Tag Archives: peace

Lonely On Valentine’s Day? This Is For You!

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Heyy y’all!

Happy Valentine’s Day 🙂 I just wrote a post about loneliness on my church’s Strictly Young People (youth ministry) blog.

Here’s a snippet of the post:

If you’re not smiling today because you think Valentine’s Day is just another day to remind you of your loneliness, I hope that this blog puts a smile on your face. And for everyone who feels “ugh not another Valentine’s Day to remind me how single I am,” this is especially for you… you are not alone!

You’re probably like, well yeah I am. I don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend. My friends are all going out on dates… I’m sitting at home alone. I live in this hugee city with millions of people and so much to do, but I still feel empty. There is no one for me. I am lonely.

Firstly, let me say that loneliness is biblical. It is a desire to be with someone because that’s the way God created us…

Finish reading it here: Lonely on Valentine’s Day? This is for you!

Be blessed and have a great day y’all!

P.S. Last year I wrote about what I think is The Best Kept Relationship Secret. Check it out!

What Does It Mean To Be “Saved”?

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…to be “redeemed”, to be “bought by his blood”, to be “born again”? The list goes on, but I’ll stop there lol. Ever heard one of these phrases and wondered what it means?

Simply put, it means ALL of your sins are forgiven, they are erased and forgotten. You are a new person and everything of your past is gone (2 Corinthians 5:17). Even though there may be consequences of past wrong doings or mistakes, you never have to look back and be condemned by them. You don’t have to care about past wrongs or mistakes. You are cleansed, pure, holy and righteous because of God’s sacrifice and the righteousness of his son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:9). You are a new person.

So if you’re wondering what it takes to be “saved”. Start with believing 🙂 (Mark 16:16, Luke 8).

8 quick reasons I think you should believe:

1. All of your sins, past, present and future are forgiven. (Hebrews 8:12…but, this doesn’t mean you can go sin knowingly, not repent and keep “living for God”…you should still live a spiritually pure life Read Romans 8, flesh vs spirit, lovee this book!)

2. You are no longer living under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14, check out Galatians!)

3. You are loved more than anyone here on earth could ever love you. Yes, including your parents, gf/bf, bff, wife/hubby 🙂 (1 John 4:7-11, Romans 8:35-39, Isaiah 49:15-16, John 3:16, 1 John 3:1, Psalm 52:8..God’s love for us is all throughout the Bible). God is longing to know you more and to show you His unwavering love. If you don’t know God, you will never know true love.

4. You don’t have to worry about anything. God is in control and has already taken care of it..will you submit to Him? (Philippians 4:6-7, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28)

5. You can wake up everyday and walk in peace. No matter what you are going through, God is with you.
John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (Deuteronomy 31:8, Psalm 29:11, Isaiah 26:3, 54:10, 1 Corinthians 14:33, Philippians 4:6-7)

6. You have nothing to fear because perfect love (God) hath no fear (1 John 4:18). You always have the victory as long as you trust and have faith in God despite the circumstances. (Check out the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednegro in Daniel 1-3, also 1 Corinthians 10:13, Deuteronomy 20:4, Joshua 10:8)

7. You are free. Free from bitterness, unforgiveness, hate, etc. These things take time, but they are no longer your battle.
Psalm 34:4-7 I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles. (check out 2 Chronicles 20:15-17 too)

8. God has your back! Everything you need, He will provide. It may not be your timing, but He will come through.
1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (Luke 11:9-13, Matthew 6:25-34, James 1:6-8)

And I’ll leave you with this scripture:
Romans 10:9-11 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Pretty awesome right? Life will be a lot easier, not easy, but easier if you trust in Him. Praying that 2015 will be a year of salvation, peace, freedom, joy, happiness, love, prosperity for everyone reading this.

Feel free to add your thoughts on being saved, would love to hear your comments!

With love,

Rinny

Why is It So Hard to Believe God?

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I mean, the word says it. I believe God, I know that the Bible is truth, but even still it’s hard to look beyond where I am sometimes. To have faith and know that God is working it out. It’s God’s promise that he’ll never leave us nor forsake us. God has always kept his promises to us, he never fails.

So why is it so hard for believers (and non-believers) to believe God sometimes? To trust Him and His word and to walk in ALL of His promises? If we really, fully believed in the power we have through the Holy Spirit in us, we’d be unstoppable (in a good way). God loves you, He’s working on your behalf- And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, Romans 8:28. If you know God, you’ll be alright.

Try to see the positive in the midst of everything because God’s promises are always true, He never fails. Always give praise, because He was, is and will always be our King.

Amen if you love Jesus 🙂

With love,

Rinny

Wake Up Black People

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Dear Black People,

Yes, black people. Wake up. What else does it take for us to wake up. We’re paying attention now, right? God is calling, He just wants us to say hi, to look up and recognize who He is. I heard a sermon last week on not looking at our circumstances, but instead, staying focused on God and know that He is in control. God is in control.

Are we done consuming ourselves with pop culture, talk about celebrities, who’s wearing what, who’s dating who, big booties, etc? Are we ready to go deeper, what does that even mean? Are we ready to grow?

If you know the story of the Israelites in the wilderness (read Exodus and Numbers) journeying to the promised land, then you know how they turned their face from God. That’s where I feel like we are as a people. Don’t get me wrong…ALL people are God’s people, but right now, black people specifically are stuck in a wilderness that we can’t get out of unless we turn our hearts and faces back to God. Just like man didn’t end slavery, no man will end what’s going on now. Until we realize that, we as a people will be stuck living in bondage to man. But, how can you know this truth if you don’t know the truth? “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Psalm 118:4-9)

Jena 6, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Marlene Pinnock, Mike Brown (and tonnssss more) are bigger than us. So how do we really impact policy and make change happen? Rallies are nice, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, great…now in two weeks let’s see where we are when all the chatter dies down and media is covering something new. Same story, new day.

This is out of our control, but God IS in control. Who do we put our trust in? Can we trust Him? Can God be our leader? “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.” (Psalm 146:3-4, also see Isaiah 2:22)

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). If you didn’t know, now you do…YOU are not of this world. For the hurting, despondent, hopeless black race in America, you are loved. Not loved by just anyone, your fam, friends (and me!), but by someone greater than all of us. God’s love is everything, and it’s all you need.

Can we trust God to show us His glory, His love, His faithfulness, His power, His grace when we are at our lowest, our weakest (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)? Can we all come together and pray and believe? Pray for the police (Matthew 5:44 says to love your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you) and pray for the young brothers especially. If we want to stop living in darkness, in fear (1 John 4:18…if you know God, true love, then you won’t know fear), in hurt and pain, turn to God and He will show you light, peace, truth, comfort, protection, forgiveness. You can’t do it, I can’t do it, no man can do it. Only God. Hit your knees fam. Pray, fast, read The Bible, believe. That’s all it takes.

To the promised land we go!

Here’s a powerful daily prayer for you: Psalm 23. Let this be your life. Read it, say it, believe it daily. Verse 4, so fitting – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Peace and love y’all.
❤

You Have Nothing To Worry About :)

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God loves us soooooo much that he already made provisions for everything we go through, EVERY sin, mistake, problem. All He asks is that we believe and accept Him. He will do the rest (Hebrews 8:8-13), all we have to do is believe and accept it. He will give us the faith, the wisdom, the ability to overcome, to succeed, to change. What changes in us is that we do it unto Him, not for ourselves, to glorify “me”.

Matthew 6:25-34 tells us not to worry about our lives — Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God already knows what you need before you even need it and he WILL take care of it. He has your best interest in mind, better than what you could ever dream of. But you can’t get there if you don’t believe He will give it to you. Pray for strength and understanding to lay everything down before God, “Ok God, I give it to you. It’s all yours, I need you to guide me, to do everything in, for and through me. Your will be done.” God says He will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8). He says come to me in prayer and supplication and I will hear you (Philippians 4:6, Ephesians 6:8). I have an expected end in mind for you, plans to give you a future, hope (Jeremiah 29:11)…plans to do something GREAT with your life if you just trust in me. He loves us more than our parents, friends, fam, etc and he WANTS to give us happiness, peace and the righteous desires of our hearts.

You feel me? If not, go read the Bible! lol 😉

Love y’all.

-Rinny

What Jesus’ Death Really Means

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Easter eggs and bunnies right? Easter just passed and that’s what flooded so many retail stores. Anyone know where the bunny and eggs thing came from? Fun maybe, but it almost overshadows what Jesus’ death and resurrection really means for us.

God loved us so much that He gave us His son so we can be forgiven of ALL our sins (Romans 5:8). An innocent man, Jesus, died for us so that we:

– Can be made pure, cleansed of all our past, present and future wrongs. You are made new in Him. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 If you have already asked for forgiveness and acknowledged Jesus as your personal savior, never look back. You have soo much ahead of you!
– Can have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 (I love 1 John 5:13-14 too.)
– Love. Love yourself and love others. We love because He first loved us.1 John 4:19 (2 Timothy 1:7)
– Live in peace, joy and happiness. All of these things come from above, not from anything in this world.
– Have something to stand on, depend on someone other than ourselves. (Hebrews 8:8-13, Ephesians 1:11, Psalm 138:8). Have faith!
– Live in light. Ephesians 5:8-9 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth). — God has overcome all powers of darkness and evil. We are not bound to any of them because of Him. If you are struggling in darkness, turn to God.
– Live in FREEDOM. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1 (Ephesians 3:12, Psalm 116:8). Live in victory, God made us conquerers. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:35-37

Love y’all and Jesus loves you more 🙂

Having A Rough Day?

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I always say that I LOVE it when my mom writes me and my sibs emails because she writes the best emails ever. This one in particular I have to share because it’s amazing might I say…and I think someone will take something away from this.

From the heart of my mommy:

Subject: It’s me!

I went out shopping today and I was tired when I came home, but refreshingly so, and when I took a deep breath, it actually felt so good. The problem was that I couldn’t pass a single person who I was drawn to without sharing something on this level.

Having a rough day? Place your hand over your heart. Feel that? That’s called purpose. You’re alive for a reason. Don’t give up. I went through a phase in life, wondering if I was ever going to find a purpose in life. What helped me was following my heart. Although, it didn’t always lead me to sunshine, it did always teach me a lesson along the way. Finding your purpose in life doesn’t happen over night, it’s a life-long journey.

So hang in there, and if you continue to believe that you’re here for a reason, then eventually you’ll understand your purpose in life. Look forward to how good that will feel and that will help you feel great today.

Knowing that you all know this, share at your own pace and from your own encouraged heart.

Andrea shared something with me yesterday…I thought I was aware of all the simple things.  She said that we live our lives comparing it to what we see and hear around us. We sometimes desire these things that are right for others and think they should be right for us now too.  We should learn to be happy for being our own wonderful selves, and more wonderful things will follow.

This totally hit home for me yesterday. Just want to add a scripture for ya, Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Also, check out John 15:16. God has a plan for you. Don’t forget your purpose 🙂

With lots of love,

❤ Rinny