"Why God Hates Pride"

In Ezekiel chapter 28, it talks about the fall of the Prince of Tyrus. It talks about him lifting himself up to call himself a god. Making himself out to be more than he is, exalting himself higher than God.

From verses 1 through 19 there are "hidden" descriptions of Satan. Verse two says, "...Because thine heart is lifted up (Proud), & thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas;...."

This is exactly the reason why Satan was cast out of Heaven. He began to have self-pride & boasting of himself. He allowed proudness to consume his heart. He exalted himself above all that was and is God.

Verse 13 through 15 describes just how beautiful God had created Lucifer. Verse 13 says, "...every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius (ruby), topaz, & the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, & the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, & the carbuncle (turquoise), & gold." It continues on in the same verse by saying that in the day that he was created, God gave him (Lucifer), a beautiful voice to sing. "...the workmanship of thy tabrets (timbrels) of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."

In Bible times a tabret was the principal musical instrument of percussion. In other words it was the chief or most important element in worship. So based upon this information Lucifer was the highest ranking angel who lead musical worship in Heaven. He had been given a beautiful voice solely for the purpose of glorifying God. His voice when he sang was awesome. Until he began to allow pride into his heart. Verse 15, "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee" (evil was found in him). Verse 17 tells us that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. It says he corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness.

Can you imagine this? God creates Lucifer, the most beautiful angel, & gives him a voice that is so beautiful that every step he took it poured out beautiful praises to God. He then decides to get arrogant & puffed up in himself, thinking he no longer needed God or was better than God. So he decides to try and raise himself up as God to sit on the throne of God.

How stupid was that? He threw away everything that God had given him for a season of self-indulgence. He had power and authority given to him by God. He got power hungry & decided he no longer needed the Almighty.

The Bible says in Hebrews 11:25 that the pleasures of sin are for a season. Lucifer traded a life of joy & contentment for eternity, for the pleasures of sin for only a short while. He gave up EVERYTHING!!!

We are nothing in ourself. Without God we cannot do anything. It take Him working in us and for us. (Galatians 6:3)

In Proverbs 8:13 it says that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. And it says that God hates pride, arrogancy, the evil way, and a froward (perverse) mouth.

Psalm 10:4 "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." (Or all his thoughts are, There is no God.)

We can see from what happened to Lucifer that pride does come before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18,19)

In Isaiah 14:12-15 it also talks about how Lucifer exalted himself but God brought him down. God hates pride because pride is giving ourself the credit for something that God has accomplished.

God wants to exalt us & to shine mightily through us but we have to allow Him to do it. It shouldn't be by anything we do because in ourself we really are nothing. Through our prayers, fasting, reading our Bible, sacrifices, obedience, and our love of God; He will in His due time reward us for our hard work & dedication to Him.

I would much rather be humbled and receive nothing in this life & be rewarded in Heaven than to be like Lucifer and lose it all for a few moments of sin and pleasure that is going to be punished for eternity.

Out With The Old & In With The New

In order to receive a gift from someone we must stretch forth our arms and grab it with our hands. But if our arms are full of stuff then we wouldn't be able to reach out & take the gift. Our arms would be so full we wouldn't have room to accept anything else. We, in order to accept the gift, would have to either lay down the stuff that we already have in our arms. Or we can just hang on to what we already have and pass on the gift that is being given to us.

The Lord has been speaking to me today about this. He says that in order for us to receive the gifts & blessings He has for us, we must first make room for them & get rid of the stuff (junk) that we are still holding onto.

The Bible says to "....let us lay aside every weight, & the sin which doth so easily beset us, & let us run with patience the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1)
How are we gonna run any race with a bunch of weights on us? That would make no sense to carry a bunch of heavy rocks aroudn if we were to run in a race. We would want to be as light & free feeling as possible. And that is the same way with the Lord. How can He give us something if we are refusing to let go of all the junk? If we are still carrying around "weights", we can't accept anything else.

We need to do an inventory of what we are "collecting" or "carrying" in our house. We need to regularly go through & do a sweep of ourself. We should take out a spiritual mirror & really evaluate ourself. Are we lining up with God? Or are we in our flesh? Are we holding onto guilt, pain, sadness, worries, & frustrations? If we are carrying around unnecessary "stuff" we can't move forward into what God has for us. Philippians 3:13,14 says, ".....forgetting those things which are behind, & reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

It says to forget the things that are behind us & reach forward! It tells us to press toward, which means keep going ahead and not to look back! Why would we even wanna look back at our past? Sometimes it is good to look back and see how far God has brought us but as far as looking back and wanting to dwell in the past, or wanting to hold grudges and hurt feelings from the people of our past, we shouldn't be doing that.
The devil is going to try to keep you from what God wants you to have. He is going to try & get your emotions & mind in such a mess that we don't know if up is down & down is up. The devil is our adversary, his job is to destroy your life. He is going to try & lay all kinds of junk on you. That is why we need to do a regular check on where we are at.

When Satan comes to us to try to fill our mind with junk we need to get our minds on Jesus & what He wants to give us. Keep our heart, mind, & sight on the Lord. Set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:2).

Jesus wants to take out all of the "old" stuff out of us and fill us with "new" things. Jesus doesn't want us to look back, He wants us to look forward. We can't do that when we are holding stuff from our past and refusing to give it up. All we have to do is lay it down at His feet.

Isaiah 43:18,19

God wants to do a new thing. He wants to trade things that we are holding & exchange them for blessings. He wants to work inside of us to empty us of everything the world has formed us to be. He wants to completely empty us & then fill us up with His goodness, mercy, and love.

O LORD, HOW FRAIL I AM!

For a little over a month now, I feel as though the Lord has placed me in a fiery furnace of testing & trials. I feel that the heat has been cranked way up and I am trapped with no escape. There for a few days I was beginning to think that this was getting too rough, I am not sure I can go on. I was feeling like a failure because I was allowing things to get to me very easily.

The Lord has really showed me a lot. I see now that everything man does or everything man says is nothing but vanity. The only things that will account for anything in this life is what we do for Jesus. Nothing else matters. The bible says in Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf;...." This bible verse speaks volumes. Man is so frail and anything that we do outside of God is nothing but vanity. If we are not saying or doing something that will uplift, encourage, exhort, magnify, and glorify God, then it does not matter. Our best efforts are nothing but dust in the wind.

I had a dream a while back about a package that arrived to my dad and me. Inside the package was a blank, white sheet of paper, a book, & a white blanket. On the blanket was writing. Some of the writing I couldn't read but in the bottom right hand corner of the blanket it was addressed to me. It said:
"Angie,
Can a good man goeth to heaven?
Can the grass or flowers liveth forever?"

Of course, the answer to both questions is no. I think this was the beginning of God showing me that man is nothing in himself. It takes God in everything we do. We cannot go to heaven just because we are "good". Even on our best day we are never really good. The only good thing within us is the Lord. And that is the only way any man can get to heaven is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, & the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) It takes us coming to the realization that we have all have sinned. There is no way of getting out of it. We all have sinned & fallen short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) The time we have on this earth is short. Man will not live forever except that he be born again of the water & the spirit (John 3:5). Once we are born of the water & the spirit we then can enter the kingdom of God through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the work He has done on Calvary.

The Lord has been "uprooting" things in my heart that I didn't even know were there. When the Lord goes through this process of digging out all the deep roots of fleshly things in our lives, it hurts severely. I tell you first hand it is very painful & you just wish it would already be over. I was to the point that I was feeling like I was going crazy. I was all emotional & touchy. I had no idea right away what I was going through. I noticed too that the Lord took down His "hedge" that He had put up around me. But there was a reason & a purpose for it. He allowed it to uncover things that were still inside me that needed to be taken out. If we want to truly be used of the Lord we have to have all lust & desires of the flesh totally emptied out of us. The Bible says in James 3:11 "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water & bitter?" If we truly want to be sold out to God & have His perfect will in our lives we must completely die out to flesh. Not that we won't still make mistakes but ultimately the love of God will reign within us. We won't have outburst of anger, jealousy, hatred, envying, strife or any other fleshly action.

I truly do want everything that is inside me to be "uprooted" and "cast into the flame" to be burnt up forever more. In the beginning I was questioning the Lord. I was saying "Why me God?" But He reminded me that I said that I loved Him and I wanted to be used by Him in a great way. When you talk to the Lord be sure to watch what you say. Cause you will get everything you ask for. There is pain in the offering that we bring. If there was no pain, there would be no offering.

"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10) I now see that I should be thankful that I am accounted worthy to be tried in the fire. This means that the Lord is working on me & that He is going to use me. It is a painful process & it seems very lonely too. However, even though I feel lonely, I know that my feelings can lead me astray, I know that my Lord & my Best Friend is always there in my time of need. Just like the 3 Hebrew boys, although their faith was being tested, Jesus was right in the furnace with them. Today He is in the same furnace of trials & afflictions with us.

High Time!!

On June 2, 2010 I was getting ready to pray before I went to bed as I always do. I got down on my knees & began to pray. I thought this was going to be just like any other time I prayed. But it wasn't, it was far from it.

I had just gotten off of a 7 day fast & I believe this was the reason I had this awesome encounter with the Lord. I could hear His voice so clearly. I mean it was like He was in the same room with me, sitting right next to me. He had given me a vision while praying of Him standing behind me & placing His right hand on my left shoulder. In my vision as He was placing His hand on my shoulder I actually felt a hand on my shoulder. This sort of freaked me out in the beginning. If you have ever had an encounter similar to this you know what I am talking about. You shouldn't be scared of the Lord but I guess there is a fear of the unknown. We are human after all & God is a Spirit.
Anyways, I began speaking in tongues & the Lord began to speak through me. He began to say "I am coming. It will not be too much longer. I am about to return." Then I had a vision of Jesus coming in the clouds, with His arms stretched open wide. In my vision I could not see His face. He kept repeating, it is High time!
He began to speak to me again and said, "My people have got comfortable. Too long have they sat down. It is time for them to get up & stand for the day draweth nigh. Satan has only a short while & he is working overtime. This means My people must work even harder in these few final hours. You have the power in you & with you. My Word is power, truth, & life. With My Word you can do all things." After this I just felt a love that I have never in my life felt before. My heart was consumed with love for God. I mean all I could do for a while was just tell Him how much I loved Him. He then let me feel just a tad bit of love that He had for us. If He had of let me feel anymore my heart would of burst. He is longing for His children, He wants us to come home.
Without the Word, we are nothing in ourself. The devil laughs & mocks when we try to do things in ourself. But when the Word is used he puts his tail between his legs & runs off like a scalded dog. The Word is sharper than any two-edged sword.
The Lord has given me many things in just the past 6 months on His return. I have had dreams about the seals, visions of His return, & this latest dream about the clock & the candle. I know that the Lord is giving me all this for a reason. I pray that God's will be done & that I can deliver what He has given me to His people the way He wants it delivered.

The Storm Might Be Big But My God Is Bigger!!

Storm - A violent weather condition with heavy winds, precipitation, and thunder & lightening.

What causes a storm?
A storm is produced when a center of low pressure develops with a system of high pressure surrounding it. In other words when hot air & cold air meet in an atmosphere.

The dictionary also says that a storm can be - a direct & violent assault on a stronghold.

What is a stronghold?
Stronghold - A fortress; a place of refuge, safety, & survival.

Could it be that some or all of the storms we face, are a direct attack from Satan on our stronghold, which is Jesus?

Think about it....We pray for things in our lives & the lives of others. We encounter a storm & what is the first thing the enemy will say? Jesus isn't listening to you or Jesus is not going to answer our prayers.
Ancient fortified cities in Old Testament times were built with a wall around the outside, at that time it was a powerful defense. Such walls were strong enough to keep out all but the most determined invader, but the inhabitants would also build a secondary defence in the center of the city in the shape of a tower. This was called a 'stronghoId", and couId be defended by just a few soldiers, so that if an attack came, the people of the city could crowd in for protection, confident that the tower could be easily defended. Jesus is our stronghold in this day & time. He is everything that keeps us safe from harm & evil's way.
The enemy is directly attacking the person in whom all of our trust is in. Satan knows that if he can get us to doubt the Lord that our defenses in the Lord will be broken or tore down. That is when the storms will over power us or over take us, when we quit believing or trusting in Jesus.
After thinking about natural storms, I began then to think about spiritual storms.
Don't allow storms in life make you doubt the Lord.
Spiritual storms can be caused by faith & hope colliding with fear & doubt. Those being hot air are faith & hope and cold air being fear & doubt. Fear and doubt will cause a disturbance in the atmosphere anytime they are present. Faith and hope will stand their ground as well & thats when a storm begins. Neither side wants to back down.
But the spiritual storm you are in...I have a question for you...What manner of man is this? You do not serve a God who can be measured! You do not serve a God who has no power!
Matthew 8:26,27
"And he (Jesus) saith unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, & rebuked the winds & the sea; & there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds & the sea obey him!"
What manner of man is this? The one who spoke to Moses in a burning bush! The one who parted the Red Sea! The one who turned water into wine! The one who healed the blind, made the lame to walk & the deaf to hear! The one who said let there be light & there was light! The one who was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, & received up in glory! The one who made all things & without Him was not anything made that was made.
He is the One who commands something & it happens. When the Word comes from His mouth it happens. His Word does not return unto Him void.
He created the storm, He created Satan, and He created you & me. So what makes us believe that our storm or situation or whatever it is that we're facing, is too big for God? Is the creation created by the Creator? Does not the artist hold the paintbrush in His hand & make the paintbrush do what He wants it to? How much more do you think that God doesn't know what we all go through & need?
Satan wants us to worry & fret. When we do, we take our eyes off of Jesus & begin to look at our problems & situations. This is for me but I feel this is for others too. I hope this message from the Lord will encourage and uplift someone else.
Jesus told me in a dream, "We all go through pain but there is a certain amount of pain that is appointed unto man." He said, "We do not have to go through pain that is not appointed to us." That is because He (Jesus) has already went through the worst possible pain that anyone could ever go through. He died on the cross so that we could be victorious through Him & His resurrection. He died so that we could live an abundant life full of joy and peace. From the dream I learned that sometimes we cause ourselves more pain by not listening, believing, or trusting in the Lord.
Jesus spoke to the storm & said Peace be still, & the wind ceased, & there was a great calm.
This same Jesus has given you & me power.
Mark 28:18
Jesus said: "All power is given unto me in heaven & in earth."
Jesus has given us authority through & by His name. Let us start speaking to those storms & mountains and proclaim the victory.

There Is No Neutral Ground!

What is the definition of the word neutral?

Neutral:
-impersonal: having no personal preferance.
-not supporting or favoring either side in a war, dispute, or contest.
-possessing no distinctive quality or characteristics.
-one who does not side with any party in a war or dispute.

In todays society we are taught to take a neutral stance on very heated and debated topics. Topics that Christians of all people, should be shining their lights & standing up in the way of holiness & speaking out against sin. For instance, the topic of homosexuality. We are not supposed to condone it but we are not supposed to speak our mind & voice our opinion & what the Word of God says about this abomination. We are stuck in a "middle ground" if you will. Where we are against these things but yet when faced in a situation to stand up for what is right we place our "tail" between our legs & we run from it. We are afraid of hurting someones feelings. Or worse yet we "go along" with it because it is the worlds idea of the nice thing to do or it is what the majority is doing.
God said there is no middle ground! Either you are for Him or against HIm. We can't have one foot in the world & one foot out. When we are out in the world, we act as those who are in the world. Then when we are around church folk, we act all holy. The bible says in Joshua 24:15 "...choose you this day whom ye will serve;" We can't be going in & out, only serving the Lord when we feel like it or when it is convenient for us. Either you love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, & strength. And you want to serve Him & want His will in your life. Or you just simply don't! There is only two choices. There is no middle or neutral ground.
We as Christians should be standing up & proclaiming Jesus Christ, no matter how much criticism we receive. No matter if it isn't the popular "vote" of the people.
If we go around acting as the world acts & living the way the world lives, yet we confess we are Christians, What affect does that have on our testimony?......It makes it void!!!
Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 & Luke 16:13 "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, & love the other: or else he will hold to the one, & despise the other...."
THERE IS NO NEUTRAL GROUND!!!!!!!!!!
Not only will the things we speak & the way we live determine the side we have chosen but our thoughts as well. Are we thinking one way & speaking or doing another?
We are according to 2 Cor. 10:5 supposed to "Cast down imaginations, & every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, & bringing into captivity every, thought to the obedience of Christ;"
We are not to entertain evil thoughts. As soon as a thought pops into our mind, that we know is not of God, we are to cast it down.
Also knowing to do something that is right & not doing it but doing the complete opposite, that is rebellion.
James 1:8 says "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."
We need to choose Gods righteousness or mans righteousness.
We need to choose relationship or religion.
We need to choose holiness or vanity.
If we don't make a decision to walk in the ways of the Lord to stay in the ways of true holiness but we continue to one day serve God then the next day not to serve Him, the Lord says, "I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art luke warm, & neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Rev. 3:15,16)
It's time we get on fire for God. We are living in the very last days of the end times. We either get on fire for God now or burn in the lake of fire later.
Let's use the time we have left wisely. Use our time to promote Gods kingdom & bring in lost souls who do not know our merciful God & Heavenly Father.

What's In Your Ark?

Here lately God has been trying to show me somethings that I wasn't fully aware of. I have been going around for weeks now seeing stuff that has to do with Noah's Ark. I thought that it was strange that all of a sudden I am seeing this stuff. I have been wanting to have a baby & I feel in my heart that God wants me to name him Noah. So I thought maybe these were signs that God is fixing to do something for me. But I waited on the Lord & He showed me the message He was trying to get across to me.
God was wanting me to look in my own "ark" to see what I was secretly hiding, not fully aware of it. So I made a list of things that could be in God's ark; love, kindness, forgiveness, peace, joy, happiness, & etc. Then I made a list of what was in my "ark"; kindess, love, joy, & then there was something brought to my attention. I had other things that shouldn't be there. The Lord showed me that I still had a temper that I needed to work on. I have some fears, and people that I need to forgive and other things.
When the Lord showed me this I felt bad. I felt as though I had let Him down. But He wasn't showing me these things to put me down. He was showing them to me to get closer to Him & to advance myself. To grow up in other words.
In the beginning I didn't look at it this way & I kind of acted like a little kid does when it is scolded by a parent. I pouted & cried but a few hours later I got over it. I realized that God is only looking out for my best interest & the bible says that the Lord chastises those whom He loves. It doesn't feel good at the moment you are being "scolded" by God. But those are defining moments in our lives. He shows us, if we will listen to Him, areas in our lives that we need to move up & improve in.
I am thankful that I have a God who loves me & has my best interst at heart. He is always there & is a constant friend. He has never turned His back on me & never will.
I want to do all that I can to please the Lord. I want Him to use me & if being scolded is going to get me closer to Him & will allow Him to use me in more areas then I am for whatever He wants.

Instruction - Promise - Obedience

In Genesis 12:1 it says,
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, & from thy kindred, & from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:"

God gave Abram specific details as to what He wanted him to do.

v2: And I will make of thee a great nation, & I will bless thee, & make thy name great; & thou shalt be a blessing:
v3: And I will bless them that bless thee, & curse him that curseth thee: & in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Abram was given a promise by God that he would be a blessing & receive blessings. Abram would possess a land that God was going to give him. But God also told Abram what to do in order to receive those promises (verse 1).

As I was reading in my bible I noticed that Abram only partially obeyed God. He left the country that he was in but he didn't depart from his kindred as God instructed. Genesis 12:4,5 "So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Ha'-ran. And Abram took Sa'-rai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Ha'-ran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came."

What has God promised us? What instructions did the Lord give us in order to receive the promise?

Abram was trusting in the Lord by leaving the country he was in. Not knowing where to go. He had no map, not even a clue as to where he was heading. All he knew was that God told him to go. He was heading to an unknown destination, stepping out on faith. What courage it must of taken him to leave everything he had ever known. Leaving his comfort zone not knowing where he was going.

We can trust in the Lord & do what He says but if God has given us specific instructions we need to follow them fully to the best of our ability. We must do this in order to see His promises come to pass.

It was only when Abram had fully obeyed God, that he seen the promise.
Genesis 13:14,15 "And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him. Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever."

Trusting God for a child as He has promised me. I wonder have I fully obeyed Gods instructions? I pray that I do not overlook or miss anything God has commanded or asked me to do.

The Lord says in Jeremiah 29:11 that "..I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

I know that anything God has spoken & asked me or commanded me to do, it is for my own good. The Lord would not tell us to do something that would harm us. We need to put total trust into Him.

We need to squeeze out all trust, hope, faith, & obedience into the Lord. We need to start putting it all into action. We must do this if we ever want to see our promises come to pass.

LOOK UP

I have been feeling bad here for the past little bit. It is hard to explain it but I know that the Lord knows all about it. Anyways to make a long story short.....the Lord helped me to write another poem. I am sharing it here so I pray it helps someone else out who is going through something right now. I suppose that is why we go through things is so we can say hey I've been there too! But anyways here it is.

LOOK UP
Thou hast heard my cry from the dark place,
Thou reached down with thine hand & saved me with thy grace.
Troubles on all sides & I felt no one cared,
I felt all alone & my burden I could not share.

You told me to look up from whence cometh my help,
You said your promises are yes & amen & they would always be kept.
You said you would never leave nor forsake me,
You said I am by your side, I the LORD am with thee.

Hold your head up my child & do not fret,
All that thou doest for me will be rewarded you will have no regrets.
Follow my instructions & do what I say,
For even before thou asked for help it was already on the way.

So know this trial & pain will not last forever & it will end,
Know that until this storm passes it is my peace that I send.
So be patient & wait for the promise to come,
My child it may feel like the end but your life has only begun.

I hope this encouraged someone besides me. I just wanna say I love the LORD!!!!