My site is for uplifting and encouraging those that need spiritual advice and guidance.
Category: Spiritual, Spiritual Advice, Videos, Poetry, Short Stories, Play Lists
This my Spiritual site, but I share a lot of different posts on this site. This site is where my Podcast was born. It is on Spotify, and Anchor. Food for the Soul.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8β-β¬9 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.55.8-9.KJV
Sometimes I feel like I waste my time sharing the truth when there are those who do not care about their eternal soul. Because I am the person that I am, I care about the souls of people who are not saved because this is just who I am. Whenever I hear of someone passing, and it does not matter who they are, I always wonder if they were saved or not. I guess I feel this way because God loves us so much and He doesn’t want any of His children to perish in the end and be away from Him for all eternity.
Our soul is what lives on after we leave this side of heaven because it belongs to God; every human soul belongs to God. This is something that has been on my mind for a very long time. I never knew I had a heart for souls until I got saved.
I always think about what eternity is going to be like when we all get to heaven. I guess we all have thoughts of eternity in our hearts, and the thought of spending it with Jesus forever. We cannot waste the time that we have been given on this side of heaven, we must use it wisely, live, love, and enjoy every minute as if it were our last. Don’t waste time, because time is all we have. Time is another thing we take for granted. When we do not use time wisely, it can easily slip away from us, and before we know it, it is the next day and we still have not gotten anything accomplished. Time management is something I need to work on myself, I start doing something, and before I know it, I am doing something else except that I was doing at first. The point is this, don’t waste time doing nothing, but find the time to do something constructive that you know you will be proud of doing, just like myself, I enjoy sharing my faith and the Word of God even though sometimes I feel like I am wasting my time. Ministry is hard. You have to share even when things get tough, when things are turning up side down, when we lose those, we love, and when hades’ is breaking lose. Nothing is easy. It does not matter how many years come and go, it is never easy, but we have to keep on doing what we were called to do whether people listen or not. We that there is someone who will hear the message of the gospel and grab hold to it and do what it says. All we can do is pray for a better tomorrow even though things are the way they are right this very minute.
How do you manage your time? What do you do to make sure you are using your time wisely? I have started using reminders to help me remember to do the things I need to do, and I make myself little notes on my calendars that I use on a daily basis. I have come to an understanding that I am not always going to remember everything just right off of the top of my head, but believe me when I tell you, I try my hardest to remember everything I need to do. There is nothing wrong with making yourself reminders to do things.
The most important thing we should always remember to do is put God first in all things. He is the first person we are to speak to before we do anything to start our day off right. When we do that, our day will go just fine. We will be able to face anything, because we know He is right there with us every step of the way. Well, as always, I have so enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you all. Feel free to comment, like and share, because no one knows who they may encounter who will need to be lifted up. Thank you all for joining me on my journey with Food for the Soul.
I want to share these Scripture Verses with you all. Feel free to look them up in your Bible to see what God has to tell you.
Acts 3:26
1 Peter 1:3
Romans 5:10
Titus 2:13,14
1 Peter 1:15
Ephesians 1:3
Colossians 2:9, 10
John 1:16
Romans 8:32
Devotional:
” God having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
βEven if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, βMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.β Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christβs power may rest on me. That is why, for Christβs sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.β β 2 Corinthians 12:6-10 (NIV) Extraordinary religious experiences often come at personal cost. When Jacob wrestled with God, he hobbled away lame. When Paul entered paradise, he came away with a thorn in his flesh. Few remarks in Scripture have generated as much scholarly discussion as this one. Whatever the thorn was, the net effect for Paul was torment (v. 7). The present tense suggests frequent bouts. Paulβs stake was not an isolated episode. It repeatedly came back to plague himβlike the school bully who waits each day for his victim to round the corner. THERE IS SUFFICIENT GRACE FOR OUR THORNS The request Paul makes is for the thorn to be taken away (v. 8). Paul wanted nothing more to do with it. He does not make his request for selfish reasons. Verses 9-10 make it clear that whatever this painful disability was, it hampered Paulβs ministry and, to his way of thinking, the spread of the gospel. The reply Paul received was undoubtedly not the one he was hoping for: He said to me, βMy grace is sufficient for youβ (v. 9). The tense is perfect, denoting finality (eireken). What God said to Paul was not subject to change or revision. The first thing to observe is that Paulβs request was not granted. The stake was not taken away. Instead he was provided the grace to bear it. This grace, Paul is told, is sufficient for him. The promise is that whenever the messenger of Satan afflicts him, he will be given sufficient strength to bear up. In certain circles within evangelicalism today, there is a belief that it is Godβs will that everyone should be healthy and happy and that if healing does not occur in answer to prayer it is because a person lacks faith. This thinking clearly runs contrary to Paulβs experience. Without a doubt Paul had great faith, but his request for the removal of the stake was not answered. This is not to say that he didnβt receive an answer. He most assuredly didβMy grace is sufficient for you. But it is not the answer the mindset focused on self and what God can do for me wants to hear. Yet hear we must, lest our witness to the world lack credibility and theological soundness. Godβs grace is sufficient because his power is made perfect in weakness (v. 9). This aphoristic phrase is commonly taken as the theme of this letterβand not without cause. The fact that suffering is the typical lot of the gospel minister is a point that Paul tries repeatedly to drive home to the Corinthians (see the introduction). Those who preach the gospel βcarry around . . . the [dying] of Jesusβ and are βalways being given over to deathβ (2 Corinthians 4:10-11). PERFECTING POWER IN WEAKNESS Paulβs statement is a rather startling one: Godβs power neither displaces weakness nor overcomes it. On the contrary, it comes to its full strength in it (en + astheneia). At issue is how God manifests his power. Paulβs opponents claimed that it is best seen in visions, ecstasies and the working of signs and wonders (2 Corinthians 12:1, 2 Corinthians 12:12). Paul, on the other hand, maintained that Godβs power is most effectively made known in and through weakness. Indeed, Godβs power is made perfect in weakness (teleitai = βto find consummationβ or βbe accomplishedβ; v. 9). As one commentator notes, βThere is a certain finishing and perfecting power in weaknessβ (Carpus 1876:178). Not that we are to cherish our infirmities. Weakness of itself will perfect nothing. But when the human vessel is weak, the divine power is especially evident, and the weakness proves to be a fine discipline (B. Hanson 1981:44). So far from hindering the gospel, Paulβs stake actually served to advance it. This is why he aims to boast only in his weaknesses (2 Corinthians 11:30; 2 Corinthians 12:5)βand he does it all the more gladly (v. 9). Paul not only has accepted his weaknesses and learned to live with them, but he also takes pleasure in them. Why? Because these very weaknesses afford the opportunity for the power of Christ to rest on him (v. 9). This is why Paul can go on to say, βI am content with my weaknessesβ. WHEN WE ARE WEAK, WE ARE STRONG Paul concludes with for when I am weak, then I am strong (v. 10). His statement has the character of a settled conviction rather than a rote repetition of Godβs answer. But what does it mean? How can one be weak and strong at the same time? The paradox is noted by all. But the point throughout has been that Christβs power is perfected in, not in spite of, weakness. How so? We often think that without human strength we are destined to fail and without personal courage we are bound to falter. Yet good as these are, such qualities tend to push us to self-sufficiency and away from God-dependency. Samson was superlatively endowed with strength, but in the end this very strength brought about his destruction. Human strength is like the flower of the field that has its day in the sun but then shrivels up and dies. Enduring strength lies in God alone. Keep Learning! IVP New Testament Commentary Series (20 Vols.).
The post for this episode was written in 2021. You can hear it in it’s entirety when you listen to it on Anchor.fm. I hope you enjoy the message. God bless you, stay safe, and have a wonderful day.
If you have the Spotify app, you can also listen to this message on Spotify. Just type in the title as it is and it will come up on my page called Diva”s Poetry Moment and Music Videos.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1:12 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jas.1.12.KJV
Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23β-β¬24 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.139.23-24.KJV