today’s world we forget the art of being faithful/consistent in little things. Take today’s technology for instance.  Whether it is a phone, computer or tablet, if you fail to be faithful in running software updates, there is a possibility your equipment will not work after awhile. It’s like a God given task, if you fail to be faithful in the little things like reading your bible, doing devotionals, and praying. In time our life will not work either. Relationships are challenged, finances are stretched just to name a few.

It is inevitable that most things in life take time just like electronic updates. Have you ever tried rushing those updates? Thinking “how long is this going to take?” and in reality it’s only been a minute. In times like that it is critical to examine ourselves and to be sure we are not doing dishonest work. 

In 2020 there were a series of updates to my life by way of the Holy Spirit. The first being false burdens, the second false entitlement, and the third fear. Have you ever had to come to terms and ask the hard questions of yourself; like why would God trust me with much if I don’t even give, save, or trust Him with my current possessions?

Think about it Family, do updates come when you are expecting them? Of course not, it’s at the most inopportune times. The same goes for our faith walk. God will challenge us at what seems to be the most inopportune times because it’s time for our updates.

So, take heed in every situation, there is always room for growth and a lesson to be learned at  any age. Slow down, run updates, and take notes from the Master Jesus who spent most of his earthly ministry teaching His disciples life lessons like the one we read in Luke 16.  Part of our God given purpose is to be purged, transformed, and renewed each day.  And those updates surely come in handy.  Be faithful in little. Whether a new job with a little salary or a small refund out of nowhere, be faithful in that little and in time there will be much. 

Be encouraged.

Love your Sister in Christ,
Latoya