Tag Archives: prosperity

iTalk

God’s Valentine to you: Your faith will make you whole

Leave a comment

God's valentine

Mark 5:34: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Those who say Joel Osteen is too happy are messed up in the head. How in the world can you be too happy?

I find peace and happiness will turn any situation into gold.

Here is a story. My car’s alternator broke down at a gas station one midnight. I was by myself with no way of getting help. Many people would have been panicking, but I believe God will do what He says He will do. So I sat there calm and collected.  God sent me a complete stranger to get me home. The guy even had a great sense of humor, just like I like my men, by the end of the night, I was laughing and having a good time.

When God says He will bless you, he doesn’t mean just money. Proverbs 22:4 says, “Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.” What kind of life can you live unhappy?

I do not underestimate the power of peace and happiness.  It turns marriages around. It feeds the homeless. It heals the sick. It gives strength to the weak. I could be in the midst of a war, everyone around me dying, and I am the only one able to laugh at the days to come. Is it because I’m oblivious? No, it’s because I understand God is not a liar. He does exactly what He says He will do.

The one thing I like about preachers like Joel Osteen, Jesse Duplantis, Joyce Meyer, and Bishop Davis of Faith Christian Center Jacksonville is they preach on God’s blessings and tell you exactly how to receive.

It is not so easy to receive God’s blessings.

  1. Mark 10:27 says, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God,” leaving man not able to receive the blessings on his own.  Let’s not mention Psalms 32:10 says, God’s “unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him”, not the wicked. It’s so easy to be wicked. Catch me on a bad day after weeks of not being in the Word.
  2. We are constantly fighting against negative thinking and feelings, both which inhibit God.
  3. We are naturally evil beings living in an evil world.
  4. We actually have to step out on faith before God moves. It is easier to believe what we can see and touch.

I find God asks me to do a lot of things that do not make sense.  When things didn’t work out the way I planned, I would be left thinking, am I going insane? Maybe I should stop believing. Thing is, I made a promise to God: no matter what, I will keep believing in Him because wherever He takes me, He can at least provide me peace and happiness.  This promise has helped me stay in faith, leading God to fulfill.

It is funny how in Mark 5:34, Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you” not “I have healed you.” It makes me sad God will do only what I believe He will do.  I want Him to be a magic genie, but alas, that was not His will.

If you study the new testament yourself, you’ll discover Jesus saying multiple times,  “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Mark 5:20 is one specific time He does that.

If I were you, I’d follow his command.

iTalk

God’s Valentine to you: Step out on faith

Leave a comment

God's valentine

Proverb 28:27: “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing.”

I enjoy tithing. Why? Because I truly believe God will do what He says He will do.  When I read Mark 4:20, “Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop –thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times what is sown,” I know every time I plant a seed God is going to grow me a forest.

Now as a fantasy romance author, you should already know I am a big dreamer. I give my characters big things, and I expect God to give me even bigger things. It took me about twenty years to realize if I want God to move miraculously in my life, then I need to step out on faith and move miraculously in others.

So I find myself searching to bless others as if I am superman, hungry to love like Christ loves.

In mid-January, God told me to find people at local bus stops in Northeast Florida, ask Him who I should bless, and just give them money. How awesome is that? I do it because let’s get real. I’m not trying to be the one surviving in this world till my eternal bed is made. I’m ready for the fullness of Christ, and I’m trying to receive it today. Jesse Duplantis, a southern preacher who lives by the words of Mark 11:24, “Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it, and it will be yours,” preached at Faith Christian Center one day. He preached on God blessing him abundantly and beyond, speaking on what I am blogging about right now.  At the time I heard his message, I was fed up with my mediocre relationship with God. Now me being the demanding person I am, I was demanding more. 

Whenever I read the Bible, I don’t think, ‘Oh this is a nice story.’ I think, ‘God, why aren’t you doing this for me?’ or ‘I want that’, or ‘God, you said you’d do this. I’m waiting.’ So when Duplantis finally told me the key, I instantly became good soil and soaked up his message.  

Now tithing means several things to me. Many preach solely on giving money to our respective churches. This is true, but many of the people who need help are outside of the church. That is why it is important for me to ask God daily, how can I go beyond just giving money to church? How can I do your will.

God might say something as small as, give your neighbor a bright smile every morning.   

Then get ready.  Your relationship with God will become a marriage.  Then you’ll have a right to make a list filled with the desires of your heart because Proverbs 25:28 says, “He who trusts in the Lord will prosper”, and Psalm 37:4-6 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of you heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this; He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the Justice of your cause like the noonday.”

Read God’s Valentine to you: He will do for you exactly what he said.