Are you sin conscious or Christ conscious?

So many times as Christians we are told we need to search our hearts for sin before we can worship God or before He will acknowledge anything we ask of Him. I know personally when I was told I needed to search my heart before I could ask for God’s help I’d always feel unworthy of asking anything from Him so I would only say, “Lord cleanse me and make me right in your eyes”, and that would be the end of my prayer! The more I looked at myself and searched for anything good, the more unrighteous I felt and the more I felt as if I needed to, “get myself right with God”. But as I began to mature in years and in the Word, the more I began to ACCEPT that according to Romans 3:4 which says, “All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus", that I was already right in the eyes of God. The more I realize I was RIGHT in His eyes because of my BELIEF IN HIM, the more I accepted that I could ask anything of Him without reminiscing about my sins; basically the less sin conscious I became and the more CHRIST CONSCIOUS I began to live!

  

As Christians sometimes we are so focused on our sins and trying to live right that we forget to focus on Christ and what He has already done for us; we become so sin conscious that we forget to become CHRIST CONSCIOUS! The Bible tells us in Psalms 103:12, that God has forgiven our sins as far as the east is from the west, and in Micah 7:18, that He has thrown our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. So we must ask ourselves, if God Himself can forget about our sins and throw them away then why do we remind ourselves of them on a regular basis? I know many of you may be saying, “reminding yourself of your of sins keeps you humble, it reminds you that you need God and that you are a sinner who need and depend on Him.” Well I’m not sure about you, but I’m reminded every day that I live in this fallen world and that, as the old song says, I need thee every hour. If I need to constantly think about my sins to remind me of this, then I need to recheck my faith in Him and why I decided to believe on Him in the first place. I received SALVATION because I was a sinner and RECEIVING HIM CLEANSED ME OF MY SINS; so if I’m going to keep reminding myself of my sins why did I need to accept Christ in the first place?

The 7^th chapter of Luke tells us the story of the women with the alabaster box of oil. The Bible tells us this woman was a sinner, but it also tells us that when she fell to Jesus’s feet to worship Him, the words which came out of His mouth were, “Your sins are forgiven”; The Bible didn’t say, Jesus told her to search her heart, or tell her to look at how much she needs Him before He could forgive her; just because of her FAITH ALONE IN HIM, He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” He didn’t try to make her sin conscious He knew by her faith that she was all CHRIST CONSCIOUS!

As I close, think about this! Do you know anyone who cleans himself before he takes a bath? I know I don’t, so why do so many Christians and unbelievers try to “get themselves right before they go to the only one who can make them righteous? The Word of God says, “Come as you are”! (And this scripture is not talking about clothes, it is talking about your heart).All you have to do is ACCEPT CHRIST AND HE WILL CLEANSE YOU ALL BY HIMSELF. He doesn’t need you to remind Him of your sins, and I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded of them either. You know what you have done and guess what? So does He! BECOME CHRIST CONSCIOUS and ACCEPT HIS GRACE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS and leave your sins in the sea of forgetfulness, GOD ALREADY HAS!

Forever In His GRACE!

Toinette Neube  

The Blessings of God vs. the curses, which ones do you have faith in?

If I were to take a poll right now and ask how many people believe that if they were to stop giving tithes and offerings to their church that their finances would be cursed or they would experience a void in their life in some way, I’m sure the majority of you would raise your hands.

I’m not going to get into the dynamics of tithes and offerings in this post, I just wanted to use an example that most people could relate to; but I will say this, believing God will curse you just because you don’t pay a monetary value to something on earth is a huge misunderstanding in the kingdom of God. Do not misunderstand me I’m not saying that people should not tithe, but you should be tithing out of your blessing, not because you desire a blessing or you are afraid that God will curse you if you don’t!

If you believe that God will curse you for everything you have done wrong, then why can’t you believe He will bless you because of your belief in Him? As I’ve said so many times before God knew we couldn’t live up to the standard He set for us long before we were born, that’s why Christ came, died, was buried and rose again. He became a curse for us when He died on that tree on Calvary. Gal 3:13, tells us, “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

Christ is our redemption from the curse of the law. (The laws of Moses which were written in stone, which BTW includes more than just the 10 commandments we so affectionately know and refer to when someone sins). Unfortunately as humans we are quick to recognize and accept the bad in life and shun away the good. God’s desire for us is that we live a good and prosperous life and a life of faith in Him; not to believe that He will curse us if we disobey him or do something against His will.

As you continue on your journey of 365 days of favor, began to believe the promises of God and not the curses. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 

As a starting point, I have included a short list of the promises of God for you to include in your daily or weekly scriptural meditations. Be blessed and remember, You have been redeemed from the curse of the law and made righteous through Jesus Christ by grace!

Forever In His Grace!

Toinette Neube 

A few promises from God to His children:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, if though canst, believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Deuteronomy 28:7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before they face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

Hebrews 11:6 He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Psalm 105:8 He hath remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Psalm 89:34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of sound mind.

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.

Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Psalm 5:12 For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

RECEIVING 365 Days of Favor!

Wow! I can’t believe we are 3 weeks into the New Year already!

Now that you have learned to EXPECT the favor of God in your life and you are now MEDITATING on scripture to strengthen your faith in receiving favor; it’s time to RECEIVE the favor of God.

The word receive in Mark 11:24, which reads, “Therefore I say unto you, whatever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you shall have them”, means to take. That’s right in the Greek the word RECEIVE means to TAKE! So when you pray, believe and take hold of what you believe! The blessings of God are already at hand in the lives of believers all He is waiting on is for us to ASK and to RECEIVE or to TAKE!

Let me share a story with you! A Sheik wanted to bless a Christian man with a gift because he had done something great and wonderful for him, so He asked the man what he wanted. The Christian wanted to be humble but he knew if he refused the gift the Sheik would be insulted, so he said, “Okay just buy me a golf club.” The Sheik said, “That’s it? Okay, very well then I’ll buy you a golf club.” After a few days the Sheikh’s servants came to the man and said, “Come with us”, so he did. The men got into a car and drove until they arrived in front of a huge elaborate mansion with rolling hills and lakes. The men got out of the car and pointed to the mansion and said, “Here is your golf club!” Moral of the story; as Christians we try to be humble in asking or receiving things from God so we go small when God really wants to bless us big!

Too many people believe they don’t deserve anything from God because they haven’t lived a godly life; but truth be told, God does not view any of His children as ungodly. Once you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, God doesn’t see you or your sins any longer, just your intercessor, Christ! 

Most Christian’s know the story of the woman at the well, or the Samaritan woman who meets God in John 4:1-42, (if you aren’t familiar with the story I advise you to take a look at it, it’s an amazing story of God’s desire for us to receive of Him and from Him)! When the woman at the well came across Jesus he was waiting for his disciples to return with water and food from the city because He was hungry and thirsty. When he saw the woman He asked her for some water to drink. The woman was astonished that He would want anything from her because of her ancestry, but she was willing to give to Him, but in a quick turn of events instead of receiving water, Jesus gave water, “Living Water”! This was a perfect opportunity for Jesus to receive from someone or to allow someone to give to Him; but what happened was instead of the woman giving Jesus something to eat and drink, she ended up receiving what He had to offer, and when the disciples returned with food and drink to feed Jesus, He informed them that He was already full; not because someone had given to Him, but because someone had RECEIVED from Him! WOW!

We fill God when we receive from Him! Start receiving what He has to offer you! Stop feeling you have nothing to offer God or you haven’t been worthy of receiving from Him because your actions haven’t lined up to what you perceive they should be. If we were to really look at things, none of us are worthy of anything God has to offer us, but guess what, He already knew this, that’s why He died for our sins.

So Stop, I repeat STOP feeling unworthy of His love grace, mercy and favor! HIS BLOOD HAS MADE YOU WORTHY! For once just RECEIVE from Him and watch your life change!  

Forever In His Grace!

Toinette Neube

Learn how to Meditate on Favor!

As you focus on Expecting God’s favor daily (Week #1 of 365 Days of FAVOR) in your life, Meditating on God’s Word is another technique that will help in your 365 day journey. The Bible tells us in Joshua 1:8 that we are to meditate on the word of God day and night and by doing this we will make our way prosperous and will have good success.

The word meditate here means to mutter. That’s right it’s okay to mutter under your breath sometimes. I know you’ve probably been told by your parents not to mutter but here is the one time it is encouraged.

It has been scientifically proven that the best way to memorize anything (in this case scripture), which leads to mediating on it, is to find a scripture that relates to a situation in your life, read it, allow a few hours to past and reread it again, allow a day to past and reread it again, allow 2 days to past and reread it again, allow a few more days to past and reread it again, allow a week to past and reread it again, keep this pattern up until the scripture is memorized. Basically the more time you allow to lapse and let things sink in between readings the more you retain the information. Once the scripture is set in your memory meditate on it day and night until that situation is resolved; and don’t fret about forgetting it once you move on to another scripture, the Holy Spirit will allow it to resurface if and when a need arrives!

Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Christ)”. As you meditate, meditate on the person of Jesus Christ! The word “God” here in the original Greek means Christos, referring to Christ. In other words, faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Christ, not the law or the word of Moses (which does have its purpose and place in time). Remember the Word of Christ is Grace and Truth! (“the law came by Moses, but Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ”, John 1:17) As you meditate, meditate on scriptures that teach God’s GRACE, LOVE & MERCY! Do not allow a mixture of law and Grace to trip you up in your journey towards 365 Days of Favor!

Forever In His Grace!

Toinette Rose-Neube    

Expecting 365 Days of Favor!

My friend I believe an exciting adventure awaits you in 2013! There is no other time in your life but now, no other moment but the moment that you are in and no other person that matters as much as you do!

The Bible tells us in 1 Cor. 12:27 that God made you and that He made you special. It also says in Psalms 139:14 that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I could go on and on quoting scriptures to prove to you that God loves you and He loves you unconditionally; that’s right, sins and all. Don’t get me wrong He does not like the act of sin itself, but He does love the person. This love for the ungodly (sinner) is evident in Romans 5:6 where it says He died for the ungodly (sinner), and yes that is us. For we all have sinned and fallen short of His glory; but thank God that when Christ died He died for our sins, past, present and future; and I know this because He is an omniscient (all knowing) God and He knows everything that has happened, that is happening and that will happen.

Because of sin and misunderstood Bible interpretations we have been led to believe that God will only love us if we perform a certain way. This belief has led so many Christian to not receive the unconditional, unmerited favor of God! God’s love is unmerited because we have done nothing to deserve it and the only thing that is required of us to receive it is to believe in Him (Jesus Christ)!

When you begin to believe in God’s love and favor for your life and open your mind up to live in a constant state of awareness of that love and favor you begin to miraculously manifest favor in everything you say and do; favor at home, favor at work, and yes even favor in the mall parking lot!

Experts say it takes around 21 days to form a habit of anything; so today I would like to put a challenge out to you for the year 2013. For the next 21 days begin to focus on God’s love and favor in your life. Everyday begin to look for God’s goodness (favor) in your day. I’m not asking that you be thankful for everything that happens to you, that will happen in time, but for the next 21 days find some form of God's goodness in that day. It could be as simple as you going to your regular coffee shop and getting your favorite café mocha coca latte with caramel and extra whip cream and a dash of vanilla and hazelnut cream and having them fix it just right or it could be as special as Him giving you a promotion when you weren’t even expecting it. Just begin to find and EXPECT favor in your day from God in some way, shape or form, and I promise that by the end of 2013 you will be expecting, embracing and receiving God’s favor in your life everyday!

My life, just as any other person’s life is not perfect, but I make a point to focus on nothing but the good, the positive, the inspirational and the love and FAVOR of God! Seemingly bad things happen to everyone but it’s how you look at the bad things that makes the difference in life.

So start 2013 off by not changing a habit or making a resolution, but by joining me for the next 3 weeks (21 days) in changing your thinking, begin to focus on God’s favor in your life for the next 21 days, begin to expect nothing but the best from Him and I promise you, you will receive 365 days of nothing but FAVOR! 

Forever In His Grace, 

Toinette Neube