A Time & Place for Everything

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In the summer of 2005, I read this book called "God is My CEO: Following God's Principles in a Bottom-Line World" by Larry Julian.  While finishing up reading one day, I flipped ahead to the next page to see what the beginning of the next chapter would be about.  There it had the scripture from Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (NIV).

During that time in my life, I can be honest and not afraid to share, that I had been struggling with my purpose here on earth. Meaning, I had been praying that God would reveal to me his purpose as He had designed my life. I was lead to the Jeremiah scripture, but the Holy Spirit said, "Almost there, but not yet. Do some more searching on purpose."  Lord have mercy!  I was led to Ecclesiastes 3:1. There, it says,

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"

Oh man! Did that speak to me. I prayed that the Lord would reveal my purpose as He designed me and look where he led me. The Lord led me to an answer to my question. It may not have been what I wanted to here at the time, but it was an answer. I learned that there is a time and place for every purpose under Heaven and in due time, I would know my purpose. Let's read more in Ecclesiastes 3:

“(2) A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; (3) A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; (4) A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; (5) A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; (6) A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; (7) A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; (8) A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

You mean to tell me it is a time for EVERYTHING?! Well according to God's Word, this is the case. I know I was not the only one going through this "purpose search" and the Holy Spirit had me to share this for more than just myself. I would encourage you to read the rest of Ecclesiastes 3 as there is a lot more to read.

Just when you think it is time for an event to occur, God says, "Not so". It is on HIS time line that things happen. In due time HE reveals what you need to know. Meanwhile, we just have to be faithful to his WORD and know that he has what is best for us. Next time you feel like it is time to do something, check with God first. He will let you know. If he doesn't answer right away, wait on him. After all that very moment may not be the time to do that something.

Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Searching for Clarity

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In today's time, I think we all get a little muffled in the mind. We all have a vision that we are searching for but it's not always clear. Sometimes we have a vision we think we are suppose to follow and then there are times when God gives us the vision, but we can't see around the bend to reach the rest of it. But never fear, God is still in the business of bring marvelous light so you can see your way out of the dark. It may not be on your own time line, but nonetheless, he will work things out.  As such, I would like to visit the book of Mark.

Mark 8:22-26   “(22) They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. (23) He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, 'Do you see anything?' (24) He looked up and said, 'I see people; they look like trees walking around.' (25) Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (26) Jesus sent him home, saying, 'Don’t even go into the village.'”

While this speaks about Jesus healing a blind man, I think we can also look at this as Jesus bringing clarity to someone's situation. It's when God is slowly revealing things to us that we get anxious and antsy. Things aren't happening fast enough, BUT, slowly God will show you what he has in store for you and it may be added to the last vision that He gave you. With that, I wish to leave you with a passage from a book called, "God is My CEO" by Larry Julian (Julian, Larry.  God Is My CEO:  Following God's Principles in a Bottom-Line World.  Adams Media.  March 1, 2001.  Pg):

"As a vision is a picture of the future in its ideal state. I believe God has a clear vision of success for each of us -- the problem lies in our inability to see it. Our lives are so immersed in the forest of our circumstances, fears, doubts, and egos; we can never rise above the tree line to see the vision. Instead, we look for signs and miracles from a mountaintop experience to help us see God's plan. In reality, God works the opposite way. As we grow closer to God, He reveals His plan to us, not in its entirety, but in small pieces. It's okay if you're struggling to find a clear vision. Many of us have driven on a desert highway toward a mountain range. At first, the mountains appear fuzzy. The closer we get, the more clearly defined the mountain range becomes. Quiet your soul to hear God's voice and see His clues. Act on those clues, one by one, and the vision will slowly become clearer."

Antoine E. Hall
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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No Power, No Light

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I want to talk about a simple concept. What is the concept? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's look at a simple power circuit.

In a power circuit, there is a source of power and there is some resistance. The resistance can be a light, TV, radio, etc...I think you get the point. Well, in order for a circuit to work properly, you must have a complete circuit; meaning, all the wires must be connected to the light and the source. However, if you have a break in the circuit, then your appliance will not work and you begin to wonder what's wrong.

Let's look at another example: a home. In your house, as long as you pay the light bills, you will always go under the assumption that if you plug something in the socket, it will work! BUT, if you miss a light bill payment, you will quickly learn the concept of cause and effect. All your plugs are no longer hot (or work).  And that is a terrible thing when you are not connected to your source.  So, are you plugged into your Power Source? You do know that your source of power comes from the Lord, right?

1 Chronicles 29:11-12  “(11) Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. (12) Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”

David recognized his source through his prayers as well as you should. See the problem isn't whether or not we paid our light bill because our debt has already been paid by the blood of Jesus. That means you have access to "Always On" or "Hot" power. Whenever you plug into the Him, you will always have the power so that your light can shine brightly.

Now that you know you have an "Always On" power source you have no reason not to have power. When you look around and realize that your light is out, find yourself a plug (prayer or the Word) and plug into it. I guarantee your lights will burn again. If it flickers, don't worry because the power is there. However, if your light goes out, it's not the Source's fault. It's your own.


Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Addictions and Bad Habits

I want to talk to you about addictions and bad habits. I am not just talking about being addicted to alcohol or drugs, because addictions can include the TV, work, sex, gossip, etc. If you are going to be addicted to something shouldn't you be addicted to Christ? I mean that's a good addiction isn't it?

Addictions start out as a something new to try. After a while, it becomes a habit (or something you do not think about but just do). Once you find yourself in this position, you are addicted to what you are doing.  Let's define the word addition.

addiction (noun): “The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.” (Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/addicition, Feb 22, 2006)

There were multiple definitions out there, but I really liked this one. Now let's look to the Word of God for an example of habits and what they can cause.

1 Timothy 5:11-13    "(11)As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. (12)Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge.  (13)Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to." (NIV)

In the example above, Paul is speaking on how to deal with young widows. Before verse 11, he states that no woman younger than 60 may be placed on the widows list. Why? Well he explains in verses 11-13. The reason is because they let their "sensual desires" take priority over their "dedication to Christ". In addition to this, the younger widows form a "habit" of being idle and becoming "gossips and busybodies". There is an addiction in that one passage and it is not to Christ. It is an addiction to things that would keep someone from Christ.

Like I said earlier, the TV can be your addiction. If you cannot sit quietly and feel the need for the TV then it's your addiction. Or, if you come home and your first notion is to go for the remote well that may be something that you need to address. Maybe the first thing you do is run to the computer and check Facebook or email. Well, that is something you may want to identify, accept that these are bad habits and change them. If we can work to replace the things that occupy our time away from Christ, we can begin to live a more victorious Christian life. Why? This is because you would begin to spend more time with Christ. If we are looking towards God instead of gossiping, you can begin to break the habit of gossip.

Well how can you break addictions? In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul gives us a starting place:

"(22)You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; (23)to be made new in the attitude of your minds; (24)and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." (NIV)

In addition we can look at Chronicles and Psalm as well.

1 Chronicles 16:11   "Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always."

Psalm 34:1   "I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips."

If we can learn to identify our habits we can change them. Remember that acceptance is the first step. If you cannot accept the fact that you have an addiction or bad habit, you will never move forward with changing it. Bad habits do not change over night. It is a gradual process, however, if you slowly begin to replace these activities with more Godly activities, you will see how the habit slowly goes away. Remember that no two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Naked You Came. Naked You Shall Return

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A couple of nights ago, the family got to sit down and read Job 1 (sounds like Jobe) and I have to tell you, I learned (and re-learned) some things once again.  It isn't that I do not always learn but rather this was a different take on the same scripture that I have read in the past. I am not going to quote the entire chapter one in its entirety but I do want to set the stage for what is the beginning of many trials for a servant of God.

Job, the Man.

For those who do not know of Job, he "was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil" (Job 1:1).  He had seven sons and three daughters which by most standards today would constitute as a large family for one home.  "He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen and 500 female donkeys, as well as a great number of servants; so that he was the wealthiest man in the east." (Job 1:3).  If you continue reading verses 4 and 5, you will see that each of his sons had feasts on their respective days and invited their sisters to come and feast with them.  And, at the end all of this, Job would offer up burnt offerings to the Lord JUST IN CASE his sons might have sinned against God.  This is the type of man, that he was.

The Challenge.

The interesting thing about Job's trials is that they all started out with a conversation between the Lord and Satan.  In verses 6 through 12, we find that the conversation begins with the Lord asking Satan where he had been.  Satan simply responded that he had been roaming the earth here and there.  At this point is where it gets interesting.  Sounding like the father of a proud son, the Lord asked Satan if he had noticed Job whom as we remember "was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil" (Job 1:1).  As the discussion carries on Satan responds by saying that the Lord had protected Job and provided all the things he had.  If all of those things were taken away, Job would surely curse God (see Job 11).  So, to prove just how upright Job was God laid down the challenge by stating that Satan could touch everything around Job, but he could not touch Job himself.

Now that you have a back drop, in chapter one alone we see that Satan starts to make events happen that surround Job.  We find that he has his oxen stolen and the servants tending to them were killed, but one to relay the message to Job.  We see that fire fell from the sky to consume the sheep and servants and all were killed, but one to relay the message to Job.  Then, the Chaldeans attacked and stole all the camels and killed the servants, but one to relay the message to Job.  Lastly, is what I would consider as what should have been a dagger.  As Job's sons and daughters feasted in the oldest brother's home, a rouge wind came and collapsed the home on top of them, killing them all but who?  Yep, you guessed it.  It killed all but one servant to relay the message back to Job.

All at once, the once great man of the east had is wealth reduced to nothing.  To the average person in modern time, they might would immediately curse God and/or commit suicide however Job was not the average person.  In an act that seems almost impossible in most eyes, Job drew himself closer to the Lord.  Job tore his cloths off, shaved his head and fell down on the ground and worshiped by saying:

"Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)

Verse 22 ends the chapter with " In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly".  WOW!  I say WOW because that is true Love for the one who first Loved us!  So with that, this is what I took away from Chapter 1.

Be Perfect, Upright, Fear God, & Avoid Evil  - The way that Job became the great man that he was is because of these qualities.  Becoming wealthy isn't in the cards for everyone.  As a matter of fact, owning a lot things is not the plan that God has for you, but we can still be great people of God by keeping the qualities that Job had.  With that being said, God will give you everything you need.

Nothing Happens to You Unless God Allows It - People have a habit of blaming the devil for many things that happen to them.  In a lot of the cases, it is not Satan who causes us problems, but rather what God has allowed to happen.  With Job, Satan had to get permission to cause distress to him, but still it had to be within the parameters that God set.  God will let bad things happen to you to make you grow up, to tear things from your grips that are hindering your spiritual walk, or a host of other things.  In Job's case, the permission came to show how upright Job would be despite his material and emotional loss.

Naked You Came. Naked You Shall Return - Job gave us this lesson and pretty much sums up our lives.  Out of all the things you obtain in this life we cannot take it with us when we die.  When we are born into this world, we had nothing but our naked bodies.  When we die, you may be buried in a suite or dress, but you aren't taking them with you to heaven or hell.  Even when it comes to relatives.  Although we may see them again one day upon Jesus' return, it is alone that we are born and naked that we shall die.

These things are hard to even understand for many of us because our flesh tends to desire the things that we see as opposed to focusing on the things we cannot see.  I hope that this will be a blessing to you as much as it was for me in learning (and re-learning) this application of the Word of God.

Be Blessed folks!

Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Submit Yourselves to God (James 4)

Today, I want to share with you James 4.  I am not providing any other commentary, but rather allowing James to speak for himself.

(1)What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? (2) You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. (3) When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 

(4) You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (5) Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? (6) But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 

(7) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (9) Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. (10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. 

(11) Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. (12) There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? 

(13) Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” (14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (15) Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (16) As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. (17) If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Bring Things Back Into Focus

Colossians 3:17;22-25  (17) That is, everything you do or say, do in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks through him to God the Father.  (18) Wives, subject yourselves to your husbands, as is appropriate in the Lord...(22) Slaves, obey your human masters in everything, not serving only when they are watching you, to win their favor, but single-heartedly, fearing the Lord. (23) Whatever work you do, put yourself into it, as those who are serving not merely other people, but the Lord. (24) Remember that as your reward, you will receive the inheritance from the Lord. You are slaving for the Lord, for the Messiah. (25) Don’t worry — whoever is doing wrong will be paid in kind for his wrong, and there is no favoritism shown.

Who says that waking up in the morning to hit the grind of work is easy?  For those who are fortunate enough to have gainful employment, we can get use to the same routine of waking up Monday through Friday to go to the same job to do the same functions to only have two days off.  Wash. Rinse. Repeat.  I know how it feels because this is me.

Over the past few years, I have some how lost my focus for who it is that I labor.  As a man, we tend to focus on providing for our families.  We want to make sure there is a roof over their heads, food is on the table, the heat and lights are on and that everyone is happy.   Women who work can fall victim to the same things as well.  See, it is a dangerous trap to place the labor we do as a secondary means to provide in a fleshly manner for the household.  Some where along the way, we forget that God provided the job.  We gave Him thanks when it first came along and then some time down the road it turned into something we just shrug and assume it will always be there.

This morning, I want to challenge you to change your focus.  In Colossians, Paul tells us to work as we work for the Lord and not for man.  We are to do the work that we do as if we are walking into the Lords office every morning.  If you had to swipe your security card with Jesus every day as you walked through the building, how would that change your attitude?  I suspect a lot!  As such, let's remember in all that we do and say, we do it unto the Lord.  No matter what happens at work.  No matter how good or bad you may think you have it, do your tasks as given to you and work it all out for the Lord!

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Have a great day folks!

Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Cleansing: Let Me Show You Something

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This entry continues a previous series I wrote nearly seven years ago on the topic of Cleansing.  This is the last one for this series.  If you missed the others, you can see them all by clicking on the Cleansing link in the right navigation under the Categories or you can simply click here:  http://toinebo.blogspot.com/search/label/Cleansing.


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Aug 2, 2006

Good afternoon gang,

Sorry for the delay, but I'm here! Let's hop straight into it. I am continuing my topic on Cleansing as God has given it to me. I told you all that I feel like I am going through a cleansing period in my life and...it seems like we are always in "valley moments". Well just when you are in the "valley", God will reach out to show you something.

What I mean by "Let Me Show You Something" is actually not me talking but God saying, "Let Me Show You Something". Last week, we talked about Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (KJV). Well, by now I would hope that you have called unto God. But the question is, will you go with Him when He wants to take you somewhere and show you something?

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 - (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God (KJV)

It's like a parent to a child when things aren't going right. You reach your hands out to that child to show them something that they don't see or realize. The key is that the child grabs your hand so you can reveal to them the things they did not know. It's the same deal with God. If you hear him calling out to you and wanting to show you something, grab his hands and go without resistance. He will began to show you things that will blow your mind away and you will become a changed man/woman for it.

But don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself one day :-) .
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Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Cleansing: It's Only a Test

Today, we continue with a previous series called "Cleansing".  If you missed it, the previous post can be found here:  http://toinebo.blogspot.com/2013/07/cleansing-time-for-cleansing.html.

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Jul 12, 2006

Happy Wednesday gang....

Image Courtesy of Best Clip Art

Sorry for the delay, but I tell you I am truly happy to be able to share with you guys today. This week has been a trying week for sure. For that matter the entire month of July has been crazy and not by choice. I think in the past couple of weeks we have touched on the subject going cleansing periods. This thing has really been speaking to me and the theme of cleansing keeps reoccurring. Despite all that I'm going through, I keep being reminded that we (my family and I) are going through a cleansing period in our lives right now, each of us at different levels. With that, I want to give you guys a verse from the song, "It's Only A Test" by Bishop Larry Trotter & The Sweet Holy Spirit Choir.

"It's only a test that you're going through, it won't last always. Trials come just to make you strong, without a little bit of rain, it Just won't grow. Be strong, keep the faith, don't give up, and Realize it's only a test you're going through."

Really this is pretty much the whole song. Let's break this down a little. "It's only a test that you're going through, it won't last always..." - I know there are lots of tests in the bible, but I cannot help but to go back to my boy Job. Man, was he tested or what?

Job 2:7-10 - (7) Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai and struck Iyov (Job) down with horrible infected sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. (8) He took a piece of a broken pot to scratch himself and sat down in the pile of ashes. (9) His wife asked him, “Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die!” (10) But he answered her, “You’re talking like a low-class woman! Are we to receive the good at God’s hands but reject the bad?” In all this Iyov did not say one sinful word..

If we recall, God allowed Satan to try Job but could not take his life. However, Job remained a humble and faithful servant through rough and easy times. "Trials come just to make you strong, without a little bit of rain, it Just won't grow." - Let's look at our good buddy Jonah and what he caused. When God told him to go to Ninevah and preach against the city what did he do? He ran. Come on bruh. You ran? God is everywhere. So what happened. While on a ship, God brought a great storm against the ship. Now granted the men on the ship had nothing to do with Jonah's running, but by his presence, God brought his wrath against the boat because He wanted Jonah and that's it.

Jonah 1:13-16 - (13) Nevertheless, the men rowed hard, trying to reach the shore. But they couldn’t, because the sea kept growing wilder against them. (14) Finally they cried to Adonai, “Please, Adonai, please! Don’t let us perish for causing the death of this man, and don’t hold us to account for shedding innocent blood; because you, Adonai, have done what you saw fit.” (15) Then they picked up Yonah (Jonah) and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. (16) Seized with great fear of Adonai, they offered a sacrifice to Adonai and made vows.

Now, because they did as Jonah asked and threw him overboard, the seas died down. Now for the other people on the ship, if that isn't a trial I don't know what is. Just by Jonah's presence alone, these other men were caused to fear the Lord. Sometimes it takes a rocking of your ship for you to fear the Lord and recognize that He is the Alpha and the Omega......the beginning and the end. "Be strong, keep the faith, don't give up, and Realize it's only a test you're going through." - No one ever said that being a Christian was going to be a bed of Roses and that it didn't need attending. The reality is that we are in a spiritual war of good versus evil whether you want to admit and/or accept it or not. The faith is the foundation. If we have that then being strong and being able to realize what is happening will make sense to you.

Luke 17:5-6 - (5) The emissaries said to the Lord, “Increase our trust.” (6) The Lord replied, “If you had trust as tiny as a mustard seed, you could say to this fig tree, ‘Be uprooted and replanted in the sea!’ and it would obey you.

That's all the faith you need. I am not one that is afraid to admit, I still need work in this area, however, I have seen a LOT of progress from BJ (Before Jesus) to AJ (After Jesus). So because things look bad, don't assume God has thrown the towel in on you. He never does that to his children. You just have to be patient while you are going through your test and you will be blessed in the end. Have a great hump day yall!
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Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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Cleansing: A Time for Cleansing

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This entry comes from a small series that I wrote on Cleansing back in 2006.  Also, there is another from this series that I shared a while ago called, "Cleansing: It's OK to Slow Down".  Without out further delay here we go:

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June 28, 2006

You know these past couple of weeks have been tough......one of my dogs had to spend the night in the Vet Hospital this past weekend (he's ok now though), my daughter has been sick....my wife hasn't been feeling well....I have been sick (getting better though)....the checking account has dwindled down to little of nothing, but the bills are still arriving in the mail like clock work.....BUT, we haven't starved or missed a bill yet, so I know that all will be well. I honestly believe, my family is going through a cleansing period right now though. During cleaning time, a little dust may fly while getting it out the way.

With that said, that's what I want to talk about today. Cleansing. Let's get a working definition.

To cleanse is to "clean one's body or parts thereof, as by washing; purge of an ideology, bad thoughts, or sins;"

Well, we have that in place, now let's get to some scripture.

II Corinthians 6:14-18 (CJB) - (14) Do not yoke yourselves together in a team with unbelievers. For how can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? What fellowship does light have with darkness? (15) What harmony can there be between the Messiah and B’liya‘al? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (16) What agreement can there be between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God — as God said, “I will house myself in them, . . .and I will walk among you. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (17) Therefore Adonai says, “‘Go out from their midst; separate yourselves; don’t even touch what is unclean. Then I myself will receive you. (18) In fact, I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters.’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot.”

II Corinthians 7:1 (CJB) -  Therefore, my dear friends, since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that can defile either body or spirit, and strive to be completely holy, out of reverence for God.

...The thing is that in this world we are surrounded by more unbelievers than believers in our daily lives except on Sundays. Then again, just because someone is in church doesn't guarantee they are a believer. In God's Word, it says that as long as you are not yoked (joined together or form a connection) with an unbeliever, He will receive you and will be a Father unto you and we shall be his sons and daughters. But, before we can do this we must first cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. In addition we are to work towards perfecting holiness all while in the fear of God.

I said all this to say that do not dwell on what is happening in your life right now on the surface. As bad as it may seem, there is probably a good reason for it all. Look at your life spiritually and you may find that some simple house cleaning needed to be done.
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Antoine E. Hall

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22

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