A Grace that Covers

Some people live amazing lives in the world’s eyes. They are philanthropist, humanitarians, authors, musicians, painters etc. It’s easy to get up and talk about the lives of people that we think are amazing because WE think that they are amazing, but what about the condition of their hearts. The truth is that we can be whoever we want to be to the world. We can put on a face and fake it ‘til we make it, but God sees the true us. He sees the us that we neatly tuck away to the rest of world. He sees the tears, hurts, fears, medication, sleepless nights, and so much more. The major fault in this is that people don’t give every area of their lives over to God so that we can actually be those great people that we present to the world.

God specializes in messes. I should know because I am one. So many times I want to hide and pretend, but God sees right through me. He sees me when I can’t sleep and when I want to do right, but end up failing. There are some days that I fail and I want to beat myself up, but the lover of my soul is always there to cover me with his grace. I’m an advocate for Jesus, because I know how He saves.

Sometimes it’s hard to look past people in order to please God. We all want to be liked, but we should be more concerned with pleasing Him. So what if you didn’t get invited to the office after party, the true reward is in heaven when God says “Well done my good and faithful servant”. I want to be a good and faithful servant. Every day I need His help. I don’t exactly seek him as I should, but those are the very days that I feel the effects of not spending time with my father. God has a way of making my whole world right when I am with Him. He knows Janina. He knows my emotions, He sees my impatience, and He knows my faults. I thank God for his unmerited favor because it is a covering even when I don’t deserve it. I know that I am undeserving in every way and that helps me see His love all the more because it shows up in those times when God should abandon me. I am so thankful that God is nothing like man. I’m thankful that God is nothing like me. I’m thankful that God is making me more like Him and less like the world.

The process of being made in His image hurts. It hurts a lot. The flesh has to die so that His spirit can live through you. There are times that I have to repent and apologize to both man and God.

Whether you are waking up or going to bed, lets thank Jesus for his grace and for the fact that He loves us <3 Let’s thank the father for the gift of communion with Him. I personally thank God for the fact that He has never failed me. I thank Him for those private blessings that he gives me. I’m thankful that I know what it’s like to be in His presence. I pray today that you feel His presence. I pray that we all learn to be quiet so that we can listen to Him as he speaks. Lord interrupt our day with your presence and allow us to show the same grace that you shower on us each day. In Jesus name, Amen. #AGRACETHATCOVERS

Recommended Reading "And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV).

“What will separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or violent death separate us from his love. As Scripture says: "We are being killed all day long because of you. We are thought of as sheep to be slaughtered." The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can't be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation. (Romans 8:35-39 GWT).

Encouragement: Be encouraged today. God is ready and willing to forgive you. All you have to do is ask Him. God will not condemn you for your past. He loves you no matter what you have done and He has a future in Him waiting for you <3 God loves you, know that! “In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Whoever you are, whatever it is, give it over to God. He is faithful and can make it right <3 You must know that all things are working for your good beloved <3

Comments

Take Off the Old Rags and Put on the New Garment

Have you ever had a childhood item that you loved? That thing may be worn, dirty, and falling apart, but you hold on to it because of sentimental value such as the memories attached to it . That item could be anything. It could be cloths, a toy, or even a picture. In many of our lives the old sentimental thing that we hold on to is our sin. We attach unhealthy sentimental values it. Many of these sins originated in our childhood so we hold on to it and in most cases, hope that no one ever sees it. Not every sin is private, some people are wide open with their sins because it is socially acceptable to take part in such things, or they have stooped caring what other people think it. Like those childhood items, we may tuck our sins away and bring them out in secret. In some cases, we even form unions with people who are holding on to the same item (sin) that we are holding on to. The items (sins/ demons) have been with us so long, we don’t know how to function without it. Today, Go...

I have Chosen You: Distractions and Distress are not Your Portion

“You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you.” (John 15:16 ESV). At the church that I attend, the stage/ alter has steps that one can ascend on to reach the top. As I looked at the steps, I envisioned what God is doing in this season. I saw a representative on the floor before the steps began , and I saw them moving up one step at a time. We are in a season of elevation and with elevation comes great responsibility. As I consider the prayers that I have prayed and the questions that I have asked God , I see the answers all around me, but inwardly I have rejected the responsibility that comes ...

The Demand of Purpose: Having a Good Attitude Along the Way

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7 KJV). Sometimes what inconveniences you is purpose calling. David came home from his job (training) to check on the sheep that he loved (he loved what others considered to be insignificant). His father told him to take some things to his brothers who were on the battlefield. Most of us would have wanted to argue that we need rest, but purpose had placed a demand on David and he went. David had training in everything that God planned for him. He was trained as a Shepard to seek God and to be brave. He didn’t go around telling people that he could fight wild animals. Some of you don’t go telling people about the demons that you have slayed through the Hold Ghost in private. David saw what Saul didn’t. David saw how a kingd...

You are Not Lost in the Crowd. God Sees You!

Someone asked the question Why do we sing? When we lift our hands to Jesus What do we really mean ~Kirk Franklin “Why we sing?” It’s very very easy to get lost in the realm of religion or to get caught up in the hype of “church”. God has blessed so many of his people with gifts and talents that range from writing and composing, to worshiping, preaching and dancing. At my church, it seems like every one has some sort of gift and I must admit that I feel lost in the shuffle, but that brings me to point of asking myself questions such as ,“who am I going to church for?” and “whose attention am I aiming for?” Everyone wants to be noticed. We want to be praised and we want to be the favorite child, but at what cost? What are we paying to be number one in the congregation’s eyes? and do we even care if God is pleased with us right where we are? I’m the queen of being offended and I often compare myself, my progression in Christ, and my life to others. This should not be so and...

Take Up Your Cross

God paved the way for my present and my future with the prayers that He placed into my heart many years ago. I didn’t know what new challenges I would have to overcome or what would be required of me as I uttered the sentiments of my heart into His ears. All I knew was that I wanted to serve Him. One my many heart’s desires was to not be a seat filler. I didn’t want to grow content with occupying a seat in the church and never getting out of it to go into all the world to do what God had ordained for me to do in the earth. At that time I didn’t know who God had called me to be and I didn’t understand that some of my prayers was an indication of it. Spoken from a transparent place, as life happened, the more God told me to get up the more I wanted to sit down. Tiredness and fear had gripped me on more occasions than I want to admit and I have had the audacity to whisper, “ get somebody else to do it”, on more than one occasion. I felt justified in what I...

Where is your Heart

God taught David how to fight. He fought a lot of personal battles before he was strong enough to fight the battles that we know him for today. David had to know how to depend on God in private before he could publicly show us how to depend on Him. David had to fight other people’s opinion of him even up until the moment that he was anointed to be king. Nobody looked at little David and saw a king. When they looked at him, they saw the youngest of 8 sons. They saw a shepard and they might have even seen a punk. I wonder if David’s brothers even knew that he was about that life. Did they know that he had fought and won a battle against a lion? Did they know that he took on a bear? Did they know that he was a prophetic musician and poet who was getting closer to God while they were busy looking the part of a position that they would never fill? The mistake that some people make is that they are more concerned with looking the part then they are with having the heart to fulfill t...

Kairos:God’s Opportune Time Table

There are moments and seasons that are not defined by man or their opinions. In those moments “their” opinions don’t matter, your background does not matter, and your last name does not matter. Those moments are the ones that define your destiny and triumph over your past. Those seasons are the ones that you are born to walk in and nothing can steal them away from you. That moment and that season is specified as being your kairos moment. Your life, your destiny, your ministry, and your purpose are all in your kairos moment. Everything that you are and ever will be, boils down to that moment. Your kairos moment cannot be defined, manipulated, or determined by man because it is a moment that is determined by God alone. King David was the underdog. He was the youngest and most different when compared to his brothers. Even the prophet Samuel could not identify God’s chosen vessel in the flesh because God had to reveal to him who the next king would be. Being alone and being the u...

Be A Big Mouth!

“ Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”(John 4:29 KJV). I don’t know the name of the Samaritan woman that the Lord meant at the well, but she is one of my favorite people in the Bible. I also don’t know what happened to her after her encounter with Jesus, but I do believe that she went home that day and told the man that she was with to leave because someone else had stolen her heart. Many times we judge people by their behavior instead of really taking a look at why they act the way that they do. The Samaritan woman must have heard some really awful things about herself to go to the well at a time when she knew that no one else would be there. Perhaps she didn’t want to be bothered with people and their options or perhaps she wanted to use that time to be alone. This woman was known, but perhaps she suffered from the shame of only wanting to fill a void in her heart. We don’t know how the woman at the well grew up or how she felt emotional...

The Journey pt 2

You are on your way to purpose and destiny child of God. Do not fret because of where you are right now; God is using everything that you are going through for what he has called you to do. I love Moses because he knew what he was supposed to do, but he was trying to do it at the wrong time. Sometimes we try to operate in a ministry that God has to equip us for. Moses knew that he had a “God” calling on his life, but he tried to operate in it before God actually released him to do it. Acts 7:43 tells us that Moses knew that God was going to use him to save the Jews, but they did not understand that. God placed in Moses heart to go and visit his people on the day that God equipped with a passion that caused him to kill the man that was hurting one them. I’m not saying that God told Moses to murder the Egyptian, but I am saying that on that day, God gave him passion. When you have passion, you can’t just sit back and allow wrong to happen. Jesus had passion. He was so passionate that...

Walk on Water Faith

Becoming great takes faith. Peter did not become great in the twinkle of an eye. He had to go through things. This same man who stood up boldly to tell people about the Holy Spirit also once denied Jesus. We have to be so prayed up in Christ because we don’t always know what our flesh or our circumstances will cause us to do. The struggle to greatness gets real! David had to fight many battles not only in the world, but in the kingdom of God because he was called to greatness. David wrote many psalms documenting his trails and successes. He was a man after God’s own heart, but yet he was not perfect. We go through things that help sustain us in this life and we can’t remain discouraged by the hurts that the world throws at us. I admire the bravery of the apostles because I don’t know how well I would have done emotionally if whole systems were coming against me. These men were beat, lied on, and put in prison because of the Christ that they were representing. People will ...

JaNina B.

Search This Blog