Maranatha

Maranatha- Maranatha is an Aramaic word that means “the Lord is coming” or “come, O Lord.”
http://www.gotquestions.org/maranatha.html

2 Corinthians 4:18
So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

When we think about the second coming of Jesus. A lot of people get scared. They think of all the stuff they won't be able to do if he comes soon. I haven't had a boyfriend yet. I'm not married yet. Never had a job. I'm still in high school. I'll never graduate from college. I never bought that dream house. BLAH. Insert never going to get to do (       ) here. However, those things are very very earthly. We get so caught up in all these earthly things that we FORGET. We forget just how awesome His glory will be. It will be like nothing we have ever imagined! It will be better than anything we never got to have, if you get what I mean. Don't think about the stuff you lose, think of  all that you will gain, when Jesus comes again. You will be so blown away by His glory that nothing, I mean NOTHING else will ever matter to you. All that will matter is that you are finally with the Lord of all Lords and King of all Kings. You will be surrounded by his glory and nothing else will matter to you. It will be all about him. Trust me everything he will bring to the table is so much better than anything you could ever dream of. All these scriptures are coming to my mind. Ephesians 3:20. 2 Corinthians 4:17. 1 Corinthians 9. All these verses. Read them they are really good. Anyway, my point is. Don't get so caught up in this life that you forget the life you are actually living for. Does that make sense? "When we die, we don't leave home, we finally go home." Don't be discouraged, just keep running the race of faith. God rewards those who are faithful.

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.

Philippians 4:4-9

New International Version (NIV)

Final Exhortations

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

PAPER :P

Picture hundreds of students gathering around Ipan, Talafofo early in the morning for Guam's annual International Coastal Cleanup. Within a four hour span these students will have picked up trash to fill up many bags. Among the debris a student may notice a copious amount of plastic. These include but are definitely not limited to, plastic untensils, bottles, fishing nets, bottle caps, and drink rings. Plastic pollution is a type of pollution that we can see right before our eyes.In contrast, ocean acidification is something we will see harm our oceans very soon. More individuals worldwide must take action to prevent the conditions of the ocean from getting worse. Failing to clean the ocean, as well as come up with other preventive measures regarding the issue of ocean pollution will cause detrimental effects such as the damaging of ecosystems, the endangerment of species, which will eventually lead to the extinction of species.

Not Here

Ecclesiastes 3:11
New Living Translation (NLT)
11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.


Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I
fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine by Mercy Me

I am learning something. I feel as if God is teaching me that things on this earth are so temporary. You can have them one moment and in another moment they can be taken from your grasp. Is this a bad thing? I don't believe so. You see I was in praise team at my old church since I was in seventh grade. I attended that church even before I was born. Anyway, we make a decision to leave. The title praise team leader was removed from my grasp. I was kinda sad. I remember thinking in the past about how long I would be able to stay in praise team. What would I do after? Well I'm at that point. I'm not in it anymore and I'm figuring out what am I supposed to do?

I believe God is teaching me not to be so attached to this world. I mean how many times in the bible does it say not to hold on to earthly things? How many times does it instruct us not to be so attached to this world? WE do not belong to this world. So if I lose an identity. If I lose something I've held onto for so long I shouldn't grieve over it too much. Couldn't it be that God is emptying my hands for something greater and better than being a praise team leader.

Titles, possessions, everything on this earth will fade away, but one thing remains. If I were to lose everything I had or was know for, one thing would remain. If I didn't belong to anything here it would be okay because one thing would remain. I belong to Jesus and my treasures lie in heaven where rust and moths cannot destroy them.

I had this feeling one night that I wasn't going to be here for very long. Where is here? I don't know exactly, but I can trust that God is going to take me where he needs me to be. I can trust that wherever he takes me he needs me there. It's probably not death. It's probably just a new place in my life or a new season. Whatever it is I remain unafraid. I am completely at peace with this and I totally trust God.

Everything is so temporary. I shouldn't hold on to things too tightly. I should focus on God and know that everything else will follow. I should be willing to let go of things so that I can fully embrace what he has in store for me.


<< 2 Corinthians 4:18 >>

New International Version (©1984)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

"Oh there is THUNDER outside"

2 Corinthians 6:10
New Living Translation (NLT)
10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

Captivated but no longer bound by chains left at an empty grave the sinner and the sacred resolved.
Let all of creation sing with me now lift up your voice and lay your burden down.
Let all of creation sing with me now fill up the heavens let his glory resound.

So, I finally GET the verse above! Okay so like happiness is based on the situation, the circumstance, the outwardly elements that have the ability to make you happy. Happiness is based on the external things. Therefore happiness, is temporary. It doesn't last all that long because it is based on everything else that may be affecting you at the moment. For example, I was about to go walk/running just to get out of the house when my uncle said Oh there is THUNDER outside. Now this made me more unhappy than I was earlier. See I was depending on some sort of exercise to make me happy. I was like aww man really? Okay, NOW what am I going to do?!

However, despite the current unhappiness I could still experience joy. Why? Well it is because joy is internal. Joy comes from Jesus. Joy isn't temporary. Joy isn't based on the fact of me running or staying inside. Joy is simply the evidence of God's presence in my life. It's him filling me with his Holy Spirit and one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit happens to be joy. There are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, love, joy,peace,patience, kindness, goodness,faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. If we have the love of God in us we can always always be joyful. My heart may be breaking, I may feel broken, and I may not know how to keep pressing forward, but I can always have joy, for God has blessed me with it. He has filled me with his joy and his joy can make me complete.

The last verse reminds me of the song you are my passion by jesus culture. My strength in life is that I am yours, my soul delights because I am yours. I am his. I belong to Jesus. I belong to Jesus. I belong to Jesus. I belong to Jesus. I may have nothing, but I will always have everything because I will always have Jesus and he is all I need.

John 15:9-17
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Messed Up Mindset

Zephaniah 3:17
For the Lord your God is living among you.
    He is a mighty savior.He will take delight in you with gladness.    With his love, he will calm all your fears.^[a]    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
John 15:9



"There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain, to break every chain, to break every chain, break every chain, break every chain.There's an army rising up. There's an army rising up to break every chain,to break every chain." -Break Every Chain by Jesus Culture


Yesterday I was just thinking about what I used to do to win the approval of different people. How I would change what I was so that maybe they would like me more. It's so wrong. My mindset was all wrong. Hm. It was all like maybe if I get higher grades they will love me more. Maybe if I join this club they will notice. Maybe if I change this it'll bring a smile to his or her face. On another note there was this mindset aww man I messed up now he or she won't accept me. Oh man I did this now he or she will do this. It goes on and on. 


Anyway, God continues to bring things to my mind. A revelation you may call it or revelations. He continues to speak to me. What he said was this, I delight in you. Well that was basically the thought you know? I remembered the verse above. The Lord delights in you. The Lord delights in me. In whatever I do he delights in me. Want to know the amazing thing about this? When I mess up, he delights in me. 


So this brings me to the point of this short blog. I don't need to change or do certain things to make people like me more, to win their approval, to make them love me more, because the Lord delights in me. He thinks that Rhia at this very second is wonderful. He delights in me and he loves me no matter what. He delights in you too and no matter what he WILL always love you. 

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

Come and See What the Lord has Done to Me!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
New Living Translation (NLT)
16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

This is my desire to honor you Lord with all my heart I'll worship you. All I have within me I give you praise.All that I adore is in you. Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul I live for you alone every breath that I take every moment I'm awake Lord have your way in me. -I Give You My Heart by Hillsong 


I just recently learned that hurt people only hurt people. Hurt people only hurt people. It's something that keeps playing in my head for some reason. Anyway this past weekend I was at church for our Encounter God Retreat. Boy did we encounter God. We surrendered so many things we've been holding onto inside. It was really a healing and releasing experience. The Holy Spirit fell down on all of us and people fell to their knees in humility before God and cried out praying and praying for the people they've wronged and the people who have wronged them. It was an amazing experience. 


Not forgiving is a sin. Not forgiving is a sin just like all the others. I ask myself, Rhia why do you let  these wrongs from the past hurt you? Why do you hold onto them? You know for a fact that the only person who is hurting by you holding a grudge is yourself. The only way you can be joyful is to surrender the hurts nail them to the cross and accept the healing God has to offer. What takes you so long to forgive? Really why do I take so long to absolutely forget the wrong that someone did to me no matter how painful when God never hesitates to forgive me? He never ever hesitates to forgive me. When Jesus died on that cross he took on all my bad and all the bad of the world on him and transferred his good into us so that we would be forgiven. Why would I hold that gift back from someone else?

I was glad that I went to the encounter I let go of ALL the things that have held me down. I released all the junk that was held in my heart. I surrendered all of that stuff at the cross for by his stripes we are healed. I am healed and restored. Now the Holy Spirit can move freely through my heart. Each time a memory pops up about something bad that happened to me I'll kick it out. I hope that just as God wipes my slate clean and forgets all the wrong I have done in this life I will do the same for all other people.

Forget forget forget the wrongs as easily as names slip from short termed memory minds. Then you can live freely from those self inflicted moments of torture to your achy breaky heart and forgive. Surrender it all. God wants the best for you. By the stripes of Jesus we were healed once and for all so you no longer have to hurt anymore. Now walk in freedom, because hurt people only hurt people.

Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

"To Bash the Creation is to Bash the Creator"

Psalm 60:12
New Living Translation (NLT)
12 With God’s help we will do mighty things,
    for he will trample down our foes.

All i need is You Lord. All i need is you! i want YOU. i choose YOU. All i need is YOU Lord is you Lord is you Lord. All i need by Kim Walker


foe/fō/
Noun:
An enemy or opponent.
Synonyms:
enemy - adversary - opponent - antagonist



Hi my name is Rhia Jimenez, I just turned 18 on Monday and it's Wednesday now so that's like three days of being 18. Anyway I am 18 years young and I have so many insecurities. Insecurities that have been with me since I was super little. I have been called fat a lot; in fact if I could have half a penny for all the times people have called me fat I would be swimming in money right now. I'd be rich on their criticisms. So yeah I always thought that because I wasn't skinny I wasn't beautiful. I was not confident with the way I looked. I was not content. I had this mindset that maybe if I lost weight I would be beautiful. So I tried to cut down on what I ate, sometimes though not on purpose I would go a long time without eating, I would join sports all to shut the voices out. The voices calling me fat or haha the voices that weren't so direct when they said WOW! Rhia you lost a lot of weight. Still means the same thing, I'm just saying.

Insecurites...You know the devil's goal is to take your weakness and mess with it in hopes that he'll break you. So he filled he fills my mind with lies saying I'm not enough. Not pretty enough. Not tall enough. Voice is too high. Not smart enough. Too hard. You'll never amount up to anything.

Insecurities are my foes and oh boy will they be defeated. They will be defeated by God. They will no longer be this ringing annoyance in my ear this cutting pain in my mind. They will be gone forever. For, I Rhia Jimenez will no longer stand passive. I am a Child of God and a Warrior and I will be more than a conqueror in this battle for it has already been won. The victory is the Lord's.

God says that I am loved so incredibly loved with this love that is so vast, long, high, and wide. I am made in the image of God; therefore, I am beautiful. I am made more and more complete and more and more secure through Jesus. I may be imperfection incarnate, but I am being made more perfect each second of each day by God's grace. I will walk in confidence not in myself, but my Heavenly Father.

Each day I'm going to learn how to love myself all the more. I don't want to hate on myself anymore just because society has a twisted opinion of beauty, after all "to bash the creation is to bash the creator."

Ephesians 3:18

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.