To Whom is Your Spirit Committed?

Matthew 27:50
50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

We recently celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior as well as Passover. Did you know that we are spiritual beings? Our physical body houses our spirit. How so? Not to be morbid, but have you ever seen a dead body? It is lifeless. What gives the body life? It is the spirit. Jesus "gave up" his spirit. He willingly died and committed his spirit to God the Father. It is the "spirit" of a person that we come to know and love. The physical body is just a shell. If we only take notice of a person's physical body, then we miss the core of who they are. If all you see is a physical body and never come to know a person's spirit, then you can't say you really know the person. But the question then becomes to whom is your spirit committed? Jesus, God in the form of the Son, committed His spirit back to God the Father who is the source of all. There is only one of two places to where a person can commit their spirit. It is either to our Heaven (our Lord) or Hell (Satan is real). Where your spirit is committed while you're here on earth determines where your spirit will reside once your physical body can no longer hold it. So again, to where and to whom is your spirit committed? If you're unsure make a decision because you don't know when your spirit will be recalled from your physical body.

P.S. Hopefully everyone was in reflection over this last week. God wants to know will you seek Him or does He always have to chase you. Please check out my girl Stubbs on www.live365.com/leapoffaithnetwork!

Blotted Out

Deuteronomy 9:14
14 Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they."

God was certainly angry and He let Moses know it. Moses had been up on the mountain for forty days and nights with no bread or water praying on behalf of the Israelites after leaving Egypt. While Moses was before the Lord, the Israelites grew impatient and turned away from the Lord. They melted all their gold and created a gold calf to worship. So the Israelites spit in the face of God while the man called to stand in the gap for them suffered on their behalf. Can you imagine the anger God felt? God was so angry that He just wanted to blot out their existence. Moses continued to pray on behalf of the Israelites in spite of what they did so God would have mercy on them. Thank you Lord for Jesus! But know this..Jesus continues to stand in the gap for you and me. What would you do if God said to Jesus,  I'm blotting out ____ 's (insert name) existence because I keep delivering him/her from this or that wretched thing in his/her life but ______ (insert your name) keeps going back to it?" or If God said I told _____ (insert name) to get rid of this or that and he/she still hasn't? or last but certainly not least, If God said to Jesus, I gave_________ (insert your name) so many opportunities to accept you but _______(insert your name) refused you.  Blotting out means to erase from existence. Would you want to be erased from existence and have no place in heaven? Thankfully Jesus paid it all!!! But if you don't confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is the son of God and died and resurrected for your sins during this Holy week, then unfortunately, there will be a blank where your name should be. Record of everything you've thought, said and done is recalled by God to be evaluated. Don't be blotted out because you refused to accept Jesus Christ. Don't be blotted out because you spit in the face of God and refused to repent for your sins.

P.S. Check out my girl Stubbs on the Leap of Faith Show at www.leapoffaithshow.com!

Worthy of Death

Matthew 26:66
"What do you think?"
"He is worthy of death," they answered

The high priest was extremely frustrated and wanted nothing more than to humiliate Jesus. It was forbidden for the high priest to strip one on trial of their clothes according to the NIV Study Bible but in the case of Jesus, their hatred went beyond the law. Jesus didn't respond the way anyone anticipated which frustrated the high priest even more. For the Sanhedrin to say that Jesus "is worthy of death" was to say that he is nothing more than a common criminal and not the King of kings and Lord of lords. But in our Heavenly Father's eyes, Jesus is spotless and without sin therefore He is the perfect sacrificial lamb. A lamb without defect was usually slaughtered to atone for sin. Jesus is the ultimate lamb which made Him worthy of death on behalf of the entire world present and future and the sins you have yet to commit.

We are in Holy Week. Prayerfully you are in a time of reflection and not just tradition. Is Jesus not worthy of your thoughts since He was worthy of death for you and I?

P.S. Countdown to LifeLoveSoul in AMC Theaters the weekend of April 13th! Checkout the trailer at www.noelcallowayfilms.com!

Runaway Train

Isaiah 30:18
18Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

The Israelites had been punished by God for their sin once again but the Lord actually desired to bless them. Most parents do not enjoy punishing children but know it's necessary in order to teach them. God is our heavenly father and He doesn't delight in punishing us but as His children, He knows that punishing us is often the only way we learn. We associate the incorrect behavior with the negative outcome so to prevent the negative outcome we no longer distribute the behavior which brought it on. The Lord desires to bless us just as He wanted to do for Israel but misdeeds must not go unpunished. It is sometimes hard to conceive that God doesn't like punishing us but think about it. He would prefer that we listen to Him in the beginning so we can avoid the misdeeds that lead down the wrong track. A runaway train that's headed off the cliff to death has to be stopped with an emergency brake. The emergency brake is the punishment or consequence we must endure that causes us to stop in our tracks but keeps us from the edge of the cliff. Once the wheels go over the cliff, gravity pulls the train downward and nothing can stop it. If we keep going in whatever the bad behavior is, eventually we go over a cliff to a fate we don't want. The punishment is not always equal to the misdeed THANK GOD! If it were, we'd all be dead. But God doesn't want to keep us there. He wants us to understand the lesson so we can move on and extend a blessing to us. Not because we deserve it but just because He loves you and me. How long have you been the runaway train? Is the Lord about to put on the emergency brake or is it already on? Are you at the edge of the cliff?

Happy Birthday!

Good Morning Everyone,

The daily messages started 3 years ago today. While it took a lot for the Lord to get me to a place to obey and do what He said to do, I have come to see it as a privilege and honor to come before you each morning. The Lord has chosen a wretch like me to do His bidding in the earth. From the daily message came a book available at all online bookstores. BLESS GOD!! I thank You LORD and give YOU ALL HONOR, GLORY AND PRAISE! Without you LORD, there is no message!

Many of you do not understand that the title is as it is. The title is based on scripture.

Psalm 30:5 (KJV)
5For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life:
weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

I had to weep a lot before I found any joy and the weeping was from my sin and His anger with it. But I thank God for His favor!!! The JOY stands for (J)esus (O)n (Y)ou. Jesus wants to be closer to you everyday. He makes steps toward you. What steps are you making toward Him?


P.S. Check out my man V on the Artist to Artist Show Saturdays on www.Qliveone.com at 8am CT/9am ET!

An Unworthy Servant

Luke 17:10
10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'

Jesus had a frank conversation with the disciples regarding duty. He used the parable of a slave and his master. The slave would not ask for a reward for doing something he was told to do. But many of us look for a reward when we are doing what the Lord told us to do. As Jesus said, we must count it our duty. To be a servant of the Lord is a great privilege as Jesus points out. But many of us think we're doing Him a favor. The Lord doesn't need us but He wants us. Need and want are two different things. He can raise up a rock to do His bidding if necessary. The Lord doesn't have to tell us to do anything but out of His love for us, He desires to see us grow. He desires to see us walk to the next level of faith in Him. He desires the best for us. So doing so may mean simply doing what He says to do no matter what the outcome. But more importantly, it's time we change our mindset. It is the Lord who continues to shower grace and mercy upon us when by right, none of us should be alive. When the Lord tells you to do something, are you looking for a reward or do you see it as a privilege to serve? Better yet, have you done what He said to do? If you don't, He can raise up someone else and you can miss whatever growth and faith builder He has for you. Count yourself an unworthy servant but by grace and mercy.

Your Desert Journey

Deuteronomy 8:2
2Remeber the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

Moses wrote to the people of Israel what God had given him. They would soon enter the promise land and the Lord wanted to be sure to remind His people what He brought them through so they wouldn't forget Him when He gave them what He promised. The people of Israel started out very disobedient and with a complaining spirit. So the Lord spent forty years stripping them of the old mindset and replacing it with new thinking so they could receive the new things He wanted to give them. Understand when the Lord desires to bless us with what He promised, we cannot receive it with old eyes, ears, heart and thinking. Everything has to be new because what He is giving is new. So however long it takes to break us of the old things is our desert time. During that time the Lord will still provide the necessities and even a few surprises but what is promised is on hold until the Lord knows we are at a place where we can receive. The catch is not to forget who blessed us when the gifts are released. God is the giver of the gifts and it's not because we have deserved them but because He decided to bless us. We are not to forget to have a heart of gratefulness. Being without humbles us enough so that when we do receive we will appreciate. Where are you in your desert journey? Are you about to enter the promise land? Remember, it's because of the Lord not you.

P.S. Check out my girl Stubbs on the Leap of Faith Show on the Leap of Faith Network at www.leapoffaithshow.com 6am-10am ET!