From Gideon To Jesus

#VOD: Matthew 19:26

August 7, 2017by FromGideonToJesusLeave a Comment

“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

2641_640x640

It’s has been a while since I have posted a blog & for that I am sorry… These last few weeks have incredibly emotionally, mentally and even physically draining for me!

One thing I love about walking with God is that we can always have faith that life works out for His glory and our good. More times than not life will hit us pretty hard in certain areas and it can cause us to wonder how God can work this out for His glory and our good, but He always does…

Jesus’ statement here is so profound in our daily walks with God… I feel it is easy for us to read things like this and not grasp the power behind it. It is easy for us to gloss over this statement without stopping to think about what Jesus is saying to us all… I mean THINK about what Jesus is telling us here! Yes, there will be things that are impossible to do here on earth as a mere human, with human capabilities, BUT WITH GOD….

When we walk in God’s presence throughout the day it opens up the door for some powerful and profound experiences to come through. God can and will make a way for His plan in our life… We must simply sit back and let Him take control….

#VOD: Malachi 3:10

July 21, 2017July 21, 2017by FromGideonToJesusLeave a Comment

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. “

(Malachi 3:10 NIV)

2427_640x640

*Disclaimer* This isn’t going to be some prosperity post where I talk about the abundant financial blessings that commonly get tied to this verse. No no no…

You see, this verse says that He will pour out so much BLESSING that there will not be room enough to store it. That does not automatically mean money. In America there is still a silly obsession with finances are a gauge of being blessed or not. Yes, there is an aspect of that when it comes towards us being blessed by God, but that is not the ONLY blessing He has for us.

There have been WAY more blessings in my life that have NOTHING to do with money… I can count on my fingers (one hand) a number of times I’ve been “blessed” financially. Which isn’t very often considering a number of blessings I experience on a DAILY basis…

The point I am trying to make here is simply that a lot of us are showering in God’s blessing, but are so focused on something else that makes us feel like we aren’t blessed. For a vast majority of us, we are WAY more blessed than we deserve. For most of us in America, we are living VERY well.

Sit back and count all your blessings. Maybe that’s the people in your life, the phone/computer you are reading this through, the chair you are sitting in, the car, the food in your fridge, the clothes you are wearing, the roof over your head, etc…

Let’s not be spoiled brats who are ungrateful for what our Father has provided…

Love wins fam…. Grace wins….

Jesus, VOD

#VOD: 1 Corinthians 13:1

July 20, 2017by FromGideonToJesusLeave a Comment

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. “

(1 Corinthians 13:1)

2442_640x640

If there was one thing I think we are doing WRONG as a Church (all of Christianity) it would be that we aren’t loving the way Jesus loved…

We can try and mask it or use whatever fancy Christian lingo we want, but we are falling WAY short in this area. It is SO heart breaking to talk to non-believers and how they feel about believers. It’s the COMPLETE opposite of the way Jesus lived. The way that non-believers feel about believers is exactly what Jesus came to abolish… I’m talking about being judgemental, closed off, rude, arrogant, etc…

It’s a huge issue that will continue to plague us all until we truly realize the undeserved love that is extended to us on a daily basis… Really… Think about it. Even now, as I type this I am undeserving of the love that is being offered to me. Whether we want to accept it or not, we need to realize that even now we are undeserving of the love that is being extended to us all…

When we get that realization in our hearts & minds, we will be able to offer up SO much more love to those around us…

Next time someone that you think is “unlovable” & they don’t deserve the “love” that we should all look in the mirror… I’m serious. I have to do it on a daily basis when I start to get this false sense of deserved love…

YES, I get to be loved because of Jesus but I do not deserve it.
YES, there will be people in your life that don’t deserve to be shown “love” but you may be the only person that will ever extend that to them…

Be the light… Love them….

Love wins fam…. Grace wins…

Jesus, VOD

#VOD: Romans 4:7

July 19, 2017by FromGideonToJesusLeave a Comment

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.”

(Romans 4:7 NLT)

2416_640x640

Do you have true and genuine joy in your daily life? Do you find yourself constantly battling with feeling sad, upset, or just ungrateful?

I know that I find myself in both of those categories at times! There will be days where everything feels freaking amazing, I’m happy, I’m super joyful & life is just going GOOD.

There are also times of the complete opposite… Where I just fall into a rut that I cannot seem to shake! Where I struggle to find joy in anything! Which I feel is completely normal for most humans!

I know I personally struggle at times with that rut where I just can’t seem to shake it! One of the main things I try and force my mind to think of is heaven… The fact that I get to go to heaven. The fact that Jesus came and lived the life I should have lived, died the death that I deserved & rose from the grave on the 3rd day for the forgiveness of my sin…

He did that willingly. Took the shame of the cross. Took the pain of being beaten to the point of not being recognized. Walk through the streets completely naked and embarassed. The entire time He was thinking of little Nicholas McNeill. He was thinking about you. He was thinking about you at your worst and how badly He wanted us all to be in heaven with Him. Every step He took, we were on His mind. Every whip He took, we were on His mind. Every spit, punch, kick, insult & nail…. WE WERE ON HIS MIND…

NOW THAT BRINGS JOY… IMMENSE joy… Focus on that fam… Focus on the fact that He went through that for us & that because of that we can have the joy of the Lord living in us all…

Love wins fam… Grace wins…

Jesus, VOD

#VOD: Galatians 5:24

July 18, 2017by FromGideonToJesus3 Comments

“And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. ” (Galatians 5:24)

2435_640x640

This verse makes me think of one phrase in particular…. Basically that it is our CHOICE to kill our selfishness. Yes, I fully believe that Holy Spirit is a direct help in this, BUT it still takes a choice on our end.

At the end of the day, we have to choose to kill off those selfish feelings & desires that come into our lives. We have to live in complete obedience to Christ and His teachings! It’s safe to assume that we all have those areas where this is more of a struggle! The beautiful thing is that it’s okay to struggle, but it’s not okay to just give up and not try…

One of the most encouraging things that the scriptures teach us as a whole is that we are all works in progress. There are many things that God is working on each one of us, and many of them are all completely different. Us belonging to Jesus does not automatically mean we will never struggle again, it just means that we will have the power to kill off the selfish feelings and desires that RUN the people in this world…

A majority of the population live their lives based off of their selfish feelings & desires. Even to the extreme extent of severely damaging those around them to feed those selfish feelings and desires…

We do not have to be that way. We have the ability to choose to kill off the selfish feelings & desires that plague this world…

make the choice. Choose to follow Christ. Choose to kill off the selfish feelings and desires in obedience to Christ…

Love wins fam…. Grace wins…

Jesus, VOD

#VOD: Proverbs 21:7 NLT

July 17, 2017July 17, 2017by FromGideonToJesusLeave a Comment

“The godly walk with integrity;
blessed are their children who follow them.”
(Proverbs 21:7 NLT)

2421_640x640

I absolutely LOVE this verse in so many ways. It has SO much meaning to it and it can go a number of different ways… I could talk about how as Godly people we are to be active and walk our the life of Jesus… I could talk about how you can pinpoint a Godly person by the way they carry themselves on a daily basis and so many other ways, BUT the way this verse really spoke to me was talking about how this verse tells us that the Godly walk with integrity, not that we must walk in perfection.

There is this really DUMB outlook on Christians. Both within the church and those outside of the church itself. Both views are equally harmful to the body of Christ as a whole and make a huge impact on this world…

First off, you have the super religious people within the church that cannot seem to look past people being people. What I mean by this is by people making mistakes and not being perfect. DUH! If we were perfect we wouldn’t need Jesus…

Second off, is the people outside of the church walls. That see a Christian fall and instantly label them a hypocrite… Both of these are incredibly false and harmful.

Yes, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard and always thrive to bring our best to God. The truth is, only God knows what our true “best” is and He is the one that weighs that out at the end of the day…

Take some advice today fam… God loves you. God has loved you just as much at your darkest point, in your dirtiest time as He does at your absolute best time…

Walk with integrity… Try your best… Do everything you can to be able to lay your head down at the end of the night with peace knowing that God loves you. If you messed up, apologize to God and ask Him to help you not make that same mistake… If you mess up again, repeat the same process over and over again until God helps you conquer that mistake…

Love wins fam…. Grace wins…

Jesus, VOD

#VOD: Proverbs 21:2

July 14, 2017by FromGideonToJesusLeave a Comment

“People may be right in their own eyes,
but the Lord examines their heart.“
(Proverbs 21:2)

2420_640x640

To me, this verse brings so much peace. One of my good friends and I had lunch a few days ago, and he spoke to me about sermon prep/preaching. One of the parts that he was explaining is that a good preacher often speaks from what he is going through.

So when they are preparing for a message often times, the verse speaks to them in a certain way and they will speak from a place of vulnerability about the verse. They will share what the verse means to them (within the context) and make it MUCH more relatable. Especially because people can smell fakeness. When someone is real and genuine about where they are at in life, it brings such an awesome portion into the room. It makes it so dang nice to be able to vulnerable with people and let them know that it’s okay to not be perfect.

I say all of this because this verse is speaking to me on a different level. The truth is that for many years now I have struggled with people who are fake. It bugs me. ESPECIALLY when I know who they really are. I wrestle with wanting to “expose” them to people, but I really don’t have that place. I myself have my own struggles and I always have to remind myself that I need to have genuine heartbreak for the person. What I mean by that is that my heart needs to break for the fact that they think it’s okay to live that way. My heart needs to break for the fact that satan has them convinced that it’s okay to live that way….

What God typically does it remind me of the fact that we all have our struggles and that sometimes people aren’t being fake but they are actually just trying to be strong… Point is, quit worrying about others. Allow the self-reflection to happen in your own life and don’t worry about what you THINK that another person is going through. Truth is, often times we don’t even know what we are going through ourselves…

Love wins fam… Grace wins…