God wants you to know...

God wants you to know that He hates sin.  To Him, sin is disgusting and detestable.  It doesn't matter what kind of sin it is, lying, hating, gossiping, murdering, lusting, etc., it's all the same to Him, disgusting.  He also, wants you to know that everyone of us is born into sin.  We have ALL sinned and come short of the glory of God, therefore, we all deserved Hell.  God wants you to know that Hell is real and it is worse than your worst nightmare.  Not only is it excruciating, and terrifying beyond description, it is forever, there is NO HOPE.  He wants you to know that He doesn't want you to go there.  But the punishment for sin is Hell, there is no getting around it. God is Holy and pure, He cannot dwell in the presence of sin.  God wants you to know, that He left the beauty and safety of Heaven to come to earth.  He wants you to know that Heaven is real and that He loves you sooooooo much that He lived a sinless life on earth so that He could TAKE the punishment that you deserve.  He took your punishment on the cross and in Hell.  He who knew no sin became sin that you might live.  GOD became sin so that you could become righteous!  Now that is true love.  God wants you to know that this gift isn't automatic, it has to be received.  Salvation is a free gift, but it cost God a terrible price.  God wants you to know you are worth it.  God wants you to take His free gift today.  Just tell Him that you accept the punishment that He took for you.  Ask Him to forgive your sins and tell Him He is the Lord of your life and that you will follow Him.  Now let Him lead you to a Bible believing church and begin to follow Him!  If you prayed this prayer and meant it, you are now saved!

A couple weeks ago, my husband Danny had a wreck where he rolled his truck.  One minute he was driving down the road, two deer jumped out in front of his truck, he jerked the wheel to avoid them and flipped the truck,and the next minute he was upside down on the side of the road.  When I saw the truck, I just started crying because I knew that he could have died and that God protected him.  What I am trying to say is, one minute he was alive and the next he could have easily been dead.  Once you are dead, you are in your eternity, Heaven or Hell, there are no second chances.  You no longer have the ability to choose Christ.  You could be going about your business, totally unaware, and the next second you could be facing your eternal dwelling.  Do you know where you would go if you died today?  You can know.  You can have peace.  If you are unsure of Christ, ask Him to reveal Himself to you.  He will.  He did for me.  Isn't it worth it, to have the peace of knowing where you will spend eternity? 

I also want you to know, that when I say I am a Christian, that doesn't mean I am saying I am better than you or that I am perfect.  We all start out as sinners in need of Jesus.  I have made so many mistakes, even as a Christian, I have drug His precious Holy name through the mud.  Yet still He loves me, still He gives me grace.  I don't deserve it and neither do you, but still He gives it because He loves us.  My relationship with Christ is not about rules and regulations, it is about love.  I love Him because He first loved me and gave His life for me.  Now He is transforming me into His image one day at a time.  What is different about my life now?  Now I have hope.  I have peace.  I have a best friend who dwells in me and will never leave me nor forsake me.  I have an anchor.  I have a rock.  I am never lonely because I am never alone.  I can sleep at night because I know where I will go when I die and because I know that I have someone working on my behalf in every situation of my life.  I can't imagine life without God.  I can't imagine life without hope.  God is everything to me and He wants, He longs, to be everything to you.

     We want to be world changers, we want to minister for Jesus, we want revival in America, in our church and in our families.  For these things to happen, it all starts in the secret place.  It starts with men and women who are committed to spending quality time with the Lord.  It starts with those who will make their time with the Lord first priority and let nothing stop them from having this time alone with Him.  For it is these times that transform us into His image, that root us and ground us in Christ, that give us strength for the storms, that give us wisdom for every situation.  It is these times that we receive the anointing from the Lord that destroys yokes and removes burdens.
     In the scriptures we see Jesus often going to the lonely places to commune with His Father.  Jesus sets the example for us in everything.
      Too often we see Christian leaders who burn out or who fall into sin.  I believe this is almost always because of a lack of quality time with the Lord.  This time is the only thing that can provide the needed refilling and refreshing of the spirit.
      I want to be a world changer, I want to fulfill God's calling for my life, so my first priority has to be spending time with God, in prayer and in the Word!  Lord, I pray, above all that you will cause me to be faithful in prayer and time with You, in your Word so I can be the best wife, mother, friend, family member, servant of God that I can possibly be.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Well, in the last post, I was very open and very vulnerable. God brought me through a very hard time in my life.  I have considered deleting that post but I really think God wants me to leave it because perhaps it will help somebody else.
   I think we all have those times in our lives when we are just overwhelmed.  It is very healing and good to hear how God moved in someone else's life when we are facing that kind of thing ourselves.  So be it, I'll leave the post.  Now on to new things!  What's next God?

Beauty for Ashes

I have been so sick... so broken.  So deep in depression, discouragement, fear, shame, guilt over my failures, rejection... so unable to function.
BUT GOD, you stepped in, took my hand, and said, "Come on daughter, let me show you what you can do, what you can be, in Me.  Come on, it's OK, we will take it one step at a time.  Don't be afraid, I will never let go of your hand.  I will give you My strength. You are safe with Me.  There is a life awaiting you, even more abundant than you can imagine.  I won't give up on you.  I Am your Daddy.  I am a good Daddy.  You can trust Me.  I know you lost your joy for awhile there.  You even wondered about your reason for living.  This was all so that you could find your reason for living again, in Me.  You live because I MADE YOU.  I WANT YOU.  I LOVE YOU.  You are my greatest treasure.  You are my child, my wife, my friend.  YOU BELONG TO ME.  This is why you live."

Thank you God for showing me what I can be.  Thank you for healing me.  For taking all that fear, shame, depression, discouragement, and rejection and giving me beauty for ashes.  How can I ever thank you enough?  Thank you for showing me what I mean to you.  That fact that you went to the cross should have been enough for me to know how much I meant to you... but I just needed to hear you say it.

I am sharing this because God wanted me too.  Because you may need to hear it as much as I did.

Blessings and Curses

Deuteronomy chapter 28 talks about what things God considers "blessings" and what things He considers "curses". 
Included in the blessing are things like abundant prosperity, provision, and protection.  Included in the curses are things like poverty, lack, and disease.
Wow, never once does God say that a sickness is a blessing or that He will give us poverty to teach us something.
If sickness and poverty were given to us by God to teach us things wouldn't most of the world be wise by now?
In Galatians it says the Christ has redeemed us from the curse by being made a curse for us so that the blessings of Abraham may come upon us!
This shows us what God's perfect will is.  It is so important to know what God's perfect will is in order for our prayers to be heard and answered and for us to have victory in our lives.
The garden of Eden is the picture of God's perfect will for man!  Man messed it up by sinning and brought the curse upon himself but God fixed it by sending Jesus to redeem us from this curse!  Hallelujah!
Just because something is God's will doesn't mean we will automatically walk in it.  Do good Christian people get sick and suffer poverty and lack?  Yes, it happens all the time because of bad decisions or simply lack of knowledge.  It's not about placing blame... it's about learning the truth and learning to walk in it!
I am so glad God is revealing these things to me so I can begin to walk in them and receive all the BLESSING that He has intended for me!
A side note, yes God can bring good out of sickness or lack.  He can and will take what the devil meant for his good and turn it around for our good!  He is so good like that!  But the point is, He doesn't give us sickness or tragedy to teach us things!  It hurts Him so when we blame Him for things like that.
God came to give us life and life more abundantly!  Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Light!
Learning God's perfect will is the starting point to receiving and walking in all that He has for us!  Ask Him to reveal it to you, ask Him to show you truth!  Ask and you shall receive!

Faith Works by Love, A Life Changing Revelation!

    A man of God had a vision, in his vision, God showed him a man trying to hang some huge heavy curtains on a big wall.  He was having a  miserable time of it.  He'd hang one panel, then run over and grab another; but before he could get the second one hung, the first one would fall down on him.  He'd put the second one up, turn around to get the first one, and the one he'd just hung would tumble down on him.
   The harder he worked, the more tangled in those curtains he became.  It was like a comedy routine.  "Look at that guy!" I said.
     As I chuckled at his predicament, I noticed something.  Each curtain had a name on it.  One curtain was "faith".  Another was "righteousness".  Others included "healing" "prosperity" and "the gifts of the Spirit."  After struggling awhile, the job finally got the best of that poor fellow and he collapsed in a pile of curtains on the floor. Then the Lord drew me in, and I heard the cry of the man's heart.  It was anything but funny.  "What's wrong with my faith?" he cried.  "I believe in faith, but I'm sick.  I believe in prosperity and I can't pay my bills."  I knew how he felt.  I could remember times when I cried the same way.
    Suddenly, my vision zoomed in on the pile of curtains and I saw little snakes slithering in and out of it.  They were biting the man and nipping at his heels.  That made me mad.  "Hey, those are the gifts of God!" I said.  "What are devils doing in them?"
     At that moment, The LORD drew my attention to the corner of the room.  There, I saw a massive rod.  It was so big, it looked like part of a bridge, and it was solid gold.  Written on the side of it was Matthew 22:37-40:
Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all they soul, and with all they mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy  neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

When I saw that rod, I heard the voice of the LORD.  He was shouting, Hang the rod, not the curtains!  The curtains are fastened to the rod!

When I (Kristi) read this story, it hit me HARD.  I was that man.  For so many years, I have been that man... so frustrated, so tired... from years of struggling to hang those curtains.  This story changed my life!  Finally, I understand the missing piece!  Not that I didn't know to walk in love, but I didn't realize the importance of always walking in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 kind of love!  Just a week before I read this story, God had prompted me to memorize the definition of love in  1 Corinthians.  Soon after that I was tested in my love walk... sorry to say, I failed miserably.  And I knew it too.  The saddest place to be is out of the will of God and knowing it!
    Since reading this, I have been meditating on 1 Corinthians chapter 13's definition of love.  I have written it down, spoken it out loud, and God has brought it too my mind every time I need it.  Oh, I've had to repent many times but I am getting the hang of it!  I am already having break through in my life.  I am so excited to walk this out with Jesus!
You see, the Word says, Faith works by love and the promises of God are activated by faith.  There is no other way to have answered prayer friends.  Without faith, there is no victory, no answered prayer... without love, there will be no faith because faith works by love.
This story came from Kenneth Copeland and he said, "Faith works by love like a car works by gas.  No gas, no go.  No love, no faith.  No faith, no receiving!" 
I am soooooo excited to make love my way of life!

All I need is God

This is what God has been saying to me A LOT lately, "All you need is Me, and when all you need is Me, you are free."
What exactly are we free from?  Fear.  Fear of not having enough.  Fear of being alone.  Fear of being sick and in pain.
You see, God wants to be everything to us.  He will be everything we allow Him to be in our lives.  He is our security, our healer, our best and closest friend, our provider, our EVERYTHING.
We don't have to rely on people for security, self-confidence, happiness, or love.  We don't have to manipulate or control people.  We don't have to pressure them to be a certain way.
Our only job is to love and serve God, and to love and bless others.  We need to concern ourselves with loving God and others and not whether they love or even like us.  When we are loving God and loving others through His love, God takes care of the rest.  Many times He will use people to answer our prayers, to provide the love we crave, but no one person can be everything we need them to be all the time.  All people are human and will fail us sometimes.  Only God can be counted on to be everything we need every time we need Him.
So set some people free today.  Set them free to be themselves, not to always have to meet your expectations in order to earn your love.  And set yourself free.  Put all your trust and expectations on God and let Him be your everything.
All I need is God.  And when all I need is God, I AM FREE!