Faith over fear

Todays passage: Exodus 4:13-17

13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

I found that I could really relate to this passage and I thank God for showing me this. God is loving and this passage just shows that He can use anyone but the thing is that it is a necessity for you to have faith in God for Him to use you. Moses was not the best at speaking (and I am not either) but even when God gave Moses the power to perform wonderful miracles, Moses still doubted and lacked faith when God asked him to speak to the Egyptians. I am not hear to pick at Moses because I feel like this has been me many times because of a lack of faith and a heart of fear.

You see the thing is we have to let go of our feelings and our fears to be truly used by God none of us are perfect and if you are waiting to become confident or putting of God's fear until you are qualified you are wrong. When God speaks we must obey immediately and if we don't carry out a task that God has called us to do then someone else will have to do it in our place as we see God sent Aaron instead. But this doesn't come without consequences because every sin has its consequence which is death and being disobedient to God is sin however we have grace from God and forgiveness through Christ but we are NOT to take advantage of this grace because we will all be judged (see 2 Corinthians 5:10). But the difference with believers is they will have eternal life. The end will come (see Habbakuk 2:3-4).

God bless you

jaleen :)
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Being real

I was watching a sermon titled "Suffering in Silence" by Cornelius Lindsey and I couldn't help but feel so convicted. He mentioned about as we say so many things in our testimony and with our actions etc that make us seem like we have the perfect life but in reality we are silently suffering from something, which we need to be open about. People who are suffering are looking for someone to relate to and we need to be actively showing love to these people and opening up to others, we are not above anyone. We need to see eye to eye to people. We have come in to the knowledge of Jesus and this gift is purely his own, we didn't add anything to it we accepted it because God gave us the Holy Spirit to see our need to (see Ephesians 2:8). Even now all the good work in us is purely the work of God and he is changing us to be more like Him as believers. I am not perfect on any level appearances can be fooling we can think from the outside that a person has everything. But if you take a look at the heart you can see how messed up we are. (see 1 Samuel 16:7)
I just want to encourage you today that if you are suffering in silence to seek Jesus I suffer with many things too and I think the best thing to do is for us to pray that we would genuinely and truly find your joy, hope and peace in God and that Jesus would be your foundation of life and that nothing would replace that foundation because one day everything will be made known the pretending and everything will be exposed (see Luke 8:17, Matthew 10:26, Mark 4:22) so why fake it (see Habbakuk 2:3) 
God bless you, 
Jaleen :)

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Not of the world (1): Lust

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:15-16

The enemy can deceive us as Christians in many ways and we need to be on our guard at all times by reading our word, praying. We also must pray that we are clothed with the Armour of God so that we are able to fight against any spiritual attack (see Ephesians 6:10-20).

The enemy's attacks are not always blatant to us though which is why we must pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us in all that we do and to give us discernment and we really must be reading the Word of God daily. The enemy will try to disguise himself as an angel of light (see 2 Corinthians 11:14).

Jesus showed us a perfect example of overcoming temptation and He shows that knowing the word is essential to overcome the enemy's attacks (see Matthew 4:1-11). The enemy doesn't come with red horns but he disguises himself in sinful desires and things that tempt us and draw us away from God. He comes to us in the form of temptation. Let us pray that we will remain firm in the faith and that we will resist any temptation and that we would have a clear understanding of God's will and that his will would be done in our lives and that we will submit ourselves wholly to Him and have a desire for Him alone. Pray this in Jesus' name.

God bless you! 

Jaleen :)

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Not everyone is going to like you! (Word of encouragement)

I am not perfect but I think sometimes  as believers its easy to play the 'I'm perfect' card which I know I am guilty of. When people see you they think you have no issues or problems and that life is all fine and dandy. But they don't see behind the scenes we need to be careful that we are being genuine as Christians but at the same time we are not to be of the world (see Romans 12:2) which can be hard but not impossible (see Phillipians 4:13). I know for myself I find it difficult to express myself because I know my opinions will not be popular. But I am learning that no matter how much you try and fit in and no matter how much you keep in your opinions there is always someone who will dislike you. There will be always someone who hates you. I remind myself of the weather - it may be a beautiful sunny day yet there will be always someone who complains and doesn't like it. As the body of Christ we all need to get over this, and i'm not being harsh because I include myself. Even if everyone hates you just know that Jesus loves you and as the body of Christ we love you we are called to love one another. All these things are so temporary compared to what Jesus has promised and remember Jesus was talking about the pharisees popularity so don't be fooled into thinking it makes you right with God (see Luke 6:26) and also (see James 4:4). Jesus understands us he faced every temptation we face yet he didn't sin, He is totally able to relate with us so roll you cares to Him, and praise Him today remember His beautiful promise (see John 16:33).
God bless you, 
Jaleen :)

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Don't get distracted but endure

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12

As believers we must be continuing in our faith so that we may grow and mature in it (see my blog on maturing here). To continue in our faith we must endure temptation which means we may suffer and it may be long suffering but whatever it is we must endure, we must not get distracted by the temptation, we must not give into the temptation but we must endure it. It may be hard but there is a reward for enduring the temptation which surpasses the hardship of the endurance. This reward is the crown of life and it is promised to those who love him.

As believers who love Christ this verse can be helpful in times of suffering which requires endurance - just imagine receiving the crown of life promised by the Lord to you because you love him and endured temptation for His name's sake. Let us pray the to the Lord that we will not fall into temptation but rather we would endure it for His name's sake. Take time out to understand this prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and then when you're ready pray it to God who will hear you in Heaven do not pray it as a repetition but pray it out of a genuine heart to do His will.

God bless you,

Jaleen :)

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Consistency

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 

Matthew 4:1-2

I know something that I struggle with is consistency and its not good to be inconsistent. As believers we are called to be consistent in our faith to endure trials, resist temptations, to be fervent in prayer and to continuously rejoicing.

Jesus demonstrates the perfect example of consistency in Matthew 4:1-11.

Throughout His life, Jesus is consistent in prayer, teaching, love, perseverance and faith just to name a few. Even though He came to earth fully human He was perfect and consistent in every way. This passage shows that He was consistent in overcoming temptation, consistent in God and consistent in faith. He was not overcome by evil but consistently overcame evil with good, as we are called to do (see Romans 12:2). When you feel inconsistent or as if you are not worth enough there is only one person we need to look to and that is Jesus. Maybe you are thinking but how? In a world jam-packed with all its evil wordly desires that are the opposite of what God requires how can we keep our eyes focused on Jesus. By prayer and spending time rooted in his word. Instead of seeking all the wordly desires which will never fill you spend time with God. Read devotions, listen to sermons that truly preach the Gospel and have thier foundation in the Bible, but most importantly pray God is full of grace and mercy waiting for you to come with loving arms but don't take this for granted there comes a time when He is coming back to judge, he is loving and has been patient with you. (see 2 Peter 3:9) Its your choice let Jesus in, believe in Him today. Time is running out.

God bless, Jaleen.  

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 God speaking through His servant I was really convicted by it and God wants you to be saved from the wrath to come.

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Are you Maturing?

11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:11-14

To grow and mature in our faith and our walk with Christ as believers in Jesus we need to be actively practicing what we have learnt from God's word and applying it to our lives. The first stage we make is to accept the foundations of God's word to become a believer and that is the great Gospel (see John 3:16) in doing this we then live to serve God. The Holy Spirit guides us and shows us our need for Christ and shows us truths about Him. To grow as believers we need to feed of the word and keep applying it to each and every area of our lives. An analogy which helped me was this: Imagine a new born baby it must keep feeding off its milk to grow and as it does so it gets an appetite for the milk. This principle can be applied to us as believers, the more we read and feed of the word applying it to our lives the more we will grow and get a spiritual appetite for God's word. (see 1 Peter 2:2-3) We need to replace worldly desires (jealousy, malice,lying etc) that stunt our growth (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-3) with God's word and the application of it to our lives. Discernment is key for distinguishing between what is right and wrong and if you feel you don't have this quality then pray to God to give you wisdom and discernment. Let us come to God for forgiveness confessing our sins and asking him for wisdom and discernment so that we can use them to bring glory to God in our lives and fulfill his will. (James 5:16)

Be blessed,

Jaleen :)

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Lessons from a dream

I had a dream today (16th Sept 2014) and I just felt the LORD showed me a lot of things. God told me to share this so I jotted some of the things down and then backed it up with Scripture as led by God.

1. Bad company will ruin your walk with God which can make you backslide and hinder your walk with God and if you are not moving forward in your walk with God you are treading a dangerous path so pray about striving towards God and for any obstacles to be removed from your life.

1 Corinthians 15:33 
Do not be misled. "Bad company corrupts good character."
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2. Don't take for granted what you have been given it can all be taken away in a matter of seconds. Make up in your mind you will serve God because He is the only one who doesn't change. I know this can be hard, but our circumstances and emotions should not determine our walk with God. (This one convicts me so much!)

2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be prepared in and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.
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3. Test all things and use God's word to guide you. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you and to convict you of the things that don't please Him and follow His leading as it is true and sincere and derived from the word of God.

Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Galatians 5:16
So I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
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4. Read and remain in the word of God because all God's laws are true and sincere.

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in all righteousness
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5. Stand up for Jesus even if you are standing alone, do not try to please the crowd because this leads to idolatry and leads to putting people before God. Evil days are among us but reject evil and stay firm in the faith.

Ephesians 5:16
making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.

Matthew 7:21
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
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6. Flee from lust and useful passions. This isn't easy because it seems as the majority of the world are promoting lust and engaging in sexual activity and it can be hard for teens and young adults especially but we are called to be different. And I want you to be encouraged by the verse below and the fact that this world is SO temporary and God is so faithful He will keep you if you let Him keep striving to Him and keep praying to Him, He hears every one of them.

Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and only few find it.
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Jaleen :)
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Feeling far from God?

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

For Christians who have been saved through Christ the verse above can be the most comforting and reassuring when going through many trials, attacks and tribulation as I know it has been many times in my own walk. God's love can protect us from anything it is so wonderful to know that no matter how unloved or far from God we may feel His love has the power to exceed it all. God's love has been shown to everyone in the world since the beginning of time and He has given every being an opportunity to be saved from sin. It doesn't matter how big our sin is Jesus already knew all the sins you would commit in your lifetime as He came to earth to give his life as a living sacrifice for us all, yes that includes you. (see Romans 6:10) But how will we react to this opportunity? The Bible gives us two ways we will either accept and believe by faith that Jesus has washed all our sins away and stop serving sin by doing so we will cross from death to life (see John 5:24) or we will reject this offer and be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. (see Revelation 20:15) There is no middle ground you cannot be in the middle, you are either saved or not, there is NO lukewarm stage that is to not be saved. (see Revelation 3:16)

You can be saved though by believing by faith in Jesus Christ that his sacrifice was enough to cleanse us from our sin and then turn away from our sin to serve Christ - repentance and belief (see John 3:16)

As Christians though who have these beautiful promises that we can never be separated from God we must not use this as an excuse to be lazy, we need to keep drawing near to God in prayer despite the attacks and we must be careful because we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (see Phillipians 2:12) so that we do not get distracted or deceived and lose our way. (see Matthew 24:24)

A helpful verse for me to remember is though I am free to make choices. Not everything is beneficial (see 1 Corinthians 10:23) and the best thing is to be in God's will and led by the Holy Spirit.

Be encouraged,

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Why does God seek His own glory?

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalm 22:3 KJV

Because God is unique and all glorious and totally self-sufficient, He must be for Himself if He is to be for us. God is without flaw, He is not self-seeking or selfish. On the contrary, He is perfect in every way He humbled and gave Himself as a ransom for us out of pure love and in order for there to be a way for us to be saved (see Acts 4:12).  We have to believe that He is sufficient which He is. So because He is totally sufficient and perfect in every way he deserves all our glory. Our LORD God Almighty is a God of truth and He cannot lie or deny the truth, He is truth and so He must receive all our glory because He is the only source of complete righteousness and truth and the only source of joy. Put it this way if God gave up His glory to another it would not be right because there is no other who can excel Him or can even come near to His love, power, grace, mercy and truth. Because God is love He must pursue the praises and hearts of his people so that He can redeem them because He is truth and the only way he is fully deserving of our praise. So let us give Him all our praise and thank Him for his great love and for everything He has done for us with a thankful heart and instead of thinking why does God seek His own glory we should rather be marveling at the fact that the God of the universe inhabits praise from mere men on earth such as myself!

Be encouraged,

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

What does it mean to love money?

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

I've read this passage many times before and thought to myself I have never really loved money. But something God revealed to me is that loving money isn't always loving the paper money or the coins the love of money is love for the things it buys such as possessions, security. Anything that money can buy that you seek security in rather than God or his word is the love of money. We need to be seeking God to be our all instead of pleasures and things which I know I struggle with at times. The love of money comes when we are not content with what we have (see Heb 13:5, Ecc 5:10) so let us be content with what we have and look at all that God has given us with thankfulness. Remember that all that is on earth is certainly passing away and that earthly wealth will mean nothing when Christ comes again (see Matt 6:19-21) because He will come in the twinkling of an eye (see 1 Corinthians 15:52) and we must be ready and found to be doing what Christ called us to do and not be found sleeping spiritually. (see Mark 13:36) .
Your soul is the most valuable thing on this earth and until you give your life to Christ you don't realize its value because this earth is passing away and we don't want to get so caught up that we lose sight of why we are here. Everyone has a purpose in Christ and until you stop chasing after everything else, nothing will change. Let us seek God first in all that we do and willingly draw near to Him in prayer and in Jesus' name asking for a content heart and a renewed mind (see James 5:16)
Be encouraged,
Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

What is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Matthew 12:32

Many times I have actually cried and been so anxious about this verse and thought to myself thinking I was guilty of this. In my heart I know that Jesus is my Lord and I love God-The Father, Son and Holy Spirit and I feel like there are times that my mind sets itself up against God and in the past I've hated myself for this. This verse may make genuine believers think that if they have said a cuss word or something then they have committed this sin but we have to dig deeper the true meaning is different. 

First of all we have to realize that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one (3 in 1) so if you say a word against the Holy Spirit, you have also spoken against the Son and the Father too. Note that Jesus says sin against the Son of Man will be forgiven but speaking against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. To understand what it means to speak against the Holy Spirit in this verse you have to understand what the role of the Holy Spirit is:

The Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus (see 1 John 5:6) so if someone deliberately rejects Jesus' Testimony they are saying that what the Holy Spirit testifies to is wrong and they are speaking against the Holy Spirit and they blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.

The reason that these people cannot be saved is not because the sin is to big for Jesus to forgive but rather that they will never be saved because they have rejected the only way to be saved and they will never come to Jesus for forgiveness. Don't get me wrong though speaking against the Holy Spirit or God is still wrong and it is sin which can be forgiven by Jesus. No sin is to big for Jesus to forgive but if we reject Jesus' testimony there is no way for us to be forgiven.

So let us draw near to God and repent of our sins in the name of Jesus whilst there is still time. 

Be encouraged 

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Day 6: Make use of God's Armour

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:14-17

Every day we need to pray to be clothed with the armor of God so that we can resist any spiritual attack and so we can stand when the day of evil comes. Eph 6:11-13 

But something God was showing me the other day was that when a soldier prepares for battle he clothes himself with armor and he is prepared to fight. However what good is it if he stands against his opposition clothed with all his armor (his shield his sword and the rest) but doesn't use it? We need to use our armor which we have been given. 

Our sword which is our attacking weapon is the word of God which we need to be reading and living by and it is the sharpest sword there is! (see Hebrews 12:4)

Our helmet of salvation and salvation is found in none other except Jesus (see Acts 4:12)

Our belt of truth, we live by the Spirit of truth (see John 3:20-21)

Our feet fitted with the readiness to spread the gospel (see Matt 24:14)

Our shield of faith which is in Christ Jesus (what He has done and is yet going to do in our lives) (see Hebrews 12:2)

Our breastplate of righteousness which is the righteousness we have in Jesus Christ (see Psalm 106:3)

Let us pray,

Lord Almighty, I pray that you would clothe us with your armor, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the belt of truth and our feet with the readiness to spread your Gospel and that you would help us to use your armour to bring Glory to your most Holy name. Please help those of us who are are saved to continue in you and for those who are not saved to come into the knowledge of the savior Jesus and to know that salvation is found in His name only. Help us in our weaknesses to come to you and to remove any hindrances and let us devote ourselves to you. Bind Satan I pray. In Jesus name I pray this prayer, Amen

Be encouraged, 

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Day 5: Stand firm

Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a]10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Sometimes, I don't feel like reading or coming to God or doing the things I know I should be doing to encourage believers and it gets hard. I feel like I am unworthy because i struggle with sin and I feel like who am I to be blogging anyway.. STOP! 

I am worthy because of Christ, I am forgiven because of Christ, I have an inheritance because of Christ and everything He did for me on Calvary over 2000 years ago, my whole identity is found in Christ who delivered me from every sin I've committed and will ever commit so why do I get these times of unworthiness? Its because I lose focus temporarily by focusing on other things such as my sin (this is a tactic of the enemy) instead of the one who overcame my sin! I need to keep focused and stay focused on Christ and his sacrifice for me and so do you! Hebrews 12:2. We cannot afford to keep taking our eyes off our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it makes us vulnerable to attack by the enemy. Stay firm in the faith of Jesus Christ, as believers we are all going through trials 1 Peter 5:9 but we CAN succeed through Christ. Let us remain firm in the faith in Jesus Christ as believers that He has washed all of our sins away and we are worthy purely because of His sacrifice. CHRIST IS ENOUGH! Stay focused on Him.

Be encouraged,

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Day 1 - Heed the warning

 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)

Recently I was travelling in someone else's car and as we were travelling there were lots of signs and markers to show that there had been a diversion ahead due to roadworks or obstruction to the road but there were many signs and diversion routes that you had to obey to make it to the next clear road and avoid being stuck. I noticed that there was a long queue ahead where people had missed one of the signs and had failed to see the diversion sign and they had become stuck in traffic queues it became quite a mess. It reminded me immediately of a believers walk with Christ and convicted me of my own walk, often there are times where God will show us to do something which may seem small or unimportant to us he gives us warnings and we just ignore them and continue expecting to grow in our walk or for it to have no effect but the more we do this and continue ignoring these "small" things the bigger the consequences become. These things then become harder deal with and we may find ourselves becoming stuck in a bad situation all because we decided that our own way was better. Its time to heed the warning and turn to God, He knows better than what we know of ourselves (Matthew 10:30) and has our best interest at heart. I encourage whoever you may be to let go of your own will and surrender to God in whatever it is God is leading you to.

Pray this with me

"Lord I am fed up of going my own way in life and falling short of you. I just pray that you would forgive me of my sins and help me to walk in your way and for your blessed Spirit to guide me. Help me to surrender my will in all things and take up your will for my life instead of my own. Help me daily to carry my cross and follow you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen."
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

My Testimony

I was bought up in a Christian household from the age of six. I never really worried about the way I looked until I started high school. As the oldest of six children I was the first to experience high school and I went to a high school in which i didn't know any people that came from my primary school so I had to make new friends. High school was a lot different from primary school and I felt like I had been thrown in at the deep end I didn't like high school at all. It started at 13 I started to worry about my appearance and noticed that I was different to most other girls my age and I became insecure as I compared myself to others I remember people would tease me for my height or other things and I wasn't like everyone else to make things worse I wanted so desperately to fit in. I was always quiet but this was different I became insecure and had low self esteem. I would always cover up the fact hat this made me miserable. Covering up became a habit and as time went on it started to develop into other things such as people pleasing. I tried to change myself but I couldn't ever find satisfaction in myself because I new how I really was and the emotions and worry I had. And the insecurity began to develop and ruin other areas of my life and I felt as though there was no hope and that no one cared about my life I felt worthless and hated myself and I just wanted to die. No one ever noticed this and probably would least expect this to be me because I always put on a front as if everything was fine when it wasn't.
I became dependent on people's approval to make me feel secure. This made me feel guilty and I began to try to seek God but I was still pleasing people and their approval and it gets to the point where you have to choose between the two. I felt as if I was divided between the two. Even though I would say I was a Christian there was no real relationship with God. At this time I remember I felt ashamed to tell people about God and was uncomfortable with people associating me with Jesus, looking back I think it was clear to say that I wanted to fit in with the crowd so I was putting people above God, I was afraid to be different.
As time progressed, I felt as if God had not given up on me and that there was hope and I really wanted to seek God for good this time and I think this was the start of God calling me to him I was reading God's word and praying frequently and I wasn't ashamed to. However, one thing that was wrong was that I was depending on my works to make me right with God and when I messed up I felt as if I was detached from God and I wasn't certain of my salvation and I was still trying to please people but just in a different way. It took a while but God in His grace enabled me to understand that Jesus had died for all my sins past, present and future. HE DIED FOR EVERY SIN AND HE DIED FOR ALL and yes that includes me and you who are reading this (See 1 John 2:2 and 2 Corinthians 5:15)  One verse that God revealed to me was Romans 6:14 "For sin shall no longer be your master for you are not under the Law, but under grace." this does not mean that we continually try to sin (see Romans 6:15) but God will enable us and only with God's help and through prayer to free us from bondage to sin. I learnt that Christ's death did not just involve the physical pain of crucifixion but he had to endure mine and the world's sin! How could I then depend on myself instead of the sinless Savior who paid it all? If I was trying to get right with God with my own words I was saying that Jesus' death is not sufficient for me. I learnt that I needed to get whole before God and pour my heart out before him. I repented (turned away from my sin) and turn back to God through prayer acknowledging that I was helpless without him. I turned from self to a loving Savior who was patiently waiting for me to come to him all along.
I came as I was with all my fear, insecurity, helplessness and flaws to God who restored me to himself through Jesus his son which is not my own work but the gift of God called His grace (Ephesians 2:8) for which I am eternally grateful and I am not sharing this to say that I have become perfect because I still battle with sin daily but God helps me to overcome sin by remaining in him, it shows that if Christ can heal and restore a broken sinner like me to a right relationship with him and he can certainly do the same with YOU if YOU let him. And Christ's blood washes me and He will continue to work in me until I meet him face to face. (Phil. 1:6)

I hope this encourages someone
God bless you,
Jaleen 

Feel free to e-mail me about anything at j.obilaso@gmail.com :)
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Weaknesses

Recently God has really been guiding me to this verse lately so I thought i would share it with you:

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 

When you take time to think about this verse and what it means it truly is amazing. God is saying that His power is made PERFECT in WEAKNESS. Not in strength, not in satisfaction, but he says in weakness. Its so easy to look at ourselves and pick out all our flaws and weaknesses and by doing that you can grow to hate yourself but that is not the purpose of our weaknesses. We have to look at the bigger picture. Our weaknesses are set up to reveal God's power but for this to happen we need to turn away from trying to overcome weaknesses and rely completely on God with them. In 2 Corinthians 12:8 Paul PLEADS with God THREE times to take away a physical weakness which we are not told what it is but we are told that it was a thorn in the flesh so a physical weakness which may have hindered his ministry yet God directed him to verse 9.  Often when we have strengths in areas it can cause us to get tempted to depend on ourselves which hinders our walk with Christ resulting in it being ineffective because we are making ourselves our own foundation when we need it to be about God and not us. If you have a physical weakness in your Chrsitian walk its not given to hinder you but that it can be used by God to reveal his power and to keep your eyes on him and not ourselves which I have also been learning through the reading and studying of these verses.
God bless you all, Jaleen :)
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more