Hold Out

Sometimes we go through this period in life where things just look bleak. It literally feels like the weight of the world is resting on your shoulders.At times it may even seem like it's you against the world and there is no one you can trust. I know it's early and it's been a while since I posted but I really feel like this word is for somebody this morning. The bible says that weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning Psalm 30:5. At times life just flat out sucks but we have to trust God because at the end of our trials and tribulations there will be joy. That is one of God's promises he sent to us in his word. I know the wait is not easy but we just have to Hold Out and trust God! You may be crying yourself to sleep every night or you may be harboring hate and jealousy in your heart towards other people...Let That GO! Dewayne Woods it right when he sang these lyrics
As soon as I stop worrying, worrying how the story ends
I let go and I let God let God have his way
That's when things start happening
I'll stop looking at back then
I let go and I let God
Let God Have his way
I pray believing that today that God will make a way for you..Hold Out.

Are We Settling???

Today while I was at service at Living Grace Church I heard a message that pretty much rocked my world. There was a man named JT who shared his testimony of stepping out on faith and living outside of his comfort zone. As he told his story my mind was racing at the thought of how easy it is to become complacent and get comfortable. If my life were to be put on film for the world to watch I would want them to never get bored! We have to dream big and reach for all that God has in store for us. When we minimize God we miss out on blessings that he has in store for us. I am really going to make it my prayer that God breaks my heart from what breaks his. I want my heart to beat like his! I want God to birth visions in my life and use me to do incredible things for the kingdom! Satan knows my weaknesses and I tend to doubt things because I fear failure. In order for God to use me I need to fully trust his will for my life. Even if it means that at some point God has to knock me down.....(save that for later). God is too big for me to live a safe, comfortable life I'm going to have to be willing to risk it all for Christ's cause! I refuse to settle with anything in life if I do it I'm going in. I refuse to settle!

God take my life and let it be all to you and for your glory and break my heart from the things that breaks yours. I allow you to have full reign in my life no matter what the cost!-Amen

That is a very dangerous prayer to pray but I mean every word from the bottom of my heart! At the end of the day only what you do for Christ will last #neversettle -Go Hard or Go Home

It's Not a Genre....It's a Lifestyle!

So I am sitting here and wondering which one of my thoughts that I want to pin down today. I have so many things running through my head but one thing I heard over the weekend is standing out greatly...This past weekend was an incredible weekend of worship and just being in God's presence. At the U.N.I.T.Y.(aka the baddest choir in the area) concert this weekend God was showing out! In the middle of our 2nd set of songs Nate Bean came up and made a statement before his song, Made to Worship, that has just been stuck on my mind. The statement was, " Many people have made praise and worship a genre but it is not....It is a lifestyle!" Wow what an incredible statement and he was absolutely right! In our society and generation I think church has become a business and praise worship is a genre stemming off from that. Praise&Worship cannot be confined to one area but it has to be in every area of our lives. We have to live a lifestyle of a praise&worshipper. God made us to worship him! It does not end when the praise team finishes their 30 mins set on Sundays it goes way beyond that! We have to have the mindset that God is the CEO and we are going to be all about his business! So in every aspect of my life he will be glorified and forever worshipped. In my darkest hour and worst situation I am determined to praise God because he is worthy and it is the best weapon I have. Our praise is our weapon! We wrestle not against flesh and blood....it's a spiritual battle. (All out Warfare) Just in case you missed what I said let's rewind and I'll say it again<=======OUR PRAISE IS OUR WEAPON! When all else fails we still have our praise and God is still worthy of all the worship! Here's the thing..... You cannot praise and worship what you do not know! I know God to be my everything-Let's go there for a second....He's my healer, my deliver from tough situations, My restorer, my best friend, my father when I didn't have one and most importantly he's my KING that died and bled for me! See I know exactly who I'm praising and worshipping and that is why it is my everyday lifestyle not just a time on Sunday morning or a genre of music! I want to challenge everyone to re-evaluate praise and worship...Is it a genre of music/just something you do on Sun. mornings/nights or is an authentic lifestyle? You may ask me Jasmine how do I make it a lifestyle???

Step 1- You have to know what or who your worshipping!- If you have never had an encounter with the creator and been forever changed then you can never grasp this! In order to be a praise and worshipper the very first thing is knowing who and what your worshipping! An authentic encounter and relationship with God is a must! You cannot praise/worship what or who you do not know! Get to know Jesus because he is good and is worthy of all the praise and worship.

Step 2. You must understand praise&worship requires Unconditional Surrender....No matter what the situation is you must praise God! In any condition good or bad God is still good and very worthy of all our praise&worship!

Step 3- It is not always easy but he's worth it! God is worthy and in some places and times in our lives it may not be easy to praise&worship but God is surely worth it all! I've searched all over and I have not found anybody that can do me like Jesus! There is NOBODY Greater than him!

I challenge you to get to know him, surrender to him and Just WORSHIP him!

Sincerely,

-Chosen Anointed& Called-

I'm Back!!!

Hey blogworld!!!! You probably thought I forgot about you but I haven't! I'm still here just been super busy with the holidays and all....but I have some awesome stuff to pen down for you. Over the past month I've struggled with some crazy questions and thoughts...it's crazy forreal! God has taught me lessons and just really revealed a whole lot to me. In 2011 my theme for the year is just to Expect the Great. Jonathan Nelson nailed it down in that song! This year I'm having a new outlook on everything in life-It's Time to Do It Big- Whether it be in school, work or church I'm not slacking off I'm doing it Big. If I've learned one thing it is that we need to Dream Big and Do It Big but all at the same time we need to KEEP IT REAL! That would have to be the number one lesson that God has taught me over this little bit. It's so easy to spot someone being fake from a mile away and it's very unattractive....especially in the CHURCH! This disease of Plastic Christianity has to stop. ((-We have to be transparent in order to reach the lost-)) Just Saying...I am by no means perfect nor do I claim to be but I do serve a perfect God who makes ALL things new! I have made loads of mistakes but God is gracious and he has his hand on me!(we'll save that for a later blog) Anyways I could go on and on but just stay tuned for more!

Keep It Real by Being Real

Chasing After You

Do I have any God Chasers in the building? Is there anybody out there who is really seeking the will of God for their life? Is there anybody that is just Chasing after God so hard that they cannot stand it? Well I know for one thing I'm at a point in my life where I just hunger and thirst for God. My song for the season has been Chasing After You by Bishop Paul S. Morton! I'm Chasing After You no matter what I have to do, I need you more and more! Through the years I've learned a lot as a person, friend, daughter, sister, cousin, student but most importantly as a Christian. As I look over my life I see that I have been truly BLESSED all the way around the board. God has opened so many doors for me, but I also realized I am not walking fully into what God wants me to walk into. I was not Chasing after God I was simply going through the motions. I let school, friends, family, and this may even sound crazy but church come between my relationship with him. Let's straighten something out just because your in church working does not mean your personal relationship with God is where it needs to be. That is a major misconception people have about Christians we go through just like everybody else and we have flaws just like everyone else. The difference is we known someone greater who loves us with our flaws and all-Jesus Christ. As I began to drift from God I could see I wasn't trusting him with all the problems in my life either. All that is over I have walked into a new season that God wants me in. I'm chasing after God with all my might. I'm praising my way through my only desire is to be closer Lord to you-I'm Chasing After You! We all need to examine ourselves, our motives, and our actions to be sure that they are lining up with the will of God! When you do things out of selfish ambition or to get back at somebody your not doing it out of LOVE<-( that's for a later time)! Back to today's topic-->If your not Chasing After God than you have to be chasing after something else! What are wasting all your energy towards chasing? Use that fuel to Chase after God and he will continue to refuel you! Chasing After God never gets old...Try It!

I Work...I Thrist...I WIN!

So I'm at the gym working out and I am super tired. So, as soon as I finish working out what do you think my next move will be? Well....if you're smart you would have said that I am going to get a drink, specifically water! Anytime we are doing work we get tired and we need water to restore our body so we can back and continue what we started. God calls us to carry out his work until it is completed no matter what the costs. So as Christians we MUST be Thristy for God. The bible says we need to hunger and Thrist for rightoueness! So if we are doing our part as the body of Christ and putting in work we are going to get thristy. The harder we work the more thristythat we are going to become. As Christians we have to be Thristy! If our hearts and souls are not longing for the living water of Jesus to consume us then we need to stop dead in our tracks and Get THRISTY. Those who drink from this well will never have to worry about it running dry! So as Christians if we are not Thirsty then we must be doing something wrong. This word right here came from my big sis Shajuana Ditto (srditto.blogspot.com) I Work....I Thirst.....I WIN! All of those things work hand in hand if we are not working then we will not be thristy for more. Which means if we never work then we will never win. Every team has to come together and put in work in order to be successful and pull off the WIN. When I looked up the word WIN in Webster's dictionary there were several ways to define the word. As I looked over the list of options there was one that just stood out. To win means to capture territory! We need to go capture that lost territory that Satan has such an incredible hold on. Christians let's DO WORK, Stay THRISTY, and in the end we will WIN! I work... I thrist.... I WIN........

Give Us Clean Hands

Here lately I have just developed a great DISGUST towards the church. I'm not talking about any single church building but I am talking directly to the body of Christ. Why is it when God calls us to be a people of order (1 Corinthians 14:40) and to do things decently and in order we are so dysfunctional? I am sick and tired of this! You may ask am I angry? Am I disappointed? Am I confused Am I fed up!?...just a little! We as Christians have complicated the gospel and turned it into something that it was never intended to be. It troubles me to know that we try to be leaders in the kingdom of God but our hands look like we been mud wrestling. In most cases that is exactly what we been doing! Because we are stuck in this flesh we wrestle in sin and that does nothing but separate us from God. Do we all sin and fall short of God's glory? Yes, Romans 3:23 clearly states that but the problem is when our audio talk does not match our video walk! As Christians especially CHRISTIAN LEADERS we need to get our stuff together. God does not and will not continue to bless mess! It does not go together no way no how! I am not sure how much longer God is going to hold back his wrath on this generation because we are so LUKEWARM! Live like the person that God has called and ordained you to be. We CANNOT live defeated! Choose to be victorious daily! As a leader in the body of Christ I cannot and will not let Satan get the best of my ministry. I will not set back and let people with dirty hands block what the spirit is trying to do. Guys it's time we get real and STOP ignoring corrupt behavior. Wrong is wrong and right is right bottom line! If you know you are not living the life you proclaim stay out Sunday school ministry, don't get up in the choir stand, get off the deacon board, get off the usher board, lay down your apron culinary staff, resign today youth leaders who ARE NOT serious b/c we need serious leaders to capture this generation, PLEASE do not get up and perform in the drama teams and get out the pulpits so God can move us foward! I'm just so done with playing church! I am seeking restoration in all parts of my life especially in my friendships because I am tired of making a mockery of God. We need to go ALL IN or else we will GIVE IN to Satan and his schemes! NO more I am DONE. Lord I pray that you Give Us Clean Hands and let it begin with me! Give Us Clean Hands and Give Us PURE Hearts!