cup of joe

Ephesians 5:1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
Freedom is a good thing. It's even a God thing. Christ HAS set us free so that we can live a free life. To do so will require us to make adjustments. Why? Because freedom doesn't always mean liberty. Think about it. When the children of Israel were liberated out of Egypt, they were set free of the bondage of Pharaoh. But it wasn't long until the could be heard grumbling about the way it was over where they were. They had to learn to adjust to the new found liberty and take a stand IN freedom. As Moses began to lead them and God began to orchestrate a plan to bring them to Canaan, they had to deal with this new life and the "rules" that God was setting up for them so that they could live the free life. They began to look at this freedom as a new kind of bondage. They were seeing this as a harness of slavery rather than an avenue of…

Luke 5:12 KJV And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Jesus is on a journey, being full of the Spirit, and comes to a man whose body is consumed by a skin disease. Leprosy had completely covered him. When he saw Jesus he fell at His feet and begged for healing: “Besought" means to plead”. But then look what he says… “if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean”. In other words, if you want to, you can make me well. Can I go a bit deeper here? This man knew(he had an understanding) that Christ COULD heal, but he did not know if Christ WOULD be WILLing to do so. This simple phrase says something to me. This man was in the presence of Christ but did not understand the power of Christ…nor the heart of Christ.  I have heard people pray, "if thou wilt" all of my life, in fact it has been prayed for centuries. I’ve been in counseling …

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be  thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Today, as you drink your cup of joe, I want you to let this sink in to your heart and spirit. God sent His Word, the Bible says, and that Word brought healing. It restored relationships. It won battles. It calmed minds that could not find peace. His Word was preserved and protected for us so that we could be trained in righteousness: that is to make the right choices at the right time for the right reasons and produce the right results. And according to verse 17, so that we might be "thoroughly equipped" for EVERY good work. I will be the first to admit that I've gotten myself into things that I did not feel I was ready to do. If I did not talk myself out of them altogether, I just kept walking hesitantly forward. Each and every time that I entered something that God set up f…

Well happy Friday everyone! You made it through the week so you should take a deep breath and let out a grateful shout! 😁 Many times throughout the day we get so caught up in what we are doing that we forget to stop, take a breath and thank the Lord for another day. Life can often be quite challenging but remember that it's that resistance that helps you grow. You were designed to succeed in every area of your life so if you can learn to trust in the Lord when the tough times come, you will see His hand in everything. He is ever-present, always willing and His love is unfailing. Think about that as you enjoy your weekend! May your cup always be filled to overflowing☕️

If you have been in church for any time at all you have probably heard the preacher talk about a God who calls things that are not as though they are. That scripture is found in Romans 4:17. I've heard it too. I have even used it. And still many people do not understand how you can make something happen that is not already happening. The great part about our journey of faith is that you do not have to understand it for it to work. I do not have to know how my cars engine is functioning to enjoy the benefits of driving that car. If it ever breaks down, I go to someone that understands it to make it work again. Our lives are no different.  Jesus spoke of things coming as if they were already there. We call it faith. It is sort of like what happens when you use a camera. You find the person or thing you want to photograph, you point your camera in that direction, you focus on the image and then you snap it. What you focus on develops into the picture that you saw. Think about it...y…

Have you realized how our lives have changed since the addition of the cellphone? When we use the cellphone to connect we no longer ask people how they are, we ask them where they are. With caller ID and text messaging, we no longer have to have a conversation with anyone unless we want to pick up the phone. Our kids say, don’t call me…text me!  I miss the times when we could dial a number and get a real person with an actual conversation on the other end. I long for those days when you didn’t have to hear an answering machine tell you when you could speak and leave your message. Aren’t you glad God does not require a family plan or a basic media package to connect to Him? Aren't you glad He does not say, call me, maybe? In Jeremiah 33:3 He says, Call me and I will answer. Not just that but he goes on to say I’ll show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know. Amazing things are about to be revealed to you. Valuable information that you and I can use. So forget about…

Joseph Edward Jones, Pop, well, I call him dad. When I was a little kid I used to think he made me work way too hard. At the time, mowing the lawn and taking out the trash seemed to be overwhelming:) The older I got the more I began to understand that he wasn't working me too hard, he was preparing me for the life ahead. A former Marine, husband to Barbara Jean and dad to three kids, I am so grateful for the lessons taught in those good ole days. I've grown up to be a person with initiative, passion and a good moral compass which has all been planted by strong parenting and a good God. Today, I pray for a powerful anointing and blessing for my dad and all of those that will be honored in some way today. God loves good dads. God love godly dads. And I love my dad too cause he is one of a kind. Guys you could say he's  "dad to the bone". Happy Fathers Day! #dadtothebone

Mark 4:21-22 Jesus went on: "Does anyone bring a lamp home and put it under a washtub or beneath the bed? Don't you put it up on a table or on the mantel? We're not keeping secrets, we're telling them; we're not hiding things, we're bringing them out into the open.
Our lives were meant to be lived out among other people. We were made to connect with others and develop relationships. The best way to grow relationships with people is to grow your relationship to Christ. It's so easy to want to detach and live life for ourselves. To take care of ourselves first and then look outward. That simply does not work. Jesus described it himself later in this chapter when he said: “Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.  Stinginess impoverishes."  Giving IS the way. Give your life to Christ. Give your life to others. Give your life to what Christ is doing: time, talent and treasures. Bring it all out into the open. You were made to be a li…

Have you ever got out of bed in the dark and hit your toe on the bed post? Ever shut your thumb in a door? How about slicing your finger with the edge of a piece of paper? You can almost feel the pain that each of these things brings when I say them can’t you?  I have learned that if you are going to move at all in this world you are going to hurt yourself. Often we hurt ourselves by putting ourselves in places that we know we should not be. Many of the pains in my life and the bruises to my ego are self-inflicted. Whenever I hurt myself as a child my mother would warn me to be careful. I would. For an hour! Then I was back to my reckless life of fun and frolic. The good news is that pain goes away. Remember that toe question I asked you? The pain will probably go away before the bruise does. Eventually all of the evidence that you were ever hurt will fade from your being. Our key to maturing in this life will be to learn the lesson but stop replaying the accident. When we rewind we …

What you say, what you hear; what you see and hold dear.
It all matters:)

I love the way this short little statement begins in Psalm 32:5: “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you     and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”     And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. “
Finally…after I have tried to figure out every way possible to ignore, perhaps even hide my shortfalls, I confessed. Finally, I stopped trying to hide my guilt. Finally, I confessed. There is nothing more liberating than letting it all out. Light always dispels darkness.  Maybe you have felt the pressure and anxiety that guilt tries to overwhelm you with. You may feel tired and worn out from carrying this load that was never yours to carry in the first place. Let today be the day you have your “finally” moment. It’s so easy and it will bring an amazing amount of freedom. Simply say "Lord, I am sorry for the things I have done that were not part of your plan. I searched for my own path in my strength and I have come to the end of my jo…

Once as I was discussing something about Christ being an obstacle remover and a stain remover it hit me...all of the products around me in my kitchen and my laundry room were sending little encouragements to me each and every day! My house is preaching to me! It sounds like this: The bottle of SHOUT announced the DAWN of a brand new ERA...a new day....FANTASTIK! The SUNLIGHT began to shine. I made a PLEDGE to the Lord to walk with Him and a CASCADE of His love and peace consumes me. The TIDE starts to change. My shame and guilt stains are coming out! JOY floods my soul and I lift up my eyes and thank Him in the midst of everything. I have so much to GAIN and no matter what happens I have within me the power to be of good CHEER! Nothing is going to make me a DOWNy for with God ALL things are possible. How we FINISH the race is so important! So my friends, strengthen your feeble knees and build up your ARMs and HAMMER that enemy! A simple prayer and ...EASY-OFF, the devil loses his gri…