'faith' Tagged Posts (Page 12)

Hard times are unavoidable, we have to endure this life just like everyone else. It’s easy to quit when things get tough. Some people’s lives are harder than others but we all go through hardships. What us going? How do we stay at peace when our world is upside down? A verse that keeps me at peace is Matthew 11:28-30. It talks about Jesus carrying our burdens. When life brings us down, Jesus will always bring us up. “Then Jesus…

God wants you to be joyful! It says in Nehemiah 8:10, “And Nehemiah continued, ‘Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!’” [NLT] I love this Scripture because it implies that God is joyous! Don’t you think if God is up in Heaven…

We all have regrets in life. Many of us wish we can go back in time and fix those mistakes. The truth is that we can’t do that, and we don’t have to do that because God is so merciful that we don’t need to undo our mistakes. He died on the cross so we can live a life of redemption. I look back on my life and reflect on all the mistakes I’ve made and get pretty sad, but…

I was watching a video from a Christian Youtuber named Ruslan. He made a reaction video to comedian Dave Chappelle’s comments on the transgender community. Dave Chappelle is a well-known American comedian who’s been under fire for his recent Netflix special, The Closer, during which he said some quite politically incorrect statements about transgender people. He believes gender is biological, and he also believes in freedom of speech. Dave doesn’t identify as a Christian or even a conservative, but Christians…

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk…

In the 1950s, Professor Curt Richter of Johns Hopkins University conducted a morbid but still interesting lab experiment with domesticated and wild rats to test how long they could tread water. He first took a dozen domesticated rats, put them into jars half-filled with water, and watched them drown. The idea was to measure the amount of time they swam before they gave up and drowned. Richter noted that the first rat swam around excitedly on the surface for a…

We can be hopeful in Christ! It says in Romans 15:13, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” [NLT]. Our job isn’t the source of our hope. Our family members aren’t the source of our hope. Our confidence in ourselves isn’t our source of hope. But God is our hope! I can’t…

We’re in a day and age where adulthood is delayed, and a life of responsibility is replaced with a life of pleasure and ease. Millions of young adults put off marriage in favor of casual dating,  avoid having children as an excuse to live self-centered lives. As a result of this, many young adults struggle to find purpose in life. In today’s culture, many young people are pressured into going to college after high school due to social expectations from…

We all, at some point, have done things that are cringe-inducing and disastrous. Regret is what holds many Christians back from doing what God has called them to do. We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). God is faithful and just to forgive us when we do mess up. We don’t have to be stuck in regret mode. It’s good to feel a sense of remorse for sin, but we shouldn’t let our past mistakes…

Technology is ever-evolving. My iPhone 8 Plus 3 years later is now considered “old” amongst the latest iPhone 12. And it’s also not functional anymore. The SIM card is failing every 5 minutes. It starts working again when I turn it off and on again, but it only lasts for another 5 minutes until I reboot it. Is this done purposely by the phone companies? I don’t know, but I can say this, the phone companies are eager to give…

Toxicity can be found anywhere. You will find toxic people at work, school, or even church. No place is safe from people who will try to bring you down. God gives us discernment to let us know who is for us and who is not. Good people are with you through thick and then and expect nothing in return. Sadly in our culture, people who give without expectation are rare. “The poor plead for mercy; the rich answer with insults.…

It’s okay to mourn. The Bible says, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4 NIV). It also says, “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy” (Psalm 16:5 NIV). These are promises in Scripture that we can bank on. It doesn’t say we won’t cry tears, but it does say we will overcome and even have “songs of joy.” I know this life is filled with unfair things. People who to jail…

Life isn’t a straight line. It certainly hasn’t been for me, at least. I have already been talking about how I have moved from house to house in a two-year period. I’m starting to see that God is using my setback, to set me up for my big breakthrough. I have been back in North Carolina for over two weeks, and I have already been making ten times the money I was making in Florida as a freelancer, and I’ve…

I had a significant rock-bottom moment recently, and it really was an emotional time for me. I got evicted last month, and it was heart-breaking, not so much of me getting evicted but having to leave Jacksonville once again after going through so much trouble trying to settle down there. It sucked not being able to move in with one of my friends, but the good news is that I get to live with my cousin rent-free while establishing myself…

Politics have been such a hot-button issue in the church in the past year. Many Christians vote Republican because it aligns more with their Christian values, but many Black Christians vote Democrat because they feel the Democrat party better represents their race. As Christians, we should be good citizens (Romans 13:1-7), but we shouldn’t idolize any political party or politician. Flawed and sinful men and women run both parties, and our true Leader is King Jesus Christ.

Jesus had the heart for the innocent, those who didn’t have the social power nor evil motives. Jesus came as the oppressed because he wanted to show people that you don’t need money to prove how Holy you are. You just need an open heart. “At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said,…

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’, and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove…

I have been blessed with some incredible friends in the past few years. The biggest reason why I enjoyed living in Jacksonville so much was the great friends I made there.  If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have enjoyed living in Jacksonville so much.  My friends have encouraged me and helped me get through tough times even though they didn’t always have the money to do so. I’ve grown so much spiritually since moving to Florida, and it stinks…

It is human nature to have relationships with people and engage in conversations. As Christians, we know that our guidance about human relationships is provided in the Bible. But what about the everyday activity of talking? It seems simple, yet the Bible includes a wealth of verses about talking. We are warned that if we leave our mouths open, we will come to ruin, but if we guard what we say, we can preserve our lives (Proverbs 13:3). In Ephesians,…

“Tell me, who can stand before us when we call on that great name? Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus – we have the victory.” This congregational praise song has lifted many hearts and spirits; however, it conveys a singular truth that’s worth a short exploration. We have the victory, or at the very least, the one that ultimately counts. Too often, we are bombarded with our failures, whether they be of the past, present or potential future, to consider this thing…