The Master's Call

She sings songs, joyful melodies,

Praises, like incense, fill the room,

Melodic sounds of symphonies,

Like sweetness of fragrant perfume.

 

Songs of Peace, Good tidings she brings,

Sweet worship, her praises remain.

Salvation from the King of Kings,

As we declare that, “Our God Reigns.”

 

Songs of “Alpha and Omega,”

He picked me up and “Changed My World”

Lift your voice “Days of Elijah”

Everyone sing “Holy is our Lord.”

 

Authentic prayers, and a pure heart,

The seasons slowly fade to fall.

Only through faith, a hopeful start,

She answers the true Master’s call.

 

For Tia Edwards, Pastor Grace Mass Choir & Vocal Ministry

2006-2012

Good Works

Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

James 2:14-17

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Hello, My Beloved!

I hope you are having a wonderful week. I have been spending time evaluating my life. Am I where God wants me to be? Have I been living up to His expectations. You know we spend so much time worrying about what other people think of our actions and our work, and not enough time seeking God on our actions and work. I think it goes beyond that, though. Last Sunday, my husband taught the kids on "Let your yes be yes, and you no be no." Growing up my mom use to always tell us that. I have a habit of saying "yes" with good intentions. Mainly because I want to try to do everything, and I have the intentions to do everything. The problem lies, is that everything I do, I give it my all - 110%. However, how can you give 110% for the 20 million things that you are doing? You can't. Anyways, it has this vicious cycle, for me, that I go from 110% for 20 million things to nothing. I wear myself out, and end up doing nothing. Someone once said, "If you don't tell your time where to go, it will tell you where to go." I think it was also said about money, too. So, I had good intentions to get my day started right today. Since I've started working from home, homeschooling Jesse, I haven't been able to do everything that I wanted to do. I can't even do everything that I have to do. I see first hand how this time thing can take over your life if you let it. One of the things I wanted to be able to do is exercise. It is so hard to find time to exercise. So, I told Jesse, let's go walk Shadow (our dog). I figured, the dog would get walked, I would get walked (and the much needed exercise), and Jesse would get walked. So, we walked him.When we were walking him, I noticed how stinky he was, and how dull his coat looked. Yep, a bath was long overdue for our poor pup. So, when we got home, we gave him the much needed bath. It got us drenched, so we both took baths. It wasn't until 9:00 am that I turned on my computer to start doing work. Jess got a late start on his school work as well. Then my mom shows up, and wants to take us to lunch. No problem, so we went to lunch. When the day was half done, what did I have to show for it, besides a clean dog?

This scripture indicates faith with out works is dead - what about faith with empty works? Sometimes we get so caught up in everything around us, that we forget about our true purpose. Romans 12:1 tells us, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Not that long ago, the Lord taught Chris and I a very important lesson. We are so quick to serve the Lord, and the church is so hungry for anyone to serve the Lord. We got caught up in a lot of different ministries, spreading ourselves so thin that we barely had time to have our own devotion time with the Lord. When we were so worn out tired of it all, we asked God, why are we so tired doing all of these things for you. God was simple in His reply - "I didn't ask you to do all of that." It was quite a humbling moment for us. Here we thought we were doing all of these great things for the Lord, but God never called us to do it. It is so important to serve the Lord, but it is even more important to serve Him in the areas that He called you to. Before you were even born, God had a destiny for you. He knew exactly how you were going to serve Him. Ephesians 2 indicates that we are to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. So, why are we so busy trying to do good works outside of the areas in which God has called us to do? It just wears us out to the point we don't want to do any of it. However, if we don't do the works, is our faith dead? Seek God, and see where He wants you to serve. I guarantee it is most rewarding. When life seems so difficult in your own front, it is nice to serve others and have a reality check. At the same time, when life does get difficult, and you walk through it - there always seems to be someone on the other side that is walking through the same difficult path, in which you are able to encourage. Hang in there my beloved, serve God, and persevere to the end, I just know it will be worth it!

 

May you have a blessed day!

Christina

 

Be Holy, as He is Holy

1 Peter 1:13-16

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Hello my friends!

I trust you are having a most excellent day! This is the Day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. It is ever so fulfilling to live in the Grace that God has bestowed upon us. We are so not worthy of His loving-kindness, yet He is the perfect example of a fatherly love, the unconditional love of his creation. But we aren't to take advantage of that. It saddens me to see so many people not truly understanding God's love. Yes, God loves the world so much that He gave His son to die for us (John 3:16). And Yes, Jesus' blood covers our sin (1 John 1:7). But does that mean we intentionally sin knowing that God will forgive us? No. Does that mean, we can justify our sin, though – after all, it's not as bad as some sin? No. Only God can define Good and Evil, the moment we try to define Good and Evil in our life, we are partaking off of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, and look at what happened with Adam and Eve the moment they partook of that tree. Let us not live our lives in lawlessness. Our society is filled with lawlessness. So, what exactly are we to do? We are to follow the instructions of Peter here, be alert and fully sober. What does that mean? I think it means to be mindful of the things of God - to recognize sin as sin, and not get caught up in the moment. Oftentimes, my son gets in trouble, just for not paying attention. Have we ever done that? Walked into a wall because our minds are somewhere else? It happens to me all the time. My mom would always tell me to stop walking with my head in the clouds. So, we need to be aware of the world around us. We also need to set our hope on the grace through Christ. When things seem so hopeless, when ambassadors are being murdered because of hatred and anger, when Christians are being imprisoned because of their faith, when we get the unwarranted diagnosis from the doctor, when our whole world shatters - know that there is Hope through Jesus Christ. So, there is no need to conform to the evil desires of this world. No longer can we be ignorant to the Word of God, as believers the truth has been revealed to us. We are to live our lives blameless, spotless, pure and holy - So that we can endure to the end.

 

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Let us prepare our hearts for worship! I love Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. We all have reason to Praise our God, and give thanks to Him for all of the wonderful things He has done for us. When I worship the Lord, and start singing His praises, thanking Him for everything, I can feel His sweet presence, wrapping around me. It is so beautiful.

I pray blessings over your day!

Christina

 

 

Lord, Have Mercy on Our Nation

Isaiah 1:2-4

Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. 

Greetings my beloved!

I hope you are having a wonderful day. I have felt a bit under the weather today, but I am not letting it get me down, as I try to accomplish all of my tasks for the day. It is quite a task trying to be a good wife, mother, and employee all at once. Sometimes we get so caught up in everything around us, like our daily tasks, we fail to see the world around us. Yesterday was a day of remembrance, as 11 years have passed since the terrorist attacks that took place on American soil, as planes crashed into buildings. What is our world coming to? Have you given much thought about it? At the Democratic National Convention, they voted as to whether they were going to mention God or not in their platform. I remember when I was a child, and they began the uproar of not saying Christmas, but rather X-mas. It seemed like such a small thing. Yet now, it's not even considered Christmas. You hear Happy Holidays, Season Greetings, winter holiday, but nothing about Christ. Is it so bad to mention God or Christ? Are we no longer a Christian nation? What happens to a nation that no longer sees God as God? God is our creator, our master. Is our nation blind? During the Civil Rights movement in the south, a lot of children were raised by the African American hired help, only to grow up and see them as the rest of society saw them. How sad is that, to have a child that you raised turn on you? Are we no different, having a nation founded on Christian principles to turn its back, to not even recognizing who God is? What is going to happen to our nation if we don't take a stand for righteousness? Where is the church in all of this? We have some Christians who give in to the persuasion of the society; they don't want to offend anyone, so it is quite alright not to mention Christ. Then there are those that are on overkill - expecting everyone to believe the way they do. There has to be a happy medium. We are to love the world, not condemn the world. However, we are also to stand for our values, and not become the world. So, how do we do this? I think we should pray, give the hope of Christ to the hopeless, and show Christ's love. I think that people coming to know Christ is the only way they can change, and in turn our change our nation. It saddens me to think that so many people are lost. It saddens me that so many Christians, are intimidated to share the gospel because our society is growing further and further away from God. It saddens me that there is so much hatred in this world. Let us pray for the lost, the lonely, the Church, the nation, and the world. Abraham pleaded with God, if there were just 10 righteous people:

Genesis 18:33-32, Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten (righteous) can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Will the Lord have mercy on our nation? Are there enough righteous people to save our nation from turmoil? Will God find us righteous enough to stand in intercession for our nation?

Lord, have Mercy on us. Forgive us for not interceding for our nation. Lord, if you find 10 righteous, will you save our nation. Lord, rise us the righteous in our nation, that we will not be swayed into the influence of our culture.

Beloved, pray that the Lord finds favor in you, that you can do His mighty work. Let us prepare our hearts for true authentic worship. Let us call forth on the Presence of God. It was not good enough for Moses just to hear the voice of God, he asked, God, show me your glory. Let us ask God to show us his Glory. Let us be filled with His powerful presence so much, that those around us can feel it.

Unshackled

 

Standing by the soiled street corner,

She’s beaten to the ground.

Behind the smile on her face,

Is a hidden, lifeless frown.

 

Her eyes are glazed to hide the fear,

You think she’s there by choice,

But she’s a carcass left behind,

A daughter without voice.

 

Carcasses come from all around,

Dancing carelessly like they’re free?

Suddenly they stumble, fall to the ground,

Daughters of merchants on the streets of debris.

 

Frightened inside, they cannot flee,

No one can hear their cries of despair,

They seek a savior, a chance to be free,

Bound in the chains of Laissez-faire.

               

Can you hear the cries of the lost?

They are hidden behind the graves.

In the curtains of a holocaust,

Are the babes we couldn’t save.

 

Is life too precious for one to gain?
Are we blinded from the horrors of this age?
The innocent are crying, the children slain.  

What can we do to prevent this rage?

In His Presence!

Psalm 123

I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt. We have endured no end of ridicule from the arrogant, of contempt from the proud.

Greetings, My Beloved!

I trust you are having a wonderful day. My thoughts today are full of our King. Oh, how I love serving our King. Kingdom work is so fulfilling. This week the Lord allowed me to lead someone to His sweet salvation! I love it when we're able to bring someone into the kingdom! This weekend I watched the move The Help. Have you seen that movie? I really enjoyed this movie. This movie was about the African-American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis. While the subject is not slavery, it's close enough for us to grasp the understanding of a slave master relationship. God is the ultimate master for us, He is kind and benevolent. While His ways are not our ways, He has our best interest at heart. So why not look to him with admiration. Lift your eyes to the throne room of Heaven. Seek to enter into His presence. For it is in His presence that you can see His mighty power. Let us enter into His presence, that we may be filled with His mighty presence! In His presence, whisper songs of love to Him. Tell the Lord of all of the wonderful, marvelous things He has done for you. Seek His mercy. We serve a merciful God. As elections approach, there has been a lot of political talk on how our nation can be fixed. The truth is, only God can fix our nation, and that is only if He is willing. Rather than thinking man can fix our nation, why don't we focus on 2 Chronicles 7:14, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Let us seek God for forgiveness. Where have we failed Him? We have to humble ourselves, and pray. God will have mercy on us, and will heal our land, but we have to first recognize our place with Him. He is the King, the Lord, and the Maker of all things. The only reason we are worthy enough to be in His presence, is because of the Cross. At the Cross the veil was split, so that we may enter into His presence. However, because we have this privilege, let us not treat the Lord as common. He is Holy, and we are not. Let us lift our eyes to the throne room of Heaven, in awe of worshiping our King!

 

Alive!

Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Greetings, my Beloved!

I hope you are having a fabulous week! The best part is, God's grace is so sufficient, that even when we make mistakes, His blood covers a multitude of sin. It is so easy to feel the self-condemnation of your past sins and failures. Believe me, I battle this often. Especially when you are lying in bed at night, the quietness of the house settles in, and your mind begins running 90 miles a minute. Have you had nights like those? It is easy to forget that you are forgiven, or perhaps lies start swirling around your head that your sin is so great, that God can't forgive you. We have a tendency to put values on sin. To God, sin is sin. Why is it that we think lying is not as bad as murdering, or homosexuality is greater than self-righteousness. It is all sin in God's eyes, and we have all sinned. So, who are we to judge others in their sin? We have to share the hope of the living God, the God who is rich in mercy. We were all dead in sin before we came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. There are still so many people that are lost and dead in the transgressions of their sins, and all we do is judge them. It is true. It is so easy for us to judge them. However, if they do not know Jesus, how can we as Christians expect the world to hold our same values and truths? We judged them, because they don't uphold the values and truths of Christ, but they do not know Christ like we know Christ.

1 Corinthians 5:12-13

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

So let us shed off our old bodies, live in the new creation under the Grace and Mercy of our God. We are God's handiwork, His master piece, created in Christ Jesus to do His good works that God has predestined for us. No longer do we have to worry about our old selves, reveling in the condemnation from the enemy. No longer do we have to worry about the sins of our unsaved friends and families, God will judge them. What we should focus on is doing God's work, giving hope to those who are dead in their own transgressions, much like we were. The hope that is only found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!