KnowGodKnowLove.com

http://knowgodknowlove.com/

Hosted by the God loving, talented, beautiful Jessica Hoffman (founder, Pure Beauty Ministries)

Fashion show, fashion giveaways, live music, video documentaries, and inspirational guest speakers.

This Pink Carpet Event is where fashion collides with the message of purity and beauty.

It happens Thursday, Nov 19th from 5:30- 9:30 pm at the Ko’olau Golf Course in Kaneohe!

Girls… buy your tickets starting Monday online at www.purebeautyministries.org or go to Fashionista’s Market downtown. First 50 girls in line, get a beauty swag bag!!

I highly encourage all of you women out there to attend. Since I am unable to make it out to this all female event, I am looking forward to hearing some awesome testimonies of how this event transformed you!!

knowGodknowlove808@gmail.com

“give Him all”.. of our heart b/c that is what He desires from us. http://knowgodknowlove.com/ photo by : vintage90 Joshua De Gracia Proverbs 3:4-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Keyword here is “ALL.” If you want His blessings, God calls for us to follow and trust in Him in every area of our lives. Now ask yourself, “are there any areas in your life that you need to completely trust in God?“ knowGodknowlove808@gmail.com

part 8 of the call of duty: spiritual warfare series.

“belt of truth” by Jayson Reynon

http://knowgodknowlove.com/

Ephesians 6:14 Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist….

What’s the first thing you think of when you think about the pieces of armor on a knight?  Most likely a sword and shield. All knights must have full body armor: a helmet, a metal breastplate, and shoes.  In Ephesians 6:10-18, the bible also talks about armor that God wants us to put on.  Ironically enough, the bible lists the exact same pieces of armor, with the exception of one difference: God’s armor has a belt. Not just any belt, but a belt of truth.

Now you have to be thinking to yourself, “Why the heck would a belt be so important for a warrior?”  A belt obviously can’t hurt the enemy, nor can it defend against the enemy’s attacks.  The belt seems like such an insignificant and small piece of the armor.  So why would God’s armor require a belt?

Let’s imagine what you would look like if you walked around with a belt.  Almost every pair of pants that you buy requires you to wear a belt.  If you forget to wear your belt, what’s going to happen?  Well clearly, your pants are going to fall down and everyone is going to see your undergarments and you’re going to be waddling around as you walk with your pants at your ankles, looking just absolutely ridiculous.

But now imagine marching off to a battle and forgetting to wear your belt.  Your pants fall down, you have no place to hold your weapons, and you’ll be so useless in battle because you’re going to be too busy trying to hold up your pants with one hand that you’ll only be able to hold your sword OR your shield with the other hand, not both.  Now try to imagine yourself trying to fight off Satan with one hand while using your other hand to hold your pants up.  That’s one battle you’re doomed to lose.

More importantly  is that we’re told to put on “the belt of TRUTH.”  It’s not just any regular old belt, but a belt of TRUTH.  One of Satan’s favorite and most common tactics to steer you away from your purpose and destiny is to feed you lies.  He likes to tell you things like “you’re not good enough,” “you suck,” or “you’re a waste of space.”

A common scene in a lot of sword-fighting movies is when the hero cuts off the belt of the bad guy and his pants fall down, revealing his underwear.  And most times, the hero never explicitly kills the enemy.  He just leaves him helpless and embarrassed, tied-up, self-defeated, and ineffective.  That’s exactly what Satan does when he feeds us these lies.  Of course he’s not the “hero” but one of the first things he aims for is to cut off our belt of truth.  He makes us begin to doubt ourselves, who we are, and sometimes even if the truth of Jesus Christ really is the truth.  The enemy will never kill us directly, but if he can successfully cut our belt truth off and get us to begin doubting what is really true , then he leaves us like the enemy in those movies: helpless, self-defeated, and ineffective.

It is during these times of struggle and battle that we must really hold onto what we know is the truth.  So what is truth?  Is there such a thing as absolute truth?  YES THERE IS!!!  And that truth is found in the hope and life of Jesus Christ.

John 14:6

“I am the way the TRUTH and the life.”

Psalm 40:11

“Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your TRUTH always protect me.”

3 John 1:4

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the TRUTH.”

When we accept Jesus and everything that He says as truth, and walk in that truth, then we are assured to have the blessings and everlasting, eternal life that He promises.  When we can distinguish God’s truth from Satan’s lies, we have a decided advantage in battle over the enemy.  We’ll be able to recognize his lies and quickly dismiss them, helping us to be victorious in battle, allowing us to push forward and pursue the plans and purposes that God has intended for us since we were formed in our mother’s womb.

That’s why we need our belt of truth on at all times. The belt of truth holds all of the armor together.  Not only does it hold your pants up, but it also holds your breastplate of righteousness on.  It also has the sheath to hold your sword.  So buckle your belt of the truth of God on, and use that truth to extinguish Satan’s lies.  Remember, without a belt on, you’re basically just a naked penguin waddling around.  But with your belt firmly wrapped around your waist, you are firmly wrapped in the power, the truth, and the everlasting life of Jesus Christ.

part 7 of the call of duty: spiritual warfare series.

“why forgive?” by Joshua De Gracia

http://knowgodknowlove.com/

While looking over our e-mails from last night, I came across an interesting question from a long time reader. Rather than e-mail a response back to the person, I decided to make it part VI of our series.

The question: “Why is forgiveness important for my spiritual life? I can do fine without it right?”

Ohh boy, believe me when I saw we could do a series or two alone about the issue of forgiveness.

First of all, unforgiveness is a very powerful stronghold that Satan uses to cut and pick away at our heart. A stronghold is a mindset of wrong beliefs where Satan has control because we’ve given in willingly and repeatedly over time. Unforgiveness can lead to broken relationships and can lead to us walking away from God.

There are many consequences if we choose to have unforgiveness in our heart:

1) If we don’t forgive, Satan takes advantage of us.

2 Corinthians 2:10-11

“If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, ¹¹in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

You give Satan even a little way in and he’ll end up taking and corrupting your entire heart. He’s out to kill, steal and destroy and the other way to overcome is with Jesus who came to bring life and righteousness.

2) If we don’t forgive, bitterness and resentment spreads throughout our body and can lead to a “heart attack.”

This is my “heart attack” illustration. Think of your heart relating to your spiritual life. You have a healthy heart as you read your word, dig into prayer and live a righteous life. On the other hand, when we eat bad food and don’t care of our bodies, plaque can build up and this can eventually lead to cardiac arrest or a heart attack. This plaque is represented by sin in our life such as unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, etc. that suffocate life out of us.

When unforgiveness is a major stronghold in our life because of a conflict we may of had we someone, it causes us to obsess over that person/situation and we can end up becoming like them.

Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Proverbs 23:7

“For as he (a man) thinks within himself, so he is”

For all you Star Wars lovers out there, think about Anakin Skywalker while he was still training under Obi Wan Kenobi. He started off as a good guy but allowed anger to overtake his life and that eventually overcame him and Anakin became Darth Vader.

3) If we don’t forgive, we don’t prosper and God withholds forgiveness from us.

Matthew 6:14-15

“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

This is why the act of forgiving is very important in our spiritual life.

Choose to forgive unconditionally. Don’t wait upon your feelings because your feelings take time to heal. Giving it up to God can set you free immediately.

Ephesians 4:31

^“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

The last thing I’m going to say is that forgiveness is not always a one time process. There will be times where the enemy will put thoughts of what happened into your head to bring up the past, but you must choose to get rid of those thoughts and forgive over and over.

Matthew 18:21-22

“Lord how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to 7 times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not 7 times, but 77 times.”

Now the question is: Who do you need to forgive to allow God to allow breakthrough in your life and Satan to lose his stronghold in your heart?

Is it yourself? A family member? A friend? A past relationship?

Any other questions, please e-mail us: knowgodknowlove808@gmail.com

Part III of the “call of duty: spiritual warfare” series. the power of prayer By “Shine Brightly for Christ” co-founder Nicole Los Banos

http://knowgodknowlove.com/

*before starting our bible study..

Alpha: “Maybe we should pray before starting?”

Me: “Oh yah we should.. okay pray!”

Alpha: “AHH! WHY DO I HAVE TO PRAY?!”

Have you ever asked yourself, “why do I have to pray?”  You would think that praying would’ve been first on our list when actually starting our Bible Study, but sometimes we forget the vital part to actually having a relationship with God. It’s important to not only come to Him before our meals or when we find ourselves in a rut, but relentlessly.

Rather than treating prayer as another routine we have to add to our list throughout the day, we should treat it as a privilege and honor to be able to communicate with such an Amazing God who cares and loves us enough to want to hear from us not only once or three times a day but all the time! He’s never going to have His “Away Message” on or forget to call you back when you call upon Him. He’s there wanting and waiting for you to come to Him in your times of joy, happiness, worries, anger, distress, loneliness….everything!

Psalm 139:1-4

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.”

God knows us completely inside and out. Why wouldn’t we want to spend time in communion with Him and desire to get to know Him?

When we pray and discipline ourselves to come to the Lord in our times of joy, sadness and when life is going the way we want it, then that’s when we’ve truly established a relationship with our Father rather than using Him as a “911 call.” It’s just like any other earthly relationship we have. Communication is key. You just don’t call your best friend when you’re in trouble right? You call them to hang out, when you’re happy, to tell them about your day & so on.

If we can spend 24/7 texting, IMing, facebooking, & emailing people that we care about, there’s no reason for us to not have this burning desire to have intimacy with the One who loves us more than a boyfriend/girlfriend, mom, dad, or friend will ever be able to offer you.

Not only is prayer important in staying in tune with God, but we also have the Holy Spirit who is able to guard us from spiritual attacks. It’s easy to forget that we’re in a constant spiritual battle even when it doesn’t seem like it. In times of weakness or carelessness is when we’re most vulnerable and prone to stumble. If we come to the Spirit during these times, He provides us with the necessary strength, wisdom, guidance, resistance, courage and discernment to be able to stand our ground and defend our faith.

Have you ever tried committing your times of struggles and trials to the Lord and laying it all down at His feet?

It’s amazing how He delivers you in ways that you know can only come from Him. When we learn to truly believe & submit ourselves to a God who can do all things. There is power in prayer. By being in continuous prayer with Him, that’s when we’ll see the limitations we thought we had become limitless through His faithfulness in our lives.

Ephesians 6:18

“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”

Part II of the “call of duty: spiritual warfare” series. the word
By “Shine Brightly for Christ” co-founder Alpha Pallarca

http://knowgodknowlove.com/

Ephesians 6:17

^“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

What’s a bulletproof vest used for? Protection right? Do you know that there is a tool that can serve both as armor and a weapon in a battle? You might be wondering and asking what is it, where can I get and how much would it cost me?

Whether you know it or not, you are in war zone. A spiritual battle- a battle between your fleshly desire and spiritual desire. Want it or not, we are in this struggle for the rest of our lives until Jesus comes back. However, our Great Maker didn’t leave us empty handed. He provided us with a very powerful weapon to win this battle. He graciously gave us His word in the bible to equip us in fighting our very own ill nature, to teach us to live with a purpose, to direct us towards His glory and power and to demonstrate His unfathomable love for us.

Hebrews 4:12

“For the word if God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.”

We often take for granted our bible because it is generally inexpensive. The truth is it’s probably the most valuable possession we could possibly have. It is more than just a holy book; it is a collection of God breathed scriptures imparting His wisdom and knowledge to us.

Owning one is just the beginning. To be able to fully grasp the meaning and purpose of the bible, you need to be a child of God first. That means you have repented and acknowledge Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If not, the bible would just be another historical book to you.

As for Christians, if your bible has been eating dust on your bookshelf, shame on you! God said in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

We find and draw our strength from God’s word. We are to protect ourselves with the divine armor of God. Evil lurks in every corner of our hearts, always ready to attack and ruin us on every chance possible. That is why it is very important to dig into our word so we can immerse ourselves in God’s holy teaching and doctrine. God’s word has the answer to everything we could ever ask. We need to be proactive in consistently feeding our soul with spiritual food and growing stronger in our relationship with God. If we are not going to be adamant and firm in our convictions then we are setting ourselves for destruction and we are not taking Satan seriously.

Breaking news, Satan is very serious and eager to see us fall into sin. He is constantly at work in us, devising and scheming plans to tempt us.

1 Peter 5:7-8

^“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith..”

This is the reality of this fallen world and the war we have to face everyday. But, we know that we are not alone. We have God. We have His word. Don’t get left behind in the battlefield. Always be on the lookout and never lower down your sword. Be armed and ready with the armor of God.