Humble Us Lord!

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. ~ Luke 18:10-14 So often we come to God with a list of our accomplishments, trying to prove how worthy we are of His love. But God isn't interested in that; His love for you isn't based on what you've done or haven't done. He loves you because you are His creation, lovingly crafted in His image. When we focus on our accomplishments as a way of earning God's love or rewards, we allow pride to come in and draw our attention away from God and to ourselves, and we find ourselves becoming distant from God, unable to hear His voice. We begin to look at others, and judge them by our standards, seeing them as unworthy of God's love or consideration; after all, they haven't done anywhere near as well as we have!! We become like the Pharisee in the verses above, haughty and proud, and our prayers are empty boasts. The tax collector understood his unworthiness before God - he knew that his accomplishments were nothing, and he also knew that God is merciful and forgives us our sins. Todays Prayer: Lord, help us to be like the tax collector today, humble in Your sight, knowing our accomplishments don't earn or lose Your love and mercy. Help us to lay aside our pride and approach You with humility. Help us to see that our deeds do not determine our value in Your sight, or the value of others. Use us again today to touch the people we meet in this lost and dying world. Keep the Faith, Elder Bertrina www.nowfaithministries.org

Making it to Freedom

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36 “Making it to Freedom” After walking into many churches for many years and seeing beautiful woman like you, dressed in the finest apparel, fresh hair-do, nails perfect, shoes and make-up and blush looking good, I was more concerned about the weight of issues I saw and felt from these same women. It dawned on me, that we wear the mask well but I knew without a doubt that someone out of the groups of hundreds of women was dealing with depression. Somebody couldn’t find a job, somebody had a child that wouldn’t stay out of jail, somebody was scared to make the next move, somebody felt like God wasn’t real, somebody had been looking for love in all the wrong places. Ultimately, somebody wanted to be free! In thinking about what Freedom meant to me, my mind immediately went to my first born child. My daughter whom I named Freedom has lived up to her name. She’s such a free spirited girl without any cares. Fear has no hold on her and she is willing to try anything once. I begin to think about her name and how it came out of a place that my husband and I were in during the year 2005. We were in bondage. In our mind. In our finances. In our church and stuck amongst so-called friends and we no longer wanted to live that way. I began to understand that I could honor the actions of my past whether it was bad choices I made, what I did to someone else or what someone else had done to me. The Lord revealed that I could take the drama, the hurt, the guilt, the regret and the pain of my past and count it all joy! Acknowledging them all was hard, but once you have conquered facing the reality of your past you have taken the first step into freedom. My husband and I dedicated our time, studies and prayer life to becoming free. We committed to do such things like: o Forgive ourselves because God had already forgiven us o Forgave others because God forgave us o Flooded our minds with the Word of God-it transforms us!!! o Prayed for our enemies and ourselves Let me say that this was not an overnight process. When you have layers and layers of junk, resentment, bitterness, rejection and the list goes on, the healing to freedom process can take years. However, when you get there you will be able to freely scream, “Liberation Looks Good on Me!” I’m not sure what you may feel stuck in, in bondage with or just feeling bound but whatever it is you can be free. I encourage you not to be held bound or back by the perception for others, everybody has an opinion but the only opinion that matters is God’s! The Lord said, He whom the Son has set free is free indeed…that’s good news! Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Share Your Story with Us! If you have a testimony, writing, a poem or anything you would like to share, send it to us and you will be featured in one of our upcoming blogs! Email us at: info@nowfaithministries.org For more information on Elder Bertrina Lyons visit www.bertrinalyons.blogspot.com or www.nowfaithministries.org Keep the Faith, Elder Bertrina Hebrews 11:6