One Minute with God: Prisoner of Walls (POW)

Have you ever found yourself guilty of building walls around your relationships, or perhaps casting safety nets around your heart? When you have been around long enough, and your life has been battered with emotional pepper we quickly resolve to put out the fire and isolate ourselves in a barrage of protective walls.

These naturally sparked defense mechanisms are a way that our soul reacts to unwanted strife and troubled relationships. Who wants to wake up every day, and confront someone who continually nags at your presence? Or, better yet, who knows how to seemly discourage your every progress.

While coping with these difficult situations be careful that your protective walls do not become your spiritual prison. Be aware that isolation is a subtle way of sabotaging yourself into defeat. God desires that you learn how to walk in continual forgiveness so that in every circumstance you are felicitous!

Don’t be a prisoner of walls (POW)!

Matthew 18:21-22

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

#oneminutewithgod #andyfernandez #iamministries

One Minute with God: Dirt Matters

As a minister of the Gospel, I’ve had my share of grief when losing a loved one. Witnessing the departing of a family member, preforming a eulogy, or perhaps assisting with funeral arrangements is one of the most difficult tasks anyone can be challenged with.

In moments like these, it never fails to remind us how fragile we are. How like a gust of wind - we are but one breath away from our eternal travels. The Bible teaches us that from “dust we came, and dust we shall return.” And, since dust is so important in housing the human spirit it would seem important to consider that dirt does really matter.

Your body is like soil to a garden, and God’s Word is like a seed to a gardener. Whenever God’s Word is planted in your heart it will produce good fruit. But, when the worries of life choke that Word it becomes unfruitful. Don’t allow for the circumstances of this lifetime to produce thorns and thistles in your spiritual journey. Be fertile, be fruitful because Dirt really does matter!

Matthew 13:20-23

20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

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One Minute with God: Hedge of Protection

If you love to garden and spend time in Home Depot you are probably like millions of Americans who are fixated with home improvements. Doesn’t it seem like there is never enough time or money to add an additional project to your already “botanical flavor”?

For those of you who have a paid subscription to HGTV, there is a better version of “home & garden” found in the pages of scripture. For as you well know the whole story of humanity once began in a garden. And like the culprits who leaned over the edge, and ate the forbidden fruit. So we at times tamper or struggle with stepping out of the hedge of God’s protection.

There are seasons in life when it may seem like we have crossed the point of no return. Times when it feels like God is the farthest person from us. The truth of the matter is - He has never left. God is still in the same place you left him, and he is still waiting for you to make a U-turn home.

Get back under God’s Hedge of Protection, and return to Him today!

Psalms 18:2-3

2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. #oneminutewithgod #andyfernandez #iamministries