MSG of Hope

Today we are talking about taking our mask off.
I'm not referring to the mask we began wearing in 2020.
The mask I'm speaking of is the mask we have hid behind for years, the mask of pridefulness.
This mask is how we portray ourselves to others as the person we want them to "think" we are, not the person we truly are.

Scripture References

1 John 1:8
John 8:31-32
2 Chronicles 7:14
Romans 3:10
James 5:16
1 Corinthians 13
Ephesians 6
John 3:16-21
Matthew 16
Revelation 21

Our podcast is also available on most podcast player apps.

Today we are studying Genesis Chapter 6 and discussing what brought Yehovah (God) to the point of destroying everything and everyone on earth except for one family and two of each kind of animals.

Scripture References
Genesis 6:1-22
Romans 8:13-16
Philippians 2:12-15
1 John 3:1-2
Genesis 4:25-26
Jude 1:11-19
1 Peter 3:1-7
James 1:12-16
Galatians 6:1-10
Psalms 37:4-6
Jonah 2:1-10

Our podcast is also available on most podcast player apps.

I am on a journey to find out for myself what GODS word says. Actually read it for myself, to study, and do my best to understand and to live according to what Yehovah instructs me through it. If others want to study along with me, thats great!

I share what I believe to be truths with you from studying I have previously done however, be aware as I continue to study throughout my life, it's possible my understanding of any scripture may change over time because GOD's word is living and powerful. That is why it's as relevant today as it was a thousand years ago and reveals more and more to us as we continue to study it.
We should always be learning, growing, and repositioning ourselves in order to better align our lives and our thinking with that of our Father.

I have no desire to teach you a "religion". How we each choose to respond to what we study is up to us individually.

My goal is to get myself ready for the reality that we all must face one day and that is death and ultimately answering Yehovah for how we lived our life.

The beautiful thing, but also a big responsibility that he gifted to us, is the power to choose. It's our very own. It's called free will. The free will to chose to trust, love and hang out with and learn from him, or to simply disregard and ignore him.

I hope you join me on this journey!

If you haven't listened to Genesis 1 (Episode 46), Genesis 2 (Episode 47), Genesis 3 (Episode 48), or Genesis 4 (Episode 49) I suggest you listen to those first then continue to this episode. I believe we need to start at the beginning and follow the Bible through to its completion to truly understand what is being said in context. We also must keep an open mind because when we do, we are going to learn many, many things we didn't know before. 

In this episode we are reading Genesis, Chapter 5.

Scripture References
Genesis 5:1-32
Ephesians 2:8
Genesis 1:26
Ephesians 2:10
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Genesis 2:17
Deuteronomy 8:11-20
1 John 2:3-6
Luke 10:27
Exodus 32

I am on a journey to find out for myself what GODS word says. Actually read it for myself, to study, and do my best to understand and to live according to what Yehovah instructs me through it. If others want to study along with me, thats great!

I share what I believe to be truths with you from studying I have previously done however, be aware as I continue to study throughout my life, it's possible my understanding of any scripture may change over time because GOD's word is living and powerful. That is why it's as relevant today as it was a thousand years ago and reveals more and more to us as we continue to study it.
We should always be learning, growing, and repositioning ourselves in order to better align our lives and our thinking with that of our Father.

I have no desire to teach you a "religion". How we each choose to respond to what we study is up to us individually.

My goal is to get myself ready for the reality that we all must face one day and that is death and ultimately answering Yehovah for how we lived our life.

The beautiful thing, but also a big responsibility that he gifted to us, is the power to choose. It's our very own. It's called free will. The free will to chose to trust, love and hang out with and learn from him, or to simply disregard and ignore him.

I hope you join me on this journey!

If you haven't listened to Genesis 1 (Episode 46), Genesis 2 (Episode 47), or Genesis 3 (Episode 48) I suggest you listen to those first then continue to this episode. I believe we need to start at the beginning and follow the Bible through to its completion to truly understand what is being said in context. We also must keep an open mind because when we do, we are going to learn many, many things we didn't know before. 

In this episode we are reading Genesis, Chapter 4.

Scripture References
Genesis 4
Hebrews 11:4
John 10:10
John 10:7-9
1 John 3:11-12
Romans 12:17-21
Romans 8:19
Isaiah 55:8-9
1 Corinthians 7

I am on a journey to find out for myself what GODS word says. Actually read it for myself, to study, and do my best to understand and to live according to what Yehovah instructs me through it. If others want to study along with me, thats great!

I share what I believe to be truths with you from studying I have previously done however, be aware as I continue to study throughout my life, it's possible my understanding of any scripture may change over time because GOD's word is living and powerful. That is why it's as relevant today as it was a thousand years ago and reveals more and more to us as we continue to study it.
We should always be learning, growing, and repositioning ourselves in order to better align our lives and our thinking with that of our Father.

I have no desire to teach you a "religion". How we each choose to respond to what we study is up to us individually.

My goal is to get myself ready for the reality that we all must face one day and that is death and ultimately answering Yehovah for how we lived our life.

The beautiful thing, but also a big responsibility that he gifted to us, is the power to choose. It's our very own. It's called free will. The free will to chose to trust, love and hang out with and learn from him, or to simply disregard and ignore him.

I hope you join me on this journey!

If you haven't listened to Genesis 1 (Episode 46) or Genesis 2 (Episode 47), I suggest you listen to those first then continue to this episode. I believe we need to start at the beginning and follow the Bible through to its completion to truly understand what is being said in context. We also must keep an open mind because when we do, we are going to learn many, many things we didn't know before. 

Scripture References

• Genesis 3:1-24
• Deuteronomy 4:2
• Genesis 4:1
• Genesis 4:17
• Genesis 4:25
• Romans 10:17
• 2 Corinthians 5:7
• Hebrews 8:12
• 1 Corinthians 10:11-13

I am not a scholar, not a teacher, just someone who is studying The Holy Bible to know and better understand what it says because I realized I was believing a lot of  things just because it was a tradition I had been taught, and honestly I had no idea "WHY"?!

I share what I believe to be truths with you from studying I have previously done however, be aware as I continue to study throughout my life, it's possible my understanding of any scripture may change over time because GOD's word is living and powerful. That is why it's as relevant today as it was a thousand years ago and reveals more and more to us as we continue to study it.
We should always be learning, growing, and repositioning ourselves in order to better align our lives and our thinking with that of our Father.

I have no desire to teach you a "religion". How we each choose to respond to what we study is up to us individually.

My goal is to get myself ready for the reality that we all must face one day and that is death and ultimately answering Yehovah for how I lived my life.

I hope you join me on this journey!

If you haven't listened to Genesis 1 (Episode 46) I suggest you listen to that first then continue to this episode.

References
    King James Bible (Genesis 2)

• Mark. 2:27
• Exodus 20:8-11
• Deuteronomy 5:12-15

I am not a scholar, not a teacher, just someone who is studying The Holy Bible to know and better understand what it says because I realized I was believing a lot of  things just because it was a tradition I had been taught, and honestly I had no idea "WHY"!

I share what I believe to be truths with you from studying I have previously done however, be aware as I continue to study throughout my life, it's possible my understanding of any scripture may change over time because GOD's word is living and powerful. That is why it's as relevant today as it was a thousand years ago and reveals more and more to us as we continue to study it.
We should always be learning, growing, and repositioning ourselves in order to better align our lives and our thinking with that of our Father.

I have no desire to teach you a "religion". How we each choose to respond to what we study is up to us individually.

My goal is to get myself ready for the reality that we all must face one day and that is death and ultimately answering Yehovah for how I lived my life.

I hope you join me on this journey!

References
     King James Bible (Genesis 1-2:3)

• Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23, 24-27
• Exodus. 20:8-11
• Matthew 5:17-20
• Exodus 31:14-16
• Isaiah 56:2-7
• Leviticus 23
• https://www.nehemiaswall.com/torah-pearls-prophet-pearls
• Time Is The Ally of Deceit Book by Richard Rives

I share some of my thoughts I had while reading some Bible scriptures and how they helped me to re-focus on what was most important to me.

I am used to getting what I want when I want it.

I have lived life assuming everything I need or want will be available to me on a whim. That, every day I'm given life will be the same as the day before it.

However, we all NOW know how quickly and unexpectedly our complete world can change. 

For goodness sake the thing I thought the least about in my wants and needs prior to this time, was toilet paper!, but now it too, has become a precious and rarely found commodity!

Another is time with family and friends. This is something I kept meaning to do more of, but spent way to much time pursuing other things, thinking I would visit soon, after I got all the other things I wanted or needed to get done, then I would take time to visit. 

It's interesting to me that right now, as we can't get with others because of quarantine that we suddenly feel such a desire to.

Could it be that we only focus on the things we can't have like spoiled brats? 

Listen along as I explain some things weighing on my heart.

Surely others must ask themselves this question and like me, desperately seek to have some assurance on the most important part of life which is our death, because life is short but eternity is forever!

I was raised attending and being actively involved in church my whole life. I feel I have tried to be a good person each day of my life by treating others the way I would want to be treated, by helping others when I have the resources available, attending church, and just generally trying to be a good person.

But I am currently struggling with the thought of whether I will go to heaven or not? I think I will, but I'm not sure and I wonder how some people are so adamant about knowing they are going to heaven while I still feel unsure? 

It could be because I'm getting older and know that naturally my time on earth is growing shorter or that I don’t want the life given to me to be one where I just existed. I want to know that I accomplished something that made this world a better place for my family, my friends, or those who will live after me. I so desire to know that my GOD (Yehovah) is proud of me for who I was and what I did for him with this precious life he has gifted me with.

I am seeking reassurance to give myself peace of mind and/or to find out what I possibly need to change in my life to be assured that I will live eternally with my GOD. If you have had the same questions I invite you to join along with me as I search for the answer to the most important questions anyone could ever ask themselves in my opinion. So, let's dive in.

Because I love to eat (and you can tell that if you looked at me) I want to talk to you about food. So if you will allow me, I will start at the beginning.

I'm not sure exactly how I came to think like I do now about food and food insecurities. In my adult life and spending a few years as a single mother of three we definitely had times that there was little food to choose from and no money to obtain any.

I thank GOD for other people who had somehow understood that we might need items and at times shared things with us saying they had more than they could use, because their generosity sustained us.

But, even while having a good understanding of what its like to be without food, I still somehow just relied on getting food at the store when we had the money to do so. Somehow I never thought to put some things away for those times when money was low or there was none at all. 

Let's talk about that today.

Today I want to talk about grace.

I found some vitally important scriptures (in my opinion) that we should all take time to think about and use them to apply in our lives so that when we stand before our GOD (Yehovah is his actual name) to answer for how we lived our lives, we won't be condemned to the eternal fires of hell.

So let's do this.

Do you hold any grudge against yourself or someone else?

Merriam Webster Definition:
Grudge: to give, do, or allow (something) in a reluctant or unwilling way: to dislike or feel angry toward (someone) for something.

I tend to internalize and beat myself up for things I've done that are wrong or mistakes I have made, or in areas where I failed at something. I was trying really hard to do well, but sometimes I carry the guilt, shame, and disappointment around with me like a school girl with a loaded down backpack. 

Have you ever done this? Listen in...

Today I want to talk about something that has happened to me many times and maybe it has to you as well.

Have you ever eagerly set out to meet a friend and you genuinely want to find out what's going on with them since you saw them last because you have missed their company, but you also have a desire to have that rendered back to you and them show a genuine interest in you and what you have been up to and get their input or advice in your life because you respect their opinion?

However, when you leave them, instead, you feel empty and disappointed because all they did was talk about themselves and not ask you anything about you or what you had been up to?

Today I want to talk about how important it is to choose the right friends. The people we choose to hang out with.

In times past I have spent way too much time caring what other people thought of me and have been guilty of choosing friends by the way they made me feel or because I thought they were cool or they were popular and I had a lot of friends.

I sought attention and self-worth from what others thought of me so much so, that at times I did or said things I wouldn't normally do or say because that's how the people I was trying to impress talked or acted.

Have you ever done that? 

I woke up very early this Saturday morning. I felt as though I needed to spend time alone with GOD, like he wanted to tell me something or for me to do something. It started yesterday morning actually. 

I had prayed that GOD would use me that day to do something meaningful for him. I started the day strong working on a variety of things I had on my to do list for this podcast outreach. But last night as I was about to fall asleep I realized I had gotten majorly distracted and felt disappointed and that I had not accomplished very much of what I had intended to do, that as the day progressed I had completely forgotten to seek GOD and wait for his response. 

You know, we can spend our entire lifetime repeating the pattern of good intentions and plans being diverted due to our distractions and getting sidetracked by things that don't make any difference. I have done this over and over in my life.

Let's talk about this more.

Have you ever done things for the church or for other people to impress them, so they would see you as a “good person”?

I want to talk about something critically important to everyone on the face of the earth (in my opinion) and I will explain as I share.

Today I want to share a story from my childhood that I remembered today.

It is about a time when I chose to let jealousy consume me and in turn it caused me to respond in negative ways as I allowed my emotions to rationalize and dictate to me that she deserved being beat up. 

It's a story I am not proud of, but one that needs to be told.

Do you ever feel like you are a fly on the wall? Like your observing what's going on in a room but you don't really belong there?

So many times I feel like I don't understand anything or any body in this world today. I feel like I am an alien here on this earth, that I don't really fit in, and at times can feel utterly alone in a room full of people even while engaging in activities and laughter. 

Let's consider some scriptures to help us to possibly understand why we may feel that way.

As you listen, I ask you to keep an open mind and take time to truly consider the celebration of the holiday named Christmas.

Let me explain by starting with my story...