Tag: soul

Knowing Yourself

On October 1, 2019

KNOWING YOURSELF

“Know yourself! Be yourself! Love yourself!”

The above quote has become a personal motto I now live by. However, in this article, I want to focus on the importance of knowing yourself.

Before I can be me and love me, I have to know me, and that takes time. We don’t come out of the womb automatically knowing everything there is to know about ourselves as individuals. We learn as we grow. We discover as we go. We figure out what we like and don’t like, what makes us tick and motivates us. We realize our gifts and specialties.

Again, self-discovery takes time. Early in life we have no clue! Take me, for instance. What did I know about me when I was a little girl?

Well, I knew that…………………………

……….I was the daughter of Bill and Geraldine.

……….I was B.J.’s big sister.

……….I liked watching cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, Popeye, and The Flintstones.

……….my favorite TV show was The Brady Bunch.

……….I liked eating hot dogs, pancakes and Count Chocula cereal.

**My brother BJ and me on Easter Sunday in the 80’s**

……….although I was taking piano lessons, I didn’t really like playing the piano.

……….I wanted to be a really good singer like my mom.

……….I was quiet and shy.

……….I was scared—a chicken—a scaredy cat.

……….I was afraid of making mistakes, of being rejected, of being criticized and made fun of.

Those were a few of the things I knew and understood about myself when I was just a child.

However, what I didn’t know at the time was how special I really was. I couldn’t see that I was just as good as any of my classmates and friends. I didn’t realize that I had a specific purpose in life.

BUILD A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD

Fortunately, as I began to build a personal relationship with the Lord, He slowly opened my eyes. Psalms 139:14 says that I have been fearfully and wonderfully made by the Almighty God! Sometimes, as humans, we fail to see just how wonderful we really are. God carefully crafted each of us in His own loving hands from the brain, to the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the neck, the arms, the legs, the hands, the feet, the bones, the veins, the arteries, the blood, the heart, every organ, every cell. The human body is complex, and God did that!

Satan tries to fool us into thinking we are worthless and that our lives are a waste. He wants to convince us to throw in the towel and, worse, kill ourselves! BUT, NO WAY! NO HOW! God says, “I took the time to create you My child into someone special for a special purpose that will bring Me glory. You must get to know Me in order to know what that purpose is and to know the person I’ve created YOU to be!”

As I’ve grown closer to the Lord, I’ve also come to realize that being fearfully and wonderfully made is not just about the physical body, but about the inner man or soul—-mind, will, emotions. Psalms 139:13a (New International Version) says:

“For You created my inmost being…”

God created our inner beings. Therefore, we are unlike any of God’s other creatures. For instance, as humans, we think, rationalize, make judgments, and create. Every invention began in the mind of a human being.

WE BELIEVE THE BIBLE

Whether or not people still believe this theory, once upon a time, some said that humans evolved from apes. Needless to say, that is a lie! We believe the Bible! Genesis 1:26-27 (King James Version) say:

“²⁶And God said, Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”

As the verses state, we were created in God’s image to have authority over the animals, NOT to come from any particular animal. Instead, we were created to look and act like God here on earth as He does in Heaven.

God began revealing this truth to me of who I am once I accepted His Son Jesus into my heart. And He will do the same for you! All you have to do is make Jesus your Lord and Savior. Once you receive Him into your heart, get to know the Lord by spending time with Him in worship, in prayer and in reading the scriptures, and allow Him to show you the person You really are.

THE PRAYER OF SALVATION

If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you can do so right now. I then encourage you to find a good Bible-believing church that will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Romans 10:9 (New International Version) says, “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.”

Please pray the following prayer:

Dear Jesus, I come to You confessing I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe You shed Your blood on the cross and died for my sins, were buried and rose again so I could be free! Please forgive me for my sins and the life I have lived. I confess You Jesus as Lord and accept You as my own personal Savior. According to the Word of God, I am now saved! Hallelujah! I AM FREE!

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF GOD!!!!!

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Today Is a Good Day!

By Kimberly Joy

On April 19, 2019

In Jesus

THE KIMBERLY JOY SHOW: Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY: WHAT DOES GOOD FRIDAY REPRESENT?

Today is a good day! It’s Friday! And it’s not just Friday; it’s Good Friday! Good Friday represents the day Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. Now, it’s not to suggest that this is the actual day He died. It simply represents it!

WHAT WERE JESUS’ FINAL WORDS BEFORE HE DIED?

As was mentioned in the previous article “The Passion of the Christ,” Jesus endured great suffering, more than we could ever fathom, in order for us to be saved from sin and eternal damnation. According to Luke 23:46 (New International Version), His final words were “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” He then breathed His last breath and died.

“Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit!”

While Jesus was on earth, He lived as a man. In other words, although He is divine, He experienced what it’s like to be human. He entered this world by way of a natural birth. He was raised by Mary and her husband Joseph. He ate, slept, cried and got angry. He was lied on, ridiculed, mishandled and abused. Satan even tempted Him, but as Hebrews 4:15 states, Jesus still did not sin.

WHAT HAPPENS TO AN INDIVIDUAL WHEN HE OR SHE DIES?

When an individual dies, there is a separation of the body, soul and spirit. In Genesis 3:19, God told Adam that because he came from the dust, one day he would return to the dust. Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NIV) also says:

“…the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.”

Then, the soul, which consists of one’s will, mind and emotions experiences eternal life or eternal death. Matthew 10:28 (New Living Translation) states:

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

I share those scriptures to reiterate what happened to Jesus during His last moments on the cross. He left His human body and committed His Spirit back to God. He let go and died.

Jesus’s crucifixion marked the end of His work on earth, and He did a great work! Everything He did serves as examples of what we as believers are to do today. Jesus taught and preached to many. He healed the blind, deaf, mute, crippled and paralyzed. He healed those with incurable diseases and resurrected the dead. He even embraced the poor and castaways.

Missionaries having Bible study in a small village

HOW EXACTLY DID JESUS DIE?

When Jesus was finally arrested, He didn’t put up a fight. Why? He knew it was His time to die. Therefore, as He hung on the cross, He committed His Spirit back to God the Father. In other words, Jesus CHOSE to die in that moment. Men didn’t kill Him. His enemies didn’t take Him out. Satan couldn’t even destroy Jesus.

Our pastor Apostle Ron Banks often states that if any other human being had been beaten the way Jesus was, he or she would have died before going to the cross. In fact, Jesus wasn’t just beaten, He was flogged. In other words, He was beaten with a whip containing sharp pieces of metal. So, every time the whip hit His body, it ripped His flesh. Nevertheless, despite the severe beating, He still didn’t die. Jesus said in John 10:17-18 (NLT):

“…I sacrifice My life so I may take it back again. ¹⁸No one can take My life from Me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again….”

Just as Jesus gave up His life and committed His Spirit to God, we are to give up our sinful lives and commit our all to God. That is the greatest way in which we can show our appreciation for His sacrifice. Many of us follow rituals during this holiday season. We give up something for Lent. We hold fish frys. We preach “The Seven Last Words of Jesus” on Good Friday. We shop for the perfect Easter outfit. We go to the barber shop and hair salon. We take pictures of our children sitting on the Easter bunny’s lap, give them Easter baskets and let them participate in the annual Easter egg hunt. Finally, we fill up the church pews on Easter Sunday.

Now, I’m not criticizing said rituals. We enjoy them! They bless us! However, what matters most to God is that we surrender our lives to Him and strive daily to please Him. That is THEE greatest way we can say, “Thank You Jesus for sacrificing Your life for mine!”