What is Sin? How Can I be Saved? Can I be saved and practice sinning?

What is sin?

A message of hope:

God reveals to us in His word (the Bible), that He made the world and everything in it (Genesis 1-2). He made the first man, Adam, the first woman Eve, and through their disobedience of the law given to them in the garden of Eden, sin entered the world (Genesis 2:16-17; Genesis 3:6-7, 11). As a result all mankind became broken in relationship with a perfect God, but God in His grace and love provided a way to restore mankind to right standing again with Him (Genesis 3:15).

The message of hope is this, Jesus came to die for the sins of the world (John 3:16). Without Him none of us would have a right relationship with a perfect God. And because God is holy and JUST, sin, anything that displeases Him will be done away with one day completely. God will purify the world of sin, and law breakers (Matthew 13:41). 

The hope in this is that He gives us a way to be saved from the judgment against our sins. There is a way to be completely pure in His sight, and this can only be obtained through Jesus. By believing in Jesus, God GIFTS to us salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). It can’t be earned, in other words there is nothing that we can “do” in our own strength to be right in God’s sight. Because of the perfect, sinless life of Christ, His death on the cross served as the complete judgment of the sins of the world TO ALL WHO BELIEVE (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

No matter what I have done, and God clearly has revealed to us what sins are in His word, there is no one that is void of sin, WE ALL HAVE SINNED (Galatians 5:19-21) (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) (Romans 3:23); No matter what I will do, God in his grace to mankind gave His Son to die for all the sin I have committed, commit, and will commit. They were placed on Him. My sin, and the sins of the world were placed on Jesus, the very Man that committed no sin, who took on the sins of the world so that God could rightly judge them. Because of who He was.

He was the perfect spotless sacrifice (no sin in Him), and took on our sins because of who He was, the message of hope is what happens after God judged our sin. Because of the complete power of our Savior Jesus, He didn’t stay dead. This same Jesus, was raised from the dead, resurrected. He died, was buried, and resurrected and lives today in heaven with God. And because He lives, we can live with the Father, if we believe in Jesus and what He did.

The reality is we MUST confess our sin, we know what sin is because God has clearly told us in His word.  We must believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, and God forgives us for the sins we have committed and we are saved (1 John 1:8-9). And in that day, when the world ends, and sins will be judged, and the world will be purged of all sin, believers will live with God forever (Revelation 20:12, 14-15) (Revelation 21:1, 3-4) (Revelation 22:5).

In this world, we as Christians, empowered through God’s Holy Spirit live according to the Spirit. At the point of believing in Jesus, God tells us in His Word that we are given His Spirit to live within us (1 John 5:13-15) (Ephesians 1:13). This is important, because we are made to live in the way God intends for us to live, pleasing to Him, right in His sight (Galatians 5:16-17). God purifies the believer completely from an eternal perspective, but as we live this life, His perfecting work is evident in our lives by living according to what pleases Him “according to His law, his word”. (Hebrews 10:14)

Therefore, because of God’s Spirit for the Christian a life of continuous deliberate sin is not possible. God’s word reveals that it is in fact evidence of no conversion  and the Bible tells us that with the knowledge of the truth, to go on sinning all to be expected is a fearful expectation of judgment(Hebrews 10:26-27) (1 John 3:7-9).

The message of hope is Jesus, praise God for eternally giving us acceptance in His sight through faith in His Son Jesus, and praise God for giving us His Spirit to purify us and purge us of the things that displease Him, while living in this world.

My prayer for all who aren’t saved is to call out to Jesus, ask for His forgiveness and believe in Him today.

God can, and will give you a new life, a life that is truly free of regret, discord and lies. He sets us free, May you be free today in Jesus name, Amen.

Scripture references:

Genesis 2:16-17 ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[a] of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:6-7 ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[a] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Genesis 3:11 ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Genesis 3:15 ¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring^[a] and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

John 3:16 ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world,^[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should notperish but have eternal life.

Matthew 13:41 ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin andall law-breakers,

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

2 Corinthians 5:21 ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 5:19-21 ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy,^[a] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous^[a] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,^[b]10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

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

1 John 1:8-9 ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Revelation 20:12  ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Revelation 20:14-15 ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.¹⁵ And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 

Revelation 21:3-4 ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.^[c] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 22:5 ⁵ And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

1 John 4:13-15 ¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

Ephesians 1:13 ¹³ 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,

Galatians 5:16-17 ¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Hebrews 10:14 ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Hebrews 10:26-27 ²⁶ For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

1 John 3:7-9 ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's^[a] seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

A Little Exercise and a little Play

Me and the little one, Justice, that is, went to the park today! I realized that there's a NICE park right down the street, literally 2 minutes from our house that has walking trails! Usually when I went I always took Justice to the play area and didn't look around much.

Well now that I'm eating better and have incorporated some nice herbs and nutrients to my diet I want to exercise a little more consistently (about 30 mins walking, and 30 minutes other)

So today, I must admit I feel GOOD! Woke up with the intent to stick to my scheduled nutrition plan and go WALKING! And Justice is the perfect partner :)

I got a 6 minute stretch in, about 15 minute workout, focusing on the lower leg area. I found this great website, so I just followed the instructors, they're trained in prenatal exercises. (Babyfit.com)

After this, Justice and I went out. I checked online first to see if there were any walking tracks nearby, and I found one about 15 minutes away, but before I went there I decided to double check the municipal park nearby, and when I saw those trails I had a little praise moment :)

Today we walked for about 15 minutes, just to get my body back into it, and it felt wonderful. I pushed her along in the stroller and there were no bumps or anything, love it! Afterwards I took baby girl to the kiddie play area so she could have a little fun for about 30 minutes.

Nice to know that I can walk, safely, right in my own neighborhood at my own convenience. The midwife will be happy next visit lol

:)

Midwife and a Doula

I decided to go the midwife route in January. After having a c-section, I realize that doctors and hospitals in general have decided that it's just easier for them to not allow women to have natural births after such a procedure. The nerve...

My very first prenatal appointment with my OB/GYN in October 2012 was a disaster... really. I felt so discouraged, being pregnant is supposed to be a happy time, stress free. Well, at my first appointment I was told, not advised, but told by my OB/GYN that I was scheduled for another c-section, 2 weeks before the due date.

My response was, doesn't it take 40 weeks to make a baby? Her response was it was safer this way. No advice was given, no OPTIONS, no statistics or likelihood of success just, I'm the doctor and this is how it works attitude.

I was so down, at that point I knew I wasn't happy and would have to do something about it. I told her (my ob/gyn) that I wanted to try and see if my body could go all the way. She said if the baby came naturally before the 2 week early date then she would "consider" it.

Strike one.

I noticed that every time I went, we didn't really communicate with each other, it was just her coming in, looking at a screen and doing like 2 things and "goodbye see you in 1 month". For every visit I went to, there was a "scheduling" of another process. Whether it was blood work (at an offsite location.... headache), or ultrasound appointments for testing of the baby's well being (at an offsite location... more headaches), I felt more fearful than at peace.

Why should I have to worry about all these things, I'm pregnant, let God do what he does!

It was just awful, I felt like I had to take all these tests and had no option to just say no, worrying about the results this month, and ohhh is everything okay next month, are the results positive the month after that...

Strike two.

So at my church I began speaking with a lot of the mothers there, and realized that most of them had experiences with home births. I got testimonies of their experiences, which they all loved and treasured. They loved talking about it! One of the women let me hold a documentary called "The business of being born", it's about midwives and home births (which worldwide by the way are the norm, only in America do the majority of births take place in hospitals)

I was SO encouraged after looking at the dvd series. It came with 3 dvds, and the 2nd part was completely dedicated to VBAC births (Vaginal births after c-section). I was given the statistics, and saw REAL-LIFE women go through the process of having natural births after c-sections.

I learned that midwives are trained to administer births, and OB/GYNs are trained surgeons. Yea, totally made sense to me.

After seeing the success the women had, I was so inspired, this was December 2012.

I kind of made up my mind, but I had one more OB/GYN appointment, so I went, thinking I would break the news to her then.

My doctor came in, and said... It's Nicole right?

Strike three America.

She didn't even know my name, at least come in and say hi Nicole, how are we doing mommy? SOMETHING!

It's Nicole right?

I made up my mind, not only are my rights not being heard or even concerned about, but you don't even know my name, lol

Midwife it is.

So since January 2013 I've been going to my midwife and absolutely love my prenatal care. Each time I go, it's a hands on experience, she knows my name, my babies name, most of the women at my church name, do I have to go on...

Each appointment is like an hour, I have 24/7 hr access to her personal phone number, so if I have questions I can call and she will answer and she encourages me the whole way through.

Of course there are necessary procedures, but I am told my options nonetheless (advised).

And today I just talked to one of the ladies at my church and she's gonna be my doula! I'm so excited!

I'll have a coach by my side and trained midwives who actually see birth as a NATURAL process instead of a medical one.

No needles, no medicine, just my muscles working, my baby coming, and hopefully a pool to help soothe me during labor :)

I'll definitely keep you all updated on my experience.

Lord, I pray that you will have your way, my desire is to have a natural birth, I pray for the health and strength of this baby, I pray that all goes well at home and that I can lean on you for direction and strength.
Thank you for the beautiful process of pregnancy and I pray that you are glorified every step of the way. In Jesus name, AMEN.

:) ;)

Visit to the Chiropractor

This week was an eventful one in my prenatal process. I had a midwife appointment on Tuesday and my very FIRST chiropractic visit :) It was nice, I had to be adjusted in 3 places. Getting ready for baby in these last 10 weeks is important to me. I'm really excited to see how everything unfolds. We're planning to have baby boy at home, my first natural birth.

In visiting the Chiropractor I learned some pretty neat things. For one, how important it is to have a spine in order so that nerves can get the information from the brain to carry instructions to different parts of the body. I'm having a little difficulty with my right leg, it gets a numb feeling sometimes, so hopefully with faithful visits to the Chiropractor, and frequent adjustments, my body will respond to the treatments.

Some more helpful hints was an adjustment to my diet. I've been a lot more hands on and proactive in this pregnancy in the things that I eat. With Justice, I had the mindset that whatever she needed she would get whether I ate the right things or not. I thought of women in third world countries and so on to justify this thinking saying, if they have babies with limited resources so could I.

But because of my experience and more knowledge this time around I'm trying my best to give my body what it needs. I've increased my water intake to 64 fl oz, and daily drink milk, eat whole grains, and make sure I have adequate proteins and fibers (fruits and veggies).

After going to the chiropractor I was able to add a few more things to my regimen this week. I've been faithful in my prenatal vitamins, but now have added B-6, Iron (as suggested by my midwife), a protein shake, red raspberry tea, and evening primrose oil to supplement my diet.

We'll see how all these things help in the birthing process. I'm praying that all goes well, in all the planning I do and preparation, I know it ultimately is in God's hands. So I'm trusting you Lord for the outcome.

May your will be done, may you be glorified in it all.

I'm getting excited :) :) :)

Natural Hair Routine update (2013)

Scalp Treatment with Jojoba oil, Tea tree and olive oil
Co-wash with Giovanni smooth as silk conditioner
Rinse with cold water and ACV
Moisturize with Giovanni direct leave in and seal with olive oil/almond oil

I want to eventually add a  bi-weekly/monthly protein treatment as well, I'm thinking about trying the Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayo

And for weekly deep conditioner treatments, I'm thinking of alternating the giovanni smooth as silk, giovanni 50/50 balance conditioner and ORS hair mayo with olive oil (under heat)

Natural Hair and Apple Cider Vinegar

I've been using apple cider vinegar for my hair now for about as long as I've been pregnant (7 months) consistently. For one, my patience with washing and conditioning has been really short and when I learned that I could wash with vinegar, I've been cutting corners with washes by just simply rinsing and scrubbing my scalp with water and rinsing with the vinegar. I exchange between the apple cider vinegar (acv) and distilled vinegar. In actuality I like the distilled better, but the apple cider vinegar is the one with rave reviews so I've kinda just stuck to that one.

One of the changes I've seen in my hair is how easy it is to manage my hair altogether. For the most part I keep my hair in twists, so its always detangled, not always moisturized, but always separated. Recently, after bunning my hair and then doing a wash and go shortly thereafter, I found that washing my hair went SOOOOoo fast. Usually I wash at the sink, it's easier for me, not having to be in all that heat in the bathroom while pregnant.

But to make things go faster and wash out all of the gel in my hair quicker I opted for the shower and guess what... IT WAS FAST. I co-washed with Giovanni smooth as silk conditioner and detangled in four parts. using my hand first to pull, and then the comb to detail comb, trust me it might have took like 5 minutes. And no... I wasn't rough. I don't handle my hair rough, the water just made it sooo much easier to comb through.

Now mind you, I've been natural for 3 years now, and I know the secret of water and natural hair, never comb hair dry, and for three years that's what I've stuck by, but this wash was just great.
I've drenched my hair countless times before, but it seems that as my hair grows, and since I've been doing these vinegar washes my hair's elasticity has come along way, and it's just easier to part, wash, and moisturize ALOT quicker.

Another thing is co-washes haven't worked for me thus far, I've tried many conditioners, well quite a few, including some of the cheaper products (v05 and suave) that naturals rave about. And they just left my hair a coated mess. I've shampooed with the giovanni tea tree... uh can some one say FAILURE. My hair was a coated mess. Rinsed with some distilled vinegar and voila, clean hair. Because of my failed attempts at co-washes I almost gave up on them altogether.

But this Giovanni smooth as silk conditioner, is the FIRST product to honestly clean my hair and leave my hair very well moisturized in the process.

I must say I am impressed.

So with co-washing with the giovanni smooth as silk and then rinsing with the acv, my hair wash routine took about 10 minutes no more than 15, and that's with some THICK hair ya'll. All loose (recently I've been washing with twists).

I've gone back to moisturizing my hair with the giovanni leave in, and I've been  sealing with almond oil.
As much as I LOOOOvvvvee the almond oil, my hair seems to respond better to the extra virgin olive oil for better shine and moisture. So I think I just might transfer the EVOO in a better bottle for easier application.

So all in all I rate
ACV and distilled vinegar for that matter an A++ for natural hair: easier manageability, increased elasticity in hair, CLEAN hair