What is up?! I know it has been a looooongggggggggggg time, but I have just been super busy with school (freshman!). I have some super exciting news about the band though…. If you don’t know, I am in a rock band called IndigoHalo. We are all Christians but we write mostly secular music. I am the lead guitar player in our band.
Anyways…. So, you probably figured out from the title of the post, that we are selling some merch! Yeah! We just had a gig and it was awesome! We weren’t able to sell all the merch though, so lucky to you guys, I am going to try to sell some of it on here.
IndigoHalo
So here’s what we got:
IndigoHalo is selling t-shirts for $15 + an extra $3 for shipping and handling a piece + the first person to buy two shirts gets one free special edition shirt for free! Just email me @ ezstar06@gmail.com if you are interested so that we can discuss pricing and shipping. Also let me know if you would like your t-shirt autographed. I believe we can even include a free signed IndigoHalo poster. We have sizes from YXL(Youth XL)-XL (I’ve heard the sizes run somewhat smaller, so you may want a larger one rather than smaller, but it’s up to you). Please help support our band. Thanks!
Big shout out to those of you who came to the concert! For those of you who weren’t able to make it, we should have a video of it that I can post pretty soon.
Now here’s the part where I say goodbye and might not post for a month or so… I don’t want to have to leave y’all hanging again, but the above statement will probably be somewhat true, because I am super busy, and honestly I don’t even have time for this post, but I just wanted be able to make some money off of the shirts, since they took a lot of time and money, and I also just love you guys and wanted to stop in and say “hi,” and also get the chance for you guys to buy some cool t-shirts. Wow! That was a long sentence; too much run-ons, I know…
During this time, there is much confusion and speculation about many different things. We can argue about polotics all day, and that’s okay; we don’t have to agree on everything. But what we all DO need to agree on is this: God will work everything out for the good of those who love him, so we just need to trust God and pray.
It is much more important that we stand TOGETHER and pray, than that we are just “right” about our political opinions. Because here’s the hard truth: There is not much we can physically do about the bad things happening in our world today. But here is the good news: We CAN pray. We can stand together and pray. And that is going to make a much bigger impact, than anything we can try to do about what’s going on.
I believe that right now, the spiritual warfare is greater than the physical. The devil is trying to bring God’s people down, but we won’t let him. What happens spiritually impacts us physically and emotionally, and that is why there are things in this world that are going so wrong. The devil is seeing how strong we are, and he hates it. And that is why our world is so corrupt. But guess what? We can fight that! We will not back down during this time. We will stand united together better than ever. We will stand together and pray.
So, because of everything that is going on, we’re not going to sit tight and watch the devil destroy our world, we are going to do something about it. That is why I am honored to announce that my mom, the one and only, is launching a brand new blog called “Eyes Open Prayer.”
Eyes Open Prayer is as simple, yet powerful as it sounds. We are going to recognize the lies in this world, and we are going to remember God’s truth about all of it. We are going to do exactly what I have been talking about. We are going to stand together and pray. And that is what Eyes Open Prayer is for.
If you love the sound of this and would like to get plugged in with Eyes Open Prayer, then please head to our blog (designed by yours truly), and use our resources to help join the fight.
It’s fully up and running, but we’re still working out the kinks, so we haven’t released any posts yet. But, we will do so as soon as we get our Facebook and Twitter started.
Excuses Reasons for my recent absence
As you all probably know, I have been working on a website for my parents business. Well, that kinda fell through. We changed out plans. So, you are not going to see the promised guest post from my dad about our business any time soon. But that is okay. Because, although we have not been able to get that website started, we have just launched Eyes Open Prayer, which I believe is a much more important thing.
I have been working very hard for the past month on Eyes Open Prayer, so that is one of the main reasons that you have not heard from me recently. I also did not want to spend extra time online when I don’t have to, because blogging can take up a lot of my time. However, I am more or less “back.” You should probably be seeing posts from me at least weekly again.
I also just wanted to thank you guys for being so committed. I sort of felt like I was just like “I hit 100 followers so I’m ditching y’all now; I’m retiring.” So, I’m sorry if it felt like that at all, seeing as my last post was “100+ Followers!!.” But, I know most of you guys are bloggers so you probably understand. And thank you for that. I kind of thought I would lose followers from being gone so long, but it was the opposite. I am at 108 followers, and I have a had traffic almost every day since I’ve been gone, which is super surprising. So, thank you guys so much! And welcome, new followers!
Thanks, once again for reading this post! Like I said earlier, please check out my mom’s blog, Eyes Open Prayer @ https://eyesopenprayer.com. If you liked this post and would like to see more, then please hit that follow button, or put your email adress in below to recieve posts delivered to your inbox. Thanks again!
We did it!!!!!!!! We finally hit 100 followers! We are currently at 103. Thank you guys so much!
You guys are so awesome! Thank you for being committed to my blog. Thanks for not just following, but reading my post, liking them, and my favorite part, leaving an awesome comment. 🙂 As I was just saying in my last post, you guys are better at that than me.
To some people, getting just 100 followers in over two years might not some like a lot, and you’re partially correct. I am not as much making this post to celebrate every click on that follow button, but I am celebrating the number of you who are reading this post. The number of you who are committed to my blog. There are about 25 of you guys who read my posts and show interest, and I thank you for that. Because, guess what? Some people have 1000 followers, and only about 100 of them really read their posts. Well, 1/4 is bigger than 1/10 (I don’t know if you guys are math experts, but that seems pretty simple fractions 😛 ).
So, thank you for taking time to read my posts and sometimes even put a nice comment. I know I’m kind of being hypocritical for saying this because I don’t usually read all y’all’s posts, but that’s one of the reasons that I am saying it. You guys are great friends. Even when I don’t read your posts, you read my posts anyways, and that makes me feel special.
Once again, thank you so much! And have a blessed day! 🙂 -Ezra
Heyo everyone! I’m here with a collab that I did with A n a! Please check out A n a’s blog, over at Anatopia. She’s a new blogger with a really cool blog. She wanted to do a collab to help get herself started, so she contacted me, and now here we are! So, without further ado, the questions!
A n a’s Questions (My Answers in Bold)
1. How long have you been blogging? For a little over two amazing years!
2. What is your favorite type of blog posts? It kind of varies. I mostly like to read posts about how to be a better blogger, or helpful tips. But I really just like to write posts about my life the most.
3. How many post drafts do you have on average? 0. I don’t like to start a post until I finish the one before. Sometimes I’ll work on the same post over the course of a week, but I never start a new one until the first one is finshed.
4. Why did you start blogging? Well, I originally started it because my school wanted me to start a blog, but now I’m just doing it because I love it. I had actually first started this blog as just a genealogy blog, but after a while it turned into an “Everything” blog.
5. Do you like tea or coffee better? Coffee, all the way!!
6. Currently, what is your main goal for your blog, what is the purpose? I really just want to build a big community of people, and maybe even be able to lead some people to Jesus through that (I’m succeeding).
7. What is your favorite color? Just red.
Alright! That’s it for my side, if you would like to see my questions and A n a’s answers, then check it out here. This was super fun! Thank you so much A n a for doing this with me! 🙂
This was a super short, fun post! Remember to keep your eyes peeled for the next few posts! The guest post by my dad might have to be bumped up to like June 15th, mostly because the process of developing the website for our business is a slow, yet efficient process. Also I am hoping to do a genealogy post in the next week, and maybe a WSC also.
I have a quick side not: I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I haven’t been able to read your posts very much, mostly because I have so many blogger friends now. So, if I do happen to read your post, then that means that I saw it in the WP reader and thought it looked awesome, so if that happens, then great job on the title! LOL But other than that, I don’t have much time to read everyone’s posts. If I actually went through and read all your posts, that would be way too much screen time for me. So, with that said, I love you guys, I just don’t have the time to read all of your posts. Thank you for understanding! 😀
Aiyght! If you really liked this post and would like to see more like it in the future, consider smashing that follow button, so you don’t miss out on any upcoming posts! Once again, thanks so much for reading! Later! -Ezra
This is your sis here, Kaelyn @ Kaelyn’s Life and Stuffed Stories( Stuffed Stories is my new side-blog 😉 ) and I am excited to be here for my monthly post. 😛
I am happy to bring to you today yet, another Bible Verse Dissection as I ,Dr. Kaelyn, digs into the truth that is God’ Word.
It has been awhile since I have done a Genealogy Gardener post with me as Gardener Kaelyn and so that is why I am asking you this. 🙂
Please fill out this form below with your name, email, website(optional), and in the message I would love to hear your post ideas!! Next month, should I do another dissect, a genealogy gardener, a poem, etc! I would love to hear your thoughts!! 😀
For today’s Bible Verse Dissect be sure to pull up your gloves and lay out your tools because this verse is well, different but powerful.
This verse is found in Jeremiah 20 and the context of this verse will be a lot easier to understand if you read that chapter first. 🙂 I will be using the English Standard Version (ESV) and the The New Living Translation ( NLT) today in this post. 🙂
Feel free to read Jeremiah 20 before you finish reading the rest of this post. 🙂
Jeremiah 20:9 English Standard Version (ESV)
9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
This verse was our last memory verse for Torch Team( the youth dicipleship/leadership class at my church) this semester. We will start it again in the fall but I will miss it this summer.
This verse I feel like also describes who we are as a Torch Team and I really liked how that this was our ending verse.
Let’s take a closer look at the context of this chapter. 🙂 *slaps out magnifying glass
Jeremiah is a prophet of God and he has been being persecuted by a man named Pashur. Pashur beat Jeremiah and left him in the stocks even because of what he was proudly prophesying.
Jeremiah is then talking to God and saying how everything he has said has been destruction but he will continue to praise God. In verse 9, we see that he says he can not hold in what God is telling him because it is like fire in his bones.
Like I said, when you read the chapter, it will make more sense. 😉
Let’s look at the NLT translation now. 🙂 Sometimes looking at different translations can help us better understand the meaning of a verse.
Jeremiah 20:9 New Living Translation (NLT)
9 But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!
Jeremiah says that if he does not speak about God’s name or who He is, the words are like a fire and it burns!!
The thing about fires is that they can be out of control and they can spread fast! Jeremiah says he is worn out and he can not stop the fire of God from spreading. He can not stop the fire of his own life because he knows what the truth and goodness of God is.
This verse should also apply to us. We want to be able to say that we can hold it in, and that we can’t help but be on fire for Jesus or share His goodness, mercy, beauty, and glorious salvation.
There is a fire in our bones and our heart, and we can’t hold it in.
Thanks again Ezra for letting me write on your blog!!
I would love to chat down in the comments with you all, if you would like.
Is there anything in this verse that stood out to you? Were you able to take anything away from this verse? Did you get to read Jeremiah 20? What Bible translation do you use? If you have any questions about the verse, the Bible, Jesus, and anything, me and I know Ezra, will be willing to help.
Talk to you all soon!! I will see you all next month in JUNE! 😛
Please don’t forget to fill out the form, or you can just put your answer down in the comments if that is easier and more comfortable for you. 😀
Hello again friends! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted, but I’ve just been taking a little break because I’ve been kind of busy. I have been editing this for about a week now, and it’s taking a while, but here we go! I got nominated for a few blog awards, so here we are! I’m super excited for these! 😀
Food Award
Thank you very much, Esther for nominating me for this award! Everyone please be sure to check out my friend Esther’s Blog, Esther’s Nook. I am so happy to get to do this award! I don’t think I’ve done it before.
If you had a choice between a doughnut and a piece of cake, which would you take? Doughnut! Hands down!
What is your favorite meat? Good question. I think I’d have to go with bacon.
Do you like pretzels? Yes!!
Have you eaten any really unusual food before? If not, what’s your favorite pizza topping? I’m sure I have. Though I’m not sure what most people would classify as “unusual.” Also I just can’t think of all the weird stuff I’ve eaten right off the top of my head. But my favorite pizza topping is pepperoni.
My Questions For My Nominees:
Sweet, dill, or no pickles?
Favorite vegetable?
Favorite type of ethnic food?
Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, or Chocolate Frogs (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go back and read Harry Potter, then answer this question)?
Alright, there you have it! That was super fun! Great job Elisha! It was short and simple, yet still really fun!
I have been nominated by none other than the awesome blogger and new friend of mine, Lrose5! Everyone be sure to check out her blog! Thank you so much Lrose5! I have done this award about 3-4 times I believe, and it’s always super fun! So, let’s get onto the rules!
Rules:
1. Display the blog award logo in your blog. 2. Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you. 3. Do not forget to link to their blogging website. 4. Answer all the questions they have given you. 5. Nominate 7 to 10 bloggers of your choice. 6. Ask them 7 questions.
Lrose5’s Questions (My Answers in Bold)
Chips or crackers? Depends on the type of chips/ crackers, but I would usually say chips.
What animal do you think is the cutest? Sea-lions are pretty cute!
What is the best book you’ve read this month? Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban.
Outside or inside? Depends. I do really like to go camping, though if I had to stay inside or outside for the rest of my life, I’d probably pick inside.
Who was the last person, besides a family member, that you saw, talked to, or hugged before you started isolating? Probably my aunt. We were on a vacation for Spring break when it happened so she was with us.
Favorite music genre? Christian rock. Preferably early 2000’s.
Favorite emoji? 🍕
Alright! Those were some great questions! Now onto the nominees!!
Well… I can’t think of many people that don’t have tons of people nominating them for stuff, and post regularly, and I haven’t already nominated them recently. So, If you are reading this, and I haven’t nominated you yet, then you can take this award or either of the other two and do one.
My Questions For My Nominees
What is your favorite type of soup?
What was the last movie series you watched?
What was the last book series you read?
Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
Coffee, or tea (there is a wrong answer)?
Drawing, or painting?
What, in your opinion, is the most useful tool?
That’s that! That was super fun! 😀 Now onto the 3rd and final award.
I am so honored to be nominated by Colton, for the original Outstanding Blogger Award, created by Colton @ Colton Becwith RPC! Thanks Colton! Let’s do it!
Rules:
Provide the link to the creator’s original award post. (very important: see why in step 5)
Answer the questions provided.
Create 7 unique questions.
Nominate 10 bloggers. Ensure that they are aware of their nomination. Neither the award’s creator, nor the blogger that nominated you, can be nominated.
At the end of 2020, every blog that ping-backs the creator’s original post will be entered to win the 2020 Outstanding Blogger Award!
Colton’s Questions (My Answers in Bold):
Would you rather go without meat or dairy? Sadly, I think I’d have to pick meat, though I absolutely love dairy.
What kind of music do you normally listen to? Christian rock; preferably early 2000’s.
Is there a specific word that sums up your blog? Christian.
What is a post on your blog that you want as many people as possible to see? I think I’d have to go with this.
On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the device you are writing this award post on? Maybe a 6. It’s a desktop, but It’s pretty old, so sometimes it’s kinda slow, but my grandparents gave it to me, so I’m certainly not complaining. It’s very helpful.
My Questions For My Nominees:
When was the last time you ate a sandwich (I’m running out of questions)?
How did you get that hole in your pants?
Have you been to an amusement park? If so, what’s your favorite ride?
What is your favorite mythical creature?
Do you have an interesting birth-mark?
Would you rather have a goat or a pig?
What’s your favorite drink?
My Nominees:
I have only one blogger that I am going to nominate for this, she is a new blogger, and I just met her, congratulations A n a! You have been nominated for The Outstanding Blogger Award!
If anyone else would like to participate in this award, then please feel free to steal this. But as I mentioned earlier, I know there are a lot of you who are getting nominated non-stop, so I don’t want you to feel pressured. Also those of you who would fit the “criteria” to be nominated, I have most likely already nominated recently. However, if I haven’t nominated you, then please please feel free to take any of these awards and post them on your blog! Have fun with it! 🙂
Alright! That’s it for all those awards! Well, that post probably took me longer than any other post ever. I’ve worked on it off and on, and it’s taken me like almost two weeks total (not two weeks straight LOL). I’m really bad at thinking of questions and nominees, so just that took me a few hours XD. But although this has taken a while, it has been super fun!
So, we have a few scheduled posts. Remember my dad is going to do a guest post in about a week, so that will be awesome. Also I have at least one collab that I am going to be doing, so stay tuned. If there is a certain kind of topic that you would like to see me post about, then shoot! If you have a question about something then I’ll probably wright an entire post about it. I’m honestly kind of running out of ideas for posts, but that’s okay because there are plenty of things that I could post about. I just want to know what you guys want, so let’s chat in the comments below. 🙂
As always, thank you so much for reading! If you haven’t already, then be sure to kindly “SMASH THAT FOLLOW BUTTON!” so you don’t miss any upcoming posts on Ezra’s Everything Spot.
Well, I think that wraps it up! I’ll talk to y’all later! -Ezra
Most of you know that I am a blogger on The Bloggers Project. I just made a post onThe Bloggers Project the other day and I wanted to reblog it, but for some reason I can’t reblog my own post. So, I’m literally just copy and pasting it to my blog. Well, here it is!
Whether you are wanting to build a website for a blog, a business, or your just wanting to get yourself and what you do out there, I have some helpful tips about how to get started.
First of all, one frequently asked question is this: Do I need to learn html to build a website? My short answer is: No. Although learning code gives you basically no limits to building a website, it can still take years to learn and years more to perfect it enough to make a great website.
With so many new website building platforms out there today, I personally don’t think it is necessary to learn html in most cases. The platforms out there give you so many choices to make your website look professional with little to no experience in web design. In fact, most website building platforms actually allow you to insert html into them to make it even more unique, but it is certainly not necessary to learn html for a website building platform.
With this in mind, I’m going to be explaining a little bit of what I know about some of the best platforms out there. I am not going to dive into html, because it is complicated, and as I said before, typically unnecessary.
Some of the great website building platforms include WordPress, Squarespace, GoDaddy, Wix, and more. I can give you a small description of each of some of these and explain what they are helpful for. However, I am an amateur, so my knowledge of this is slightly limited. I’m learning, just like you.
WordPress.com is great for blogging. Most of the personal (non-business) bloggers I know, use the free plan on WordPress. The WordPress free plan is probably the best blogging platform that you can get, if you don’t want to pay a cent. I’m using the WordPress free plan right now, and if you guys are liking this post then I call that a success. 😉
I don’t know much about the paid plans on WordPress, other than the fact that they have great features, if you want to check them out just go to wordpress.com. You don’t need to pay money to have a blog; you can do it perfectly fine for free. However, if your blog starts to get a lot of traffic, it could actually be a good investment to upgrade to a better plan.
WordPress.com is it’s own host, so you don’t need to pay for a hosting platform if you use one of the plans on WordPress.com. However, I have heard that the features on WordPress.org, are actually better for businesses than WordPress.com. With WordPress.org, you have to have a host for your site. Some good hosts are BlueHost, HostGator, GoDaddy, and much more that I won’t get into today. I haven’t actually used WordPress.org, but I’ve looked into it quite a bit, and I’ve heard it’s phenomenal for businesses.
If you want to have a good website for a business that is simple to set up, yet effective, you might go with Squarespace or Wix. Out of those two, I prefer Squarespace, because it is very simple to set up, has slightly better features, and is fairly cheaper than Wix.
Again I have only done a tiny bit of designing with Wix, and I like it, but I like Squarespace better, though they are both pretty similar.
As as GoDaddy, I haven’t used it much myself, but my dad has and he really likes it. We purchased a domain from them and used them for a host. Also they have very cheap domain emails that you can buy.
So, after all this, I can’t say there is one that us just “the best,” but it really depends on the person and what they want to do. There are so many options…
If you have any questions about which one would be best for you, or your just interested in web design, then shoot me a comment below, and I’d be happy to help you.
Thanks so much for reading! If you want to see more posts from me, or the other awesome bloggers here on The Bloggers Project, then be sure to hit that follow button below or to the side. If you like what we do and are eager to share your experience as a blogger, consider going to the “Join Us” page and joining the team here.
Stay tuned for the other parts in this series about building a blog! Thanks again!
Time for the long awaited collab that I am doing with my friend Kaelyn, the other amazing writer on this blog! Thanks Kaelyn for doing this with me! Please check out Kaelyn’s blog, Kaelyn’s Life. She also just started a new blog I believe, called “Stuffed Stories.” I haven’t been able to check it out yet, but I will as soon as I can. I know Kaelyn has been working really hard on it.
So let’s get started!
Here are my questions for Kaelyn and her answers:
1. Have you been playing games during this quarantine? If so, what games?
Me and my family have been playing quite a few board games together. 🙂 We have played Ticket to Ride, Sushi Go, Zoomania, and I think we maybe played King of Tokyo too. I also have been playing Roblox Adopt Me and Roblox’s Epic Mini Games and some Natural Disasters too with my sister which has been pretty fun. I have loved being able to play board games and video games with my family.
2. Have you had an opportunity to spend more time with God during this time? If so, what do you do in the quiet place?
Yes and no. At the start of quarantine, when school had not started up quite yet I was able to spend a lot of longer periods of time with Him but when school started back up that has kept me decently busy. I have been able to read my Bible just about each morning and I have been listening to some sermons for Torch Team and connecting with Torch Team, youth group, and doing house church has helped as well. In the quiet place, I normally read my Bible or do a devotional but in my longer quiet times I will listen to worship music and I have also listened to worship music during school to worship Him while I work.
3. Have you been reading or writing a lot during this period? If so, what have you been reading / writing about?
Yes! I have been able to read and write a bit more than I would have if I was at school each day, which has been really nice. I have read “Bad Connection” by Melody Carlson which is a Christian contemporary book and “The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre” by Gail Carson Levin is fantasy/fairytale. I am currently reading “So Not Happening” by Judy B. Jones which is another Christian contemporary book. I have been writing just on my blog, Kaelyn’s Life, and I did one post on here and it has been really nice to stay a lot more up-to-date on everything going on the blogosphere as well.
4. Does the fact that you can’t go to church give you an even greater hunger for God’s Word? For Torch Team( the discipleship/leadership youth class at my church; Ezra is a part of it too as well as Karis and Gale, a few other bloggers you may know) assign Bible reading and I have been able to get my reading done on time and not have it where I am reading all of it the night before, which has happened more than I have liked to in the past, which has been really nice. I miss church a lot and I am wanting God’s word in a deeper way. I am excited when we can go back to church, youth group, and Torch Team but until then I will continue to pursue Jesus with my heart, my soul, with all of my mind, and strength.
5. What have you been watching recently? A TV series? A certain genre of movie?
I have been watching Zumbo’s Just Deserts on Netflix and I watched some of Project MC2 as well. I am also a now a fan of Dragon Prince which is an AWESOME show on Netflix and I am on season two currently! Y’all I LOVE DRAGON PRINCE!! 😀 As a family, we have watched Spies in Disguise, Frozen 2, and have watched the Kungu Panda TV series. With friends on Netlfix Parties I have watched Same Kind of Different as Me, Zapped, and Spiderman:Into the Spideverse so I have a watched mostly family movies, which are kind of the best. 😀
Alright that’s it for that! If you would like to see Kaelyn’s questions and my answers, check out her post here.
This was fun! Thanks so much for doing this with me Kaelyn! I’d love to do it again sometime! 🙂
Alright that pretty much wraps up this post. Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I’ve been pretty busy. I don’t really have much to post about, but still be on the lookout for my dad’s guest post in about 4 weeks. Also, I have been nominated for a couple things I think, so I will be sure to get to those awards.
Thanks for reading, guys! This has been fun! If your not already following Ezra’s Everything Spot, then please be sure to smash that follow button below or to the right (or to the left if your on WordPress reader).
This is Kaelyn @ Kaelyn’s Life here and I am excited to be here to do a Bible Verse Dissection with me as Dr. Kaelyn! 😛
Hope you all are hanging in there with the whole quarantine thing right now. I hope this Bible verse is encouraging to you today, even among all of the crazy going on in our world today.
This verse is my memory verse for Torch Team( the youth discipleship/leadership class at my church) and I actually still need to memorize this, lol.
The verse is Romans 15:13 and we will be using the ESV version and the TPT as well.
Get your gloves on because it is time to dissect this amazing verse. ( sorry for the weird comparison lol #sorrynotsorry lol) anways,
*cough cough
and moving right to our verse… 😛
Alright, can we just all just take a moment to see just how incredible this verse is?!! This verse is super encouraging, especially for this interesting time we are all in right now.
At the beginning of 2020, I imagine most of us were not thinking in just a few months we would be dealing with a world-wide pandemic but Jesus has placed us in this time for a reason. He has placed you in this time for a reason.
“May the God of hope“.. God is a God of hope, not of hopelessness.
Two Christian speakers, Steve and Wendy Backlund said this, “There are no hopeless situations but only hopeless people.”
In this time, let’s not be a people without hope but a people brimming with hope but the verse continues to say this “fill you with all joy and peace in believing“.
Our God is a God of hope filling us with joy and peace in our believing. Right now, we can choose joy and we can choose to look at our situations from a higher perspective declaring “There is always a solution!” because there is!! Let’s have joy and peace in this situation because this is who we are as Christians! It’s our joy and delight in our Father and it is his joy and delight to delight in you, never forget that!
JESUS IS SO PROUD OF YOU!!
AND..
We can’t hope and worry at the same time because they are direct opposites. This is something that the Backlunds said in their message that I listened to on”The Power of Hope”.
“so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope“. In Holy Spirit and by his power, WE CAN ABOUND IN HOPE! Not just touch it, not just dust hope a little bit then leave, no, we are called TO ABOUND IN HOPE! We are called to live a life of overflow with hope, joy, and peace.
Jesus is calling us to live in this fiery lifestyle and he is here to help us along the way. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be perfect, Jesus, if you are a follower of Jesus, he accepts you and calls you..
chosen.
loved.
redemmed.
worth it.
worthy.
royalty.
joyful.
peace.
hope.
We are all called to live in joy and in hope!! This is who we are called to be! 😀 Joy is who we are and hope is who we are. THIS IS WHO WE ARE!!
Believe that you are worth it, and in this odd time right now, we can look at this verse and see that our Heavenly Daddy abounds in hope and joy and us as His kids, we can too.
I hope this was encouraging to you today and I will see you all soon!! Next month’s guest post from me will either be another Bible Verse Dissect or Genealogy Gardener post.
If you have any questions, or you saw anything in this verse that stood out to you, or you have never asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, I would love to talk with you and I know Ezra would be free to do as well.
Thanks again Ezra for letting me be able to post on here!!
Until we meet again! 😀
Romans 15:13 The Passion Translation (TPT)
13 Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope!
In the church, we hear people talk about prophecy all the time. Sometimes God is telling us to prophesy, but we have questions. What is prophecy? Why do we prophesy? What does the bible say about prophecy?
What is prophecy?
Let’s look at 2 Peter 1:20-21, “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
So, prophecy is from God. It is not us speaking, but hearing. God uses us, his children, to reflect his words to people around us. We are like God’s mirrors. We are just like God’s prophets who wrote the bible. It says in the verse “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.” That means that Paul, Peter, John, Mark, everyone who wrote the bible were all speaking what they were hearing from God. They were reflecting his words. We can follow that example because we are God’s prophets too.
Take a look at 1 Corinthians 14:3, “On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.” That’s what prophecy is. God uses us to encourage people and build them up. First we hear God, then we speak what he says to people around us who God wants us to encourage or build up.
I think of prophecy as a message inspired by God, a divine revelation from God that you can share and use to encourage others. Prophecy is always speaking truth from God. It says in 1 Corinthians 12:10 that prophecy is a spiritual gift from The Holy Spirit. God gives us the gift of prophecy so that we can then help others around us and make them feel encouraged.
There are different types of prophecies. The gift of prophecy is for edification, encouragement, words of knowledge, and words of wisdom. However, there is another type of prophecy, the foretelling of the future. This kind of prophecy is already in the scriptures, so it is already done. In Revelation it says that we shouldn’t add to the word of God, so the foretelling is already done in the bible.
God sometimes gives people glimpses of the future, but if someone says that God gave them a prophecy about the future that doesn’t mean we should bank off of it when making decisions. God always speaks clearly, so I’m not trying to say that we shouldn’t always listen to what God says. Even though God always speaks clearly, that doesn’t mean that we always hear clearly. So, although God may give us a prophecy about the future, that doesn’t mean we should always go with something if people think that it was from God, because God may have been saying something else and we just misinterpreted it.
Why should we prophesy?
Well, does the bible say we should prophesy? Why is it good to prophesy? Who should prophesy? Take a look at Acts 2:17-18 in part of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”
We all have the gift of prophecy. Some of us walk in that gift more, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t all called to prophesy. Everyone should prophesy. In this verse, it’s not saying that only the “prophets” should prophesy, it says for everyone to prophesy. We are all prophets made in God’s image to reflect his words. It says in Proverbs “I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; and I will not forget your word.” We’re living that out. Not only are we living it out but we, as God’s prophets are showing it to other people and reflecting it. We are setting an example, no matter how old you are. You’re not too young. Remember the verse in 1st Timothy? Don’t let anyone let down on you for your youth; set an example!
How do we prophesy?
Deuteronomy 29:29 says this, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” What God is telling us is being revealed. It’s revelation. Prophecy is what God is revealing to us, so that we can use it for edification. As prophets, we can use what God is revealing to us, and prophesy it to people around us.
Prophecy is revelation from God. To prophesy is to speak and edify to others what the Lord is telling you. If prophecy is meant to build each other up and encourage each other, then if we’re not being encouraging then we know we’re not doing it right. Or if it goes against God’s word then we’re not doing it right. Since prophecy is revelation from God, then it can’t be against his word.
We need to believe that what we are hearing is from God, we need to BELIEVE that we can hear God and prophesy his words of revelation. You can’t just use the fact that you don’t know for sure that it’s from God as an excuse. As long as it’s not against God’s word then go for it! Even if God didn’t tell you to prophesy for someone, you still got to encourage somebody. If God did tell you to though, and you didn’t listen because you thought it might not be from him, that means you disobeyed God. My main point here is this: Don’t not do it just because it might not be God.
One of my favorite quotes is by a guy named Joe Ewin, “Practice makes prophetic.” So, we can practice speaking God’s words over people in our lives, and that is prophecy. We never fail. We may have felt like what we say didn’t affect them at all, but sometimes we can make an impact by our encouragements even when we don’t know it. Even if you feel like you get rejected, you still get to step out in faith and boldness, and you get practice; and practice makes prophetic.
I encourage you to prophesy. Even in this hard time, think of a way you can prophesy. Build people up, encourage them, because that’s what they need right now.
That about wraps up the post. Thank so much for reading! I hope this post was really helpful for you guys. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
If you haven’t noticed, I put up some social media buttons on the sidebar. So, if you would then please go like my Facebook page and follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Instagram and Twitter haven’t been working well for me when I click on the button, so try and click on the buttons on the sidebar, and let me know whether or not it works for you. I probably won’t be doing very much on social media, it’s mostly just for more traffic, but all my new posts will show up on there if you want to give me some likes.
Keep an eye out for upcoming posts. Kaelyn and I have a really fun collab coming up soon, so be on the look-out! Speaking of Kaelyn… It’s her birthday today! So, pop down in the comments and tell her happy birthday! Happy Birthday, Kaelyn!!! You’re awesome! I pray that you have an amazing year! 😀
Thanks again for reading! If you liked this post, then be sure to smash that follow button, so you don’t miss out on any new ones. TTYL! -Ezra
“Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” - Isaiah 55:6-7
Ezra's Everything Spot 