Passive to Active Listening

Mostly all my life I used to passively listen to people which meant that when people talked, I would listen to them but wouldn't give verbal feedback back. This created several problems. I wouldn't hear everything that the person say, or the person talking would end the conversation early, because they would think that I wasn't listening to everything they were saying, This resulted in a lot of light relationship statuses where people knew about you, or I knew only their names and a little about them through other conversations. This made me feel empty socially. I wanted to get to know more about people.

Therefore, I prayed and asked the Lord about this, and the Lord showed me through my sister that I needed to actively listen to people. I then went on YouTube and found some videos on actively listening to people. I then used that skill at college, and I found out a whole lot more about people then I normally would. Also, the conversations seemed to go a lot longer then normal. I felt great and I give the Lord the glory for helping me learn this crucial skill in getting to know people. Also, I can remember peoples names better through active listening! Here is a video below that I found effective on this topic.

Why do I have to be a Virgin?

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4New King James Version (NKJV)

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,

The majority of the world thinks that sex before marriage is ok, when it is not. In their lust, people want to sex whenever they want. People have gone so far as to sleep with multiple guys or girls, even when they are the same gender as they are. It is sick, and is sinful! The spiritual morality of the world has gone down by leaps and bounds. 

I want to say that I am still a Virgin. I can also say that I have almost messed up multiple times, but the Lord has kept me from sexual immorality. This was in a time period where I didn't know how to control my emotions. I was a weak man then, but the Lord has kept me and held me tight. Now, I have come out stronger then before, and I know how to control myself better then before.

What does this have to do with this subject? Everything! If the Lord can help me out of my weak emotions where I was questioning things and very confused with myself, then he can also help you too. If the Lord has kept me from sexual immorality then he can keep you from it too. 

virginity

1.

the state or condition of being a virgin.

2.

the state or condition of being pure, fresh, or unused.

*Dictionary.com

A Virgin means a person who has never had sexual intercourse. *Dictionary.com

Hebrews 13:4New King James Version (NKJV)

4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Learning how much God loves me: Part 1 - Introduction

Song of Solomon 1:2New King James Version (NKJV)

The Banquet

The Shulamite[a]

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
For your[b] love is better than wine.

Whenever I pray every day and read spiritual stuff, the Lord teaches me things. Now, whenever I pray, I do pray for others, but I really don't feel a need to pray for them a lot. Then, one day I asked the Lord why I do this and why can't I cry during my prayers. The Lord showed me Todd White through my sister, which made me realize that he has a really deep love for the Lord and people that I really desire to have. 

This is why I am going to be really studying on how much the Lord loves me, so I can know how much the Lord loves others. I want to generate such a deep love for others and the Lord that people will affected by the Lord. I want to learn that it isn't about me but its about other people. If you have time, then please watch the video below.

Stay in the Word

The Word is a living book, and it will help you to overcome temptation.

Psalm 119:11New King James Version (NKJV)

11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.

The more we get into the Word and digest it, the easier it will be to live a holy life. I challenge you to read the Word throughout the day, or whenever you can. It will help you to have a clean mind. In fact, the more and more that you seek the Lord by whatever means possible, the more you will be delivered from sin, and especially addictions. We all need to be addicted on something, and the Lord can addict us with his presence as we rely on him more. 

But, let me say something about feelings. When you feel the Lord's presence more and more, do not rely on feelings, because what if for an entire month, you aren't feeling him. It will tear you apart, and you will stop relying on the Lord. It requires commitment, just like committing to your wife. I have never had a wife to commit to, but it probably be a lot easier to commit to something once you have a wife. 

Psalm 119:50New King James Version (NKJV)

50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.

Going to the streets

The Lord is a provider! He provides me with all of my needs every single day. A few months ago, I went to a Mission 25 event. (www.mission25usa.com) The Lord impacted me so much during this event, that I wanted to go to another Mission 25 event. When I went to Detroit, I was blown away. 

Basically, one of the things that Mission 25ers do at these events is that we meet up with homeless people, and we get to know them. Then we take them out to eat, and explain salvation to them, while still getting to know them. After that we provide them with clothing, or whatever basic needs they have.  Both times that I took a homeless person out to eat, they were so impacted by the Lord that they wanted to get baptized, and be saved. So, now I asked the Lord if He wanted me to do this. He responded by giving me enough resources to start doing this evangelist method. I am so grateful for what he has done!

If you seek Me then you will find Me!

Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord , thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
__________________________________________

I was going through a hard week of going through a relapse of playing computer games. When I was praying 2 days ago, the Lord showed me these verses when I was praying and reading the Word. This really grabs me because when I seek the Lord with all of my heart, then I will find the Lord. In fact, the only thing I can do is seek the Lord and spread the gospel. I used to try all sorts of things to try to remove my addiction. But, now I figured out that I can only rely on the Lord.

Nathan is in the house

Last weekend, my friend invited me to the expansion grand opening of the business he is working at. I was surprised when I drove over to the tower where he is working at. The property is gorgeous! I walked into the building, and found out that everyone looked a lot more professional then me, so I didn't know what to do. But, I met my friend Nathan who is a marketer at the Money Smart Movement. During the opening meeting, a lot of people who are working at the business told their testimonies of how the Lord led them to this business. Amazing! They also seemed to want to help you and didn't care about your money.

Quitting Facebook and Mobile Internet

Within the last month, the Lord has shown me that there is way too much noise in my life. This is a reason why I am not being used by the Lord effectively. He has shown me through several people that Facebook and the Internet was creating too much noise in my life. But what is noise? The Hebrew definition for noise is: rua: to raise a shout, give a blast. It seems that as I go throughout my day, a lot of things that I do are useless to Heaven. This means that if I am just playing computer games then what is the Lord going to get out of computer games. Nothing! This is why I need to get noise out of my life so I can be more effectively used by the Lord.

This is why I am going to give up Facebook. Someone told me that I should keep Facebook in case I really need it to do something which I am giving much thought to. I also gave up internet on my cellphone. There is no point of having internet on my cell phone except to waste my time. If I needed to use it for business, I can just find a Wifi hotspot. I encourage you to think about what kind of spiritual noise is in your life and if you don't know then pray about it.

Here is a link to a good article I found on this topic:

http://lifeminusbox.com/blog/noise-the-slow-spiritual-death

Mission 25 trip to Detroit

I finally got to typing out the update for the Mission 25 trip. It was a blast!

While I was heading to Detroit, I stopped by Moe's southwestern grill. They are big competitors against Chipotle. Go and see for yourself why!

Passed under a cool bridge as I was nearing Detroit.

Saturday morning, the 19th, we went to the streets of Detroit. We all went to this one street where there were hundreds of homeless people. We started giving out homemade apple and carrot juice. We also gave out Starbucks coffee, bananas, bagels, and more. We also got to know a lot of them.

During that time, the Lord led me to a person named Dee. We all went to a buffet in a casino which is too funny! I took Dee to the buffet and we had a blast. I talked to him about the Lord, baptism, and the Holy Ghost! He understood the difference and he wanted to get baptized. So some of us took him to a nearby church to get baptized. After he got baptized, he felt so happy and had a glow on him! 

While we were going to a youth center, we past this big house that looked like a dump. Truly sad!

Bro. Maddix giving out free ice cream to children in need.

While we were at this Youth Center, I met this guy who was one of the heads of the Youth center. He felt truly thankful, because the Mission 25ers fixed their basketball hoops which were broken. They also gave them lots of gifts and gave them tons of pizza.

We went to a different apartment complex to give children ice cream and gifts. We also played kick ball with them. The people at the low income complex were truly thankful for the Lord working through us!

This is Dee getting baptized in Jesus Name!

This is the weirdest insect I have ever seen! It never attacked us either.

Me and my friend which is in a picture below went to a Mediterranean place, and I ate an exotic food. I had  a Lamb Tongue wrap! The meat was soft and hard at the same time. It tasted like lamb that was soft. :)

There are truly amazing people in this world like the guy below. *Name disclosed*

The Master Mechanic

A few weeks ago I bought a 1996 Honda Accord, and I went to get a compression test on the engine to see how the engine was doing. My mechanic told me that the score came out to be 90 which is a very bad score for the engine. I prayed and talked to the Lord about my car and what am I going to do. The Lord told me not to worry about it. I then asked the Lord to raise the compression score up so my car doesn't die in a year. I did another compression test on my car with another friend helping me because I would like to learn how to repair my own car. The compression came out to be 120! I could not believe it. The Lord fixed my engine in my car. He doesn't just heal people, he can heal cars.

I can now call him the Master Mechanic!

Received my first DBA certificate

I am so excited that I received my first DBA (Doing Business As) license! This license is for my business so I can make it an official business. Help me Lord to make this business successful and reach my ultimate business goals. I also want to thank you because of the people that you are bringing into my life to help me!

Learning to become Selfless!

It all started in January. I started rebelling against the Lord! I wanted things my way. I wanted to eat good food. I wanted to do whatever I want. I gave into my Gaming addiction again where I play computer games for hours on end. Then, it all started crashing down on me. I was sad, and I saw less and less of others and my family.

Then in late June, I decided to just give up and hand my life to the Lord again. I found out that when you fast then addictions start to break. When you seek the Lord then everything around you starts to become nothing because you love the Lord so much. Everything except human beings. But, I was still full of myself.

What can make a person be full of them-self? It is when they stop caring about other people around them and do things their way. You know, I have this bad habit of being late to things. I would be late to church, hanging out with my friends, and even late to my families house. But, I decided that enough is enough! I want to stop this being late habit. I always hate it when I late. It just brings stress up, and also makes me sad. So, I decided to work on a habit of not being late. It is because I need to care about people more, and to become more selfless.

I also want to start thinking about ways to help other people. This reminds me of some very good friends of mine that are in Arkansas. This family that I met are like totally selfless. They really care about other people so much that it either makes you feel bad that you aren't being selfless enough, or it will motivate you to become selfless.

This is why I attended Mission 25! I attended it to learn how to become selfless like Jesus did. I want to just go to the street, find someone, and give to him so much that he is willing to be filled with the Holy Ghost. This is my desire and I want to do the Lord's will!

Mission 25 Chicago Pictures

We juiced several gallons of carrots and apples to give to the homeless Saturday morning!

We took the homeless out for breakfast

Went to Englewood to give free ice cream to to kids

I will always remember this guy! Bro. Maddix gave me a challenge. He told me to find someone in the next 10 minutes who wanted to be baptized. The Lord led me to James who later on was baptized in a public pool in the middle of Englewood!

We went to a homeless shelter which the name is withheld. We gave them fans, remodeled their yard, made a new stone path to their yard, and much more! God had filled around 3 with the Holy Ghost and 3 were Baptized in Jesus Name!