GracePerfected

Nehemiah 2:17 - "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lines in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace".      Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king. At one point, he heard from his friends that the Jews who survived the exile were in great trouble. He specifically said the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and the gates were burned up. Nehemiah fasted and prayed after hearing this, and He prayed to the Lord to soften the heart of the king so that Nehemiah may go to the place his fathers were buried and rebuild the gate. In God's miracle working power, He worked in the king's heart to not only let Nehemiah go for a few days, but he provided him in every are to make sure he had the resources and protection he needed to accomplish his goal.  There are many things to learn from this account, but a few stand out in particular.  1) Nehemiah Had a Burden.      Nehemi

1 Chronicles 29:17 "I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity".       Every person has been in a situation where their "integrity" was tested. You know, that moment when you battle whether or not to hold fast to being truthful and stick to you're strong moral principles. You're situation could be different from mine, and my situation could be different from yours. Whatever the case may be, we have all experienced this.      I remember sitting next to my mom during church one Sunday when I was a little kid, and one of the members of our church was speaking the youth message. That person said one thing that stood with me ever since: "Whatever you do in secret is a sin". Now I know that this quote can be taken out of context, but this always comes back to my mind whenever I find myself in a situation where I could sin- knowingly or unknowingly. Not everyone sins all the same, but when you feel the Lord tap a

I have astigmatism. It’s nothing too serious, but my eyes just can’t focus like everyone else’s can. My vision is blurred because the optics of my eyes cannot focus a point object into a sharp focused image on my retina. So, I wear glasses and contacts to correct my vision, to help my eyes refocus. On their own, my eyes cannot see clearly; they need to be refocused. You know when having astigmatism is the most irritating? When I’m driving at night. Throw some bright lights or your high beams my way, and I promise you, I won’t be able to see anything else. Pretty dangerous, huh? (PTL for anti-glare glasses!) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, And sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. -Hebrews 12:2- I’ve found in my walk with the Lord, when I’m driving at night is when my spiritual astigmatism is the worst too. When I can’t see the road ahead, and when unexpec

Exodus 39:1, 8-10, 21 -  From the blue, purple and scarlet yarn  they made woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary.  They also made sacred garments  for Aaron, as the  Lord  commanded Moses...  They fashioned the breastpiece —the work of a skilled craftsman. They made it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen.   9  It was square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double.   10  Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. T 21  They tied the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod with blue cord, connecting it to the waistband so that the breastpiece would not swing out from the ephod—as the  Lord  commanded Moses.      It is currently 12:30 AM as I am writing, and I firmly believe God is speaking to someone who is reading this.       You may be wondering how can an inspiring message come from a passage like this. Believe me, I did too. I mean, it is a portion of Exodus that explains how priest

Exodus 3:1-2: " Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro  his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,  and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,  the mountain  of God.   2  There the angel of the  Lord  appeared to him in flames of fire  from within a bush.  Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up"      We have all heard the story of Moses. In fact, we have all heard the story, read the story, and probably even acted as one of the many influential people in a church play. You're probably wondering, "What else of the one-thousand lessons from Moses is GracePerfected going to expound upon?". Well, my friend, these two powerful verses are more than just an explanation of how Moses came to the burning bush.       Moses was tending his father-in-law's flock one day. I don't know about you, but if I was tending a flock I wouldn't go to the far end of the wilderness. If you think about it, Moses mos

          We all have annoying habits. An annoying habit of yours could be you chew with your mouth open, or you bite your nails. But having an annoying habit is different than having a sinful habit. An annoying habit can be overlooked, but a sinful habit can eventually hurt everything about you.      Lets get personal. Something that I have been dealing with recently is disappointment. A lot of it actually. It seems everywhere I look someone or something is hurting every area in my life. I could say that I am getting better in dealing with this discouragement, but in reality I find myself growing in resentment towards people. At one point I told God "hey, why should I be loving if no one cares about me anyway?". So on and so forth, frustration became my sinful habit.      One night I decided to look to God and divulge all my frustration to Him. All of a sudden I had an urge to watch an online sermon by a preacher I had never listened to before. That is very unlike me,