NCarolinian

Seeds in the lives of people are crucial for the opportunity of major, positive change later on in life. If there is not a word of encouragement, a gesture of consideration or act of love toward anybody, especially unbelievers - how can anyone water each of those? How can someone come along and continue that seed of encouragement? How can anyone build upon that gesture of consideration? How can anyone maintain the abundance of God's love? The seed(s) must be planted first. Paul writes to the believers at the church in Corinth, " the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow." ( Corinthians 3:5-6)  I personally believe every Christian is a Planter and every Christian is a Water-er. Which one God desires you to be is situational. Each priceless opportunity God places in front of us, we must diagnose quickly with sensitive, spiritual ears and then either Plant or Water. After our part is done, we contin...

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding ; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  For those challenging times in our lives, whether they be earlier this year or right now, this verse has come into my line-of-sight. I am now going to dissect it so that we might gain direction for our lives before, during and after the challenges arrive. "Trust" comes from the original Hebrew word Batach (baw-takh) which means to be confident , sure and make to hope . This kind of dependency comes from a proven history or track record with a person. In this case, the person is the Lord and the encouragement is to Be Confident in all that the Lord has done, is doing and will do for you. The "heart" is the original Hebrew word Leb (labe) meaning all three parts of a personality - feelings, will and intellect . The phrase heart is in -  "all your heart"  means everythin...

I have great news! We are Covered In Intercession! I have for the longest time singled out Christ Jesus as my intercessor. Paul declares in his letter to the believers in Rome -  "It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. " (Romans 8:33-34) However, in the same chapter just a few verses before these, Paul names another Intercessor - The Holy Spirit. "...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express . And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will ." (Romans 8:26-27) So, not only do we have divine representation in Heaven (Christ), but we have divine representation on earth within our bodies (temples) via the Holy Spirit,...

I have come upon a place in the trail that looks like others have forged ahead for me. Major obstacles have been moved to the side, but little challenges remain to overcome. The juncture in my path is much like the moment you are just about to cross the top of a hill that bends on your side of the hill and the other side. You can see a little bit of the other side, but not any of the oncoming traffic from the other part of the bend in the road and downslope. I hate not knowing. There are some mysteries in life that are intriguing enough to leave as mysteries, but when life is so foggy and short-sighted – it bothers me. I am not a fan of curves in the road, much less uphill blind-spot turns that leave you guessing about a lot of things. I like flat and straight roads. And when the curves come, I like them wide enough to see around the bend to take care of my speed as I go around and prepare for what is coming at me. King David said that God was his "lamp unto his feet and a lig...

I get frustrated with people who interrupt me mid sentence and try to finish my thought. I started my sentence, allow me the courtesy of finishing it unless I yield to your assistance with a non-verbal clue. So, you can imagine how often it is that I trust someone to speak for me in a given situation. Power of Attorney -  legal authority to act for another person in certain specified matters. I have not had a need to give this, but should I it would fall to my wife. She could act on my behalf because she knows me on a whole lot of levels consistently. Believers in Christ have that relationship with God also. I like to imagine God as an ever-evolving diamond. A diamond has many facets or cut-sides to behold that can be counted. But with God as an ever-evolving diamond you would always observe, as the angels do, a new facet of God to behold and praise Him forever. With this deep, never-ending relationship believers have with God through Christ, we have the privilege and resp...

Separation, one from another, is bound to happen every day between everybody - unless of course you are joined physically to your brother or sister. The time of separation might be anywhere from seconds to years depending on the situation. Is it no wonder then that we pray that the Lord watches over the other while we are away from them? Today's jewelry can be found to have this very sentiment on it. Genesis 31:49 says,  " It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other." For those whose trust is in The Lord, He will keep watch over each party who is separated. God is everywhere. We cannot get rid of His Presence. My favorite Psalm and maybe my favorite passage in the Bible says it best - "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I ...

This blog can and will be especially applied to my life. I hope it encourages and strengthens you - my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ - also. Sometimes you just don't know what the songs are about until you go through it. Sometimes you just don't know what the testimonies really mean until you go through it. Sometimes you just don't know how the Scriptures really help out in a situation, until you go through it. Then when you have experienced the challenge and made it to "the other side", you can - sing those songs, testify and quote your favorite helpful verses.  I am in the middle of my challenge and God is telling me - "The race is not over. You are still undefeated." Then the Holy Spirit, quick as lightening, placed two passages of Scripture in my mind, heart and spirit - 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 and Romans 8:38-39 . I am sure there are others that would marry nicely with these, but these two are what the Holy Spirit encouraged me with -  ...