NCarolinian

Walking into any room, my desire is to introduce or display Jesus Christ without any words if possible. If you had "spiritual glasses" on - I would want you to see Jesus walk-in with me and speak through me in any given situation. My body, His atmosphere. I would want you to know and experience me as a Heavenly scent and light in your midst.  I desire to ooze with The Holy Spirit. I want every pore, every word selection, every behavior and every thought to be consumed by God's Presence. I crave there to be no option for people but to experience the overflow of God in my life. My hope is for the people that surround me to get saturated with all the goodness and presence of Christ. If those that surround me know Him as their Savior, I pray they receive encouragement and whatever they need. If those that surround me do not know Him as Lord then perhaps the atmosphere I bring will lead to the sharing of my testimony and The Gospel.  Ah, to be able to command a room a...

There is only one who is perfect and I am not Him. Yet, those that witness my Christian life somehow expect me to immediately be perfect. H ow people can deduce just from mere association with Christ that I am automatically and instantly perfect, I will never know. Just because I might be associated with Michael Jordan does not mean I have all his characteristics as well as his championships. In my relationship with Jesus, I still must work-out my salvation ( Philippians 2:12 ). This is not a bed of roses. I am imperfect. I still struggle, fall and hurt others in the process. But there are lessons to be learned if I will learn them and forgiveness to be had and a future to grasp.  With Christ, my association is different from everybody else. Christ dwells within me and every believer by the power of His Holy Spirit. Because of this difference, His Perfection can be displayed as an out-right instant miracle or His Perfection can be a development of our bodies, minds and souls...

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Christ. I encourage you today to remain in good favor with The Lord. Do everything in your power to hear His voice and obey His words. We are His children, but when we are in that position, we are His favored ones - seated together with Him in heavenly places ( Eph. 2:6 ). Why would I warn you to stay in the righteousness of Christ or right standing with Christ? Peter helps us out here. "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) Several points need to magnified here. Peter says,  Be spiritually on your guard and aware at all times. You have an enemy. His name is The Devil. He prowls or stalks his targets He is relatively easy to spot, because he prowls, declares or tempts in a loud voice - "like a roaring lion" - as he looks for someone to devour. He is the counterfeit lion.  He is looking to annihilate us, hince the word ...

While we wait for the physical manifestation of Christ Jesus, how does Jesus reveal Himself on earth today? Who is Jesus on earth? The answer is two-fold -  those who follow Christ, considered to be the Church of the living God and the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely stranger, the unclothed, sick and imprisoned. God prayed for unity in His twelve disciples then all believers as His representation on earth during the Church Age.  "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. Jesus Prays for All Believers My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—...

Ever heard a song that you have not heard in a while and exclaimed - "Wow! That was great! I really missed that song. I have not heard that one in a while."? I usually proceed to play that song many times over.  Have you ever met back up with a friend you have not seen in a while and said, "Man! I have really enjoyed hooking back up with you and spending this time together. I missed this." I have done this, not because of purposeful neglect, but life.  I also find myself afterward trying to schedule more time with that person.  And have you ever stayed away from a certain food by chance only to find out how much you miss it when you come upon it as an ingredient in a dish at a restaurant or such? I have and then I start craving that food regularly. We, as Christians, need to be diligent about our quality time spent with The Lord. I am guilty of neglect in this area. For whatever reason, I will get distracted from meeting with The Lord - for a purposeful, me...

I have given up. I had a dream once. It started my junior year in High School. From those years until recently I had bouts of depression about this unfulfilled dream in my life. I truly thought this was a God-given path for my life. I heard sermons and teachings about hold on to the dreams God has given you, but now I was well past that point. It's funny, you hear one preach - hold on to the promises of God and then you hear another preach - surrender everything to The Lord . What am I supposed to do - hold on or let go ? Plus, these sermons usually come one right behind the other. Some time ago I decided to surrender my dreams to God - I decided to let go.  I say this as a consideration, not as a certainty for everyone, maybe your dream is really your dream for your life and not God's. In Matthew 10:39 , Jesus says, " whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." "The word 'loses' was translated from the Greek word apollumni, which mean to ...

I have an analogy for us today. A tree has many roots, but then the roots themselves have a plethora of branches off of them. The tree receives the nutrients needed to live from its root system. If there is toxic soil that the shoot-offs of one root soak up, then the root will become polluted and eventually the tree will become contaminated. So, not only is the planting of a tree in good soil important, but the tree cannot continue to focus on the healing of one root. The problem here becomes one of neglecting or overbearing the other roots to compensate for the ailing one and create an unhealthy balance in its root system. We are the trees in life. We have many roots that support our lifestyle, but some roots are well known for being a catcher of  all our attention and a leader to all sorts of suffering in our lives. Roots can be very similar to Icebergs. You can see the top of both and be enticed by what is on the surface, but there is so much more beneath the Root and the I...