VirtuousRealities - DeannaTrujillo

OH HOW LOVELY...
Deanna V Trujillo

Oh how lovely are they who's feet are firmly planted along the life giving pathway in God. For He is the Garden where the Tree of Life is found...

They are the ones who are standing up in front of everyone bringing the Good News, with their words and with their deeds! They are strong because they are held up by the Almighty hand of God!

'How sweet are Your words to my taste Lord, sweeter than honey to my mouth.'

These ones who love Him will leave everlasting foot prints behind them everywhere they go, and in every season. When the winds blow their roots will only become stronger. They will leave their imprints for others to step into, and follow in the path of righteousness.

They praise Him because they know they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and they know full well that His works are wonderful!

You will recognize these lovelies because they are the ones who are proclaiming peace, and they emanate good tidings of the goodness of God through their messages! They proclaim the Salvation of the Lord (freedom for those who are in bo***ge to sin). They worship day and night with everything that is within them; and on their face is a reflection that grows brighter and brighter with the Glory of God and Eternal Life!
..Perfect in beauty, God shines forth from the ones who surrender their lives to Him! These are the ones who are saying to the people, "Do not fear because our God is faithful, and will forever be the one in charge!"

--Inspired by: Isaiah 52:7; Psalm 50:2;119:103; 139:14;
Proverbs 4:18; Ephesians 4:14; Ecclesiastes 1:14 🌸

GOD'S CHURCH
Deanna V Trujillo

What is God's Church? There seems to be a movement in the world today that is directing people to leave their churches, or to not genuinely connect to one. This movement is from an evil spirit, it needs to be exposed and faced as a spirit of rebellion. You might think it's a reaction to all of the chaos and sin that seems to be in churches, but when people choose to never connect to another church, then that is just an excuse to disconnect from God's plan.

When Greg Laurie was young he once said, "I feel like worshipping alone." "But, I don't think this is meant to work that way." A reporter from Time Magazine replied...

Each person is designed to make up a vital part of the intended body of Christ. If you are missing then so is a vital part of God's Church. The meme below, says, "God's Church isn't in trouble, but Man's Church is."

What is Man's Church? Man's Church is a place without God's full plan. It's a place where man is alone, and he has decided to disconnect from God's Church, the one who Jesus is in love with, and is coming back for.

Man's Church will also push "unity for unity's sake". God does not want us to compromise the unity of the local body in order to build a kingdom for man. That is like the building of the tower of Babel. God never places the importance of unity over His plan. Unity must be built by believers building upon the same foundation of the Holy Spirit, and does not neglect the love for the health and well-being of the local churches, and their individual missions. Building healthy local churches becomes a springboard for greater unity in the whole body of Christ.

The Church is the Bride of Christ, she (each gathering of believers) is endeavoring to get prepared for His coming and the great wedding, where she will be united with Him. Jesus is coming for a Bride that is without a spot or wrinkle. The fine linen she wears are the righteous actions that are sewn together with those she believes with and worships with. The Bride is not our idea, she the Father's idea, and Christ's dream that will come true!

What happens when good people disconnect from a church? Sometimes, leaving a particular church is needed if the church leaders are corrupt with sin, or there are too many major doctrinal (absolutely biblical) differences or discrepancies. If it's a mere offense, or doctrinal differences, you must try to iron those things out, and if not possible, try to leave the church with a mutual blessing if possible. You must leave with the intention to commit and grow in another church.

Good people will find a church where the leaders are serving the Lord with their whole hearts, endeavoring to preach the Gospel, teaching biblically sound doctrine, and the worship is passionate, and sweet, and most of all- it is about Jesus.

People who's hearts are right with the Lord recognize that there is no absolutely perfect church, and they will not stop attending a fellowship. There might be preferred programs still missing from the church, but maybe you are the missing piece? The Church is made up of humans trying to do the perfect will of God, but we will not be perfect until that day when we all see Jesus face to face.

Each local body of Christ must work toward "unity of faith and doctrine" within that individual body. We must come together regularly in personal fellowship, worship, and doing good deeds together--as a local church. It is vitally more important for each individual to be a part of a church, personally growng and building it up, before we try to connect with any network of churches. Networks don't personally know each individual and often times don't ask about the lives of individuals, do not disciple, and sometimes don't hold to the same doctrinal truths, or love for the Gospel, or genuinely care for the individual churches.

In each church we must agree on the major things, and endeavor to find a balance between our passion for God, and grace and mercy with each other, always examining and judging our own habits at a higher level more than we examine others; not allowing unwholesome things to come out of our mouths; and by staying faithful to be there to encourage one another (daily) toward love and good works, to build each other up in the faith.

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Let us then, make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, is joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does it's work."

---References from Genesis 11:1-9; Ephesians 4:15-16, 29; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25; Philippians 2:3-4; Romans 14:19; Revelation 19:8

WHICH WAY?
Deanna V Trujillo

Set yourselves apart from the ways of this world for God's use, because tomorrow He is planning to do amazing things, and you should not miss out!

For the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy! It's not about eating or drinking in all of the knowledge of evil. It's about walking in the Spirit, and enjoying eating the fruit from the tree of Life. When you do this, you please God! And it breaks chains of bo***ge off along the way. It's not about empty bragging or impressing others, it's real POWER that can transform the world around you! His compassion burns up evil as it moves through your faith! It's the launching forth and the successful implementing of His amazing Love.

Which way do you prefer to walk?

--Joshua 3:5;1Corinthians 4:20-21; Romans 14:17-20

COLLUSION OR CONFUSION
Deanna V Trujillo

"The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth! God, the Father is looking for such people that will worship Him this way."

Don't underestimate the repercussions of when the enemy is working hard to bring confusion! Once you jump to conclusions and begin to buy into lies, you will begin to sow more seeds of the same. Anger even when feeling justified, can cause a people to do things they regret later. Deception gives birth to confusion. We always reap what we sow...

Keeping your Faith planted in God is not just a religion, it is a congruent conviction, it's intrinsic in the truth of your being, which leads to having character that makes all of your words and actions reflect an amazing and
faithful God! The anointing of God is powerfully perpetuated through this kind of Faith.

People are doing all sorts of crazy things now days, because of how they view all of the changes in the world. We aren't supposed to live by the reports of world news, we are to live by the wisdom of God.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We are to destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God (He has the last word), and take every thought captive to obey Christ"

It's easy to get caught up in the fast moving current and let fear creep in, and without the anchor that God has freely provided us we could drown in it all. But God! He sees the bigger picture, and no matter what odds seem to be stacking against us, we need to keep our eyes on Him!

"I will sing of Your strength; I will sing aloud of Your steadfast love in the morning. For You have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress."

A lot of people are choosing to live and act out on their feelings and not according to what the Word of God says. Genuine Faith is when the Truth that flows in and through you. When you are actively seeking the Lord, obeying His commands with your entire heart, and you worship Him, He turns things that were "not" into things that are. And He turns things around on the enemy-- and the enemy ends up confused! Read this story:

"When Jehoshaphat of Judah, faced a coalition of enemies from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come to attack him. Jehoshaphat, along with his people, entered into a collusion with the Lord:

They prayed and fasted, seeking God's help. After hearing God's instructions, he obeyed Him. He appointed a choir to lead a procession, singing praises to God as they marched towards the battle.

'Praise the Lord! We will praise God whether we are in His sanctuary or in His mighty heavens! We will forever praise Him for His mighty deeds! In every situation we will praise Him according to His excellent greatness! When things look bad we will praise Him with a trumpet sound! When the enemy is near we will praise the Lord with a lute and a harp! When we are threatened we will praise Him with a tambourine and a dance! When we are standing or sitting we will praise Him with strings and pipes! It doesn't matter if we sound perfect to others, we will praise Him with cymbals tuned; and we will also praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!'

As soon as the people began to sing and give praise, the Lord intervened! He caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to get confused and turn on each other and fight among themselves! The armies of Moab and Ammon had turned against their allies killing every one of their friends in Seir. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they also began attacking each other! So when the army of Judah finally arrived, they found the entire enemy's camp filled with the dead and there were no survivors!

Jehoshaphat and his men then gathered up the plunder, which was abundant, spending three days collecting it. And they returned to Jerusalem, still praising the Lord for their victory!"

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

--Inspired by: John 4:23; Psalm 59:16; 150:1-6; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Matthew 14:22-33; 2 Chronicles 20; Zephaniah 3:17

DEAD LETTERS
Deanna V Trujillo

Not too long ago we sent an envelope to someone via 'snail-mail' and living up to that name, it took a while longer than usual to get to her --but it finally arrived in her mailbox. It was actually very mysterious how it was even delivered at all to her address (she thought), once she pulled it out and examined it! It was so very apparent that it had been dropped and soaked in a lot of water somewhere in route to her, and by the time it was delivered it was completely illegible (see photo below). The check inside was completely ruined. We both wondered how the postman even knew where to deliver it in the first place; and needless to say--- but I'll say it anyway-- we had to deliver it a different way the second time we mailed it, just to make certain that she received it!

This mishap got me thinking about "dead letters" and what the postal service usually does or doesn't do with them. I wonder how many of those letters have checks or other valuable information in them and they never get delivered to the proper recipients. A lot of letters never get to pe*****te the lives that they were sent to! Imagine all of the relationships that are impacted negatively... The long awaited love letters that never make it because of some human error or because of a change in the weather---all of the marriages that never take place because the proposal was never recieved (another one bites the dust)!

I looked up the meaning of "dead letters" and after reading this I heard God saying this:

"A letter is only "dead" if the address is incorrect, unclaimable, or undeliverable; or if it no longer matters to the recipient (ie: junk). But, I've got your address! I know where you are! But you must read My Word with an attitude that declares that, "God wants to speak directly to me today". You must be open to recieve the message that He has for you!

So of course if you try to read the Bible with an unreceptive heart you will never retain what He has meant for you to know. If you are unwilling to claim the words within it for your own life; or if you "water it down" then the letter is most likely going to become a "dead letter" to you.

But, if you recieve My Word and treasure it in your heart it will be LIFE to you forevermore, and you will be My Bride! In My letter I reveal the secrets of My heart for you. The more you read it, the more you will understand My love for you, and the more you will desire to read more and more of it! If you read it, you will know how to prepare for our wedding. Your lamp will stay full of My oil. You will be standing in the light of My Glory, and ready when I come for you. I AM coming for you!! You will not miss our banquet together either, because you will recognize Me from My love letter!!"

--Inspired by: Matthew 25:1-13; Luke 14:15-24; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Psalm 119:105; Colossians 1:26-27; Song of Solomon 5:10; John 14:3