The Decision is Yours

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
—John 1:12


“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
—John 3:16-17


Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
—John 14:6


Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
—Acts 13:38-39


For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
—Romans 1:16


for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
—Romans 3:23


For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
—Romans 6:23


because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
—Romans 10:9-13


Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
—2 Corinthians 5:17


In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
—Ephesians 1:13-14


For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
—Ephesians 2:8-9


For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep (meaning death) we might live with him.
—1 Thessalonians 5:9-10


For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
—Titus 2:11-14


Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
—1 Peter 1:8-9

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"Knowing this you can choose to walk away, but you can't say you didn't know." - William Wilberforce

Challenge of the Heart

Tonight my heart is heavy.
There's so much to be done.
I hear the cries of a hurting world
They need to be won.
There's a void they can not fill
Though they've seemingly tried everything
Money, drugs, the list goes on
But still something is missing
We hold the key
that unlocks the door
We have the hope
they're searching for
His name is Jesus,
the risen King,
If we can but go to where they are
We can help them see their need.
See right now they can't see past religion
to see that relationship is what it's all about
They can't see past our list of do's and don'ts
Because too often we fuss and pout.
When will we wake up and stop ignoring
the real issues that bind our hands and feet
While we're selfish, self-centered, with mouths running wild
We're setting ourselves up for defeat.
The mission is simple
but the fight is draining
The message is repent
but we keep refraining
from dealing with the issues in our hearts
How can we reach others
If we're torn apart?
Unity, unity,
Gather the called
United we stand
Divided we fall.
God is calling
A world is dying
Wake up, sleeper
Start crying.
The altar is empty
The pews are not filled
Hell is enlarging
Because we're not in the field
Wake up, Wake up
Sound the alarm
The enemy is attacking
and we are not armed.
Our weapons are not carnal
but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds
So wake up, put your armor on.
Stop fussing and griping
Stand up and move on
There's too much at stake
For you to think of yourself alone.
God is calling, a world is dying
Friend, what will your choice be
if we'll unite and work together
So many bound can be made free.

Written by: Kimberly Waters
Sept 27, 2009

You Are My Everything

My heart is wide open
Nothing's hidden from your view
I lay here at your feet, Lord
I long to worship You.

You are my shelter
You are my healer
You are the rock I lean on
The friend that I depend on
You're my provider
You are my counselor
And I take refuge in
The shadow of Your wings
You, O Lord, are my everything

You are beautiful
No one compares to You
Your majesty and grace
leave me speechless.

Words and Music By: Kimberly Waters
All rights reserved Copywrite 9-22-09

Open Your Ears And Listen!

Romans 12:2 NLT, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.”


Isn’t it funny how often you hear people say, “I wish God would let me know what I need to do”, yet their actions speak differently? I mean, take for instance, John Doe. John Doe is a good man, has a good education, a good job, and provides well for his family. He’s a loving father and husband. He’s faithful to church every Sunday and Wednesday and he’s always in the altar crying and seeking God. Looks good doesn’t it? Well, let’s look closer. Let’s see what God sees.

John Doe wakes up every morning at 5am. He gets a quick shower, brushes his teeth, grabs his briefcase, breakfast and coffee and rushes off to work. With his Christian music blasting, he prays for God to help him be in a witness, but at work, he overhears some buddies of his talking about a party they attended. As they boast of their lude behavior, John knows he needs to walk away but something within him wants to listen. John begins to get visuals in his mind. He knows it’s wrong, but as long as he doesn’t act on them, he should be fine, right?

During lunch, he grabs a quick meal, tries to relax just a bit before heading back to the mind grinding, number crunching career he chose and went to college for. He closes his eyes, has his CCM blasting, but when he closes his eyes his mind begins to wonder. Before he knows it he's began to fantasize about things he shouldn't. He looks over at his Bible in the passenger seat, but says, "No I can handle it." Though he feels guilty he justifies himself thinking, "I'll never actually do these things."

5 o’clock hits. John races out the door, endures the traffic until he finally pulls in at his beautiful home in the suburbs of Whereverville. "Hi honey, I'm home!", he kisses his wife, grabs his kids in his arms and asks them all about their day. Seated for dinner, this close, loving family, sits giving God praise for the delicious meal set before them, completely unaware that the enemy has his sights set on them.

Later John and his family enjoy some quality time together. It would seem they have it all together. It would seem this family would be indestructible, but the enemy has a fool proof plan that he's mastered for centuries.

That night, once everyone is in bed, drifting off to sleepy town, John lays awake and in the quiet, he hears God speak. “John, my son, satan is laying traps for you. Today, you gave ear to a conversation you should have walked away from and closed your ears from listening to me. When the battle intensified with visuals, you allowed lustful desires run freely in your mind. Listen to me, son, if you don’t take these thoughts captive and caste them out, they will overtake you, cause you to become dissatisfied with your wife and family and cause you to begin looking elsewhere for what I’ve already given you. Get up! Come downstairs and spend time with me now. Let me sanctify your mind and help you put your armor back on. The enemy has set his sights on your family and he's begun with you. Let me give you the thoughts you need to think.”

Right now, John has a choice to make.


There are a lot of homes being torn apart today. Many families that we'd say would never be torn apart, are being torn apart. Why? Because the enemy is perfecting his tactics daily. He has no new tricks, just new people to try them on and guess what. He's so subtle that we don't take him seriously in the beginning. John is a good man. He sincerely wants to please God but he's not taking the necessary steps to do that. We are in a war and that war is not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in high places. There's a real devil, Satan. The bible says he desires to sift us as wheat. (Luke 22:31) Do you know what that means? In Luke 22:31, Jesus warns Simon Peter about his arrogance and self-confidence. When wheat was sifted during the time of this instance, it was thrown in the air. The wheat would fall and the chaff would blow away. Jesus was warning Peter that Satan had his sights set on him. He had requested to show God and everyone else that Peter was nothing more than chaff among wheat. That he wasn't all he said he was and would never be much more than just mouth... all talk!

Today, Satan has his sights set on each and everyone of us. He desires to embarrass us before the Father and each other and ultimate destroy us. Sin gone unchecked will lead to destruction. You may think you're strong enough to handle things, but you're not. We must put on the mind of Christ and allow Him to renew our minds daily. We must put on the full armor of God, take every thought into captivity that exalts itself against God, take the enemy seriously. There's too much at stake!

1 Peter 5:8-9a NLT
"Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith. "

Like Fire

You know there have been so many times when I've questioned, "God can you see me? Can you hear me? Are you still here? Why can't I hear you? Why can't I see you working?" Only to find that He's still here speaking softly. I get so distracted by the sounds of the winds and the rain beating against me that it drowns out His voice, but then He tells it all to cease in our intimate times alone. Oh Hallelujah!! I'm learning more and more what it means to praise Him in the storm and just trust Him.

Sometimes I feel like I can relate so well to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. His message was never received. He was rejected, his messages were rejected and all because God was rejected by the people. I'm reminded so often of Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah, in obedience to God, is prophesying and Pashhur the priest, the chief officer in the house of the LORD --- the house of the Lord now --- doesn't like what he hears so he has Jeremiah arrested, beaten, wipped and put in stocks. Can you imagine what Jeremiah was thinking that whole night?!?! No doubt he was bleeding, in agony and unable to find a position that didn't strain in ever weakening muscles. For a full night he suffered and, no doubt, questioned God's whereabouts. The next day, when Jeremiah was released, you'd think he'd "like his wounds" and get out of there, but notice what He did.

Jeremiah 20:3-6
The next day, when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said, “Pashhur, the LORD has changed your name. From now on you are to be called ‘the Man Who Lives in Terror.’ For this is what the LORD says: I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through with the sword. And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city—the precious jewels and gold and silver of your kings—will be carried off to Babylon. As for you, Pashhur, you and all your household will go as captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you promised that everything would be all right.”

Can you imagine what Pashur was thinking? I'd like to think that he saw God radiating through that tired and wounded man of God. I'd like to imagine that he felt God's overwhelming conviction, but the fact is, people don't always recognize God's voice. How about Jeremiah? Here he is prophesying with such boldness. There was no time for fear, no time to think "what's going to happen to me after this?" I believe He was so overcome by the presence of God, so saturated in God's anointing that he didn't have time to think about what He was saying, it just came out. Notice what Jeremiah goes on to say.

"O LORD, you persuaded me, and I allowed myself to be persuaded. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked by everyone in the city. Whenever I speak, the words come out in a violent outburst. “Violence and destruction!” I shout. So these messages from the LORD have made me a household joke. And I can’t stop! 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 weary of holding it in!
I have heard the many rumors about me. They call me “The Man Who Lives in Terror.” And they say, “If you say anything, we will report it.” Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip. “He will trap himself,” they say, “and then we will get our revenge on him.” But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him they will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will be shamed and thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten. O LORD Almighty! You know those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts of hearts and minds. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you. Now I will sing out my thanks to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For though I was poor and needy, he delivered me from my oppressors."

Like Jeremiah, we're called to proclaim a message that at times will not be received. We will shed many tears along this journey, but like Jeremiah, when God's presence overpowers us, we have no choice but to proclaim His truth. It's like fire shut up in our bones.