The Elect...

Now as many of you that really know me, know I'm not into politics. I have my opinions, like everyone else, but I choose not to express them. I do not vote. You will never hear me complain about the government or really get into a political disscussion because I don't vote, I think its hypocritical to do so. With that being said, and understanding that this blog is not about politics, I want to focus my attention on the Lord Jesus.

The election has stired my mind up. I thought to myself what does election really mean? It means chosen or calling. I also know that the Bible says that God calls us his elect. Which means; chosen, chosen one, favorite. We are the Elect of God! Chosen to go out into the world and fight for the Kingdom! We are the ones that have been elected to go to Heaven. Not by popular vote, there is no electorial college in the Kingdom of God. Its not because we are strong, not because we are many, but we are the fewest. He chose us because He loves us, and made a promise that he must keep. (Deu 7:6-8)

In the election this year, the winner has not yet been decided, people will say this one is ahead, and while others say the other is ahead. But in the election that we have been called to, the winner has already been decided! Several canidates have famous people that back them through the primaries in order to get other people to vote for em. A good example is Chuck Norris, who backed Huckabee back in the primaries. Let me tell you this, the elect of God, Have his backing. And when God votes for you, you win! If God be for us, Who can be against us? What or Whom shall I fear with God holding me, Standing by me, fighting for me?

We do have battles to fight just like the canidates now have. They go to different states and try to win voters to their cause. We too, go through different states and have to win in them. Forget about Red states and Blue states, We go through Good states where the blessings of God is self evident and we go through states where we are like Job, saying I look to the right, and see the work of God, but I didn't find him, I look to the left and the same is true. We go through states of growth, states of plenty, states of hard times. We do have an enemy in everyone of those states, but again we don't have to be the most popular to win, we just have to endure. States are sometimes easy, sometimes hard, but we have to be content, and endure, no matter what state it is. (Phi 4:11).

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
~1st Peter 2:9-10

So whether you vote or not, whether democrate or republican, I pray God blesses you. I know no matter who wins, The will of God will be done, the Elect will make it. Because for the elects sake he is going to shorten the days. So I have only one thing left to say: Come quickly Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:20)

God Bless y'all! I love y'all!

~Jerald

Long Time No See...

Hey Everyone!

Its been awhile.....again. Its funny how in life we get so busy with what we see as important in our life, we forget the little extras that dot this life and makes it more complete. But now is as good a time as any to give some updates in my life. First and foremost God is doing great things in me and through me. Allowing me to minister, not only behind the pulpit but also in the lives of others. I pray that I can submit myself more to him than ever before, I want to see some things change for the better and I know God will take us there. Second is I'm moving closer to church, and I'm getting my own place. Its pretty exciting and scary at the same time. Its like we wait all our lives to get to this place, you hear young children saying "When I grow up I want to be..." and here I am at that point. It actually makes me think about how we wait our whole lives to see Heaven. After much fasting, praying, studying, holding fast, through pain, through joy, through trials and tribulation we will finally be there. What will it be like? I'm excited about living for God all over again when I think about it. I mean, yeah, I'm getting my own place, but the Bible says that Jesus went to prepare a place for us, that where He is, there we may be also! Isn't that exciting? A mansion just for you, built to specs, no light bills to pay, for there will be an everlasting light, no water bill to pay because we drink of the living water of the River of Life. I long for that place where there is no more pain or tears. I want to be in that place where there is no more mystery. I won't ever have to ask the question "Why" again, because I will know. Its my hearts desire to see Him and hear Him say "Well Done". When I think of Heaven I'm encourage, that no matter what comes my way, Its worth going through to get there.

I love y'all. Pray for me if you need something extra to pray about. But if you can only find time for one thing to pray about, pray for Kayla's family and Jared, they are in much need of prayer.

Love y'all,

Jerald

Egads! Twice in one Week!

Yes I know you can hardly believe your eyes, and I know its too good to be true, but this is the second blog I've wrote this week! I just got back from Jackson, TN from our general conference which was totally awesome! The Spirit of the Lord was in the place in a big way. We heard some very anointed preaching, speaking directly to our hearts. We try to place words on things like this, and there is no way to describe it. Awesome isn't even the right word but its all I have at this moment. The only way I can tell you how it feels is to tell you to come and experience for yourself! I love the Lord with all my heart, even more now than I did yesterday. There is a ton going on in my life and some direction is forming. I heard a message yesterday that Brother Craig Marshall preached and it was fantastic! One of his points was that we need to have childlike faith, and childlike obedience to the Lord, however we need to be adults in the Spirit. 1st Corinthians 13 says that when He was a child, he spake as a child, he understood as a child, but when He became a man he put away childish things. Spiritually we need to do that, and naturally. I have prayed before for God to help me grow up in him, and help me to put away childish arguments and bigotry. He has helped me, but I don't need to stop praying that, because we all learn no matter how old we get. No matter how much we do for God we can always do more. No matter how mature in the spirit we are, there is always something we can work on. We are not perfect, yet we are to try to attain it as best we can. We are to be Holy for the Lord our God is Holy. Holiness is not the dress that we were. Standards and Holiness should never be the synonyms. But inward Holiness, will reflect on the outside. We should still try the spirit and see if it be of God. I thank the Lord for the fellowship and for all the wonderful messages that I heard. Thats all for now, Y'all have a blessed day. I love y'all! God Bless!

Jerald

A very much needed update.

Hello Friends,

I thought that I would get on here and update whats going on in my life, since people are demanding it. You know how it works, when demand goes up, supply follows. Perhaps someday, when the demand is high enough, I can charge money for you to see my updates lol. But until that time comes, Here ya go, courtesy of my free time.

First of all, I know this is a shocker, I'm not going back to college this semester. I did get into the nursing program, but I don't feel like its the will of God for me to go back to Conway, its something I've battled with all summer, but of course you didn't know that because I didn't update my blog at all like I said I would. I feel like i need this time in my life to build upon the ministry the Lord has given me. He's done so much for me and to me, and I feel like I haven't done near enough for him. So instead of going back to college, I'm going to spend my time in prayer coupled with fasting, and studing of the Word of God. I am really excited about what God is going to do in my life. The next big thing that happened in my life, is well, nothing. We are getting ready for this awesome revival coming in August, the 10th through the 17th I hope you will try to make it if you can. I've been working 40 hours a week at the same grociery store I've been working for the past 6 years. They've moved me to the deli, so its different than what i normally do. But other than that i'm the same guy I left you with. I still love God, I still hold on to his promises, and I'm still going to make it! I love you guys and I will try to update it in a couple of days or if i have alot more free time at this conference i'm at right now. God Bless y'all

Jerald

God Has his way in the the Storm

Hello Friends!

Man, I know I said I would get better at updating this blog, and I'm sorry that I fell through on that promise thus far, but I am going to get better, I don't have but one week left here at college and I foresee alot of nights up ahead where I won't have a whole lot to do. One thing that will help me, if you want to help me of course, is to see some comments on here. If nothing more than "Hey, I saw you wrote something, I didn't really read it, but I saw it" it would suffice I just want to know people have made it here.

There is no panic that goes through a person's heart, like the panic that a preacher feels 4 hours before a service and they still don't know what they are going to say. This is the worst feeling as far as preaching goes I have felt to date. This past Wed. I had to preach and although I've had plenty of good thoughts before Wed. all of them fell through. Nothing seemed to fit what the Lord had in mind. For some reason I just couldn't get it together, though I prayed, and though I fasted. I ended up trying to rush God, and of course, God is going to do what he wants when he wants it. So about 3 I decided that I needed to take a shower because I hadn't taken one yet because I was focusing so hard on trying to get a message. We all say to trust in God, he will deliver you in his time, but its funny how something so easy to say is so hard to do. So when I got in the shower, I started to cry because of my frustration and told God that I can't do this, He was going to have to do this because I literally can't. Its always a problem when we try to do things ourselves and not let God show us the way that we need to go. It wasn't long after He put a thought in my heart, something that I had not thought of, nor have heard before. From the book of Nahum 1:3.

"The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet."

God has his way in the storm; He has power in the storm. He can do what he wants. When you have your way, its done according to your will. I remember the storms in my life, and how I wonder sometimes if I will make it through. We all say I can do all things through Christ, but we seldom act on it, we seldom let it not bother us. Sometimes those storms in our lives are from God to cause us to grow or to help us get on the right path, because we don't have our way in the storm, God does. A good example of this is Jonah, we have all heard this story from the time we were old enough to hear Sunday school stories. But the reason Jonah was in a storm is because he was running from the will of God. So God had to put Jonah in a situation where he had no control, nor could run away anymore. Jonah had to submit himself to God, but not only him, but the people on the ship with him also. They had to submit to throwing Jonah into the sea, which they weren't going to do at first. But when everyone submitted to God, and they threw Jonah into the sea, God calm the storm. Storms don't always mean that you are disobedient, sometimes the storm comes because you are obedient. It rains on the just and the unjust alike. Think of the disciples, there are two stories in the Gospels that talk of them on a stormy sea being in the will of God. But God has his way in the storm. Remember, in one story they were going across the sea with Jesus in the boat but he was asleep. A storm arose, and the boat started to fill with water, When the disciples saw this they woke Jesus up, and as we all know, He calmed the storm. He rebuked them later because of their faith, or the lack of it. It was not that they woke Jesus to calm the storm, it was the way they asked him. They asked Jesus if he cared that they perished, instead of coming to him and telling him "Lord, I know that you can take care of this and I trust that you will." Jesus cares more for us than we can ever know in this carnal flesh. Remember while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I don't know about you but I wasn't a nice sinner, I was atheist remember. He died for me, when I didn't believe in him, He called me, when I denied him in ignorance. If we trust in him, and ask him, He will calm the storm. Again, another place in the scripture, Paul was on his way to Rome remember? Acts chapter 27 and 28 are good places to read for this. The storm came up, so strong it has a name.
(Euroclydon, Acts 27:14) This time, the ship He sailed on was destroyed, but does that mean he was out of the Will of God? Of course not, remember Paul was called to go to Rome, but there were some Barbaric peoples that needed to hear of God. There are many things that could be said here, like how we need to stay in the ship when we are in the storm, though it may be destroyed on the rocks, God still saved them. He has his way in the storm. I'm just going to talk about one more place in the scripture.

Psalms 107:23-31

"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"

This is one of my new favorite verses. It explains so much of how I feel in the storms of my life, in the trials. I feel like that, I feel like I don't know which way is which, I'm just staggering around hoping I don't fall out of where I'm suppose to be. Notice that God brought about this storm. Remember the trying of our faith worketh patience. Lots of the time, I feel like I'm at my wits' end, I just can't take it anymore, my ship is filling up, I need you Jesus! But He rises up, He calms the storm in my life, He has his way in the storm, He has control! He will bring us to the place that we need to go, For Jonah he brought him to Nineveh , for the disciples across the sea, for Paul to Rome, and He will leads us to heaven for you and me. I trust him even in the storm, Even though, I'm afraid and don't' know what to do next. But I will always remember, that my God, the one that died for me, the one that set me free, is in control of the storm.

Sorry for being so long, and for leaving out alot of details, I noticed it was getting long so I left some stuff out, But I hope I gave you enough to get the point.

I love y'all, God Bless

Jerald

Hello Again!

Hey I'm getting better about this blogging stuff. Perhaps one day my life will be interesting enough to have something to say everyday, and I'll have the time to say it. I pray everyone's Easter was awesome! Easter is such a special time, its not about the bunny, Its about the ressurection, the defeat of death. I enjoyed celebrating it very much, Here at Conway the children's church put on a drama that was awesome, We had someone get the Holy Ghost, which is totally awesome! I went home to Smackover Sunday afternoon and fellowshiped with everyone with my home church. Dad volenteered me to help him and pastor move a metal building, and Pastor volenteered me to preach last night, so in essence the last two days have been really busy. But they were great, Monday was alot of work, but it was fun, and of course, I'm always happy to used by the Lord. But anyways, thats all I really have to say now, I have to be getting ready to go to church again. I drove over 2 hours and work over 4 hours today, so I'm a little tired, but not too bad. Any way I will try to post something more interesting later. I love y'all. God Bless!

Jerald

Yesterday, Today, Tommorrow, God stays the same

There are no words to describe how I feel right now. I keep smiling, because I have a reason to smile, I'm alive, and God is still on the throne. I keep laughing because I have a reason to laugh, the Joy of the Lord is my strength. I keep crying, because I have a reason to cry. But I'm not alone, no matter how I feel. Jesus is with me, to hold me, to keep me, to guide me, to shield me, He truly is everything I need. Life is changing everything around me. I see it, I know it, I feel it, but I am having to learn to embrace it. I see myself, how busy I am, how I can hear the hurt in my father's words when I tell I can't come home right now, and he says ok, he understands. It kills me, when I know exactly how he feels and there is nothing either of us can do about it. Its not the real world that is hard. Everyone talks about the cold hard world, and having to pay bills, and being grown up. Its not being grown up thats hard, its growing up, the transition phase that is the toughest. I'm just having to hang on to Jesus, with all my might, all my soul, all my strength, with all my heart. God does not change no matter how much time passes, he stays the same. Time is a funny thing, seems change is always connected with time. They say, that time can heal all things, especially broken hearts. Its funny how God uses time for healing. But time can be destructive too. If you stay in a state for an amount of time too long, you can be turned over to reprobate. God I don't want to be a victim of Time. Decisions, I have had to make some of the hardest choices of my life in the last couple of days. To live for God is an easy choice, you see clearly the benifits, you see clearly the costs, you see clearly the outcomes if you do or don't. But to make a choice, without clearly seeing the benifits, without clearly seeing the costs, without clearly seeing the outcomes if you do or don't do the action takes faith. It can be painful, it can knock you down to your knees, but granted, thats where we all probally need to be. Faith because you can't see, and faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is not seen yet, but it will be seen. I have faith, that the end will be better than the begining, I have faith that those things that I have hoped for will not be lost, but will be given unto me. Because faith is the substance of those things. Though life has its share of pain, its share of failure, its share of embarrassment. It is still worth living! What would this world do without people who love God, trying their best to fulfill the calling that God has placed on every believers life to spread the gospel?! I found out today that a person that I work with is backslid, and has been for years and has recently moved here from Iowa. Perhaps I'm the instrument to show her that you can't run from God, He is everywhere looking for us. Whether we feel like we deserve to know him or not, and believe me, I don't know why God called me, I don't know why he cares for me, but I'm thankful he does. David said it like this in the 139th psalm. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is High, I cannot attain unto it. What will happen to this lady, if I don't tell her that God still loves her?! Yes Life has its problems and pain, but It has more abundant Joy! It has Peace that surpases all understanding! This life has those moments that puts chills up and down you and make you feel like life is so wonderful and it truly is. Yes, storms do come, but without rain, where would the flower be? I wouldn't be here. Jesus I know you don't change! I know you are with me, no matter where I am at. You are the rock, that does not erode, that does not wither away, that remains the same. Upon this rock I place my life, its all in your hands God. Give me life, and life more abundantly, both in this life, and the one to come. Take me and mould me and shape me into the vessle you want. I am yours God, I love you and there is not other way to describe it.

I'm sorry for the randomness, and the length, I'm just writing what comes to my heart. I love y'all! God Bless

Jerald

Please Pray!

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to leave a short blog on here, I'm about to have to get ready to head to the church tonight. I'm preaching, and I'm asking that everyone pray that I may follow the will of God, not speaking eloquent words, but speaking power by the anointing and power of the Holy Ghost. I've tried to sit down and write a couple of more blogs this week, but I just couldn't get it done (imagine that), but I'll post and let you know how it goes Lord willing. I love y'all, pray for me and for the service tonight that we stay out of the way of God and allow him to reach someone tonight. God Bless!

Jerald

Its been awhile...

I really can't believe that its been that long since I've posted on here. I normally don't have the time to get into posting alot. But not posting at all in like 4 months is really bad and even though my life hasn't got any less hectic, I'm finding myself with more and more time that I just end up wasting. So instead of wasting it, perhaps I can leave something encouraging on here for whomever may find it. Alot has seemed to change in my life in the last few months, but when you take a look back, nothing has changed at all. Its funny how when you only look at things from one perspective it looks totally different than if you look at from a higher point of view. Its like going down a semi familiar road and looking at it during different seasons of the year. Like your yard in a heavy snow, it seems new, and different but its still the same yard. I think that's why there is some fascination with snow, it makes things different. In life, I feel like that, but the changes aren't always as exciting, as freshly laid snow. In the trails of this life the Lord has allowed me to live, they look different, but one thing remains the same. Jesus is still on the throne! He still loves you and me! He still cares enough to reach down, and give us the strength to battle on! He still arms us with His word! He's Still by my side!!!! Pastor preached this morning about the battle occurs in the valley, but because the battle takes place there, victory is won there too! Thank God for valleys that we pass through, for the victories that He places in our laps! Its hard to see everything in your life seem to slip away, to see those you care about struggle and there is nothing you can really do about it. There is nothing you can say that will make the situation anybetter or ease the pain. But remember the Bible says the Spirit makes intercession. When we don't know what say, what to do, where to go, or even how to move. Its time that we give all thing to God like he called us to do. Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you! Its time to get to a place in prayer where the Spirit prays for you. As carnal flesh it is impossible to fight in the relm of spiritual warfare, but the Holy Ghost is our power, its our strength to fight on. To press on! Its time for all of us, I'm mostly talking to myself here, to let the Spirit have control, no matter what we are afraid of what might happen. God will never do anything to you that will hurt you in the long run, He does things in your life, to help you to get by his side for eternity. So todays loss, is nothing compared to the joy of tomorrow is listen and obey his voice. Lead me, Guide me God into the path of righteousness for your name's sake! I want to see people filled with your spirit! I want to be used by you Lord! Jesus, I love you! God Bless you all! If you have any doubts about someone loving you, remember that Jesus does. Test him and see, He will prove himself to you. Love y'all!

Jerald