Are you more like Martha, who was frantically serving or Mary who was gracefully receiving?

Luke 10:41-42, “And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

What is that good part which Mary has chosen which will not be taken away from her? Her receiving from Jesus!

While Martha was working and keeping busy making sure everything was in order for God, which may appear to be a good thing, Mary was gracefully sitting in awe of Him and receiving from Him; apparently this was that part which was good and will not be taken away.

Receiving from God is the only work we can do which no one can take away from us. Works such as, ushering, singing, writing, and even preaching the gospel can not only be taken away from us, but they also make us self-conscious instead of Christ-conscious.

Christ desires us to be focused on Him, hanging on to His every Word and having faith in Him. We didn’t depend on ourselves for Salvation or Righteousness in the first place so why would He want us to depend on ourselves to continue in this Righteousness? He doesn’t! It’s just that we have become a society so focused on ourselves until this practice has even seeped over in the body of Christ!

There were numerous preachers of Faith and Grace back in the day and they all taught us to focus on Christ and not on ourselves, but today, society has become so self-conscious until even Christians feel the need to have the light shine on them and what they accomplish in life (Even though we say, “We are doing it for God”), instead of on what God has accomplished for us!

God gets pleasure when we receive from Him. As a matter of fact it fills Him. Remember when Jesus met the women at the well and how she wanted to quench His thirst. Christ came to the well hungry and thirsty, but instead of being feed and quenched by her, He quenched her thirst by telling her about Him. He was thirsty and hungry no more even though she did not feed Him or give Him water. His thirst was quenched because He gave and she received from Him!

My desire for you today is that you too will be like Mary and RECEIVE from CHRIST! Works have their place in the body of God, BUT NOTHING IS MORE NEEDFUL THAN RECEIVING FROM HIM! Receive His Love today, Receive His Mercy today and Always Receive His Grace, this one needful thing will make the difference in your Living the Abundant Life Christ desires for you to Live!!!

Forever In His Grace,

Toinette Neube  

Does God care more about what you do, or how you treat people?

John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

How many of you have heard Christians say, “I just want to live out Gods will for my life, and do what pleases God!” or “I don’t care what people think, I’m not here to please people, I'm just here to please God,” If most people would really stop and think before they say these words, they would hear how much of an oxymoron it sounds like!

If you are trying to please God then you will automatically care about how you treat someone and how it affects their lives.

I’ve never understood how someone can say, “all I care about is pleasing God”, and treat someone with malice, a nasty or ill-willed attitude, anger, or bitterness. To me being a child of God is synonymous with treating someone, anyone, with LOVE!

Pleasing God is not about what most people think it’s about, going to church every Sunday, Wednesday and sometimes on Friday. It’s not about singing on the choir, it’s not about writing a book about God, it’s not even about Tithing 10% of your income!

You tell me what do you think Christ cares about the most, you going to church & paying your tithes, or you treating your neighbor with LOVE? As much as we would like to say the prior because it's easier to pay tithes & go to church than to be vulnerable enough to love someone unconditionally, the latter statement is not only scriptural, it’s The New Commandment according to John 13:34, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another!”

Most people think that the Ultimate commandment of The New Testament is in Matthew 22:35-40, “One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

It’s not that these commandments are not still active in God’s eyes, it’s just that they are now All-inclusive of The Newest Commandment which is found in John 13:34. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This is now God’s desire for His people and once we do this, we in turn love God with all our heart, soul and mind!

Doing things for Christ that are related to what I call "church things" are good and have their place in the body of Christ, but Gods ultimate commandment for us is to show Love, Grace & Mercy to others! It's what Christ did and continues to do for us, so why is it so hard for us to do it for others? Unconditional love is the reason you are saved today; because God loved you in spite of your sins!

Let's begin to really take Christ as our example, and not use "what we do for Christ" (and I use those words lightly), going to church, singing on the choir, paying tithes, (etc), as a barometer for whether we are pleasing Him or not. Let's begin to use how we treat others as that barometer, and watch how you not only bring others to Christ by example, but watch how it also brings change to your life!

Christ came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly, so let's do as Christ did and begin to “Bring Life” to others; let's spread Love, Grace & Mercy to the world; and realize that Loving Him is ALL-INCLUSIVE OF HOW WE TREAT AND LOVE OTHERS, unconditionally, now that’s LOVE!

Forever In His Grace,

Toinette Neube

Jesus has set you up for Success! Excerpt from Joseph Prince: 100 Days of Success!

Jesus gives you His Shalom to set you up for success in life. You cannot be a success in your marriage, family and career when you are crippled and paralyzed with fear.

Today as you are reading this, I believe with all my heart that Jesus has already begun a work in your heart to liberate failure, the fear of success, the fear of people’s opinion of you (and) even the fear that God is not with you.

All the fears that you are experiencing in your life today began with an untruth, a lie that you have somehow believed. Perhaps you have believed that God is angry and displeased with you, and that His presence is far from you. That’s why the Bible says, in 1 John 4:18, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” This scripture tells us that when you begin to have a revelation that God loves you perfectly (not because of what you have accomplished, but because of what Jesus has accomplished for you), that revelation of the unmerited favor or Jesus will cast out every fear, every lie, every anxiety, every doubt and every worry that God is against you. The more you have a revelation of Jesus and how He has made you perfect, the more you will free yourself to receive His complete shalom and succeed in life!

My friend, know that as a believer in Jesus Christ, you have absolute peace with God. The new covenant of GRACE is also known as the covenant of PEACE! Today you stand upon the righteousness of Jesus and not your own!

Today because of Jesus, God says this to you: “I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke (condemn) you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed. (Isaiah 54:9-10).

God is on your side. Jesus’ Shalom is on your side and Love, Grace and Mercy is on your side to make you a success in life!

Forever In His Grace

Toinette Neube

Reference:

Prince, J., (2011). 100 Days of Favor. Casa Creacion: United States of America. 

No More Priesthood!

Colossians 1:27, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY!"

1 Corinthians 3:16, “KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD AND (THAT) THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLETH IN YOU?”

Romans 8:9, “But YE ARE NOT IN THE FLESH, BUT IN THE SPIRIT, IF SO BE THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELL IN YOU.”

These scriptures remind us that once we become saved, Christ now dwells in us. How many Christians do you know that say they are saved, but feel they cannot say or do anything unless their Pastor, Preacher, Minister or Priest tells them it’s okay? The Bible teaches us in numerous places that we are no longer in the dispensation of the Priesthood. When Christ was crucified, buried and rose again, He became our Priest and once you accepted him as your Lord and Savior His Holy Spirit came and dwelt on the inside of YOU!!!

Various times throughout the book of Hebrews, the writer (presumably Paul), reminds us that CHRIST IS NOW OUR HIGH PRIEST! That Christ brought a more perfect tabernacle, one not made by hands, and that He became a sacrifice for us, not having to depend upon a man to make sacrifices for us any longer.

My point here is to think about who you have made the head of your life? Is it your Pastor? Is it your Minister or even a Priest? Too many Preachers are not providing an important message to their congregations and that is that CHRIST IS OUR GOD, not them; and then they wonder why their congregation can’t stand on their own and get themselves right with God. Well more likely than not, it’s because they haven’t been taught to listen to the God that dwells on the inside of them. They have been taught to come to church and do what the Preacher says, not what the Holy Spirit is telling them.

Being a Minister myself, I recognize the call of God on a clergypersons life, but I also know they have been called to lead others to Christ and not to lead them to depend upon man. I desire for no man to follow me, but only to see the God in me and then ask, “What must I do to be saved?” And yes, there is a place and time for a man or woman of God in a person’s life, especially if they are a babe, but remember babes grow up and there comes a time when you should know the voice of God for yourself and not have to depend upon a man to tell you whether God is telling you to do something or not… And the way to this type of knowledge, understanding and obedience is by studying the Word of God, being obedient to His voice in your life, (which is usually a whisper and always involves showing Love, Grace and Mercy), talking and praying to Him every day so that you become familiar with His voice in your life, knowing and believing that the steps of a righteous man or ordered by the Lord, knowing that God loves you and provides no sorrow and shame to you, and most importantly knowing that He LOVES YOU REGARDLESS OF YOUR SINS! (Unfortunately this is how the enemy usually trips people up. He makes them feel guilty and condemned and they then think they are not worthy enough to hear from God, thus turning to man, a pastor, minister or priest to tell them what to do.)

Some of you may remember the Pastor out of California whose church fell when he was allegedly accused of being with a few of his male members; as much as I feel this was a lesson for the Pastor, I also feel it was a lesson for the people of the church as well! Stop putting the man or woman of God on a pedestal, remember they are human and can and will fall and sin, as we all do!

ALWAYS KEEP CHRIST AS GOD, never put your faith in any man or woman, they are only human! As I mentioned earlier, being a Minister, I am not taking anything from anyone’s calling to preach and teach the Word of God. My desire is just that you remember it is God you should be following and have faith in, not man, because it is God who provides you with His Love, Grace. & Mercy everyday, not man!!!

Forever In His Grace,

Toinette Neube