Negative cycles. Do you ever feel like you’re spinning in one, stuck in your own hamster wheel? I want you to know that even in your shakiness, misunderstandings, and uncertainties, God has called you for such a time as now.
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Are you tired of trying to figure out everything? Need some assistance? Discover the P.O.P method! It will help you immensely! Whelp, here we are. Another night stuck at home. I’m not sure about you, but I find it quite interesting how Ms. Rona (COVID-19) has affected us all. We began this year, hugging our family members, and high-fiving our friends. Now, we’re standing six feet away from them with Lysol and disinfecting wipes in hand. What fascinates me is the fact it took this massive virus to attack Earth in order for us to sit still and find out what we need the most. This brings me to what I would like to share with you all this evening: The Power of Prayer aka. P.O.P Two weeks ago, aimlessly strolling through YouTube, I ran across a video from T.V. host, Sid Roth entitled, How TO STOP the Coronavirus in its Tracks. Eager to find out the magic key, I clicked on the video. To my surprise, Sid did not share a vaccination nor a medical pill, but he advised us all to partake in prayer. Now, for my video lovers, I will not share how Sid found out prayer was the essential key to cure the disease. However, I will say three days after the video aired, the president of the United States, announced a National Day of Prayer. After watching the video and reading the post, the power of prayer (p.o.p) came to mind. I whispered a short prayer to God asking Him to help me remove any veils from my eyes, read His Word clearly, and receive the message behind the text. Following prayer, I opened up my Bible and went to Luke 18 and read verses 1 through 8. One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” After reading the parable, I wondered where else I would find the phrase “always pray and never give up” in the Bible. The scripture references highlighted scriptures: Luke 11:5, 21:36, Romans 12:12, Ephesians 6:18, Colossians 4:2, and 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Reading each scripture, the Lord then revealed to me He would provide me with my heart’s desire. Only if I am persistent in prayer. Similar to the woman who nagged the judge until she received her request, God told me to continue to nag and bother Him until my prayers were answered. It was then brought to my attention God hears ALL of our prayers, whether they are short or long, spoken at night or during the day. Believe it or not, as soon as He hears the word, He begins to work on our prayers. God is aware of what’s going on in our minds. He knows of our prayers before they come out of our mouths. Can I share a secret? Our prayers have been answered! The only reason we have not received our responses yet is because He is challenging our FAITH. Never feel like you’re getting on God’s nerves when you pray. In fact, I urge you to continue to nag God. Put Him in remembrance of what He promised YOU! Read His Word back to Him in your prayers and put Him in check! I’m telling you, people, the P.O.P method WORKS! Thanks so much for tuning in! Like what you read? Please share in the comments below! God bless!
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Have you ever slept with a lot on your mind, hoping when you woke up everything would be okay? How did you feel? More often than not, your issue was still staring back at you. If anything, you felt worse because time had passed and yet you still had no answer. Listen, I’ve been there. I would cry my eyeballs out escalating my issue to Abba (Our Father God) in hopes that after I let it all out, once I arose from my deep sleep, the issue would have been dealt with right then and there. Unfortunately, it didn’t work like that. If anything, I’d wake up and the cycle would begin again. Pray, cry, sleep, ask questions of why and worry, and repeat. During one of my cycles, after waking up my soul began to prep for its why and worry segment. Questions formulated in my mind, tears began to make front row seats in my eyes, but before the segment began it was stopped. As clear as you can read this message Abba dealt with me by saying: STOP! Let me pour out of you. Let me move through you. If you’re always trying to figure out the process how can I move? When you pray to me, LEAVE it there! Let me handle it. “Let me handle it…” Those words rang loudly in my mind as I replayed what Abba shared with me. “Let… ME… Handle… It.” My friends, nowhere in His statement did He say, “Erica, I want you to take care of this and I’ll handle the rest”. He simply said, “Let me handle it” meaning He wanted me to back away from the situation and give it to Him. As I began to get myself together and meditate on what He informed me to do, then He shared more by leading me to 1 Peter 8-11 which reads: The dim light in my head immediately lit up because instantly, I was now aware of what I had been falling into. All along I was questioning my faith by worrying about the situation, even after praying to Abba. I was doubting God. This is exactly why Abba reminded me to “be sober, alert and cautious at all times” because the enemy WILL come to attack. I share this information with you today to let you know you are not alone. Abba sees you. He hears your cry and He feels your pain. No matter your situation, someone else is experiencing the exact same thing you are. Possibly worst. Overall, when you find yourself in that state unaware of what to do but pray, do just that, and remember to leave it there. Let Go and Let God! Are you going through something? Do you need a listening ear? Beautiful people comment below what you believe God wants you to let go. Since this topic is very dear to my heart I am willing to touch and agree with you in prayer.
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Happy Tuesday beautiful people! How are you? I’m sure by my cheesy smile you can tell I’m super excited, and if you know me well you probably know why. It is because autumn is FINALLY here! Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes, tan scarfs and thin sweaters here I come! The vibes of this season always tend to bring me great joy. When the color of trees change from forest green to almond brown, my heart can’t help but smile because the most wonderful time of the year is here. Stepping into this new season, my thoughts cannot help but revert back to my college years. You see, for many college students, it’s about that time, (if you are a college student reading this post, don’t act as if you don’t know 😉.) It’s time to get booed up with your selected choice of the season. Well, at least for me it was. Back in the day… I recall that being my main focus: finding Mr. Right, but for ALL the wrong reasons. At the ripe age of 17, I was free from my mom and away from religion. I believed if I took a 360 turn in my wardrobe, dropped a few pounds and dashed a little promiscuity here and there, I’d for sure get the boyfriend of my dreams. Sure enough, my life began to change, but not in a good way. Miss. Goody Two Shoes had gone bad. Two kickbacks and a blunt later, I stopped attending church and started to separate myself from Christ . I even began to hang out with people who I never thought I’d hang with just so I could be apart of the “in” crowd. During that time I began to deal with relationship issues from all arenas- friendships, guys, my parents and my family. I even began to question some of my religious beliefs and wondered if all I had been taught was a lie. I was truly confused and had no idea how I was going to make it through the rest of my college years. It literally took several flings, phony friendships, a wake up call from God and a Bible believing church in order to remind me I was worth more than a nice compliment and the front seat of a guys car. Now, that my friends is simply just a snippet of my story, but it is helps me to stay grounded in who God is, what He truly means to me and why it is important to stay committed to Him. Final Thoughts In my previous post, I Do, I Don’t Ummm, Maybe 🙄? I shared one of the main essentials I believe is necessary to have in order to prepare yourself for your future spouse. That necessity is to: Pray your future spouse has a relationship with God. However, I would like to add- on, before praying your future spouse has it all together with God, it’s time you pray YOU have it all together with God. Ask Him to reveal to you the areas in your life that need to be cleaned up. You’d be surprised at what He shares with you. Before you can make yourself one with another, it is important to make yourself one with God. By doing so, He will release the veils from your eyes and allow you to see the beautiful being He sees you as in the spirit. Once your spiritual being is revealed from the inside out, it will allow the eyes of your soul mate to fully see you for the first time as well. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Genesis 2:23-25
When Spirit meets Soulmate Read More »
Do you have a desire to get married? Are you constantly praying for a special someone to waltz into your life, pop the question and take you to a land of no tomorrow? I believe we all do. We all want that special someone to hear what we have to say, take it into consideration and provide us with solid advice. We all want that special someone who will take us for who we are and accept us on our days of good, bad and ugly. Although that special someone is out there for each and every one of us, in God’s timing, I believe it is important to prepare before that special someone comes our way. About three weeks ago, while scrolling through Instagram, I ran across an ad presented by Michael Pittman, a lead pastor of my church, the Gathering Oasis International. In his ad, he promoted a webinar that he would be hosting to showcase ways to create multiple streams of income and break poverty mindsets. To join the webinar the only thing he requested was that you sign up by clicking on the link that would be in his bio. Intrigued by his ad, I went to his bio, clicked on Linktree and chose the first link that appeared. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with finances, but about fiancés and how to catch one. Okay okay, so not actually catch one, but how to pray for your future spouse. Turns out Michael and his wife, Amanda Pittman, were helping to promote their good friends, Jamal and Nicole Miller, founders of “The One University ” and their upcoming challenge, “Pray For Your Future Spouse”. Here’s what they had to say: After viewing Michael and Amanda’s video and reading more about the challenge on Jamal and Nicole’s website, I was sold. I had nothing to lose. I was single, seeking, and interested in learning how to prepare for my future spouse. Five days, five specific prayers, and five speakers each night! By Aug 23, I was floored with new knowledge and a new view on marriage and relationships as a whole. During the challenge, there were three main points that stood out to me the most and I’d like to share them with you: 1.) Pray your future spouse has a relationship with God. Tune your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding. – Proverbs 2:2 NLT Have you written your list yet? You know, the sheet filled with information you want your perfect wife or husband to portray and have? On my list, one of my must-haves in a man is one who has a solid foundation with God. This does not make your spouse perfect, but it shows he or she is striving to be more in tune with God and willing to die daily for Him. So, while you pray they have a relationship with God, ask He strengthen the one you currently have with Him. 2.) Pray they are healed from the inside out. Cast all of your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NKJV We all have a past. There is no doubt that something has taken place in our lives that we wish we could take away and let go of. Unfortunately, we cannot erase our past, but we can heal from it. This is why it is important we pray not only for our future spouse’s healing but ours as well. Ask God to reveal to you and your future spouse what is needed to let go of and give it to Him. Allow Him to heal you both from the inside out. 3.) Pray they are sexually pure. Honor the sanctity of marriage and keep your vows of purity to one another, for God will judge sexual immorality in any form, whether single or married. Hebrews 13:4 TBT The body you live in is not your own. It is not made by man’s hands. You were bought with a price, so you must honor God with your body. Pray you and your future spouse remain sexually pure even when temptation arises. Remember, God provided you with power and authority to say no when the enemy comes your way. FINAL THOUGHTS: Any of the points stated above stand out to you the most? If so, which one? What do you believe one should do when preparing for their future spouse? Share in the comments below. In my next post, I plan to dig deeper into this topic based on the response I receive, so stay tuned!
“I Do”, “I Don’t” , “Ummm…Maybe?”🙄 Read More »
