

Written by Sister Alissa Lynne

Published by Alissa Lynne – Pittsburgh, PA

Original Works of Alissa Lynne

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

The Truth of Alissa Lynne – II
Copyright

Title: The Truth of Alissa Lynne II

Author: Sister Alissa Lynne

Published by: Alissa Lynne – Pittsburgh, PA

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Copyright © 2008 Sister Alissa Lynne - All rights reserved

First Edition, 2008

Published in the United States of America

Disclaimer: The names in this book are fictitious names, changed to protect the innocent. I am not responsible for your actions after reading this book. If you do not wish to be bound to the above statements, return the book to me. God Bless

Contents of book

Acknowledgements Page 4

Why I Write...Again! Page 6

Chapter 1 – What Has Happened Page 10

Chapter 2 – Our Faith Page 12

Chapter 3 – Our Walk/Our Purpose Page 26

Chapter 4 – Body of Christ Page 40

Chapter 5 – Rough Times Page 52

Chapter 6 – Praise Time Page 62

In Closing Page 68

Alissa Lynne's Acknowledgements

Praise the Lord. I wanted to take the time to thank the Lord for all He has done in my life and all that is yet to come in my life. I am a blessed child of God and if it was not for His grace and mercy, I would still be lost in the land of the living, but in Jesus, I am free.

I wanted to take the time to thank the Sisters at Women Living 4 Jesus for reading all my writings and supporting the other sisters in WL4J.

I wanted to take the time out to thank the Lord for my sisters in Christ who are part of the Board of Directors of WL4J, sisters, we have a long road ahead of us with WL4J, but each of you make it a road that is fun to travel and walk on.

Thank you Sister Brandi, Sister Casandra, Sister Meeka, Sister Trisha and Sister Valerie for all the support, encouragement, ideas, love and prayers that you have done on behalf of WL4J and for me! I love you all and could not imagine doing this without you.

I want to thank you Jesus for my son Jonathan. I thank you Jesus for the love of my son, for the heart of my son; the compassion that he shows those that are in need and the love that he has in his heart. I thank you Jesus for blessing me with such a wonderful son.

I wanted to take the time to thank the Lord for my siblings, Walter Torrence, Tiffanie Marie, and Stephanie Louise. I thank each of you for the love that you have bestowed upon me and for the growth, that you have acknowledge and come to accept in me. I praise God for each of you and that each of you comes to see Him in yourselves and me every single day.

I wanted to take the time to thank God for Minister Mervyn Griffith, Jr. who is the love of my life. I never thought I would be able to say that I love someone for real in my heart and the Lord has blessed me with you. I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life here on earth with you and rejoicing for all eternity in the presences of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I want to thank all those that have read, downloaded, requested and still waiting for their copy of my first book – The Truth of Alissa Lynne. The love and encouragement from that book has been overwhelming and for that, I am grateful to the Lord for each of you. I pray that the Lord continues to bless you to stand stronger in His word and His will for your life. Thank you to each of you who have decided to also get this book and may you find the same encouragement from it as I did writing it. I pray that you share it and the first book with anyone that you feel led to do so.

I praise the Lord for all of you – may you continue to bless the name of the Lord for all eternity.

God Bless!

Love your sister in Christ,

Sister Alissa Lynne Griffith

Why I Write ....Again!

When I was finished writing the last book, I knew then that I had to write a part two. I thought part two would be more of the things that I was missing from part one, but the Lord said, nope, write what I give you to write. As I am trying to live my life in obedience to Him, here is the second book.

When I finished the first book, I did not think anyone would want to read it. Well, I was wrong. We have had over 70 downloads on the web site of the book, along with 50 request for the hard copy of the first book. God is awesome in His wonderful ways. Sure, it is not a lot by the normal standards of being a writer, but for a sister who has not done any serious public media for her writings, I am amazed at the totals.

Let me explain the chapters to you in this book.

The first chapter called, "What Has Happened?" will bring you up to date to what is going on in my life since writing the first book. It is not long as it has not yet been a year in the completing of the first book, yet and still I thought it was necessary to do.

Chapter Two, is called "Our Faith" which is writing to help encourage us in our faith and trusting in the Lord for the word says in Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Our walk with the Lord depends on our faith.

Chapter Three, is called "Our Walk – Our Purpose", with the world always pressing at us to make a difference, to know who we are, those that are walking in Jesus seem to be pressed with the same questions in their walk with the Lord. This chapter focuses on encouraging us in our walk with our purpose in mind.

Chapter Four, is "Body of Christ", this chapter is about things addressed to the body of Christ as a whole. We are one in Jesus and this chapter addresses this in words of encouragement to keep us all moving together in Jesus.

Chapter Five, is called "Rough Times", which consists of uplifting writings to remind you that through it all, Jesus is with you and He will direct your path in all that you do if you allow yourself to hear His calling and words spoke into your life.

Chapter Six, is called "Praise Time", and that is what it is. We need to praise the Lord at all times and though sometimes we think we can not make it through, the Lord sees us through it, why not praise Him through it so that you have a better outlook on life.

The rest of the book is entitled, "In Closing" which is final thoughts, web site links and information on Women Living 4 Jesus organization.

I pray that you enjoy this book and if you have not read the "The Truth of Alissa Lynne - I", may you be encouraged to do so. If you have read the first book, I pray that you enjoy this one as much as the last one.

God Bless and know that the Lord is with you every single second of your day because He loves you!

Love your sister in Christ,

Sister Alissa Lynne

#### Excerpts from The Truth of Alissa Lynne - I

#### Some of Us

#### 1 John 5:1-4 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

John 10:9-11 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

When we were in the world, the enemy did not really have to bother us; we were into worldly things and doing what he wanted us to do, so we were left alone. Any issues, problems, dilemmas, and dramas that happened then were because of something we did. We were just out there not caring about the ways of the Lord. We may think about it for a second and then the enemy would show us some cute hunk, our friends would ask us to go out with them, or he would send something to distract us for a minute. We would run after it as a dog runs after a ball! Shame on us, but when of the world we act like the world.

At some point in our lives, God starts knocking on the door of our heart asking us to let Him in our lives.

Some of us crack the door open to see who it is, and then see who it is and slam the door shut. We knew what He was about. We just DID NOT WANT TO HEAR IT.

Some of us open the door to hear what He has to say and slam the door shut. We did not like what He was saying – how dare He tells us to be nice to people who are mean to us, to stop talking about that girl at the office who is losing her house and help her, to love all those that we meet. Humm He must be crazy.

Some of us opened the door when He knocked and just stood there blocking Him so He could not come in the door, we would listen to what He has to say but we were not going to let HIM in.

Some of us opened the door and welcomed Him in with open arms so happy for the love and peace He was offering us but the minute He did not do some thing that we wanted; we sent Him packing.

Some of us opened the door and welcomed Him in, sat in the corner and just watched as He cleaned up our houses. When we saw it was clean – we kick Him out because we had a clean house and no longer needed Him.

Some of us opened the door and welcomed Him in and loved Him with all we had, but when He went away for a minute to see if we could stand – we ran so quick back to our old ways of living, that we ran right pass Him never seeing Him standing there with His arms opened.

Some of us let Him in when He knocks, and when we do, we stop and listen to what He is saying, we fight a little, but we hear Him. We let Him live with us, we begin to listen to Him and do as He says. He steps back and removes His arms some and we stand a little, but when we get weak, we run to Him in hopes that He is there. He is there for us because we called for Him in our time of need. We start to praise Him in our good and bad times, He starts to really empty out the bad and replace it with the good. We continue to allow Him to abide in us so His will is done. We get to the point when the enemy recognizes that we have Him abiding in us. Here comes the enemy looking to destroy all that we stand for, but we have learned from the previous times, that in standing and waiting on Jesus, we will have joy, peace, and happiness.

We have learned that when the enemy comes to destroy all that we have, that if we are like Job and stand - all that is taken will be returned in full plus increase. We are to stand for the Lord and never let Him go.

Stand in Jesus and watch your world turn bright and sunny even when it is raining all around you – you will not get wet from the pains of this world. Trust in Jesus – Trust in Jesus!

Just for Today

Just for today, turn it over to Jesus and let Him direct your day

Just for today, do not think of anything negative and be positive in all aspects of your life

Just for today, love all those that you meet

Just for today, sing praises unto the Lord for He is so worthy of all praise

Just for today, pray without ceasing for He hears your every thought

Just for today, trust in the Lord and do not turn back

Just for today, let God control your day

Yesterday is gone, Tomorrow is not promised, and we have to be thankful for this day in the Lord!
Chapter One

What Has Happened!

Chapter One – What Has Happened

Praise the Lord! WOW, what a difference does 11 months make! I am so amazed at what the Lord has been doing in my life and the direction that it is going in.

This is straightforward stuff, kind of boring so bare with me a second.

After completing my first book "The Truth of Alissa Lynne" in August of 2007, I did not think anyone would read it. I sent out notification to my family and friends, posted the link on my web site, posted the book in its entirety on the site along with completing the audio version of the book. I exhaled and waited. I was amazed as I received emails requesting a hard copy along with encouragement from others who could relate to what I wrote. It was truly awesome to me.

The Lord laid on my heart before the completion of the book, to start a ministry to reach out to sisters saved and unsaved to help them in all manners of life, by supporting our sisters one sister at a time – spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially. Thus, Women Living 4 Jesus was born. (For more information of WL4J, read "In Closing" of this book) We started out as a yahoo group and now have grown so much more than that from the blessings of the Lord.

Of course, with all of this going on, the enemy wanted to start some trouble but through it all, the Lord has brought me through and kept me in the safety of His arms.

In April of 2008, Minister Merv finally asked me to be his wife, and we were married on July 25, 2008. I am extremely happy and content, still every so grateful to the Lord for the blessings He has bestowed on my family and my life.

With the Lord as the head of my life, my family, and my marriage, I am looking forward to wherever He leads us and takes us. We know that all things are possible in Jesus and there is no boundaries or limits in the Lord.

So welcome to yet another chapter of my life and know that the Lord is still yet keeping and directing all that I do and I pray that you continue to hear his calling on your life too.

Onward to Chapter 2 – told you this one was going to be short – sorry this book is not about me but about the love of the Lord and the Truths that He has blessed me with.

Chapter Two

Our Faith

Chapter Two – Our Faith

Do you feel it is time for a change?

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

People want to make a change in their life. People are looking for a change in the government, in the communities, in their church homes. People are looking at 2008 as a new beginning as that is what the number 8 represents even though no one is looking at what the numbers two and zero represent and they also make up the year. (Just had to throw that out there) I have read tons of cutesy sayings about the year 2008, but do we realize that the change is to come from within you first

My favorite saying thus far is Walk by Faith in 2008!

I believe that so many people are WAITING for something to happen instead of MAKING something happen. To me that is what stepping out on faith is...trusting in the Lord and moving forward by stepping out on faith. I believe that this is the year for change for me, why because I am stepping out on faith and moving forward in the Lord with the things that I know that He has directed me to do along with the things that are on my heart to do.

See, I believe that as long as what we do is in line with the word of God, He will bless it. It is where the walking by faith truly comes in for me. The Lord to me does not say some things that come to my heart, but I know when I act on them because they are in line with His word, He blesses it. For example, I may reach out to a sister in Christ because she is going through something, I send an encouraging email – God did not say to do it but because it is in line with His word, He blesses what I wrote. To me even simple things like that are stepping out on faith in the Lord. Stepping out on faith is not just big things that come your way, stepping out in faith is all things that you move on, both big and small.

We need to be mindful that it takes more than sitting back and waiting sometimes, we have to move and act too. Of course, you have to make sure that you have a relationship with the Lord and that you are in line with His will. I know that some believe they are and are not, but when they step out there and it does not go according to the will of the Lord by not working out, you know then and can correct the situation by getting in the will of the Lord.

So today is a new day, a new opportunity, a day full of new grace and mercy, are you going to step out on faith and trust in the Lord for all that you need and want today? Are you going to move forward in your life and make that change by trusting in the Lord and stepping out on faith? The awesome thing in God is, if you are not in His will, He will let you know before you go too far if you listen to His voice, but to listen to His voice you must know His voice. I pray that you know the voice of the Lord today and if you do not know His voice for yourself, get into His word and talk to Him for He is talking to you!

Stepping Out On Faith

I do a lot of reading to find things of interest for the sisters at WL4J and for research on different workshops and trainings; I came across a book during my research that had some interesting points in it. The book is called, "Fat, Broke & Lonely – No More" By Victoria Moran (Harper Collins Publishers New York, NY) I picked the book because of it's title and was going through it along with about 20 other books. There was a section talking about "Breaking Up with the Emptiness Inside" that I wanted to make comment on.

"Take Action Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Do the thing you know you cannot do." That's today's action. What seems difficult or even impossible? Making it through an entire day without criticizing one single person, even under your breath, or inside your head? Starting your memoir, even though somebody told you that since you're not famous nobody cares? Splitting from the wrong guy and not even looking for the right one until you've had some time to get to know your glorious self? Today stop debating, and leap. Am I asking you to perform an extraordinary feat? You bet I am. But once you've done it, you can do anything." (Excerpt taken from the book – Fat, Broke, & Lonely – No More by Victoria Moran)

The very first thing that hit me with this was stepping out on faith – trusting the Lord and stepping out there doing the impossible in Jesus. Most people go through a time when they feel empty and lonely – even Christians, but we have to get busy and stop sitting in one place doing nothing about it. We have to step out there on faith and believe that God will bring you to a point of contentment in your life but you have to go about being content. You have to go about doing what your dreams are.

Too many times we sit back and go, "I should this" or "I should do that" and never move to do anything and wonder why we are where we are – Stop wondering and DO!

We are the ones that make the difference in our walk with the Lord. Jesus gives us the mind to do it, but He is not going to do it for you. YOU HAVE TO STEP OUT THERE AND DO IT!

So for my singe sisters – bored and lonely – DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! God gave you a beautiful mind – use it to do the will of God! Get busy doing the work of the Lord and have fun while you are doing it. Do not sit at home hiding – get out there and enjoy life.

For my married sisters – husbands just not paying enough attention to you? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!! Start paying more attention to his needs, paying attention to things that interest him - take the focus off what we are not getting out of the relationship and give more. You been doing all this and still nothing – KEEP DOING IT AND PRAY!

I know one thing prayer answers things, pray for the will of the Lord to manifest itself and be done – trust and have faith that it will be done.

For My content sisters – reach out to other sisters and encourage them to keep moving forward in the Lord – spend some time with someone that needs your support and continue to move forward in the Lord.

We all have a job in the Lord to do – let us step out on FAITH and DO IT. No more excuses!

## Standing on the promises of Jesus...

Proverbs 3:1-7 1My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Have you ever found that you know that God is going to do something; maybe He told you in your inner self, where you are closest to Him, or He gave you a vision or dream.

Sometimes when we know something, it is shown to us, so we have something to hold onto. There is one thing that the Lord keeps reminding me when I question things that He has shown me. He reminds me that He shown me the ending but He did not tell me it was going to be easy to get there. Actually, I am finding that the Lord has shown me the things He has because He knows the trials I was going to endure to get there.

I have visions of things for WL4J, my family and my life. As I sit here and remember them all, what was said, what was shown to me, there is one thing that the Lord says to me. He says for me to remember that I know the outcome, so I am to walk according to the outcome not according to what I see in front of me.

I have to stand on His promises and not lean unto my own understanding. What are the promises of God? Anything that He tells you, whether it is in His word, visions, dreams, people speaking into your life by giving you a word from God. Those are promises of God. He will direct us and give us the way to go, but are you ready to trust in Him, move in Him, and stand on His promises?

Sometimes we get to the point of not wanting to move forward in Jesus because it is scary, well my sisters – the Lord is there with us – let us step out there and walk by faith trusting and believing in Jesus for all things in Him. It is awesome when He blesses us with a vision or a word that will carry us through some of our darkest moments and how He brings it back to mind when we need it most! AMEN! What an awesome God we serve!

Have a wonderful and blessed day in the Lord! I trust that you will as we are blessed no matter what comes our way this day – even in death, we are blessed!

God's Will For Our Lives

John 17:15-17 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of  
the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Romans 12:1-3 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think  
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

This is just burning in my spirit to speak this out into the world. We are facing a time when people are saying that they are in the will of God and not lining up with the word of God. I know that there are many methods that are "available" to those that are seeking the will of God in their lives, but they are not of God. There are men and women hiding behind the things of this world and trying to pass them off to Christians as a tool of God to use.

God does not have His people to follow the ways of the world – we are set apart from  
the world, we are not to partake of the things of this world. We are to act different and  
to do things in the will of God. How can something be in the will of God and it come  
from the worldly ways and thinking – it just does not mesh.

How do we know that we are in the will of God, we will know that we are in the will of  
God when everything is raging against us but what we are focusing on is working out  
despite that. See if you are doing something that is outside of the will of God, it will  
not prosper, it will not flourish and it just will not feel right. You know that it is  
something but just not sure what it is, time to fast and pray because so many times we  
do not want to admit that what we want is not what God wants.

It is important when doing the will of God in our lives that it is not US doing it but  
GOD doing it in us for us by us turning our will over to Him.

Oh, God is burning a series in me about this subject so bless the name of the Lord. We  
are to move forward in Jesus and trust in the Lord with all things.

To know the will of God for our lives means to know God for ourselves. It is not about  
all these coaches, consultants and all that jazz; it is about knowing Jesus and  
trust God for you. It is NOT easy; it also does not mean that you should not talk  
to others about what you are going through either, along with surrounding yourself  
with truth speaking, true sisters and brothers of Christ. We are to consult God, and  
we can lean on each other too. There is a way to do all of this and it is important that  
we follow His directions for it.

Well until next time – I shall leave you with this...  
God's will is the only way to joy, peace, happiness, and life everlasting!! God is with you this day!!

The Y in the Middle of the Road

Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Matthew 17:20-21 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

There comes a time in our walk no matter how long you have known the Lord that we come to a point of deciding if we are to sit and wait on the Lord or if we are to walk in faith not by sight. It is not something to take lightly for it can change your world as you see it, it can be disastrous or it can be enlightening, but either way it will be a blessing. I was at that road and I was there alone.

It is something to come to the Y in the middle of the road and not be sure where to go. We look down the road and see how the road lays ahead of us. This is truly, where we need to wait on the Lord, we have to be of good courage and we have to LISTEN to His direction before moving.

Standing at the Y in the middle of the road is a unique experience for each of us to take, it is truly something that only you can go through and only you can understand. It is something that will mold you even more in your walk with the Lord, and it can be very scary if we allow it to be.

The Lord has laid many things on my heart about my life. I felt I had to share with some one, and the response that I received was, hummmm you have not walked long enough with the Lord to have that kind of task before you. Well, I thought, maybe I heard wrong, maybe this seasoned Christian was right, maybe I am too young to do what is before me. Therefore, I stood at the Y of the road and waited, the Lord spoke yet again of what is to be done, and I stood more and waited more for yet another word from Him.

As I stood at the Y road, I poured out my heart to the Lord and said Lord, what am I missing? The response was – move forward! I cannot believe I hear these words, move forward. Lord, so and so said that I need to walk with you longer before I do this. They said I needed to do this and that first..

I stand at the path, and the Lord said to me, until you take a step, there is nothing I can do but love you to move forward. I stand at the path and I look down the right side and I look down the left side – well Lord – which side is it? The Lord said go to the right for it looks a little wide at the beginning but it is not, for see when you take a step, it closing in to be narrow – step my child and continue on the strait and narrow path.

As I write this day about this experience and this new step in my life, the Lord is telling some of us to step out on faith. Some of us are wondering where we are to go in Him, what we are to do, and wondering when He is going to tell us. We are standing at the Y in the road and thinking that we need to wait when in turn we need to step out there and move forward in Him. It is not easy to walk by faith and not sight, but one thing is for sure, the Lord is always by our side. Now is not the time to run and hide behind the bushes because we are scared of the decision that lies before us. Now is not the  
time to throw in the towel to the world and say Lord this is enough, I have had enough. Now is not the time to hide behind excuses and things of such because you are afraid of what others think.

Now is the time to thrown all things to the Lord and walk in obedience to Him. Minister Merv did a talk show on Genesis 24, the later part of the scriptures, where Rebekah has been found for Isaac, and how she was to leave her family to head to a new family with Isaac. This was on time, for both Minister Merv and I, as we both had decisions to make with steps to take that both of us were unsure about. We were unsure in our own decisions, not because of God but because of the world, the things that we were facing where manmade problems that was to trick us. We had decisions to make separately that we both knew was to affect the other tremendously.

Although we do not know all the answers to the questions, we will know which path to select. We have to do what the Lord instructs us to do and just as Abraham's servant shown blind obedience to Abraham, despite that it appeared that he did not believe that his outcome to be successful. Likewise, with Rebekah stepping out on faith and leaving all that she knew to become the wife of a man she did not know, just because a man said God said for her to do so, we, as Christians are to step in blind obedience.

The real thing is to have a relationship with Christ, for the world is going to try to make you stop and not listen to Jesus; the world is going to make you think you are not ready to do what He has placed before you to do. Many times the things that are placed before us is to strengthen us and to bless others as we move forward in Him. It is the path that lies ahead of us in Jesus that makes life worth living and it is the path that lies behind us that shaped us in Jesus.

We are truly blessed and we are to walk in the way of the Lord in all that we do, despite what others say to you as they mean well, and some times believe they are giving you "thus saith the Lord". But you have to have a relationship with the Lord to make the difference in your own life before you can make a difference in others.

Learn to listen to the Lord in all aspects of your life and you will know whether it is time to wait or to step out on faith. Jesus is truly a blessing to all of us and our one and only true hope, lean not unto your own understanding but unto the Lord and you shall know if you are to go left or right in Jesus!

Psalm 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

2 Corinthians 5:6-7 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Potter and the Clay – Do we really allow Him to do it all?

Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

There is one thing that has been apparent to me lately..."He is the Potter and We are the Clay." We are blessed to be in the position to be "made over" by the Lord. I have been thinking about things in my life and the words that I hear in my head. It is awesome when the Lord speaks to us and it is awesome to know what He means when we hear those words.

Have you found yourself sometimes just sitting around and mediating on His word or just thinking about the different things that God blesses us with for a better understanding in Him? This is part of His make over of us, giving us a better understanding of Him so that we move closer to Him so that we come to the place in Him.

I had this vision of God just being mean and nasty when I was young, not understanding that He was love and compassion too. Part of that was because the "you are going to hell" was being preached then and now I know that not only is He a God of wrath but He is a God of love and joy too.

I starting thinking about being molded by Him and thought am I really open to being molded by Him in every single aspect of my life. As I started doing some self examination, I noticed that I am not open to every aspect of my life to be molded and started to pray to the Lord to show me the areas. Well that was truly a hard one to swallow as Minister Merv was expressing himself to me this past week about some things I said that bothered him. It was not what I said that bothered him, it was the manner that I said it. Well of course, my response was – Get over it that is how I am. His response was okay but you get over the stuff you have for me. I did not say anything at the time, but allowed what he said to penetrate my mind and truly pierce my heart.

See sometimes we ask the Lord to reveal stuff to us and we really do not want to hear what He is saying to us. Sometimes we have a "hard" section of our clay that needs to be soften. When we are dealing with clay, the way to soften it up is by applying water. In this case, the  water is the Holy Spirit. When Minister Merv said that to me, the Holy Spirit started talking to me about releasing that part of me to the Lord too. It is still hard to think about even now, knowing what the Lord has told me to do.

Lord do I have to let all of it go unto you, do I have to let you mold me completely? Can I not hold onto some parts of me Jesus because I cannot be completely gone from my old ways? Am I really that bad? I asked all these questions unto Him and still kind of asking them. The answer I received was this...

Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 16Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Galatians 6:14-16 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Although there are going to be times that we do not want to hear what the Lord is speaking to us, we may reject it as fast as it is said, we are to be mindful that it will return for us to examine and deal with. We have less pain when we deal with it when it is first brought to our attention instead of waiting until later to handle it. In our stubbornness, we can delay a blessing that we are waiting on because we are not ready to receive it, since we are walking in the hardness of the clay showing instead of being soft and molded by Jesus!

How are you this day in your life, is your clay soft and ready to be molded in all areas or are you still hard in some areas? If you are facing the same thing repeatedly in your life, could it be that you are not allowing the softening of the clay by the water of the Holy Spirit? Could it be that the examination of yourself is not done through open eyes but eyes close tight to the area of weakness that you have? Take this time to open your heart unto the Lord and hear what He has to say to you this day!

Fighting Against the Enemy Within

Proverbs 3:3-13 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 8It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. 9Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. 11My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 12For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. 13Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

I was driving into work and thoughts started flooding my mind. What is this I am thinking about, why am I thinking about the past and those of the past? I was taken back for a minute, then the Lord spoke to my heart and told me that it was the enemy trying to get me to doubt.

As I was driving, the Lord started talking to me about listening to His voice and knowing Him. We are to know His voice because though things do not make sense to us, it makes sense to Him! I was sitting there questioning God, asking why this and why that. He loves me and He knows that I have the desire to know the answers to many of my questions, but what came to mind was, stop questioning and start walking by faith.

I think that the Lord does not mind at all that we question things; I think it is what we do when we are done questioning that really matters. I was watching yet again "Evan Almighty" as this is now my son's favorite movie and at the end of the movie, Evan is talking with God after his task was completed. He said to God that God knew the entire story, and if he would not have followed God's direction, he would have lost it all, his family and neighbors would be dead. He stated that he fought God all the way. God said back to him that yes, you fought me but you did it! I started thinking about that and my life.

God knows what we are going through, what is going on in our lives, where we are in our life, where we are struggling in our lives and because He does, He knows the outcome and what will happen with us, we are just better off listening and following what He says to do. He does what He does because He loves us. He loves us so much that He does what He does for us – which is everything if you allow Him to do so.

Well my sisters and brothers, let us remember that in all things God is in control and we are to truly allow the Love of the Lord to fill our lives and rely on Him and Him alone!

He stole what? How?

John 10:9-11 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

I have been listening to XM radio while I am at work as I have it in my car, now those that know me, you know I am really about praise and worship songs, so sometimes I just turn off the satellite radio to get away from hip hop that they say is gospel. As I was listening to the songs lately, many songs are talking about taking back what the enemy stole from us. I started asking questions of others and reading the word. We know that the word says that the enemy/satan is a liar and no truth in him. Therefore, we know that he is the thief that is being spoken about in John 10:10, but I kept saying, Lord but he does not steal it, we give it to him freely, maybe unknowingly but we give it to him. He is not stealing it from us.

I was thinking about all that I have been through, when I was in the world, he did not need to steal it because I was his, I did things as he wanted me to do, he wanted me to stay away from the word of God. He did not rob me of my opportunity to walk with the Lord, he enticed me to want to stay in the world and turn my back on the Lord. He stole things from me because my choice was to turn my back on the Lord. Now that I am walking with the Lord, if I do not protect myself with the word of God, if I do not do what the Lord says, is that really stealing? So I kept asking the Lord, what do you mean steal – how can he steal from me?

Hummm...if you have a house and do not have a burglar alarm to arm, if you do not have locks and deadbolts to keep someone out of your home, they will come in and take your stuff.

Therefore, if you do not line yourself up with the word of God, if you do not build a relationship with the Lord, you will not have your alarms working and will just allow the enemy to come in and take whatever he wants from your life. You will not be able to put up a fight because you are not even aware of what is going on. You are sleeping and living in the land of make-believe while he takes your family from you, when he takes your financial situation and throws it around to make a mess. If you are not in the word of God and if you are not filled with His Holy Spirit – you will not have any warning of the enemy.

With the blessing of the Holy Spirit that is a gift to us, you are directed to stand against what is coming at you. You are directed to speak the words of the Lord and know that it is done. With the Holy Spirit, you will have joy in the midst of your trials for the enemy has come to take what you have by distracting you but your focus is on the Lord and nothing is going to leave you for you are in Christ and truly relying on him.

In essences, the enemy cannot take what you do not let him take. So he may try to take it, DON'T LET HIM, the choice is yours – you make the decision if he does or not. He cannot take what you do not let him to take, so turn on that burglar alarm system and stop him from coming in at all.

Praise the Lord for the Holy Spirit and the direction from Him so that we can stand tall and not allow the enemy to come to steal, kill and destroy us!!

Taking it back - really?

Matthew 6:32-34 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Praise the Lord – I wrote about He stole what?? Now we are talking about taking it back from the enemy. Why do we need to take it back, God will restore it all back unto us. I read the story of Job and how he lost it all and never once cursed the Lord. He had weak moments but never cursed the Lord – never left Him. If things are taken from us, if the Lord has allowed it to be taken away, surely the Lord will return it. We just have to look at it as the fact that the Lord take away and the Lord gives!

Job 1:20-21 20Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

The enemy cannot give us anything but a hard way to go, so let us not take to heart that the enemy can give us back anything. We should concentrate on the Lord in all things and the enemy would not get it in the first place. You want your stuff back – go to the Lord and ask God to strengthen you and bring you closer to him so you can see the moves of the enemy before he even starts and you can say "Get thee behind me satan – for I am the head not the tail!"

We must remember that we have power in our tongue of death and life. We have power with the Holy Spirit. We can say to mountains to move if we have faith that they will, they will. The Lord has blessed us with something so awesome and we need to exercise it. It is our trust and faith in the Lord to bring His word to fulfillment when we speak it.

There is no mistake in going to the Lord and speaking things in His name. We must remember that there is power in His name, for we can cast out demons, change circumstances in His name. So remember whom you belong to, keep your mind on Jesus, know that the Lord will return all unto you, and give you even more if you remain faithful to the Lord in all things! AMEN!!

Matthew 10:7-8 7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Mark 16:14-19 14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They 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. 19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

Proverbs 18:21 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

## Life more Abundantly

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (Read  John 10:7-18 for complete context)

Oh how awesome the Lord is, how awesome the Lord is. We have to come to the point of thinking and keeping on our minds how awesome the Lord is. We are blessed, remember we are royal priesthood, chosen generation; we are to live our lives with thanksgiving and thanks.

The enemy has tried to attack us, he keeps trying to attack us, he has come to steal things from us but mostly to steal our life in Christ so that we will not live to hear the Lord say well done. We are to fight against it with all we have. We want to live a life of abundance, sure, who would not want this; I can think that only a fool would. We are not fools for we are those that love the Lord.

When we are faced with thing in our lives that we do not understand, we do not know what to do, or not sure how to handle it, we need to remember to be in the word of God so we will know how to be in His will. We need to talk to the Lord so that we hear from Him.

I attended a singles workshop during our state meeting at my home church, and though it is was informative in some aspects, some aspects left me questioning things with the doctrine that we have at our church. Many people will say that is a NO – NO, do not question the doctrine, but I say if you have doubts, go to the head ask question and receive your answer. One reason I was questioning the doctrine is because of the scriptures listed in this posting...if I am to have an abundant life and so are my sisters in Christ, Lord what are we doing "wrong" that maybe hindering us to receive the abundant life?

I sat back and listened to the sisters, talked to a few other sisters about it too, then I sat back and listened to the Lord talking to me as I drifted off to sleep and as I awoke this morning, I awoke to receiving my answers from Him.

It is not always what we have done wrong so to speak, it is merely where we are in our walk with the Lord. We have some that are still living in the past, some that are just in limbo with things that they should have cleared up but have not yet. There are some of us who are waiting instead of walking out on faith; as there are some that are calling on the Lord but not listening to His voice as He speaks to them. He said there are plenty of reasons why we are still not living abundantly but what He did tell me is what I needed to do to live abundantly. I thank God for that, because as I let go of some things, fears, pains, and hurt that I did not know I was still holding onto, I can already feel His love and joy filling my very heart with more of His love.

It is awesome to see that. What is holding Sister Alissa Lynne back from living abundantly in Jesus – Sister Alissa Lynne is holding her back. I am not at the point of waiting anymore on Jesus – Jesus is waiting on me. He is waiting for me to accept the happiness. I was all ready to accept the happiness in my singleness and just enjoying that, when He introduces me into a new phase. He introduces me into this new step with Minister Merv and I started to move back, nervous yes and kind of thrown back with this newfound happiness.

Growing up as I did – every time I got happy, something bad happened, so I ended up not accepting the happiness as I always associated it with something bad about to happen. The Lord is showing me that I can be happy, content, live victorious, and abundantly in Jesus. So every day I wake up, I shake off the old Alissa and allow the new Alissa in Jesus to shine through instead. I am blessed because I get to sit here and tell you that this is the happiest I have been in my ENTIRE LIFE! I can sit here and say that the world around me is trying so hard to get me to doubt, to sway and to give up. Oh my sisters there is a mess going on with my finances and family but I STAND IN AUTHORITY AND IT WILL BE RELEASED IN THE NAME OF JESUS, but I am blessed because I am happy.

I used to get unhappy and just let the joy run from me, but now I fight the enemy with the word of God, I fight the enemy in prayer, and I fight the enemy with praise. I stand in the word of God and allow the Lord to do my fighting as I march around the room in victory. I see the victory and allow the joy in my heart to remain. We are fighting a war my sisters but we can be in war winning and living abundantly, but who makes that difference – WE MAKE IT!

When we are tired of the mess, what do we do, we give it up and turn it over to the Lord – why wait until it stresses you – living your life abundantly and victorious is to know when to cast it to the Lord and leave it there. We were in the singles workshop and Sister Brandi said something that applies to all aspects of our lives – as soon as the thought hits us, we have to change our focus to not dwell on that thought right that second, not waiting for it to fester into some thing else. (She was talking about another situation but it fits)

We give the power to the enemy by allowing things to stay with us, we have to let it go and trust the Lord – we have to change our focus. The more we do it, each time it becomes a little easier with that situation to turn it over. We have to remember that it is a process, it does not happen overnight, but keep striving to do it and watch what God does for you! It is our determination that makes a difference, we need to be determined to not let things get to us. We have to be determined to change our focus and let Jesus fight for us as we march onward. It took me three years to get to this point and I still have a lot of mess with me, but God is awesome because even in my mess and sin – He grants me grace and mercy this day to live my life abundantly in HIM!

Chapter Three

Our Walk/Our Purpose

Chapter Three – Our Walk/Our Purpose

Purpose - Purpose and More Purpose

**Rom 12:1-5** _1_ _I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another._

Praise the Lord! Everyone is running around wanting to find this or that to do in the Lord and this is awesome, but without the direction of the Lord, the running around is just that. I have been asked on several occasions how do you know what you are to do in the Lord. How do you know what your ministry is? How do you know what you are to do in Jesus?

I smile when I hear this because I begin to pray for that sister and ask the Lord for her to have ears to hear what I will say to her. I love talking to my sisters in Christ, but I am not God and I cannot tell someone what their purpose is in the Lord. There are people selling their products to help you find your purpose, to motivate you to find your purpose in the Lord. Some people find it easier to buy a book, or go to a conference and pay all that money and not do the cheapest thing in this world to find out what your purpose in Jesus is.

As your sister in Christ - here is the best advice I have got thus far in this life and this walk with the Lord. Seek the Lord for yourself, build your relationship with the Lord, allow Him to speak to you and listen to Him. Do not follow what man thinks you should do but follow what the Lord tells you to do. It is not about us, what we are going to be in Jesus, it is all about Jesus. If all God wants you to do is praise and worship Him for years on end - be content and happy in that. We all have different purposes and different directions in the Lord. Seek the answer from the Lord. Save your money, save the frustration, when it is time - the Lord will reveal what you are to do in Him.

We are in a day and age that everyone wants to be part of the 5-fold ministry (which is referring to  Ephesians 4:11) everyone wants to be someone in the Lord, but what they have to understand is it is the Lord who makes you who you are in Him. It is Jesus who makes the difference in each of us. It is Jesus who does the appointing and the deciding.

The word says that there is plenty to do in His kingdom, for the work is plenty and the workers are few. The word also tells us that we are to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and to encourage, uplift and spread the gospel of the Lord. I believe with all of that work to do, trying to figure out where to start first should be the problem - not what your title is while you sit there and waste time.

The word of God reminds us that we are one body of Christ, working together for the good of the Lord - for the Glory of God - not man! So as you sit there and wonder what your purpose is, what are you doing to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, encourage, uplift and spread the gospel of the Lord? If you say nothing, sounds like to me you need to get busy and allow the purpose to come later. If you are on the bus or even in your car - you can be doing a work for the Lord by praising Him, worshiping Him and building your relationship with the Lord. You can allow the light of the Lord to shine in you as you walk through this dark world - to me that is purpose enough. The Lord is blessing you right now - bless the Lord with your life!

WL4J came along because of the healing that the Lord has blessed me with. It started with an abuse survivor's group that I started to talk to other sisters in Christ about being abused and overcoming that. As I moved forward in my healing, I started other groups in areas that I just needed someone to relate to. Praise the Lord - a wonderful thing happened \- I started to see that I was healed; I started to see that I was a new creature in Christ; I started to see that I am blessed. I started to see that my purpose was to tell the world how AWESOME God truly is! I started to use the internet to spread the love of God to all those sisters that I was meeting who were broken, hurt, and just needed someone to listen to them. I started talking to sisters in Christ at work, in the stores, in church and wherever I go - I started talking. Sometimes I do not know what to say but the Lord is awesome because when we remove self - He will give us the words to say and the way to say it. What matters the most is where your heart is, if your heart is focused on Jesus all the rest will come when He is ready for you to be there.

So my sisters and brothers, if you are wondering what your purpose is in Christ, seek Christ, and look to Jesus and not to man. Look to Jesus and get close to Him - enjoy your life in Christ and the next thing you know - you might be sending out a newsletter in the Name of Jesus to spread His love to all that read! AMEN!! Until that time comes, whatever state you find yourself in be content and happy - I know I am! (Philippians 4:10-12) Praise the Lord for the joy that is in my heart for I can truly say that this is the happiest I have ever been in my entire life!!

Have a blessed and wonderful day in the Lord - if you know Jesus I know you will!

As Little Children

I was thinking about the blessings that we have called our children! We are truly blessed to be parents, and Minister Merv made a valid point that just keeps sticking with me. There are people who call their children mistakes or opps because the parent did not plan them but God planned them. God has a purpose even for our children and we are to treat our children well. I love children and their innocence. I love how my son just takes things directly as they are said. Of course that can make us a little more impatience with them as if you do not say put something on the couch it might just end up on the floor because all you said was take this to the living room! SOMETIMES I love that innocent and I did what you said attitude that children have.

Matthew 18:2-4 2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:13-15 13Then were there brought unto him little children that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 14But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 15And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.

It is why God wants us to come to Him as little children. Children have blind obedience to us. Our children have a desire to please us. Children have a way of loving their parents despite all the wrong that the parent has done to the child. There is just a bond with our children that no one can break, even when our children are angry with us. Our children will defend us against the world no matter what others say about us and no matter how true it is. Our children love us unconditionally.

Not only do our children love us this way, Jesus loves us this way and just wants us to love Him back the same way! Think about how He is for us...take all I said above and replace children with Jesus! Isn't that how Jesus is with us? How about if we replace children with our name and us with Jesus? So it would read...

We have blind obedience to Jesus. We have a desire to please Jesus. We have a way of loving Jesus despite all the wrong that the enemy has done to the us. There is just a bond with Jesus that no one can break, even when we are angry with Jesus. We will defend Jesus against the world no matter what others say about Him and no matter how the enemy tries to make us think Jesus is not true to us. We love Jesus unconditionally.

How many of us can say that? How many of us truly strive to live that way?

Food for thought...God is with you forever and always – are you with Jesus for all eternity too?? If you are not sure, what are you going to do about that to change it?

Just one...

Philippians 4:5-7 5Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

  * Abraham pleaded for the righteous who lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah

  * Noah was given the task of completing the Ark and preached the word of God to all that mocked him

  * Ester stood before the King and requested the lives of her people

  * Joseph was the 2nd in command in all of Egypt and saved nations from starvation

What do all four of these situations have in common? They were one individual given the task for standing in the place of many, each one placed in the circumstances that they were to bless those around them along with blessing the Lord while they were doing so.

Abraham asked God not to destroy the cities if there were any righteous in them, the Lord agreed to his request. (Genesis Chapter 18) Abraham asked to save the cities for even as little of 10 souls, and we have to understand that these cities were big cities at that time too. A big request from Abraham as the sin was grievous in the sight of the Lord.

Noah, who is one of my 'favorite men' had to complete an Ark during a time when there was no such thing as flooding and things of such as we have now. He not only built an Ark but a HUGE Ark – all that time preaching the word of God. He had to tell people what he was doing and no doubt, he was ridiculed and laughed at, all along telling them to repent of their ways and come to the Lord. (Genesis Chapter 6)

Ester was blessed to be the queen of Persia/Medes. She was a beautiful woman who was a servant of God. She fasted and prayed before approaching the king to save the Israelites from what appeared to be certain death. She stood before the king in the knowledge that God was her protector and brought forth all that she needed to tell him to save her people from death. (The Book of Ester)

Joseph, the dreamer, what a life full of lessons. Joseph lost all that he knew, yet was blessed to come to Egypt and prosper, yet to lose it again, and then gain it all back yet again. His gift from the Lord saved many nations from starvation during the years of famine, including his own family who had allowed their hearts to be hardened against him. (Genesis Chapter 37 to Genesis Chapter 47)

Yet there is still two more to discuss...

Jesus – Our Lord and Savior stood as one in the place of many and we are here this day because of His grace and mercy. We are here today because He blessed us with life eternal by dying on the cross, rising again, sin free, with all power in His hands so that we are free indeed. Our very being of who we are now is based on what He did for each of us as individuals. He made the ultimate sacrifice and gives with unconditional love!

The word says it so much better than I can ever say...

Isaiah 53:4-6 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

John 10:9-11 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

John 17:2-4 2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

How awesome and blessed we are...so that leaves just one more person and the entire meaning of this writing...

YOU!! Each of us are one person that can make a difference in others lives by listening and following the word of God. In each of us that are striving to live our lives according to His will and way, we are able to cast out demons/devils in His name. We are able to pray for healings and watch them manifest before our eyes, we are able to stand and know that no matter what comes our way, we have the VICTORY!! In each example I gave today each of these people were facing all kinds of situations that they never thought that they would, yet with the Lord working on their behalf not only were they blessed but all those that they love.

I was listening to a song and for a second my mind said to me, why do we pray for our neighborhoods, nation, the lost when the word says that some will not come to know the Lord at all. Hummmm....why Lord? God is so awesome in His ways of dealing with us...He answered me with His word. He wants not one to perish and neither shall I. He showed me examples where the pleas and prayers of one have changed the lives of many.

I am thankful to the Lord today for Jesus who loves me despite what I am – who cared enough for me to die and now it is our turn to do the same to all those around us. We are the light and salt of this world with the Lord in our lives – we need to reach those that are lost and need guidance and love from Jesus. We are to extend ourselves and if each of us has to be the lone star in our home, city/town, even state – it is our reasonable service unto the Lord to do so. Remember those in the word of God who walked this life before us, also against the odds of their time, yet still standing strong in the word of God by moving forward in Him.  We can do this also in Jesus because He is still the same as yesterday, today and will be the same tomorrow.

God Bless and have a great day to today – today is a new day and all things of yesterday are gone – remember to cherish what you have today for it is not promised tomorrow!

## Evan Almighty

Romans 14:10-12 10But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 12So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

I was watching "Evan Almighty", it was the first time I watched the movie because sometimes I get a little upset with Hollywood and how they play God with these movies that they do. I was pleasantly surprised at the story line and it was even funny. I say Congrats to the producers on this movie because of the message that was sent with this movie. It amazes me that people understand the message and yet do not walk with the Lord, but as the word says Every Knee shall Bow!

There were several points in the movie that we should remember. The character – Evan was a congressman who wanted to change the world. He did not pray or talk with God at all in the beginning but prayed one day and the Lord answered his prayer, just not in the manner that he expected. His prayer was to change the world. He was to build an ark, for a flood, but he rejected it and found that it was not something that he could reject so easily. He found that he was really going to have to do what God said to do.

As I watched that part of the movie and laughing as the animals were following him everywhere, I thought about my own walk and maybe even yours. When the Lord gives us directions to do something, we will see that everywhere we turn; there it is – in our face – hard to miss. We may want to ignore it but the more we do, the more evident it appears to be. How awesome is that!

The next thing I noticed in the movie was as soon as he accepted his calling/direction that the Lord had given him, those that he loved started to doubt him and think he was nuts. He was out there alone but the Lord was with him for when he asked for some thing, the Lord delivered. Isn't that how our walk is with the Lord, those that we think will be with us all the way, supporting us and being there for us are gone when we confess AND live according to the direction of the Lord? Therefore, what happens, we are alone in Jesus but when we ask for His direction and assistance – He is truly there. His word says... In Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Psalm 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

The next point in the movie was when his wife left him, she was sitting in the restaurant, and God visited her. God appeared in this movie as an everyday person, played by Morgan Freeman, and he was a good character, very laid back not over powering but direct in his approach, which to me is how I see God if He was an every day person, kind of how I picture Jesus as He walked this earth. (NO not as Morgan Freeman but the personality part of being laid back, not over powering but direct!)

He approached the wife in every day conversation speaking in a tone of calmness and reason. The one thing that struck me the most in this entire movie was what he said to her. In a summary of what was said, we pray and ask God for more patience and what Jesus does is provide us with more opportunities to apply patience. We will ask God to give us more kindness and love, so what does He do, give us more opportunities for kindness and love. In her case, she prayed for more family time, God answered her with more opportunity to spend time with her husband as he was building the ark and had a lot of time on his hands and needed their help. The point that was made struck me as how we see God; we want Him to answer us in OUR way, not HIS way. Sometimes even rejecting His answer to our prayers, but if we stop, pay attention and listen to what He is saying, we will see that He did answer our prayers and to go with that opportunity that He has provided us with.

The last and final outcome point of this movie that moved me to joy in my heart and spirit was the ending with "the dance". The character would do this goofy dance when things were going well and he was happy. I call it the happy dance! It reminded me that some times we are doing the will of God and doing what He says to do that we FORGET to do our HAPPY DANCE while we are doing what we need to do. Every single day we are blessed with a new opportunity to praise the Lord, a new opportunity to witness to others. We are blessed with new grace and mercy – we need to get up each morning doing the "Happy Dance" in Jesus by acknowledging His wonderful grace and mercy extended to us JUST BECAUSE He loves us.

So did you wake up this morning doing your Happy Dance? I love doing my happy dance and praising God as when I do, my mood is better, my walk is better and my life is just happier in Jesus! AMEN!

If you have not seen the movie Evan Almighty – check it out. Look at it from the eyes of a Christian and your personal walk with the Lord and see what you get out of the movie to share.

Evan Almighty (2007) released by Spyglass Entertainment and Universal Studios

Free at Last – Thank God – Free at Last

John 8:31-36 31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 36If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Some people associate Free At Last – Free At Last in reference to the civil rights movement and freedom from slavery. Even when we are not in slavery as back in the 1800's – some of us are still in slavery. We are in slavery to the things of the world, to the people of the world, to the thought process of the world, to our very own minds.

The word of God says...

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 16Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Galatians 6:14-16 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Many of us still can not figure out how that is possible, why is it that we have come to God and still not feeling any different or it seems as if things are coming at us even more. If you are feeling this way, this is nothing new. This is the way the enemy tries to tie us down into the bondage of our minds and old ways. We have to break free from that bondage in our minds and of our old way of thinking.

How do we break free from those things and truly be happy and content in our life so that we are truly free indeed? Well the first step is to commit your entire heart and mind to the Lord. When things not of God creep into your mind, rebuke it in the name of Jesus, if you have to say it aloud – do so. You have to stop what is going on and change gears by changing your focus.

To change your focus, some suggestions is to pray Jesus, seek counsel with a true Christian friend/pastor/minister, sing songs of praise to the Lord, and remove yourself from the environment that is causing these issues.

To remove yourself from the environment does not always mean you have to leave the physical place that you are in, for if you are at work, unless you go home which most of us cannot do. You can mentally remove yourself from the environment by changing what you are feeding your mind at that time. If you change your focus from the situation that you are fighting with in your mind to focusing on the Lord and talking to Him, you will start to feel peace of mind and thus changing your environment.

If we want to be free indeed and truly be content in our lives, we have to remember that it is with our minds that we serve the Lord and it is with our hearts that we love one another. We have to serve Him and worship Him with our whole heart, mind, body, and spirit. We cannot give up for the Lord has not left us nor forsaken us.

We are blessed every day with new grace and mercy – so when you wake up in the morning, start anew and move forward in the Lord. When we wake up – wake up thanking Jesus, praising Him for yet another beautiful day – on your way to work talk to Him and thank Him for yet another opportunity to speak to Him and have Him directing your day. We can do things just as simple as that to be free in Jesus. In Jesus we are new – we do not have to go back to the old ways of doing things. All we have to do is seek Him in all things, look to Him in all things.

I f you want to talk about focusing more on the Lord and less on ourselves, please feel free to reach out to your sisters in Christ at WL4J or even myself. I am truly here for each sister – one sister at a time. Let us move forward together to praise His Name and move accordingly!

**Know Jesus**

**James 1:5** **If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.**

I was reading some writings that some sisters wrote and there is just tons of falseness out there, different things from people, doctrine, titles, and lifestyles. Jesus is only way and people need to come to know the Real Jesus and stop making Him out to be what **they** want Him to be.

We have to stop playing games with ourselves and stop allowing others to play games with us. We need the truth. I read a testimony the other day that I shared with others...one of the things that she said in her testimony that stuck out to me is how she thought she was saved because she did not drink much; she did not go to the club, went to church every Sunday and tried to live the right life. Too many of us are going around believing that same thing! There is so much more to living this life...we are to live our lives HOLY! There is no other option to live a life for Christ, we must live Holy and the only way we can do that is when we surround ourselves with people and things of Holiness.

We cannot continue to accept the things of the world into our lives and believe that it is will be all right. We must live our lives as God has called us to live and separate ourselves from the world and live as we are called to live – Holy! Romans 12:1-3 states 1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

We are so quick to excuse our ways and so quick to excuse the sin in our lives. The problem is that we are not studying and/or truly working on strengthening our relationship with the Lord. There are many of us still listening to words of the world; we are listening to how we are missing things of this world by living Holy. We are busy listening to our non saved relatives and the world that what we are lacking is not Jesus but a better job, a better home, a new car, a new man, a new everything. It is not about the stuff of this world for it all shall perish in the end, it is about our eternal life, where we are spending eternity is what the most important part of our lives.

W e need to spend more time reading, studying, praying, fasting, talking with, crying out to, praising, and worshiping the Lord than what we are currently doing in our lives. We need to encourage each other to stand in the Lord and move forward in the Lord and strive to hear "Well done my good and faithful servant!" We are to stand and move forward – move forward in Jesus! Praise His Holy Name!!!

What Are you Striving For...

Lamentations 3:22-24 22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

I came across this scripture and it was just a reminder for me with all that is going on in this world, God is so awesome to us. We fail each day to come close to His goodness to those around us, and yet and still He grants us grace and mercy this day.

We consume ourselves with things of this world that are just not important at all. I was sitting here thinking about how this could be the last Christmas that I have off with my son because of the department I am in and where I fall in seniority in the department. At first, I was somewhat upset about it and then God started to show me that none of this matter. It is not important; we are always striving for things that really do not matter. In the end of all things will it really matter, does it bring glory to God? If not – then it is truly not something we should consume ourselves with.

I know that might sound cold to some because we want our desires but I am starting to learn it is not about what I want because what I want is not worth a hill of beans in the end! It is about what the Lord wants me to do for His glory – it is about being faithful to the Lord. I am learning more and more each day about myself and it is something to see what consumes us and what is so important to each of us.

So as we move forward in our lives, remember to move forward in the Lord...remember The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Healed

Isaiah 53:4-6 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

### 1 Peter 2:23-25 23Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Okay, let us be honest, most of us reading this has been through some kind of pain or hurt in our lives. Most times being women, it is related to a relationship with a man, whether it is our current relationship or a past relationship, we are hurting. Most of us bring the past into our current relationship and wonder why there are issues with the relationship.

Most of us are walking around with so much pain and hurt in our lives, that we are struggling to get air, let alone calling on the Lord. We have to come to terms with the things of our past and we need to call out to Jesus. We are holding onto stuff that the people who hurt us let go years ago. We are allowing the enemy to take control of our mind with the hurt and pain of the past. We are more than that in Christ.

We are blessed women, whether you are saved or not, you are blessed for the Lord has shown you grace and mercy yet again this day! We have to walk according to His purpose for our lives and we need to change our focus to focus more on the Lord.

Some of us are hurting so much that we have cut off our feelings and walking around faking that everything is all right and crying out inside. Some of us have not cried out to the Lord or sought His direction, some of us have cried out and do not know what to do, some of us have cried out and know what to do but are afraid.

2 Timothy 1:7-8 7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

We are one body of Christ and it is time that EACH OF US act like we are. We are so quick to say what others are not doing or doing against God but not looking inside of ourselves, why is that, it is easier not to deal with your own issues and to look at others. The enemy has clogged your mind into thinking that you are going to be like that for all eternity, that is a lie from the pit of hell and you need to rebuke that in the name of Jesus.

God wants us to live productive, loving, and prosperous lives in Him. Now there are some that want you to think that driving a Escalade is really the way to be, but knowing the Lord is driving your life is way more productive, loving and prosperous than that new ride you have that you can't really afford.

W e are holding onto the past and it is running our future, we are not focusing on the Lord and focusing on things of this world, looking for quick fixes to our lives. It is great to read this today to receive encouragement to keep moving forward, but please do not stop there. Fellowship with the Lord, build a relationship for the Lord so that you are not only reading this, but you are taking the word of God to others. The more we open up to Jesus the more the pain and hurt leave us and we live a great and productive life in the Lord.

Know God

Psalm 1 1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Lately the Lord has allowed me to see so much "mess" that is going on in the body of Christ. It has surely changed my prayer life and walk with Him. We do not need to sit around and talk about how wrong they are but we must pray for them. They are not godly people and shall perish and we do not want anyone to perish. We are seeing more and more people walking the way of the world and trying to make money off the body of Christ. The disheartening thing is that they are succeeding, which goes to show that there are many people not reading the word of God for themselves.

There are people out there relying on emails such as the "Good Morning" ones I send to give them the word of God, there is people who join different groups to get the word of God, and though there is nothing wrong with that, the problem happens when they do not pick up the bible and read it for themselves. I have seen things come through my email that ARE NOT words from God that are not anything related to Jesus but the sister or brother who wrote it says that it is. We must try to inform that person and if they do not hear, we must pray.

We have to come to be praying people and praying about situations because prayer does change things. The Lord hears the prayers of the righteous and it is truly time that the righteous start praying for all the things in this world.

You do not have to believe what I write, all you have to do is pick up the bible for yourself and read the word of God for yourself. I was talking to a sister in Christ the other day about the "Mid-Week Inspirational Message", that is sent by WL4J and she made a comment that most people just delete and not read. My heart goes out to those that just ignore the word of God and do not hear what He is saying to them.

Now we all get tons of email and I am not saying you can not delete WL4J newsletters – but what I am saying is that so many are not getting any word at all. We wonder why things are going this way, well the word of God says it will – the word says how things will get worse and how the Lord is still in control. I pray for each of you that you are started this year out right, that not only are you reading WL4J newsletters (LOL) but that you are truly reading the word of God for yourself. We must get the word inside of us, to have the word be 1st nature to us because the enemy is running in the world and we do not want to be deceived.

So let us move forward by studying the word more and more – open the bible and just start studying! If you have any questions, pray about it, see your pastor, and/or a seasoned Christian.

2 Timothy 2:14-16 14Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

John 10:9-11 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Matthew 24:23-25 23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before.

Proverbs 15:28-29 28The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. 29The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

James 5:15-17 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Chapter Four

Body of Christ

Chapter Four – Body of Christ

Spreading Love

Mark 12:29-31 29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

I have been working on some writings and one of the things that God keeps showing me is the love that He has for us. God shows us grace, mercy and love every single day of our lives but yet and still we are quick to judge, condemn and just down right belittle those around us because they are not walking where WE think they should be in the Lord.

We are so quick to tell people what they are doing wrong and what they need to do to get right in the Lord. I have learned, still learning too, and it has been shown over and over again – the love of the Lord goes farther than we really ever know.

I remember being a new Christian and so on fire for the Lord – I would give words of wise – or so I thought! Hummm I was so good at not getting it down right! I smile now because the Lord is truly molding me every day! Praise His Name! I am seeing the love of the Lord in my life and pray much that I continue to show the love of the Lord with all that I meet. Sometimes it is not easy to love those that are not hearing you or condemn you for just being a person. I know that it is the enemy using them even if they are strong Christians, love them anyhow. Love is the key.

Sometimes we really need to speak the words of love instead of telling the person what they should be doing; the words of love from Christ go farther than anything else in the world. Jesus showed love beyond any measure we would ever think of doing! He is so awesome and as we move forward in our day today – look around you and see the love of Christ. Show those around you the love that you have in your heart and know that Jesus is the reason why you are so blessed and headed to a higher place in Him.

See Jesus mentioned in the word – LOVE! Oh what a blessing that is. So the next time someone says something that you do not agree with or you feel they need corrected – take a moment and love them! Take a moment, trust in the Lord, and just love them.

Hummmm....I remember my mom telling me that you can get more done with kindness than you can with chastising. Sometimes the manner that we do things is really what turns people off of us and makes them ignore what we say. If you do it all in love and you will feel comfortable when you walk away. Sometimes less is more – just by praying for them and asking the Lord to lead them to the right answer, it will mean so much more to them than if someone says to them that they are doing it wrong.

Now am I saying that we are never to say anything to someone, no I am not saying that. But if you take a look within yourself and see that you are always coming against some thing someone says or does, you might want to take inventory on what is going on with you. If everything someone says is aggravating to you, you might want to take inventory on you! If you find that, you are always having to "correct them" or "set them straight" – you might want to take inventory on you! I have in the past and continue to do so – now talk about an eye opener! Praise the Lord for the growth!!!

Love those that despitefully use you, love your enemies, and just love all those that come to you regardless of how YOU may feel, love them anyhow! Praise the Lord!!

1 John 3:18-24 18My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Making a Difference

I received the email going around about how one act of kindness can make a difference in a person's life. In this email it tells how a father stops to take the time to tell their child how important they are to them and in the end it saves the child's life because they were planning on killing themselves. Although it was found out that the story is actually just a made up one, it is truly a made up story that is worth reading and a wonderful reminder.

We have to pay attention to all things that we do. The Lord is calling for us to allow Him to shine through us and be the light in this dark world. It is our reasonable service as far as I am concerned that we are this way as the world is dying around us and we are just too quiet and laid back.

We see things changing in this world, that are drastic in some cases, and not so drastic in other cases but can end up being that way. It is things that we let slide that may make the difference in a person's life.

There is a rise in homosexuality and in the Muslim faith. There is a rise in being politically correct and being looked upon in a harsh manner when you are direct about the word of God. There are still people who do not speak to me because I was direct with their lifestyle, loving but very direct. You cannot confess to love the Lord and live a life that is NOT in line with His word and KNOW IT! Now we all sin, yes we do, but we are to be there with each other and stand for what is right.

If you believe that the rise in homosexuality and the Muslim faith is nothing to think about, think again. We have to take a stand in our lives to stand for what the word of God says. Do not beat people up but do not back down. It is truly when the wisdom that God blesses us with is needed the most. Ask God to give you the correct words of wisdom to those that are around you so that you can minister unto them the truth.

Minister Merv was telling me how he was speaking to a Prophet the other day about how they are going into the NYC schools speaking about homosexuality to those that want to hear, how there are teenagers coming to Christ and letting go of that lifestyle in the name of Jesus. All it takes is faith and moving forward in the Lord. People are being healed and delivered NOT IN CHRUCH but right in the streets of NYC. Well NYC is no different than your own home town and you are no less special than the Prophet.

If you are blessed with the dwelling of the Holy Spirit of God – you have the power of the Lord in you! You have the authority to speak things into being, you have the power to move mountains, you have the power in Jesus alone! AMEN!

We are faced with tons of things daily that we do not need to be faced with...let us make the difference by standing in the authority of Christ – give the word of God to those that we meet by planting that seed that will grow by the love of the Lord in their lives. We can make a difference my sisters – one sister at a time, one brother at a time, one person at a time.

Let us pray together that the Lord will come and give ALL of us Holy Boldness in Jesus!!!

Encourage Each Other

1 Peter 1:6-8 6Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

1 Peter 4:12-14 12Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

The scriptures listed above are true encouragement as to one reason why we are to stand during our trials. For all things there is a reason even when we do not know why, God does and it will glorify the Lord. We have to come to the point of understanding in God's words. We as the body of Christ shall need to line up more with the word of God. We are hurting our sisters and brothers in Christ by not supporting them in their time of need.

Some of us will act concerned with others to only run their business to all that we meet. There is too much gossip and backbiting going on in the church body of Christ. The word of God says we are to use our experiences to strengthen others without fear or ridicule and negative feedback. It has to start within each of us. We are the ones who will make the difference. We need to stop judging and teach each other. A little encouragement goes a long way with all we meet. We are to take our trials and tribulations and allow them to strengthen us. We are to allow the Lord to mold us into being more Christ-like. We are in turn to pass our experiences over to encourage others. Let us support and encourage each other as we are one body in Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 3Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

James 1:2-4 2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and

A Good Man is Good – but A Saved Man is the Best!

Recently I have been talking more and more about having a saved man vs. a good man. It was interesting to me to discuss this with sisters. With my pending marriage coming even faster than I ever imagined, there is some nervousness setting in. Nothing earth shaking, just the normal, "what if he...?" kind of questions. Well God being the awesome God that He is, has had me speaking to sisters about why we want a saved man instead of just a good man. It has strengthened my love for the Lord along with my love for Minister Merv.

The word of God says... 2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? It also says...Ephesians 5:22-24 22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Now let us do this part right here. There is a saying that a Good Man is Hard to Find, but a Saved Man is Even Harder! I stand to disagree with this.

The word of God says in Matthew 6:32-34 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Well if the word says that all we need to do is seek the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, all things will be added, doesn't that include your husband too? Does that not mean that our hearts desires will be given unto us?

So why settle for less than what God has for you! Why do I say accepting a good man is less than waiting on the saved man? There is one difference between a saved man and a good man – His name is Jesus! What does a saved man do? A saved man will pray for you, pray with you, and pray about you! A saved man will fast with you, fast for you, and fast about you! A saved man will study the word with you. A saved man will consult the Lord before making a decision and in turn talk things over with you so that both of you are on the same page.

If you do not think that is a big deal...remember this scripture: Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Matthew 18:19-20 19Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

This is a reminder that we are not fighting against each other, this is a reminder that God is with us and that there is "power" or "strength" in numbers in Jesus. If the husband and wife are to be one, then they come together to pray about things, the Lord will answer their call. This is not saying that He will not answer if you are praying alone, but there is truly something in the power of Jesus and when we are all on one accord.

From my own personal experience, there is a stronger presence of the Lord in my home when Minister Merv is here for a visit. I used to think that I was lacking something until I started really reading the scriptures. Of course, there would be a stronger presence of the Lord because there is two of us walking with the Lord and living for the Lord. When Minister Merv comes in the home, he brings the Holy Spirit that dwells in him with him. In essence, there is a "double" portion of the Lord in my home so to speak.

If we are fighting the fight against the enemy, there is "extra" strength that is received with a saved spouse. I have seen my walk with the Lord increase in a level that I did not think possible because of my conversations with Minister Merv. I have seen my increase of reading the word of God and my prayer life increase because of our walk together in Christ. Although my walk is not found solely on our relationship together, our relationship strengthens our walk because we are walking the same walk! Henceforth, a saved man is truly better than a good man!

We have to hold on my sisters and truly be of good courage, waiting on the Lord, for it is His will for us to have all that He has, to live life abundantly right here on earth. I have noticed a HUGE difference in my relationship with Minister Merv and the other relationships in my life and the difference is JESUS!! Walking hand in hand as one in Jesus with our spouse is what we should not only desire but also only accept. A good man is wonderful to have but a saved man is the best to have. Continue to strive for the best in the Lord my sisters by seeking His kingdom first and allowing all the rest to fall in place by doing what He directs you to do!

Do not be Deceived – Tarot Cards, Horoscopes, Physic, and those of such are NOT of God no matter what they try to tell you – it is not of God!

There are plenty of those that are falling into the trap of going to see someone who claims to be a Christian and conducting tarot card readings, and things of the nature of witchcraft...be not deceived, this is a lie from the pit of hell.

I recently visited a web page, which I will not list as that is like promoting, which advertised that for $299.00 she will help you go into yourself and open you up to know  
who you are and help you get that man of your dreams. That is a lie from the pit of hell, she can not deliver the man that God has blessed you with.

She can not even tell you when he is coming either. She does a play on words that can really mess people who are not sure of things to feel hopeful in this situation. She is targeting women of God and I am praying that we as women of God ignore this and move forward in Jesus.

My sisters if you are single and wanting to know where your man is seek the Lord and move forward in Jesus. We are going to start a series on Singleness and moving forward in the Lord being single. Preparing ourselves for the man of God that is coming...this is FREE!! Do not fall for the tricks of many that are done to make them rich. Some of them are so deceived by the enemy that they truly believe what they are doing is all right, some of them have their pastor's backing. Please do not fall for it, stand tall in the Lord. Stay on the strait and narrow path that leads to the Lord and not the wide that leads to destruction!

The scriptures below are references of what the word of God says about all of  
this...

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

2 Kings 21:6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger

2 Kings 23:24 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Galatians 5:20-21 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

I Chronicles 10:13-14 13So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; 14And enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse. (The actual act is located in I Samuel 28)

In closing, if you want to know where your life is headed, to know your future, seek God in all that you do for with His direction you will have life everlasting and joy in life for what lies ahead of you.

Authority

Praise God for a new week in Jesus! I am still just thankful to come before you this week. I really wanted to address something that has been on my mind and heart. Get ready, yes this is a long one! However, aren't they all, you should talk to me, it is much worse!

We are blessed to be here, we are blessed to know the Lord as our Savior, but sometimes we do not realize that we are blessed with authority over the things in our lives. I am thankful to the Lord for my sisters in Christ, Sister Linda and Sister Brandi, who have just blessed me so much with words of encouragement and strength during a trying time of my relationship with my son. My son was diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), well after a trying school year, I am thankful to the Lord for the blessings that He has bestowed upon me through the words of my sisters. The world gave my son a label that does not belong to him.

Sister Linda reminded me about my authority in Jesus that sparked a new learning in me in Christ. I have to smile as the closer I get to God the better things appear to me even when it looks glum, it still looks good. I remember being almost in tears calling her to get some kind of understanding. One of the first things she said to me was, we are not accepting that diagnosis, and it is not Jonathan. Now, I am going to make her laugh with this, but I thought she was nuts and at first the more I listened, the more I thought she was nuts. In the back of my mind, I thought what is she talking about; this is my baby, not some spirit.

Well then here comes Ephesians 6:10-18, how we wrestle not against flesh and blood. My dear sister kept talking to me and I am thankful this day. The more she talked and gave me guidance, with asking questions and using her knowledge of child care, her walk as a parent and her walk with the Lord, by the time we were done, I was praising God and feeling like I could take on an army of ADD children!

What she taught me was two things, there is strength in numbers and reaching out to others and we have authority in Christ to speak things in and out of our lives, and those around us. We were discussing our children, but this goes for all those that we meet. People, who are working our last nerve, speak to that spirit in them, not to them. We have Jesus in us. When we think about it and believe it, there is nothing too hard for God and if the Lord is dwelling in us, there is nothing too hard for those of us that are walking with the Lord!

We have to stop accepting what the world tells us as gold and know that in our faith and walk with the Lord we are made whole. There are sisters and brothers who are suffering needlessly because they do not know how to let it go and go to God. What you find easy for you to accept or let go, is not always easy for the next person because they are made differently than you are. (Thank you Sister Brandi for that wonderful reminder that the Lord have you bless me with as I am going to carry with me for the rest of my life!)

We have to remember that we are all individuals and you do not know what one has been through, do not assume that they should deal with it as you did. Take the time to get to know person, to open up to them and stop being scared of what they think and what might happen to you, do you know that you have authority in Jesus – use that authority to rebuke the mess and be a blessing to those around you.

It is time to truly trust in Jesus!

It says in Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

We are strong in the Lord, we are blessed, for no weapon formed against us shall prosper – so help others and forget what may or may not happen on the negative side. We know that the enemy is coming, so what – we have authority in Jesus – USE IT!

FYI, since I have been speaking life and authority over my son, and I have been doing just as my sister in Christ told me, speaking to that spirit that does not line up with the spirit of the Lord in me, my baby has had more good days in TWO WEEKS than he has had in TWO MONTHS! You cannot tell me that the power of the Lord is dead, the Lord is alive and He is moving. It is not He (Jesus) that fails, but we who do not rely on Him who fails for we just need to walk by faith, speak things into being and take authority in Jesus over all that comes our way.

I know that if you do, you will be like me shouting the victory in Jesus!

**The Joy of the Lord is YOUR strength**

_Nehemiah 8:10_ _Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength._

The joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord it is my strength.

In my dark and weakest hour, your joy is there to give me power. To be what you've called me to be and when I am down, and feeling low, the joy you give it overflows. So I receive, I lift my hands and say

The strength of the Lord is my joy, the strength of the Lord is my joy, and the strength of the Lord is my joy. The joy of the Lord I receive, the joy of the Lord I receive, the joy of the Lord I now receive

###  This is a song that is sung by many artists and in many churches around the world by Christians but how many of us truly understand that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Do you know that the Lord sings over us, that He takes joy in us? Zephaniah 3:17 _The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing._ He loves us so much. I mean have you really sat back and read the word of God and see how much loves us.

If you read the word of God at all, the fact that He showed Adam and Eve love and compassion in the beginning of time is enough for me, but yet and still there are stories after stories speaking about the love of the Lord. How awesome is it that He spared Noah and Noah's family, how He had Abraham become the father of many nations, how He brought Israel out of bondage, and how time after time the Israelites were messing up but God was still with them. How about the story of how Ester who married the king that saved the Israelites yet again. He made moves that sometimes people did not understand at the time but yet and still in the end the Lord was with them and they not only prospered but all those that were with them prospered. The story of Joseph is a prime example of that!

We walk around here day after day with our heads down, worried about this bill and worried about that bill. We are one body of Christ, let us share together and lift each other up in prayer. You have something that is on your mind and really just want someone to talk to or to pray for you – that is what the body of Christ is for that is what we are supposed to do. Sure there are some things that you do not even want to say aloud because the enemy will hear, so let us respect that but everything is not to be that way. Let us remember that the Lord will hear our prayers and answer us for the prayers of the righteous availth much!

We are to come together as one body and make a difference in the world but that difference starts with you – so remember that the Lord is your strength and that He loves you!

So let us remember that the Lord takes joy in us and I am positive that He loves it when we unite together in His name and rely on Him to move things on our behalf and for those around us.

Holy and Salvation

Romans 6:22-23 22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The word of God is awesome and it is truly so wonderful to have His word not just in the Bible in our hands, but also at our fingertips on the computer too. I love it!

I was reading Romans 6 and this just spoke volumes to me. We are called to live a life of holiness and if any one tells you different they are liars for the wages of sin is death – eternal death – dead to Jesus never to know Him. Oh how sad that is, I thank God for yet again another reminder! Let us worship and praise the Lord for our salvation.

I had to mention this, once when Minister Merv was visiting me during our courtship, as he likes to watch some of the Christian channels, and I do not really care for them. He had on one of my "favorite" ministers – who was speaking about I do not know what, as I tuned him out. Minister Merv made a comment that is still with me now, the minister/pastor or whatever he is called, advertised about receiving a text message from him with a word every day for only 18 cents a day, BUT NEVER ONCE MENTIONED SALVATION!

We have allowed our ministers/pastors and other titles to make it so easy to slip from speaking the truth. I thank God for men and women of God who have not forgotten that the main thing to do is to reach those that are out there in the world and so lost – out there in the streets speaking the truth of the Lord to all those that are considered strangers to them. There is nothing wrong with internet ministries as I do a lot on the internet, but there is nothing like getting out there and just introducing the Lord to people who do not know the Lord.

As children of God – we should be sharing the Good News each day of our lives and to all those that we meet. Therefore, that lady on the bus next to you, that man on the train, that young woman/man in line at the grocery store needs to hear the word too. Let us not only preach to the choir but to all those that we meet. Introduce the love of the Lord to all those that we meet, let them know that now is the time to come to the Lord and that it is not yet too late! If you do not have Holy Boldness, ask God to give it to you.

 Jesus sent the disciples out into the world. They were moving about and evangelizing to the world. They were preaching and sharing the gospel with all – so if we are truly called children of God, disciples of Christ, Saints of God, peculiar people, royal priesthood, and a chosen generation – when was the last time you approached a complete stranger and said to them that God is good and so worthy of their praise? Reach out to the dying world and let them know how good God truly is! Remember if you are  ashamed of Him – He will be ashamed of you!

We were all called to be ministers to men and to spread the word of God – let us spread the love of the Lord, gospel and salvation to all those that are in need. I have much respect for street ministers who are out there every single day just spreading the word of God wherever they go and not 'confined' by the fear of what people think! Praise the Lord – let us spread the Lord everywhere we go! Remember that Jesus had 12 disciples who change the way the world viewed Jesus! Just 12 men started the Christian faith – so just one person can make a difference for there is power in the Name of Jesus!

Chapter Five

Rough Times

Chapter Five – Rough Times

We have Power in Jesus!

We have no defeat in the Lord – there is no failure in God, so why do we have a hard time standing in His word and letting things go? Well, we have to look inside of ourselves for that answer and to look to the Lord for direction so that we can stand. His word says that we have power to cast out demons, to over come the trials and tribulations of this world. His word says that if we abide in Him, we will have joy and peace everlasting.

My dear Sister Casandra stated this to me the other day when I was going through a few moments of doubt and just let down..."...the role of the entire body of Christ, asking not What Would Jesus Do (WWJD), but What Did Jesus Do (WDJD)? He spoke life, He ministered, He healed, He delivered, He set free. He did not talk about folks or talk down to people. He never reminded the broken soul of their sin sick situation - He spoke life into them. "Take up thy bed and walk.", "Go and sin no more." "Your sins are forgiven thee." Whenever and whatever He spoke came to pass. Speak life and faith into all your situations. When we speak that which the scriptures say, the signs that follow a believer will manifest themselves in us. Amen."

Praise the Lord for the encouragement of Sisters and Brothers in Christ, the Lord is awesome in moving us. I was feeling very low that day. I was standing on His word, trusting what His word say, calling on Him to bring me out of the beginning stages of depression. See I know what sets me off to go into that mood, so I know to start calling on Him and seeking the prayers of my sisters in Christ. Praise the Lord for the prayers of the righteous availeth much. The Lord is awesome for in all things the Lord is keeping me! He keeps us but we have to be willing to listen to Him and follow His direction.

I was talking with Minister Merv during the Living Victorious radio show and made the statement that I could not leave the Lord; the Holy Spirit in me just is not allowing me. Thank You Jesus – when you come to have a relationship with Him and listen to the Holy Spirit directing you and you try to step out of line – oh the speaking to your very spirit is so loud that it can be deafening. I thank God for His Holy Spirit for the enemy is trying to kill, steal and destroy me but the Lord is my light, He is my salvation and I shall not want for a thing for He has me covered in the blood of Jesus!! Hallelujah Jesus for you are our savior and we shall stand on your promises!

These scriptures help me when I am fighting against the enemy in the fight for my mind and soul:

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Luke 10:18-20 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Luke 9:1-2 1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

Psalm 18:1-3 1I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Psalm 28:6-9 6Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. 7The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. 8The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. 9Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Psalm 33:20-21 20Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. 21For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name

Psalm 40:4-5 4Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 5Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

We are Healed

The thought that we are more than conquers through Christ, that we are peculiar people, we are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation just rings in my head. We are so much more in Christ than we ever truly move on. I thank God for showing me how blessed we truly are and I am standing in the promises of God and moving forward in Him. We do not have to hold our heads down or think less of ourselves; we are blessed and should walk as though we are.

One of my sisters and I were talking about the scripture below and one of the things I said to her was that I still have emotional scars from my past but I am healed by Jesus. Well I am not there to a complete healing because I have not let it all go, but you know what this is something that I can claim and stand tall in knowing that I am blessed to be healed from my past.

So many times people are claiming material things when they really need to claim spiritual, emotional, and mental healings first and let the material things come later! I know that first and foremost I want to be as God wants me to be and He wants me to be WHOLE IN HIM! Praise the Lord so let us stop worrying about what we do not have and start to focus on our relationship with the Lord and not for material gain but our eternal life gain! Praise God!!!

Isaiah 53:4-6 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This scripture kept coming up in my conversations, it was sent to me by a friend and we discussed it for a minute, then I was talking to three other sisters and reference this scripture. Okay, we know that there is really no "favorites" in the scriptures because it is the words of God and so important, but this one was just singing volumes to me. I have heard people use it mostly when they are discussing illness and it can refer to that too, but I am thankful that God meant so much more with this scriptures. He healed ALL US!! He healed our spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, all aspects of our beings! His death and resurrection has made it so that we can walk with our heads up, His birth, death, and resurrection has made it possible that all the things of our past we can leave there and walk ahead.

He has made it so that the pain that we have is gone. All pain no matter what it is, whether it is a failed marriage, a failed relationship/friendship, misuse, abuse, loneliness, physical pain, illness, mental illness, anything at all that we are going through, Jesus took it to the cross and rose again with all power in His hands and in walking with Him we have power. I think it is just awesome how no matter what is going on – we are healed!

Even in the simple things, the little everyday things – God has given us power through His Holy Spirit but we have to be with the Lord in the manner that He is requiring of us to receive this power, we have to truly be saved in Him! We have to repent, be baptized, and filled with His Holy Spirit AND live a Holy Life in Him! Praise the Lord for that!!! No one is perfect no matter how long we have walked with the Lord and we all fall short of the grace of God but we are to still not use that as an excuse and walk as God has called us to walk, if we walk with Him – we are healed. All those things that are bothering you, that you are struggling with whether it is your job, your children, your husband, your intended, your family, your car, your money, or every aspect of your life – God has healed you!

When I think of it in that manner – I smile and thank the Lord for I am healed!! Those 10 years of being abused and hurt and just torn down and those 20 some years of allowing myself to be mistreated by those that I met are GONE!! Praise God – sure I will have pain and hurt but it does not have to consume me!! Praise the Lord – we do not have to be consumed by the hurts of this world – we can truly have joy in the Lord and allow the Joy of the Lord to consume us! Praise His name!!

No need to stomp on the enemy – just ignore him – he is not worth the hassle

Isaiah 26:3-4 3Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

We hear it in songs, we hear it in sermons, we hear other Christians say "Stomp on the Devil". This is because he is under our feet, but why even waste your time stomping on the enemy, why not just ignore him and rest in Jesus.

2 Chronicles 20:17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

2 Chronicles 32:7-8 7Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: 8With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Psalm 37:6-8 6And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. 7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 8Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 6Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Why give the enemy any more attention than he all ready has? He is the prince of the air  (Ephesians 2:1-3), but Jesus is the prince of power!! (Romans 14:11-12) We have to remember that the Lord does not permit what we can not handle to come upon us.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations like Job, having all that was given unto us stripped away. Let us not even concern ourselves with those things and stand in the word of God. For when we stand in the word of God and do not rebuke Him because of what happens to us, then we become stronger in faith, trust, patience, understanding and love! We have to ignore the enemy.

Have you ever had someone that really just keeps bothering you with the same thing repeatedly, in most cases, if you just ignore them, they will leave you alone. There are some cases where ignoring them does not work, that the situation picks up more. Well as a child of God, you can ignore the enemy, he will eventually stop using that area to come against you because he sees that you are ignoring him. Remember though that sometimes when you least expect it, he throws it back at you. For example, during my 5 long years of bankruptcy, I got used to the lack of money and just stopped looking at payday as there was little money then. I turned my concentrations on the Lord, so I ignored the enemy. Well after the bankruptcy was done, I thought I had it done and over with no worries about money could haunt me because I had come through that. Well the enemy reared its ugly head and almost got me to just start to cuss someone out over money that was due to me. Hummmm, as I was talking with the employee of the company who was giving me a hassle, the Holy Spirit said, why bother – the money is still yours! AMEN!! I stopped fussing and thanked her, to let it go into the hands of the Lord. So see the enemy sometimes tries to make it impossible to ignore him, but the Lord will remind you that you can.

So why stomp out the devil as that acknowledges him, why not just ignore him and know that all things are working for your good if you are the called according to His purpose! AMEN!!!!

Are you sitting there wondering what is going on in your life? Are you sitting there and just want to know why things are going that way or that way? Change your focus – take your focus and not think about why – think why not me!

When we get some not so great news remember what Jesus came to do and what the enemy wants to do...

John 10:9-11 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

What the enemy meant to depress us can blessed us. How are you blessed? When I was upset – what did I do? Did I cry, did I pick up my cigarettes – did I cuss – did I get depressed – NOPE – I TURNED TO JESUS!! We need to remember where our help comes from – we need to remember that in all things Jesus is our help.

#### Psalm 18:1-3 1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

So how do we start to feel better – Jesus' words – the words of our Lord and Savior – His spirit ministering to our very being – telling us that He is still in charge. Just because we did not get what we wanted does not mean that we have been defeated!! Just because we do not get our way does not mean that we are less of a person, does not mean that we will not be blessed anyways.

It is our trials and tribulations that bring us closer to the Lord and brings us more peace, patience, love, faith, joy!!! When we are faced with issues – we need to run to Jesus and only Jesus! The Holy Spirit will start bringing the word of God to your mind and bringing you to the point of praise yet again!

Praise the Lord for each time will be a shorter time of "lost" than the time before! See each time we are to get stronger in Jesus! Praise His name for all that He is doing.

Remember what the enemy means to depress us will bless us!!!

Holding on!

Sometimes we find ourselves holding on. We will feel the fight within us – we will find our spirit man and our flesh fighting inside of us. I have been experiencing that for the last three days. I keep telling myself

Ephesians 6:11-24 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. 21But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things: 22Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. 23Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen

So when we are going through – keep standing and moving as God directs us to do. If you feel like you are not hearing from Him – keep standing in His word and some times just sit still and wait until you hear from Him.

P raise God for all things!

His Yoke is Easy – His Burden is Light

Matthew 11:25-30 25At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 27All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

As I read Sister Carla's blog on – Be Yourself (Know Who You are In the Lord) – it got me to thinking that many not only do not know themselves, they do not even like who they are when they stare in the mirror. I am not talking about just the unsaved, but many saved Christians, walking with the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We are often thinking and looking at life through our own eyes and it hinders us, it slows us down and blocks so many blessings. We should be doing as the word of God says to do. We should be turning it over to the Lord. His words are encouragement. His directions are clear. His love is pure. There are sisters in Christ suffering from things that are beyond our own comprehension, some of us can relate and some of us can just show sympathy. We all have pain, hurt, secrets, and a past, but the Lord through it all was there with us, and He has laid down His life for us. He left His place in glory, came down here amongst us (humankind) and loved us while He was here on earth, despite all that was done to Him. He went to the cross, with no sin to claim of His own, took all our burdens, our pain, our hurt, our agony, our secrets, our sorrows, our despair, our self-pity, our low self-esteem, our pride issues, our vain issues, our suffering, and all things that are strongholds in our lives to the grave with Him. He took it all on and what did He do – He rose again as Our Lord & Savior.

But my sisters here is the one thing that we have a tendency to forget – He rose with ALL POWER IN HIS HANDS!! He did not rise with some power, or just a little bit to get over some what – He rose with ALL POWER in His hands – there is nothing for us to worry or to fret – Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has handle it all. We sit around sometimes, myself included, stressed over things that are just not worth the time of day because the Lord has it all under control.

So I just wanted to remind my sisters in Christ two things this day:

First: When we receive Him in our lives, by confession of our sins, repenting, baptized, and filled with the Holy Spirit – which is God – we have all power in us – in the name of Jesus – things will be changed. We should walk with the love and power of the Lord in us. Yes, we can speak things into existence, why because we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us – which is the power of the Lord dwelling in us. In His name we can cast out demons, we can speak mountains out of our lives, we just have to have faith and believe.

Second: Matthew 11:28-30 28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Third: Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. We are MORE THAN conquers in Jesus.

When we are going through something – just go to the word of God and allow God to do what He does best – heal, save, love, and take care of us 100% - there is no one like Jesus!

###

#### Psalm 32:10-11 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. 11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

#### PRAISE THE LORD!!! Think about it – when we trust the Lord there is nothing that can come at us and mess us up. When we put our trust in the Lord we will be glad, rejoice, shout and just be happy no matter what. Things come at us for a reason – to destroy us. We need to remember that we have VICTORY in the Lord and in all things we are to praise the Lord. We have to remember where our help comes from and know that all things are possible in Jesus! We are blessed people of God – Let us rejoice and be happy that we are blessed.

#### We woke up this morning – that in itself is a blessing. If you can walk, talk, sing, move, or even just blink your eyes – it is a blessing unto the Lord. We are to acknowledge Him in every single aspect of our lives – not part of the time but all of the time! Let us praise the Lord for this day!

### By His Stripes

### Isaiah 53:4-6 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

By His Strips, we are healed – this is just not about our bodies that the Lord is talking about here. We are healed in all aspects of our lives. We have to see that our lives are healed; everything that we are dealing with is healed in Jesus.

So all those things that you are going through is not necessary for you to worry about, nothing for you to cry about – you are healed. All that pain and hurt from your past – healed. All the aches and pains of your body, healed. All the financial issues of your life, healed. All the blessings of God, given!

It is up to us to walk as God called us to walk – remember we can ask anything in His name and it shall be given if we trust and believe that it is so. (Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.)

We need to trust in the Lord and know that all things belong to us as long as we are in His will, we shall receive. (Matthew 6:32-34 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.)

So this day know that all things are in the control of God and do not worry – YOU ARE HEALED!!

Blessed

Isaiah 53:4-6 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Peter 2:23-25 23Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

We are more than conquers in Jesus. This day we are blessed and truly, the love of the Lord shines on us. We are in the land of the living with the opportunity to praise Him, worship Him, to trust Him, to have faith in Him and to allow His will to be done in our lives.

We do not have to dwell in the negative, we do not have to think of it, if we choose not to do so, for the Lord has all control and all power in His hands. We are healed by His stripes. We are healed in all aspects of our lives, from our pain, hurt, illnesses, afflictions, woes and just everything that is negative in our lives. Jesus Christ is here for US! He died for US!

Let us rejoice this day in knowing that no matter what comes your way this day, the Lord is with you and if you rest in Him – you will have peace, joy, and life everlasting!

We love you in Jesus!

Chapter Six

Praise Time

Chapter Six – Praise Time

Keep Running in Jesus

We are blessed to be in a new day! Praise the Lord for all that He is doing this day for us! We are to rejoice in Jesus this day because we are truly a blessed generation in the Lord. We are still able to walk around and say how awesome God is without fear of being in prison – the only prison that we find ourselves in is in our minds! Free yourself from the prison of your mind and truly worship the Lord in truth!

John 4:23-24 23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Romans 7:24-25 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

It is with our minds that we serve the Lord so no matter what is coming your way, stand for all those things of God and watch Him bring you through. We have much in our lives - in the last 10 years, the last 5 years, the last 6 months, the last 2 months, the last 2 weeks, the last 2 days, the last 2 hours, the last 2 seconds – in other words – there is always something going on. As the song says – we are blessed, we are blessed, Jesus continues to bless us with grace and mercy every second of the day and we are not to give up.

Do not give up this day – keep running for your life in Jesus – keep looking to the Lord for all your decisions and direction! I am here to tell you that the Lord will keep you and He will never leave you! Keep running for your life – you are truly worth it!! I want to worship with you in Heaven! Keep running for your life!!

Remember God dwells in the praises of His people.

Blessed in Jesus

Psalm 23  
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou  
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Praise the Lord! Do you realize that:

  * We are blessed because we know the Lord; we are no longer walking in darkness but in the newness of life.

  * We are blessed because the Lord is our shepherd and we shall not want.

  * We are blessed because there is no failure in God.

  * We are blessed - we are blessed - we are blessed.

  * We have to walk with that on our minds every single second of the day - that we  
know the Lord and we are blessed just because we know Him

  * We have nothing to fear, we have nothing to want, we need nothing for we know  
Him.

  * We have no need to worry - what a blessing that is!!

  * We have no need to want for anything because He supplies our every need - we are blessed. This day just remember as we move forward that we are blessed in the Lord.

  * We are blessed because we know Him.

You want more blessings, more peace, more joy, more love, more of all that life has to  
offer - get to know Jesus even more than you do now! He is there - He will never leave  
nor forsake you!

Praise His Holy Name for all eternity!

Have a wonderful and blessed day in the Lord because WE ARE BLESSED!

#### I Will Bless the Lord

#### Psalm 16 1Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. 2O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; 3But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 4Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. 5The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. 6The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. 7I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 8I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

I will bless the Lord, I will bless the Lord, I will bless the Lord for He alone is worthy of all of my praise!! This is part of a song that is sung at my home church. It is truly a song that is on my heart today. God is so worthy of our praise; God is so worthy of all of our love, our time and all that we have, for only He is truly worthy of it all.

When we stop to think about how awesome the Lord is, how can we doubt Him and His word. I was doing some reading and trying to find a verse for one of my Good Morning emails and the Lord blessed me with the following scripture...

#### Jeremiah 10:10-14 10But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. 11Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. 12He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. 13When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. 14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

When I read those verses, they stand out to me each verse standing for something this day! I am thankful to the Lord for all He does in my life and I truly want to encourage each of you to stand tall in the Lord and know that He is the one and only true God. Take the time today to read the scriptures listed above and truly hear what they are saying to you! We are not alone – we are blessed when we have Jesus and follow His word!

God Bless and Remember that the prayers of a  righteous man availeth much – all it takes is one person to make a difference! Amen!

From the heart

So many of us are struggling in this life and I had to stop today after reading a sister's writings that I know God directed her to write and say – where is my relationship with the Lord? Is my relationship with the Lord where it could be, is it where it should be? Am I doing all that I can to be what God has told me, called me, and instructed me to be? Am I truly giving my all to Jesus?

Those questions we need to ask ourselves every single day of our lives and not wait to ask ourselves at the end of our lives. Am I lacking in my life, yes I am lacking in some areas of my life were the Lord is concerned, and I pray that God will continue to show me grace and mercy while I change my focus to His will for my life.

I thank God for the reminders that He sends to us that we need so much from Him. I am thankful to God for it is great to be mindful of your relationship with the Lord, and how we should never get into a routine with our relationship with the Lord. I had to smile, as we know that life can be routine and when it gets to that point, we tend to get bored. There is no such thing as boredom in the Lord so we better check our relationship in the Lord if we find that things are just moving along the same! Praise God for the writings of my dear Sister Lisa for it was a reminder to me not to sit in the same place for too long because I am getting older and my bones will settle and nothing good will come of that!

Let us be mindful that our salvation in the Lord is first in our lives, we are to truly seek the face of the Lord every single day for we do not know when the Lord shall return to us and we must be prepared and doing His work!

#### Colossians 3:1-4 1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

#### Romans 12:1-2 1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

### 1 Peter 2:8-10 8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; 10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

GRACE AND MERCY!!

We are truly blessed by the grace and mercy of the Lord! Jesus is with us always and He has never left us! Praise His Name.

GRACE AND MERCY!! Praise the Lord for His grace and mercy! Do we even truly understand the blessing of Grace and Mercy? Okay – I know I have said this before but the very fact that God grants every single human being grace and mercy every single day of our lives. We are granted it and not even aware of it.

Most of us when we were in the world, we were running around doing "our thing" not even aware of the grace and mercy that we were granted. We actually thought we were getting up on our own accord. We actually believed that we held our lives in our own hands. Now do not get me wrong – we do hold our destiny in our own hands, we have a choice and it is up to us to make the right choice as making the wrong choice, we will end up in the pit of hell with the enemy. If our choice is Jesus and live according to His will and way for our lives, then we are going to end up with Him for all eternity.

His grace and mercy for us allows us to make that decision, His grace and mercy grants us yet another day to turn our lives over time His will. His grace and mercy gives us the opportunity to not do it our way and try to get our act together before coming to Christ but shows us that He is the one that gets our act together by being with Him and listening to Him not ourselves.

We are made to worship the Lord, we are granted new grace and mercy every day. Now I hear all the time from people "God is not done with me yet" and yes, God is the potter and we are the clay, but we have to be willing to be the clay. Some days we are willing participants for we are following to the best of our ability going to church, helping each other and moving as God directs us. He grants us grace and mercy to get through that day just as much as He grants us grace and mercy when we are not doing His will and following our flesh!

So many of us are busy saying we are trying to get this straight and trying to get that straight in our lives and forget that God has granted us grace and mercy to live this life. Even the strongest Christian has faults and out of line with the will of God at some point – but Jesus' grace and mercy is what we need and what He has for us. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to wake up each day with the love, grace and mercy of the Lord! Praise His name for His wondrous way!

So this day I am thankful for God's grace and mercy that He has bestowed on me – not just today but for all of my life! He will never stop as long as I am here on this earth for our Lord and Savior is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him! Praise the Lord for the New Day with New Grace and Mercy – do not take it for granted for God has blessed you with a gift!

Praise the Lord and keep standing on the promises of Jesus

In Closing

In Closing

First let me thank you for reading – The Truth of Alissa Lynne II, may it have been a blessing and encouragement for you to read this day. I pray that you will continue to stand in the word of God and allow Him to direct your life.

As the founder of Women Living 4 Jesus Ministries, (WL4J), I would not be doing my duty if I did not take the time to explain the organization to you and remind you that we are here for you.

Who is WL4J (Women Living 4 Jesus)

WL4J is an organization dedicated to supporting and uplifting the name of Jesus by encouraging, supporting and assisting our sisters in Christ and yet to come to Christ.

WL4J established in October 2007 with the vision of reaching the broken, caught in strongholds, and bounded sisters who are walking around each day feeling the weight of the world and not being free in Christ.

We are currently seeking status as a non-profit organization. We do not solicit donations from individuals, although we do accept them, but we seek to assist individuals with clothing, shelter, food, financial, spiritual, and training along with workshops, to not just move forward but also move forward in Christ, free from the bonds of life.

Our assistance does not just end with conversation, prayer and encouragement; it is just the beginning of what we do. We are building lasting relationships in Christ and truly seeking to function as one body in Christ by utilizing the skills and talents of our sisters in Christ to help others.

We believe in blessing others as we are blessed.

Our motto is simple:

We are here for our sisters

One Sister at a time

We are on the internet with our social community where sisters can receive encouragement, conversation/discussions, and all around support. There are no limits on what we discuss in life. We are open for all discussion with our sisters, as we no longer live in bondage under the ways of keeping silent. We have learned that sometimes in silence, we remain tormented by the enemy but when we speak things into life, we are blessed.

At WL4J, we believe we are to line ourselves up with the word of God and that in doing all things according to the will and word of God is the only way to live. We all fall short of the glory of God and have struggles dealing with life. It is through knowing where we stand can we stand taller. Our workshops are Christian Holiness base teachings along with a keep it real aspect to what is being said during the workshops. Our workshops are available also in a Retreat and Conference setting, with some special guidelines to the forum of the retreat/conference. All our workshops held are in an instructive with open forum atmosphere.

WL4J has an on line talk show, located on the Talk Shoe Internet Radio Network. This talk show is at least once a week, discussing issues and things related to women of God. We offer online workshops via our talk show along with twice a month fellowship calls where sisters can come together and talk about the goodness of the Lord. Our radio show is located at www.talkshoe.com/tc/11529 Check out our schedule and come visit us live during a show, you can listen in, call in, just chat or do all three. All of our shows are archived for listening during a time most available for you.

WL4J also offers a weekly newsletter on Mondays. Each newsletter arrives in your morning emails with information, writings and encouragement to get through our lives in Jesus. If you are interested in receiving a newsletter, send an email to subscribe@womenliving4jesus.org

Sister Alissa Lynne also sends out every morning (Monday to Friday) a "Good Morning" Inspirational – Get our day started email. If you would like to receive this daily email, please send an email to sisteralissalynne@comcast.net and she will ensure that you are added to our Good Morning Email Subscriber List.

At WL4J, we encourage all our sisters to continue to stand in the word of God doing it all in the name of Jesus. If you would like to know more about us, come visit us at our two locations on the internet.

Our web site is www.womenliving4jesus.org

Our Social Community is www.womenliving4jesus.ning.com

Our Email Address is: contactus@womenliving4jesus.org

Feel free to visit also our sister site – Living Victorious at www.livingvictorious.com

We praise God for each of you and pray to hear from you soon.

Remember we are here for our sisters – One Sister at a Time!

God Bless,

Love your sisters in Christ

Women Living 4 Jesus

The Truth of Alissa Lynne II

In the "The Truth of Alissa Lynne II", we are blessed with her own thoughts on life and our walk with the Lord. This book is yet another insight of Sister Alissa Lynne in encouraging and inspirational writings to all. Her tell it like it is attitude is still refreshing in a world of untruth and dishonesty.

Sister Alissa Lynne shares with us her thoughts on how she relates the way of the world to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sister Alissa Lynne is the wife of Minister Mervyn Griffith, Jr. and mother of one son, Jonathan. She is the founder of Women Living 4 Jesus Ministries and co-founder of Living Victorious Ministries. Sister Alissa Lynne is continuing to step out on faith and move forward as God has instructed us to do.

Come and read the truths yet again from Sister Alissa Lynne

