His amazing LOVE 4-25-12

Okay, here are some bible animal facts for you:

The sheep is the most frequently mentioned animal in the bible, and the only domesticated animal not mentioned in the bible is the cat. Which in my personal opinion is AWESOME, cats creep me out. Sorry all you cat lovers out there…they do.

 If I were to ask someone on the street to quote me a scripture, the most popular verse that everyone seems to know is John 3:16….

“For God so loved the world, they He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I think many people memorize this scripture, but not many people KNOW what this scripture means.                                                                                                                                             

One of my FAVORITE songs to listen to is…”How He Loves Us”. I love listening to Kim Walkers version. SOO GOOD. ( if you have never heard this song, find it, download it, and listen to it)

We are his portion and he is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
So, heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

He loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves

Yeah, he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves

Say this to yourself, “God sent His only Son into this world, who LOVED me and GAVE Himself for ME!”

Do you know what Jesus went through for us?

He was mocked, beaten and bruised.
Isaiah 52:14 says ,”Just as there were many who were appalled at Him-His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.”
 Marred in the dictionary means to disfigure, deface, or scar.

Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open His mouth.”

-Oppression means to weigh down, to lie heavily upon( the mind), and Afflicted means to distress with mental pain, trouble greatly or grievously.

Can you imagine going through not only the physical pain, but the mental anguish that He had…and He kept silent, he didn’t open His mouth. Wow, thank you Jesus.

As a mother of two, I can’t even think for one second how I would feel watching my babies get hurt. Just watching them fall on the ground and scrape their little knees hurts my heart.

Can you imagine what the Father was going through, looking down and seeing his Son being crucified. Yet the bible says that, “It was the Lords will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.” Isaiah 53:10

God Loved ME so much that He gave His only Son….WOW…

Don’t you know that you are HIS FAVORITE??!!

Galatians 2 :19 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

This is a good verse to write down and put it somewhere where you can always see it.

My heart gets so sad when I think of all the young people out there that don’t fully understand the knowledge of God’s love. If they could only see just how much He does, their entire world would change. You need to grasp this. You need to know the love of God, you need to know what He did for you, so that you can go out and tell your friends, family, class mates. Let His love shine through you so you can be a witness!

Here is my last scripture for you that happens to be one of my favorites:
"I am convinced that nothing can EVER serparate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries for tomorrow- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love." Romans 8:38

Be BLESSED!

-Jessica

"OVERCOMING" 4-16-12

Here is your random fact for the day:

Did you know the longest word in the Bible is Mahershalalhashbaz found in Is 8:1?   I would like to hear you say THAT 3 times! Wowza!

This week as I was planning my next blog, the Holy Spirit (who is so COOL by the way) reminded me of my High School days. Oh, how I miss you DRAMA days…NOT!

High School memories bring mixed emotions for me. It was a FUN time filled with good memories and then there was a time that wasn’t so fun. In the beginning of my Sophomore year, I came upon a horrible wreck after school. I saw some things that no 15 year old should see. Something happened that day that changed me. As I looked upon the scene before me, FEAR like no other came upon me and from then on I started having MAJOR panic attacks.  

To keep a looonng story short my panic attacks were the worst throughout the end of my Junior year. I was very involved in Cheerleading and the Drill team. I was a good student and was friends with everyone, but not many people knew what I was going through. I felt embarrassed and ashamed and didn’t want anybody to find out. It was like I was 2 very different people. They didn’t see me in the mornings when my mom dropped me off at school, crying and weeping in the floor board begging her not to let me go. They didn’t know that during practices it was all I could do, not to just scream and run out the door, because the pressure in my mind was so severe. They couldn’t hear me cry from the time I got home to the early mornings. They didn’t know that I had to take medication for anxiety and depression. (which DID NOT help) 

I was very involved in my Youth Group. My grandparents were pastoring at the time and I had the best youth pastor. I had my family supporting me and trying to pull me through my horrible nightmare. I remember at the football games, the only way I could get through my performances was knowing at the very top of the bleachers my mom and grandma were up there interceding and praying for me. I watched them the entire time.

Although, all the support and prayers did help a little, I still was miserable. I knew that to overcome this attack in my mind, I had to be the one to speak over MY BODY, MY MIND. My best friend in the whole world was my prayer journal, it was my very own prayer closet. It was here that I started really having a deeper knowledge and relationship with the Lord. To this day, I still keep a prayer journal. I love to look back at all my entries and see the work of the Lord and what He has brought me through.

As I started to write I grew bolder in the Lord and the Word. I would find scriptures and speak them over myself. I would write them on my notebooks, have them inside my locker…

JESSICA-

You can do ALL things through Christ who gives you strength.  Phil 4:13

You have the MIND of Christ

For God has not given YOU a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a SOUND MIND. 2 Timothy 1:7

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and Life are in the power of the tongue”….

YIKES, that’s some pretty serious stuff. When I would wake up and say, “ I just dread going to school”… “I can’t do this anymore”…..”I feel like I am losing my mind”…..

I had to change up my vocabulary and speak what Jesus says about me. “ I AM GOING TO HAVE A GREAT DAY AT SCHOOL”  and so on and so on.

Watch what you speak over yourself. Speak life to yourself. SPEAK.THE WORD.

I could start seeing a difference. When that panic started to rise up I would excuse myself, go to the bathroom, look into that mirror and start talking to myself (and not in a CrAzY way..;) )

Ephesians 6:11 says, " Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil"....

I remember one time while I was LITERALLY putting on my armor in the bathroom. A girl walked in and I was pretending to put my shield of Faith and boots of Peace on…HAHAHA, she looked at me and then walked right out. She probably thought that I WAS cRaZy..:0)

Even to this day sometimes that little panicky feeling tries to creep up on me. That’s when I say,” OH NO, I don’t think so. You get away from me Devil, I KNOW who I am in Christ!”  GO.AWAY!

Find some scriptures that will help you with whatever you are dealing with. Write them and put them where you can read it and speak it over yourself. Put it in your notebooks and in your lockers at school. Maybe it will be a witness to your peers. Tell them about if they read it!

Be BLESSED!

-Jessica

“AWAKENING”   

When my Pastor asked me to start a blog for Youth, my first thought was,  "EEEKKKK, it’s intimidating for people to read my stuff ". Then I thought about it and was like, "AWESOME, what a great way to dig a little deeper in the Word and not only help others, but myself as well".

 I have been listening to this song that Chris Tomlin sings called “Awakening”. Some of the lyrics go like this…

In our hearts, Lord, in this nation
Awakening
Holy Spirit, we desire
Awakening

For You and You alone
Awake my soul, awake my soul and sing
For the world You love
Your will be done, let Your will be done in me

In Your presence, in Your power
Awakening
For this moment, for this hour
Awakening

I believe now more than ever that this generation needs an AWAKENING of the Holy Spirit. There is so much JUNK in the world, and it makes being "young" hard work if you are not established in your walk with Jesus. Everywhere you turn, from movies to music, to school and the internet, there are so many temptations. We need the Youth of today to make a stand, to say “We will not compromise our Christianity for anything or anybody”.

Your goal in life should be to KNOW the Lord, above everything and anyone else. Ask the Lord to “awaken” in you the desire to do this. Get yourself stirred up and on fire for the Lord. In order to do this you need open up those bibles and READ, READ, READ!  It has to be a daily thing. You have to be the one to make the decision and just do it. It might mean that you have to skip hanging with your friends, texting, or wait, here it comes…. FACEBOOKING! Ouch, I said it. Some people might say, “but reading the bible is soooooo BORING”. I can promise you that if you ask the Holy Spirit to give you a revelation (an understanding) of what you are reading, then He will. You will actually feel your soul being awakend. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world.

I love how Colossians 3:16 talks about letting the Word of Christ dwell in you, to influence you. You need to read what Jesus says about you so it comes ALIVE inside of you. The Word is life to you, and the bible even talks about it being medicine to your body. I don’t know about you but I would rather take a dose of bible then cough medicine ANY day!!! J

My prayer is that this generation of young people will experience the greatest “Spiritual Awakening” this world has ever seen. That it breaks out in your schools, in your homes and your families. That your cry will be Oh God, Awake My Soul!!!!!!!

BE BLESSED!

-Jessica