Man…. This lesson was a blessing. A lot of the lies about the Bible and how it was written were things that always confused me and got to me when I was young. I knew God was real, but I just had no sense of how can I learn about Him. People and their ideas of God’s Word always pushed me away because I didn’t understand, but now I know that it was all a tactic of the enemy to push me away and throw me off the course. But to know that the Bible is all GOD BREATHED. Alive and active! Sharper than any two edge sword?! Man His Word has transformed my life. To know how many people have lost their lives so we can learn His Word blows my mind. It gets me excited and makes me cherish this gift more than ever.

Falling into moments of “what’s in it for me,” always humbles me. Especially when I began to learn the practice of fasting, thinking that because I’m doing all these things “God will respond,” as if He was made to serve me. But even in those moments God is so kind. With his gentleness of asking, “if nothing happens, am I still enough?.” It brings me to my face on the floor and having to cleanse my heart to yell, “Yes Lord you are enough!.” That fight hits hard when what I wanted didn’t come to pass, but His ways are higher and always better. Just have to truly let go and let God and trust in Him no matter what. Sometime this sense of worry and fear can hit me with the thought of how I’m 30 now, but I’m nowhere where I want to be, especially with not having a family. Like I’ve wasted my life and ruined it, and thinking “man God saved me late,” But HE’S NEVER LATE. His plan and purpose in my life is on HIS TIME not mine. But I have to practice into leaning more on trusting the Lord because He’s the ultimate goal. He’s the prize. I have it all because I have Him. But this flesh and this world always likes to tell me the opposite. It’s a daily battle to remind myself that I have more than enough, because I have Him. One of my favorite stories I’ve heard was the thought on how amazing it’s going to be to get to Heaven and see all the giants of the faith and getting to ask them about all the miracles they’ve witnessed like; “Moses, how was it seeing the sea split and walk through it?! David, what was it like to fight a GIANT?! Elijah, what was it like to see a pillar of fire come down?! Mary, what was it like to carry Jesus?! Simon Peter, what was it like to walk on water with Jesus?!...” But then they look back at us and ask “what was it like to carry Holy Spirit with you?! How was it to have access to the presence of the Living God every day?!” Sheeeeesh like what?! Thank you Lord for your presence. Thank you for choosing my heart to become a dwelling place. Thank you Jesus for what you did on the cross for me, for us! What more can we ask for?!

Man this teaching was SO GOOD. Being new to the faith and following the Lord has completely flipped my life upside down. I’ll try to keep this short, but man has it been an experience. So before giving my life to Jesus I had friends who were all christians, but I never really understood the extent of that; I just knew they went to, and served in church. & When God brought me to Himself, He began to challenge me with His word. I thank Him for His faithfulness in my life. He gave me a therapist that I’ve been seeing for years, but it wasn’t until I gave my life to the Lord that she revealed to me that she was actually a Christian counselor as well. Completely blew my mind because now we were able to work on biblical healing and transformation. Anywho, I gave my life to the Lord, but I was still living the same way because the friends I had were still in their sin, and they knew of all my sins and never once had a conversation about how we, and I were living. It was just normal; but things began to change when God began to minister to my lifestyle. For the first time I discovered what discernment was and what grieving Holy Spirit was like. So I brought this up to my therapist and she began to challenge me to do a study on the book of Romans. & boy was it a journey and a STRUGGLE. I thank God for the moment, because the Word began to expose me for all the things I was doing. It felt REAL and ALIVE. I had to humble myself and let go of so many things in life I thought were acceptable. The hard part was that these friends of mine are doing all the things I was living in; sexual immortality, addicted to drinking, addicted to getting high, wanting to go out and get drunk, fighting, and so many other things. So I was CONFUSED. Why is God telling me to change, but they are happy to live the same way since the day I’ve met them all. But the Lord was so kind and gentle, He just asked me to trust Him and to allow His Word to guide me. To focus on Him and not on anyone else around me. It was TOUGH, but I began to feel free. I didn’t know that my own friends where leading me into a life of destruction. A life that was going to separate me from God. Slowly I began to drift away, and although I still love them all; God had different plans for me. So His word began to change my thinking. I’m beginning to see how it truly transforms our minds. There’s so much I could touch on this subject, but this was just a brief example of how I had the wrong doctrine by those around me. BUT GOD is faithful, and had mercy on. He was willing to meet me where I was at and take me by the hand to guide me into this new life. I praise Him everyday for this new life. Idk where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for Him. ❤️‍🔥

@Daisy Guardado sheeeesh cmon now! May we continue to cast every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. For He loves us so much, and cares for us. I understand that mental fight in times of shame, and fighting against our sinful nature. But the fight is proof of the Lord changing are hearts. All for His glory. 🙌🏽

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” (Matt. 5:11) When I think deeply about all the reflection scriptures, this one really hits home. & I pray for healing and boldness when it comes to being persecuted. When I first started my walk with the Lord and began to follow His ways, I lost nearly everyone who was close to me. The people I was the closest to began to be offended by the change Christ began working in me. I never did anything to them personally, it I guess the way I was moving they didn’t approve of. It was so confusing because I thought they would be happy for me. Then it became one of the hardest things to go through; to have the friends you call family to begin speaking to you and treating you in a way you never thought they would before. But the Lord began to reveal so much to me, that it ended up being a blessing to become separated…. Even though I was being mocked, talked with so many harsh words, felt like I was being spat upon every day; something inside me began to strengthen me. That’s when I truly began to feel the presence of God guard me and guide me. Even when my fellow Christian friends began to tell me that I need to stand up for myself and fight back; the Lord was directing me differently. To remain calm, and still love those who were treating me differently because they didn’t understand. Peace came over me, but if I’m being honest, it left a SCAR. To the point where there’s this sense of fear that begins to wash over me and I guess it’s a bit of trauma when sharing my faith to new people I meet because I don’t know how they’re going to react. But I have to constantly remind myself that He’s worthy of it all. I’ve suffered so much in life in multiple ways, but I can at least take heart in that fact that He saved me and I can now suffer with Him and for Him, unlike before. It’s a daily fight, but God is so good. 🙏🏽

Let’s gooooo! Praying everyone has a great start to this new journey. May the Lord fill you, guide you, keep you, and strengthen you throughout it all. 🫶🏽🙏🏽 Time to go all in! 🔥