Ok, So I'm Stubborn

I can't speak with the experience of a pastor or that of a seasoned Bible scholar but there are some lessons you learn just by living so I won't quote theologists or experts in the field of Christianity. I am the expert on my own life and besides, personal experiene is more valuable than 10,000 quotes from a book. I think to understand this lesson, you have to know a little about my past.

I was always different, to say the least. As early as fifth grade I started noticing that I didn't act at all like my peers. While other kids lived for play time and hated with a passion anything academic, I was a bookworm. Even though I valued playtime too, I was way more passionate about books and numbers. I remember at the tender age of 8, I tried to master the Bible. I failed, if you could call it failing, because I couldn't really understand it.

As I grew older, the differences became painfully more apparent. I didn't talk like the other kids. I didn't dress like them and I definitely didn't think like them. I was always more "innocent" and much wiser. I didn't see the point or the appeal in half of what my friends did. I wasn't a social outcast though, just different and that prevented me from becoming fully "socially acceptable" in middle school. I was the only one of my peers who carried a Bible around in school (I got saved in grade 7) and of course people thought that was strange. I was too "good". I hated being so different.

After awhile (in highschool) my differences were less poignant. I became more accepted (very accepted actually) as I started to branch out and find other interests. I had more "friends" than ever before and I thought I was absolutely in love with my middle school sweetheart. Needless to say, I started forgetting about God as people began to open up to me and I to them.

God let me do my own thing for awhile and then He decided one day to start whipping me back into shape. And, oh, what a whipping it was!

He started off slowly. Just allowing a little stress and strife to creep up here and there. He was trying to get my attention: I didn't listen. So the issues became a little more pressing. Still, I ignored Him. There came a time when the things God was telling me were practically being screamed at me. I covered my ears and went my way. I felt that I knew what was best for me. I was only 16 but already very foolish and arrogant.

God changed that. In a matter of months He managed to strip me of my finances, my happiness, and worst of all my "beloved" boyfriend of two years. I felt that life was so unfair. I couldn't understand why He was punishing me. I thought I needed those things to make me me. I was wrong.

God showed me that I was way too dependent on other people. I was trying to keep up an image of having it all together and I was so desperate to do it that I was willing to compromise almost everything, even my faith.

He stopped me before I destroyed myself.

It took a long time before we saw any progress though. I was stubborn. I kept trying to go back to my old life but God kept letting me get hurt so that He could get my attention.

A few months ago, I finally decided to listen. Since that time, we've made huge strides. I've learned sooooo much over these last two years and it's funny because I didn' even realize how much I had learned until very recently (like right now). Happy to say that I've finally given God a complete "YES, LORD" and it feels so good.

My advice to anyone who is struggling with letting go and letting God is simple: God gives you a choice. You can choose to let it go or not but with every choice there is a consequence. If you choose to let go, God will come in and start working in your life like He never has before. On the other hand, if you're stubborn, God will come in and break you down first. He'll let you suffer because of the choices you make and eventually you'll get tired enough to let Him take over. No matter what choice you make though, God will have His way. And I could sit here and tell you to go the easy route but the truth is people are hardheaded and most of us are going to be stubborn and try to do it our way regardless. Don't worry, God is patient and He's capable of turning you around one way or another. I'm living proof.
~Jasmine

LET IT GO

There are people who can walk from you. And hear me when I tell you this!
When people can walk away from you: let them walk.
I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you.
I mean hang up the phone.
When people can walk away from you let them walk.
Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.
The Bible said that,"They came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us." [1 John 2:19]
People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.
Let them go.
And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person, it just means that their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead. You've got to know when it's over.
Let me tell you something. I've got the gift of good - bye. It's the tenth spiritual, gift, I believe in good - bye. It's not that I'm hateful; it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have, He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.
Let them go!!
If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to . . . LET IT GO!!!


If you are holding on to past hurts and pains . . . LET IT GO!!!


If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth . . .LET IT GO!!!


If someone has angered you . . . LET IT GO!!!


If you are hanging on to some thoughts of evil and revenge . . . LET IT GO!!!


If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction . . . LET IT GO!!!


If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents . . . LET IT GO!!!


If you have a bad attitude. . . LET IT GO!!!


If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better . . . LET IT GO!!!


If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him. . . LET IT GO!!!


If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship. . . LET IT GO!!!


If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help themselves. . . LET IT GO!!!


If you're feeling depressed and stressed. . . LET IT GO!!!


If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying, "Take your hands off of it," then you need to . . . LET IT GO!!!


Let the past be the past.Forget the former things.God is doing a new thing for 2008!!
LET IT GO!!!

~By the honorable Bishop T.D. Jakes

~Jasmine

The Glory Of Suffering

My God, I have never thanked You for my thorn. I have thanked You a million times for my roses but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross; but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to You by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbows.
(Courtesy of "The Power of Prayer" by Charlie Jones and Bob Kelly)

~Jasmine

FORGET LAST WEEK, YESTERDAY, AND FIVE MINUTES AGO!!!!

First I want to congratulate you on being saved if you weren't already (if you are reading this and still aren't, check out the "Being Saved Is The First Step" Post). That is really the first step, and I promise you, heaven is rejoicing right now! Thats what heaven does when a soul has been won.

The first thing you should do is write down the date and time you got saved. This is an important milestone in your life, the best is yet to come. Not to say that there won't be struggles, but all things do work together for the good of them that love the Lord.

Next, go get yourself a good study bible. These are a little steep in price, but COMPLETELY worth it. If you already have a bible, study or not, START BIBLE STUDY!!! The bible gives us plenty of examples about how the WORD healed them. Faith doesn't come by seeing, but hearing the word of God. So when you are alone, read out loud. You won't understand the bible and its terminology at first, but KEEP READING, God said that he rewards those that diligently seek him, and he also says that he will give us something called revalation knowledge, which means that he will not only give us understanding of the text, but understanding BEYOND the text that will bless you and others.

Now that you have your bible study, KEEP A JOOURNAL. That is so important. We should write to God, write prayers (prayer is just talking to God no matter what format), write down our favorite scriptures with their explanations and other things that we see fit (pertaining to God and his word and our lives in Christ only).

I REALLY hope this helped someone on their journey to becoming a 'them". God always rewards his "them" (a little bit of revalation knowledge, read your bible and see if you know what I mean). Leave us comments, and email us at stepsoffaith@yahoo.com. Thats VERY VERY important to us, your feedback. We also want you to contact us if you need help with scriptures or your general walk with God, or ANYTHING Christian we can help you with. Be Blessed.

Brandon

It's Ok To Mess Up

Not that I have attained or am already perfected; but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
~Philippians 3:12 -14

The one thing that many people often forget and that definitely intimidates unbelievers is the idea that Christians are supposed to be perfect. This isn't true. Yes, we are supposed to strive to live sinless lives and in a perfect society, we would but we all know that this world is far from perfect. God knows this too. The apostle Paul wrote the above verse for that very reason. He knew that there was no way he would ever be perfected in this life.

God isn't asking you to do the impossible. Sure, He wants you to sin as little as possible but the fact of the matter is, we are human. It is in our nature to sin. The Bible tells us that we are born into sin and shaped in iniquity. So if God isn't looking for perfection, what does it mean to be Christian?

Being Christian centers around one thing: CHRIST. Jesus died for our sins even before we had the chance to commit any. He knew that we would mess up (over and over again) so He died and came back. The death was the atonement for our sins. The resurrection happened because He knew that we would still need Him. Because of Him, we don't gain righteousness through actions but through Faith in God.

God has given each of us a purpose to fulfill. Sin is just Satan's way of throwing us off track but what we need to remember when we mess up (and we WILL mess up from time to time) is that God is more concerned with our hearts than our actions. Take King David for example. He was said to be a "man after God's own heart" despite the fact that he was a murderer, adulterer, and fornicator. By our standards David was an evil man but to God he was a shining example of human weakness and dependency on God.

What I have learned in my looonngg 18 years of living, is that God allows us to stumble so that we can learn. Instead of beating yourself up about your shortcomings learn to use them to bring you closer to God. Remember, God says when you ask for forgiveness He will forgive and remember your sins no more. So do like Paul did and you forget them as well. Everything God has for you is in your future there's no reason for you to be stuck in the past.


I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation has come. ~ Romans 11:11

~Jasmine

Being Saved Is The First Step

GET SAVED!!!

First I would like to thank you for reading our blogs, we are very excited to share our journey with you, as we grow, we want you to grow too. We hope you laugh, cry, sing, and praise right along with us.

Now we must get down to business. Being saved is important. It says so in Romans Ch.10: v.9(That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved). In John Ch.3: v.16 (For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life), we see the main Christian belief, if we really believe this in our hearts, and confess Romas Ch. 10: v.9 with our mouths, then we are saved. The very first step into Christianity, also known as Greatness.

In essence, anything from this blog on out means nothing without being saved and having God in our hearts. That is something EVERY Christian, being young or old, should have in common. Me and Jasmine BOTH have this in common. You and all of your Christian friends should have it in common as well. So before you continue this journey I want YOU, yes you, to get out of your computer seats and repeat the following:

Father in the name of Jesus,

Help me to forgive those who have sinned against me, so You can forgive me for sinning against You.

Lord I'm sorry for all the wrong I've done, and want to accept You as my Lord and Savior

Lord please forgive me for all my sins, those known AND unknown

Lord thank You for sending Your son Jesus Christ so that I might have ABUNDANT life, and forgiveness

Lord I believe that You sent Your only son to die on the cross just for me, and i believe that he rose from the dead on the 3rd day.

Thank You for saving me!

GO PRAISE, REJOICE! THOSE DAYS OF OLD HAVE BEEN PUT BEHIND YOU! YOU ARE NOW SAVED AND A CHRISTIAN!

WELCOME!

Brandon

Welcome

Welcome to Steps Of Faith. This blog was made in order to help other people - young and old - along their journey with God. At Steps Of Faith we understand that walking with God can be hard, confusing, and lonely at times. Sometimes, as a Christian, you feel so out of place in the world. We came to let you know that this is normal. God says that the world will never really love or understand you because it never could love and understand Him (See 1 John 3:1). So relax, they hated Jesus way before they hated us! lol. But on a serious note, we aren't super perfect. We have struggles just like everyone else but we feel that our shortcomings and struggles can help others. God says that when you learn something, you should share it with others so that's what we've decided to do. Granted, we don't know EVERYTHING because we're still young (17 and 18) but we are still able to be used by God. Whenever possible we will provide you all with outside resources and scriptures just so you know we're not making things up. With that being said, enjoy the experience!
Jasmine & Brandon