Encouraged by God's Word

Archive for the ‘Being Used by God’ Category

Hello Family,

In my community it is not rare to see a sign up for a yard sale for the upcoming weekend. Usually it’s the homeowners who want to get rid of some old items they don’t use or want anymore. They know it’s time to clean house. They pull all of their unwanted items out of the house and place it in the front yard and the driveway and they sit in their lawn chairs waiting for bargain shoppers to come by.

Or sometimes there may be a yard sale at one of the local churches or community organizations whose members have collaborated to have this event together as opposed to smaller, separate ones.

I’ve never been to a yard sale but I can imagine that every now and then, there is a bargain item to be found. It could be clothes that have never been worn and still have the tag on it. Or it could be a household appliance that is still in the box and has never been used. You know those Christmas gifts you get that you don’t need or want.

When people find these items it’s just like the saying goes, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” One man didn’t want it so he threw it out and another man found it, valued it, purchased it and put it use.

Life in a way can be like a yard sale. All humans are born into sin. We are damaged goods and not perfect. We are blemished, hurt and broken. We’re not faultless and we should be thrown out.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

God came and looked at you in your “yard sale” situation, purchased you with the blood of Jesus, took you in and made you new. And because of that you can be born again.

Your body was bought and now he owns you and He has filled you with His spirit. Your body is a temple and should be used for God’s glory. You are special, holy and now set aside for a purpose.

Now you can know that even in a state of turmoil, you are here for a purpose. Even when destruction is all around you, you are here for a purpose. Even when your life seems as though it is worthless, you are here for a purpose.

So when you feel like junk and you think you don’t have any value, know that the God of all creation has thought enough of you to purchase you with His son’s blood and although the world may see you as junk, God sees you as His treasure.

Be Encouraged and Have a Spirit-Filled Day!

P.S. Please share this with someone who you know who has been feeling like junk lately and with your Facebook and Twitter friends. Also leave me a comment if this spoke directly to you.

Hello Family,

I remember a long time ago one summer when I was down North Carolina, me and one of my cousins were outside playing around and we decided to hitchhike.  Now we weren’t going anywhere, we just decided to do something stupid.

You see my grandmother owns a house that sits on a busy road and because we were knuckleheads, we thought it would be funny to throw up the thumb and see if anyone would stop.

Because people were friendly it didn’t take too long for someone to pull over on the side of the road and offer to give us a ride. Before the person could get a good look at us, we ran away.

Do you ever wonder why it seems as if the devil is always with you? Does it seem as if trouble is with you 24 hours a day/7 days a week? Regardless of what you do, there is always mayhem in your life. Maybe it seems that way because it IS that way.

Ephesians 4:26-27 says “Be angry, and do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

The reason the devil is always with you is because he is a hitchhiker! He can’t go anywhere unless you take him with you. By your actions you give him a place in your life.

If you are a born again Christian, the devil has no place in your life and you shouldn’t be making provisions for him.

A lot of us carry around the “woe is me” mentality and “I’m no good” syndrome and all we do is provide the devil with an opening into our lives.

Or we put ourselves into situations we know are not good for us and we get in trouble.

We need to stop entertaining these thoughts and actions and prevent the devil from hanging out with us.

He only has power over us when we give it to him so stop leaving an open invitation into your life with his name on it. Cancel that sucker out and move on and let him know he can’t ride shotgun with you anymore.

Don’t send him any invite, evite, text message, email, skype message, oovoo message, yahoo instant message, Blackberry chat, telegram, video message or any other type of communication that encourages him to hang out with you.

If you are a Christian celebrate and know that God is with you and know that you have been given power over the devil. Execute your godly authority and have faith that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Be Encouraged and Have a Devil-free Weekend!

Hello Family,

We all know someone who at some point and time we said they were ego trippin’. Or if you’ve never, ever said it before, maybe people have said it about you.

To Ego Trip is defined as a course of action to boost or draw attention to a person’s own image or appraisal of himself. Basically he’s someone who wants a lot of attention because in his own mind, he is great or has accomplished something worthwhile.

You know who that person is. He is the one who thinks highly of himself in an arrogant way. He loves the attention especially when he thinks he has done something special.

Even if he hasn’t done anything special he thinks he should be recognized for who he is.

People who ego trip are usually not too pleasurable to be around. I mean who wants to be in the presence of a person who is only thinking about themselves and trying to draw all of the attention on them? Not me, what about you?

They really look highly of themselves a little more than the average person does.

Folks who ego trip usually have done a lot of great things but not on their own merit as they think they have.

Philippians 4:13 says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

People who ego trip are basically saying they can do everything on their own because they’re that good but the word of God says something different.

Yes, you are capable of doing all things BUT it is only through Christ who gives you strength.

You didn’t really do it on your own. You may have done the physical work but it was God who really made it possible. He gave you the intelligence, He gave you the physical strength, He gave you the emotional stability. It was God!

I hope you don’t think you have accomplished all of your great acts on your own.

Do you know what ego REALLY stands for? I heard this definition and I had to use it. EGO stands for Easing God Out. That’s right!

When you have a big EGO what you’re saying is that you can do it for yourself and by yourself and you don’t need God. You are doing it in your own strength and not through God who strengthens you.

Before you start ego trippin’ again, know that it is only through God that you have the strength to do all that you do. Draw Him in and follow His lead.

Be Encouraged, Stop Ego Trippin’ and Have a Great Weekend!

Hello Friends,

My wife picks up my son from school everyday and takes him to her school until it’s time for her to leave. Since being there, Rodney has made a lot of friends, especially women friends. And not only does he have a lot of women friends, he has a favorite.

Every Monday he and his favorite friend talk about their weekend and on this past Monday, Rodney was telling his friend how the pastor at our church didn’t have any arms or legs.

Rodney’s friend questioned him and asked if he was saying Pastor Jenkins didn’t have any arms and legs which he replied, “No, Pastor Jenkins has arms and legs. There was another Pastor there who didn’t have any arms and legs”.

As the conversation went on, Rodney talked about what this guest preacher talked about and at the end of his conversation my son said that although this guy didn’t have any arms and legs, “God still used him”.

Not that was profound for a 7 year old because that was the essence of Nick Vujicic’s message. You see Nick was born without arms and legs but he has managed to travel the world preaching the gospel in spite of what most people would say is a disability.

God was still able to use him.

Are you allowing God to use you or do you come up with excuse after excuse as to why He can’t use you?

Are you putting limits on God?

1 Corinthians 27-29 says But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

You see a lot of times we look at our shortcomings and WE decide that we are not worthy of being used by God. We don’t think we’re good enough but in reality, that’s what God uses. He uses folks who have weaknesses or faults and through them, He shows Himself strong.

God can use the foolish, weak, base and those things which are despised. And if He can use those types of people, He certainly can use you too.

You may not be able to preach, quote a million bible verses, teach Sunday school, do prison ministry, street witness or prophecy like others but God can still use you.

You can befriend a kid who’s not that popular at school and eat lunch with him. You can help out elderly people in your neighborhood with task they can’t do. You can go to a homeless shelter and feed the hungry. You can assist a single parent by picking up her child and taking them to practice with your child. You can volunteer to tutor kids who are struggling in school. You can provide transportation to someone who needs a ride to church on Sunday mornings. You can encourage someone who has experienced tragedy in their lives and let them know that you have experienced the same thing and that they can make just as you have.

YOU CAN be used by God!

So the next time you feel you can’t be used by God, stop looking at what you can’t do and look at what you can do.

Be Encouraged and Have a Great Day!

Hello Friends,

I have to take this time to admit something to everyone. I am a fake! I’m an imposter, perpetrator, pretender and a fraud.

That’s right, God called me out and said that I was fakin’ the funk.

Now I know what some of you all are thinking. “I knew this dude wasn’t writing these inspirational words every week. I remember him from back in the day and he was a no good …”. Well I hate to disappoint you but that’s not what I’m talking about. I actually sit down and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit come up with these wonderful words of encouragement. So there!

Now back to my point.

I’ve gone to God a number of times and asked Him for His help because I was struggling in different areas of my life. God told me that I wasn’t really struggling in everything. He said I was fakin’ like I was struggling. He revealed to me that in order for there to be a struggle, there must be one force going against another and in my case, that wasn’t always true.

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines a struggle as to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition.

When times became difficult for me I didn’t put up a strenuous or violent effort to overcome it. I went with the flow and because I knew what I was doing was wrong, I considered myself struggling with the issue.

Proverbs 22:5 says In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them.

You see, I wasn’t guarding my soul from the thorns and snares. I was walking the same path of the wicked and as a result, I was coming up short. I thought I was struggling but in reality I was willingly walking in sin. I was fake struggling.

Those people who are really fighting and putting forth the effort to overcome sin and not making it easy, are the ones who are really struggling.

But the rest of us who are lying to ourselves by saying we’re trying to make it or we’re trying to overcome, we need to stop lying because we’re fooling no one but ourselves and God knows it.

I was making provisions for my sin so I wasn’t really struggling at all. What about you? Are you making it easy to sin and then saying you’re struggling when you mess up? Let’s be honest with ourselves and address the real issues. Only then will we be able to be victorious.

Be Encouraged and Have a Great Day!