A Totally Random Rant on Religion (Not a Bashing!) – Part 2

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I am glad that I prepared you all for a Part 2 for the blog post on yesterday, because I am sure you all are wondering, “How was that a rant on religion????”   As a side note, let me mention that it was very interesting to see the related articles which expressed major concerns with “religion”, which to a certain degree emphasized a few of my concerns.

Now I did say that I had and still have A LOT in my head on this topic, but let me attempt to connect some of the dots…  In my OPINION and I stress my opinion, Man (Humanity) has misused, mishandled and in some cases, misinterpreted the Word of God.  Some have taken a scripture or two, used it out of context and created an entire religion. For others, religion has become BIG $$$ business. Unfortunately, these and other issues have turned people away from church and away from God Himself.

Along the same lines, many of us (50 and over), grew up in church, which was and in some cases, still is heavily influenced by tradition. As a young adult, it appeared that anything other than breathing would send you to Hell and for some, it is still that way. 😦  My pastor tells us often that we (the church) have allowed tradition to truly choke out the Truth.  The Word of God stands by itself, is spiritually discerned and does not need our help to make it TRUE.

So, what is my point?  We have run people away from God with our words.  Young people and older ones too, are seeking a Savior and we tell them about everything, BUT Christ Jesus.  Your dress is too short, your hair is too long, you can’t chew gum (lol!)…. just to name a few.  I believe that I said it yesterday, if we simply allow the Spirit of the Lord to lead, guide and direct us is ALL that we do and say; Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Ephesians 4:29  

If you notice, Jesus Christ did not hang out with the “religious” folks. He hung with those who needed Him most…. the people that needed to KNOW Him.  We are losing an entire generation or two, because we won’t simply tell this about Jesus.  I have two (2) grown daughters and we have talked about everything.  They have asked me about nose piercing and tattoos, joining sororities and most recently, how would I feel if they stopped going to church.  I respect them as intelligent young women and their decisions, and they respect my opinion. I let them know that I will no longer suffer their consequences for them.  My youngest will call me just to vent and she will tell me up front, “Mom, just listen… I don’t want to hear scripture”.  At times, we just have to agree to disagree, but I am confidence that they KNOW Jesus and that’s the best I can do.  Everyone deserves to KNOW Jesus.  In John 14:6, Jesus said , “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Are we speaking LIFE or Death with the power of our tongue?  

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A Totally Random Rant on Religion (NOT a Bashing!)

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I will try not to make this post too long.  But I have so much in my head right now that I may have to make this a two-part post.

There are a few things that I need to mention before I get into the meat of my message… First, I will reemphasize that this is NOT A BASHING of Religion!  Actually, I am going to speak very little about religion specifically.  Second, I want to remind you that this is a RANT! So I am going to ramble at times, thus I may say things that may not make any sense to you, so you may need to read it more than once. 😀

When I gave my initial message, as an aspiring missionary, my pastor told us that the Word that the Lord gives us comes to us first.  So there has been this Word in my spirit about what we say out of our mouth.  The Power of Life and Death is in our tongue!   It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord will confirm His Word to us in ways that we least expect.  The Spirit of the Lord will keep talking until we listen.

Don’t rush me yet, I told you that I was going to ramble…

Are we telling people about Jesus???  I heard someone say that we all must preach the gospel and when necessary speak words.  Think about it…  Are we talking about the Grace of God that has been afforded us?  But the cost was great!  We, in general, spend TOO much time telling ourselves and others, what we have done wrong, what we shouldn’t do or even what we can’t do??? We must be really careful about what comes out of our mouth.  We must speak LIFE, first to ourselves.

Make a Declaration! ….

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We must allow the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to speak to us and through us. Remember, God SPOKE the world into existence.  If we show everyone the Love of Christ, He will take care of the rest.

I understand that this message doesn’t apply to All of Us.  But it has served to remind me that I have to be very careful of what I let out of my mouth, even words I speak about myself.  I really don’t want to hinder the blessings that God has for me, simply because of what I just happen to speak into the atmosphere.

How about you?

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I think that there’s more to come (part 2)…  My pastor spoke today about speaking our thoughts.  He said that we are going to have negative thoughts, but what happens when we speak them out loud?

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So What are You doing Today?

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Yesterday was an Official day to give THANKS to GOD for ALL things and to Celebrate Family!   I am sure that we all agree that we MUST give thanks to God EVERY day….  We celebrated with our immediate family (minus son) and a friend this year.  There was an atmosphere of Love and laughter, Peacefulness and calm.  However, I do remember in years past, when we would Thank God, just to get through the day without something or someone igniting the pressure that was already in the room. (Of course, I am the only one that have had holidays like that. NOT! :-))

As we leave Thanksgiving Day and enter Black Friday, we are reminded….

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So What are You doing Today?  For some, today is called BLACK FRIDAY! (ominous sounding, don’t you think?)  … for some, it even started yesterday, after dinner!  REALLY?  REALLY!!   … A Mad Dash to the Mall for shopping and savings (?). In the past few years, it has actually become dangerous to be amongst the masses and masses of people trying to occupy the same space, at the same time, to buy the exact same items.  Are you out there right now?  Don’t get me wrong, I have always tried to avoid Black Friday like the plague, but I have spent many a day in Toys R’ Us, as well as other stores of all kinds … and WAAYYY after my kids discovered that there was no S______ C______, we had to have a REAL tree and make sure that it was filled to the brim!  But about 4-5 years ago, we had a revelation….

Today, we are home enjoying our day off (unfortunately my hubby had to work), but we will not be in the hustle and bustle at all this year.  We realized that we were constantly STRESSED about getting the right gift, about getting enough gifts (the girls HAD to have the same number of boxes to open and either way, we were gonna spend more money than we had!!!!!  I know that it may be tough to break the tradition of the holidays, especially if you have small children.  But we no longer have the BIG, REAL tree, now we have a small artificial tree that we put up in the dining room.  For the two years prior, we didn’t exchange gifts, but last year we decided to get each other one gift.  We plan a big family dinner with all the trimmings.  We play games and watch movies.  

At home, at work or shopping on Black Friday?   Please don’t lose sight of the true purpose of the holidays.  Are you stressed, tired, irritable, tired, stressed, frustrated, irritable, etc. etc.  Remember, this is the time of year that you should reflect on how far you have come over the years.  Be grateful for the LIFE that you have been given, although there have been a LOT of ups and downs …  and appreciate family.  Someone told me one day, that you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.  (My son text’d me, “Happy Thanksgiving, I Love You!” …. hmmmmmm????)  God, is that you?

So What are You doing Today? 

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Back from St. Louis and 2014… Here we come!

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Well, my husband and I got home last Monday from St. Louis.  Our trip to St. Louis was great!  I should have told you that we were there for our church convention, although I thought that we would get in a little sightseeing.  The week was packed with almost 24 hours of church services.  It was truly an extraordinarily spiritual experience.  There were tens of thousands of people worshiping God together.  There was endless hours of Gospel preaching, teaching and music.  On Thursday and Friday, we have midnight musicals and I saw Bishop Hezekiah Walker, Kurt Carr, VaShawn Mitchell and countless other awesome gospel music artists.   I may have mentioned that it had been over 30 years since I had attended our convention and yes, I was a lot younger.  But this has been an experience that I will not forget and I definitely plan to go back next year.  The weather was in the 60’s for most of the week and by the way, our hotel was right across the street from the Convention Center.  I am sorry that I don’t have more pictures…

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Although, we were blessed to return on a holiday, we were shoved back into our normal work routine fairly quicker.  Back from St. Louis and 2014, Here were come! The New Year is only 44 days away!   We have Fallen into Order in September/October and although, it is not too cold at the moment, we are moving quicker into Winter.  As we are preparing for the holidays, just keep in mind, there’s a brand New Year quickly approaching!

As always, it is time to put some order to the possible chaos, as everyone comes back inside to the warm and cozy.  We have had 11 months to accumulate MORE Stuff and for some of us, we are going to have to find some room, but all the new stuff that we will get in December…So we may need to sort, purge and organize our spaces. Let’s not go into the new year with more clutter than we had last year.  Order Your Steps can help! Check out our Fall/Winter Special… Click Here