The Walk with God

 A Turned Back     Welcome to another blog post! It is always a privilege and blessing to be able to encourage others and just post what God put on my heart. Today the blog post will be around a passage from the old testament. I am reading through Ezekiel right now and wanted to share some of the thoughts that I had on the passage and a call to action.      Ezekiel 8:16-18 " And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their[c] nose. 18 Therefore I will act in wrath. My e

  Psalm 23     I was going through an interesting time I will say. Sunday, August 9,2020, I was alone in my room sitting and suddenly fear took over me. I have no idea where it came from but I know it was not from God. I would say the fear was of the future and doubts about my salvation. I was scared and lost and did not know what to do at all. All I could do was to kneel down and pray. Cry out to God and ask for mercy. Going through a ton of different thoughts a minute, I had a thought to read and memorize Psalms 23. I have memorized it before, but I have forgotten it. So, I began to read it and pray at the same time so the verses would be a reality in my own life. The verses that spoke to me the most was the third and the fourth. In the third verse: He restores my soul. and in the fourth verse: I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff, they comfort me. These two phrases stood out to me and through that God gave me peace. Also, through persistent prayer and seeking

   Joy      In Philippians 4:4 states: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Jesus himself tells the 72 after returning to him joyfully that they cast out demons, in Luke 10:20 “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” I would argue that joy is lacking in many Christians and people in the world especially today.      Joy is a state of mind and an orientation of the heart. (This is something inwards not just outwards like happiness oftentimes.) It is a settled state of contentment, confidence, and hope. Joy isn't just a smile or a laugh. Joy is something that is deep within and doesn't leave quickly.  John Piper defined Christian joy as a “good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world.” We cannot obtain joy on our own with our own strength. This is something that the Holy Spirit pours out into our