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"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." -Matthew 6:33

Hey all! I have been singing this one song all week long and while praying in my car this morning, I realized that it was something I really needed to hear which is why I couldn't stop singing it. The song is called More by Lawrence Flowers & Intercession (posted at the bottom of the page).

Many times we, as Christians, go to God about what we want and need and we make vows that we don't honor but rarely do we truly realize that we get what we give.

Sidebar:

I was sitting around thinking one day and remembered that my name Teresa Renee means "harvester/reaper reborn." I just made this connection that we constantly say you reap what you sow. We speak it, many preach it, but how many times do we really pay attention to what is being said and apply it???

Back to the blog:

I feel like I'm all over the place with this because there are so many thoughts so I'll tie this all together right now. You reap what you sow, right? Right. So, if you want God to bless you(reaping), you need to give more(sowing). Sounds easy right? WRONG!!! We can get so distracted by everyday life that God becomes second to our everyday issues when He should be our top priority. I use my commute to and from work to pray because it's just me for 35-75 minutes depending on where I leave from. I'm not saying you have to spend all of that time praying, I sure don't. I sing a lot of the time when I'm not praying.

This is something like how the prayer went this morning:

"God, I know I have asked You for many things and I need certain things that You will provide for me. I don't deserve any of it but I am very grateful and I feel bad because You constantly bless me. I am constantly reaping but I don't sow as much as I should. I need to do more, oh wait, duh. Thanks God. You had me singing that song all week because I needed to realize that I need to do more, I need to give more time. Now, I will not make another vow because I haven't even honored the past vows that I made. I'll try to get back to the days where I would read, pray and encourage people everyday. There was a time where people would ask me for prayers, songs, and scriptures to help them get through the day or through a situation but that has stopped because I stopped. I realize that I need to do more and I pray that You would forgive me for slacking off. I need to get back on track, I'm asking to be closer to You but I'm still doing the bare minimum. I pray everyday but I read on occasion and that has to change. You deserve more and I'm going to try and give You just that. I'm going to go home and write about this in a blog because other people need to realize this too. I thank You for this in Jesus name, Amen."

The point of me sharing this was to help people understand that it's ok to ask God to bless you, but don't get upset if you don't see the blessings because you aren't doing you part. I have blessings being held up because I won't do anything about it. I pray and ask God about things and I have faith but the word says that, "faith without works is dead." (James 2:20) God loves it when we talk to Him, when we seek His face, when we depend on Him for more than material things. Try giving more time to God, He deserves it. Try sitting some time aside to pray and talk to God.

Some people say "I don't know what to pray about." Follow the example of prayer that was laid out in Matthew 6:9-13. He wakes you up every morning, allows you to have the activity of your limbs, you're reading this, so obviously He gave you sight. Thank Him for those things, that's prayer.

There are so many reasons why we need to give God more. Many people say, "you can't out give God," and that's true, but at least give Him all that you have. 

I encourage you all to give God more. The song says, "I want to give my best to You. I want to do what You ask me to. I want go wherever You say, just say the word and I'll obey. I want to live a life that's real. I want to serve You, Lord, for real. For You deserve all this and more, so I give You more." If it's more prayer, more seeking, more witnessing, more serving, or even more encouraging, I challenge you to strive to give God more than He deserves. He does too much for us to collectively give all that He deserves but we can do something.

That's all for now

Until next time

Be blessed

Sista T

Song inspiration for the blog:

Renewed...Again

"When you can't get over the hurt, the pain, the anger, the hatred, etc., pray for that person. "That was paraphrased advice from someone I really look up to. They told me that over a month ago and today I finally took it and prayed for some people. Immediately after praying, I felt God move on me like I never have before and I was able to move past the emotions that were binding me.

I won't go into detail about what people I prayed for, what I prayed about, or anything of that nature. I used to talk about the people that hurt me, that made me mad, that stabbed me in the back, and I thought that would make the emotions go away. I learned that it doesn't help me at all, it only hinders me. I decided that I'll no longer go to people to vent about my problems, I'll go to God, tell Him all about it and pray for the person/people that I have issues with.

I was thinking about the many broken relationships people deal with and why most people don't reconcile. Then, I read in Proverbs 18:19, that "a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle." That says, to me, that when someone you know is offended by your actions, words, etc., they are harder to reconcile with than a strong city and their argument is as strong as the bars on a castle. Now when I think about a strong city, I think about Obama supporters. When the elections came around, so many people backed Obama up that he won the election before all the ballots were in. That is very strong support and it is harder to win over an offended friend, family member, associate, colleague, etc., than it is to win over those supporters.

My Bible says, "A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." - Proverbs 18:20-21 KJV

A man's belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth...hmmm

And with the increase of his lips shall he be filled...hmmmmmm

Let me stop there...

Now when I think about that (Pro. 18:20), I start to question myself and ask, would you really want to be filled with anger, hatred, pain, and all this other negative stuff? Or be filled with the glory of God??? Hmmmm I always pray that God would draw me close to Him (song on bottom of blog). So why in the world would I want to be filled with a bunch of nonsense that I've been speaking?

As I noted before, death and life are in the power of the tongue. I'm going to try something new. I'm going to try to put my attitude in chains and leave it bound. The Bible says whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven (Matthew 16:19). So, no more going off on people, no more bad mouthing, no more of any of that mess. I can ruin someone's life just by mentioning something they did.

Some people may say I'm getting "too holy" or "too good for people" but I say I'm maturing. I would only be wasting my time talking about someone. It's pointless and not getting me anywhere in life.

Now before I go, I can hear someone (no one in particular) complaining, but there is always one person who takes things personal. This is not about anyone, neither is it geared toward anyone. This blog is about Teresa R. George and that's how it was designed to be. If you feel like you're one of those people I prayed for, open your eyes, you just may be feeling guilt.

Love you much!!!

Sista T

Songs that crossed my mind while writing this blog...

Father Can You Hear Me?

For once, I am writing a blog without a song as my source of inspiration. This time, I was reading my daily Bible plan on YouVersion.com and I came across a certain passage that I have read plenty of times but the same verses keep jumping out at me. Many people speak about the different miracles that Jesus performed. One of the miracles I hear over and over is the one where four men lowered a man who had been "sick with the palsy" through the roof and Jesus healed him because of their faith (Mark 2:1-5).

Sidebar:
When I was a teenager, I would go to corporate prayer once a month before we had our Bible study. It was mandatory that we kneel at the altar to pray first and when everyone was done, we would come together, sing songs and pray. One day a minister came to me and said, I can't hear you praying so how can you expect God to hear you? That caused me to think a lot and I started to whisper because I didn't want everyone knowing what my prayers were but I wanted God to hear them.

Back to the Blog:
When speaking of this miracle, most people stop at verse 5 and talk about how God is still in the miracle business. I want to talk about what came after that 5th verse. The text says in verses 6-8, "But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God Only?' And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, 'Why reason ye these things in your hearts?'"

Did you catch what just happened??? I'll give you a few seconds to think about it...

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Ok times up...

These men never spoke the words that Jesus addressed. The text clearly states that they "reasoned in their hearts" in verse 6. It made me think and once it was brought to my attention, I said to myself, well if God can hear these men complaining in their hearts, then he can hear the cries of mine, he can hear the supplications of mine, he can hear the anger, the hurt, the happiness, and everything else that resides in my heart.

Sometimes people fail to realize that when praying, you can't always speak. Someone said let your feet tell your testimony and I believe it goes the same for your prayers. Let your feet do the praying sometimes. Let your cries be your prayers. Even the Bible says in Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." The reality is, sometimes you just can't speak!

Don't let anyone tell you that you must pray out loud or God will not hear you. Do not be ashamed if you cannot open your mouth to pray. That is just fine, cry if you have to, scream if you have to, dance if you have to, wave your hands if you have to, but please do not let anyone make you feel bad about not being able to form your prayers with your mouth.

There is a song I love that says "If I can't say a word, I'll just wave my hands. I get so full, I would explain it if I could, God's been just that good." (If I Can't Say A Word - Karen Clark-Sheard)

Just be encouraged and continue to pray in whatever way you have to.

Be blessed until next time...

Sista T