Just a cup

God has been revealing something to me and I thought I would share. Since “working” for God or fulfilling my purpose in this life, I have found that the average person you come in contact with would like to give me at least some of the glory for whatever God is doing through me. I have learned through the scriptures that God receives the glory and that we are merely the vessels. But, when I or any other in this position tries to explain it, it’s hard to convey.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Romans 8″28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Acts 26:16

But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,

I have a dear friend and sister in Christ who received a revelation from God. She called me and explained to me that God had shown her (I am paraphrasing of course) herself sitting at a potter’s wheel making a coffee cup, she made it so beautifully and precise specifically for the purpose of using to drink her morning coffee. When she was done with it, she poured a cup of coffee and was glad about what she had made. But, the coffee cup turned to her and said I do not want coffee in me. The coffee cup went on to say it would much rather hold flowers. It demanded to be sat in the windowsill with beautiful flowers in it. I was so intrigued by this revelation she had and allowed me to look at God in a different light and more importantly looked at myself and all of God’s creation in a different light. As He formed us out of the dirt slowly and carefully and then breathed life into us for His purposes.

So, back to my first paragraph. The mail man everyday delivers mail from all over the world to it’s intended recipient. One day you receive a letter from a King with wonderful news about who you are, where your going and what God’s purposes are for you. Would you fall all over the mail man? Of course not, he was only the messenger. You are thankful to the king and praise Him and love Him for showing you what you needed to see.

I believe we need to re focus on who and what is important there is only one who deserves all the praise and glory, the one who hung on a cross and bore the weight of God’s wrath, that was rightfully ours.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in messengers. Aspire to live like they do, but make sure only the son of God gets your praise and glory. Jesus Christ- The way the life and the truth ❤

John 3:28
You yourselves are my witnesses [you personally bear me out] that I stated, I am not the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), but I have [only] been sent before Him [in advance of Him, to be His appointed forerunner, His messenger, His announcer].

Romans 1:1
FROM PAUL, a bond servant of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) called to be an apostle, (a special messenger) set apart to [preach] the Gospel (good news) of and from God,

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast

John chapter 3 Verses 13-16, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The Keys to the Kingdom

I have heard so often that we need to be living the kingdom lifestyle. When Jesus walked the earth He told the disciples the kingdom of God was at hand. I have always been intrigued at this notion and knew I wanted it, the kingdom that is. I wanted to live like this. I even created a Kingdom living Pintrest board, although there is not much on it considering that I wasn’t actually sure of what kingdom living was. Kind of like a kid telling his mom he wants to drive a firetruck, he draws pictures of firetrucks and dresses up like a fireman but doesn’t actually know how to drive it. So this is me, wanting a longing for something big red and shiny, but not sure how it will happen or maybe not even fully understanding what it is.

Let’s step back to the beginning of my walk, previous blogs will show that the Lord poured out a good dose of the ghost on my life. I was having dreams, speaking prophetic words of wisdom to people and much more. Then as soon as it had come I stepped into a dry season. I pray daily for God to use me like he had done before. Take me to new levels. Maybe I was too ambitious and really got on his nerves…lol I can do that. Sometimes I get on my own nerves with my anxiousness, of the “what next Lord”. So of course the enemy steps in and has a field day with me. Filling my mind with lies. Even though I am holding fast to God, I am getting worn down by the constant barrage of disappointment and waiting, which was never my strong suit.

The last few days the Lord is showing me some things, I am just starting to latch on to it. Insert mental image of baby so hungry that even though the bottle is in her mouth she can’t seem to suck any milk out. God has shown me some phrases.

1. Prophet

2. Keys to Kingdom

3. Intercessor

My boss who can be a man of few words and quite frankly I think, thinks I am a little cooky at times, told me about my gift with the prophetic. For some reason hearing it from him made it stick.

I bought a book months ago, that I just picked up to read, it speaks of kingdom authority, using the keys to access all that God has to offer.

My Pastor started a series of sermons on sonship and realizing who we are in Christ and that we as the body of Christ have to stop living with an orphan mentality.( We have no power, feeling defeated, not accessing our potential)

My dear friend  tags me in a post that leads me to read about kingdom living, prophets, and leading.

2 weeks ago God led me to intense intercession for the first time. I thought I was going to explode. A dear friend calls me after I had been suffering for days no eating, no sleeping, I relay to her what I am feeling and she says, “your being called to intercede”. I’m like how???? she said you have to let it out, wail, weep, scream. I was so afraid. I do not like to feel out of control, and this feeling I had inside was so intense I was afraid to let it go, but like when your sick and you know you have to throw up, and you fight it, but ultimately you know you are not going to feel better until you just do it. Yup, that was exactly how it felt. I prayed and asked God to keep everyone out of the house. My husband will think I have gone over the edge and my kids will be scared. He did just that. I wailed for 45 minutes, I groaned from the deepest parts of me. It was the pain of Jesus’s heart for this lost world, I keenly knew it as I cried and wept.

Little conversation with God~

Okay so what now Lord? What does all this mean? Am I going to start living the kingdom life? How do I get in? God is telling me I already have the keys and that I am standing at the door. He told me I have had the keys all along. But, I argue I have prayed Lord for you to show me the way, to pour out like you have done before……wait for it, but nothing has happened. He continues to tell me, you have it already. Okay Lord, but I apparently don’t know how to use the keys to open the door, I am truly at a loss. I am still patiently awaiting him to show me how to get in, even though I already have the keys, I don’t know how to use them.

But, I know my God is for me, and that He has plans and purposes for my life. I will stay in prayer and patiently wait for Him to let me in. Or to show me how to use the keys.

Pharaoh’s Heart

I had felt compelled to write this blog with the recent win of the horse Pharaoh in the 2015 Triple Crown

God is all things, He is in all things. I often talk about this with people. As Christians we do not look at the world and see God, and it’s understandable considering all that is taking place and the condition of hearts in this time. But…. if you look closely, you can see God’s hand in everything. Example, we can see Him in numbers as the Hebrew and Greek text of the bible, it’s original form had a numbering system for each letter. I’m sure you are all familiar with the passage in the bible that states you will know satan by the number of his name, and it being 666. In a previous blog I wrote about God showing me the #44. Also, the stars, they were put in place for signs and seasons hence the star of David, the wise men followed the star and were able to be in the presence of the savior of the world. Notice the Bible calls them “wise men”; they knew from reading the word that God was going to give them a sign through a star, and they heeded. God gives us signs all the time, in and through the most mundane things, most times we are too busy to notice. But, if we slow down enough to notice the world is filled with nuggets of gold popping out of the ground that we can catch a glimpse of the bigger picture.

Back to Pharaoh, what could a horse race and God’s hand have in common. Well, as a gold digger (reference above picture..lol) When I see the headline it immediately perks my interest, because of the name of course “Pharaoh”. What is the thing remember most about Pharaoh of Egypt in the book of Exodus? He had a hardened heart.

Exodus 4:21
The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Exodus 7:4
he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.

Exodus 7:13
Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

Exodus 10:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them

We are currently living in a time, where the people at large , do as they wish with no fear of repercussions. God has given us signs and more signs of His displeasure with our turning from Him.

Here are some examples- Earthquakes in various places, mass animal die offs, volcanoes erupting, divisions, kingdom against kingdom, violence beyond violence, civil unrest, moral decline, lawlessness, natural disasters.

Yes, all these things have happened before but not at the same time. The Lord is desperate to get our attention, but only a few are really listening and heeding His warnings to us. Just like Pharaoh, the Lord sent plagues, He turned the river into blood, yet Pharaoh was convinced He was to win, and maybe He did for a short while as he continued to shake His fist at the Lord in defiance.

We as a collective people have shaken our fist at the Lord, we have said sure do what you want with the weather, the earthquakes, with people, but we will come back stronger. It seems as if Pharaoh has won right now, we have crowned Pharaoh king, by continuing to do as we please in the sight of the Lord, completely disregarding HIs sovereign word. We have made our own rules, and went our own way. But, if you read the above scripture, God tells us in His word that He in fact hardened Pharaoh’s heart, He allowed it all to happen as to glorify the Lord in the end. He blinded Pharaoh, He hardened His heart, He closed his ears from hearing sound truth. Are we at that point as a world? That God has hardened the hearts, shut the eyes, and closed up the ears, so that what He says will happen, will indeed happen. I am sure of it. Even though it appears Pharaoh has won the race figuratively and literally, he has not. God is allowing all things fall into place so when He moves His mighty hand we will have no doubt of who is in charge. Every knee will bow.

This world, is a dim reflection of the reality of heaven, the reality of how things really are.

New Living Translation
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 1 Corinthians 13:12

If we dig for the golden nuggets, we can see what God is trying to tell us. Pray so very hard that God opens your ears, eyes, and makes your heart soft. The day of the Lord is sooner than you think.

Freedom

My faith journey has taken me many different places. As my soul desperately tries to fit in to the conformity of a “Christian life”, it just never quite works for me.Status quo has never suited my life any way (lol). Sometimes I allow the spirit of doubt take hold because the things I am either experiencing, understanding, or willing to walk into ( by the Lord’s calling) others don’t understand. Heck, sometimes I don’t understand it. Although I trust God implicitly and believe He is leading me, and that my discernment proves to serve me well, a gift I have been given and haven’t obtained by any of my own works but only through the grace of God.

I have often heard the word freedom in biblical expressions of Jesus Christ. I often wanted to understand that in the deeper sense but just couldn’t put my finger on it. I can understand it in the natural ” death has lost it’s sting” “eternity” but here….now?

I attend more than one church. I attend a Catholic Church steeped in tradition and regiment, rituals and submission to church authorities Christ being center but authority of church heads more importantly. I also attend a non denominational church, freedom is the name of the game. Christ only reigns. Submission to the crucified Christ, living a disciple life.

This past Friday I went to a worship service called the Oasis. 2 hours of worshipping God, freely, hand waving foot stomping praise, it was intense and the small venue was brimming with the Holy Spirit. I could see Jesus ( in my minds eye) walking amongst us with a flowing and glowing white gown, breathing in our praise and love for Him. As we sang, I could hearJesus beginning to speak to me. He asked me why I think I have to prove myself to Him? He said ” you are already approved, you are clothed in my righteousness.”” You are free. I love you and want you to walk in confidence and assurance that you are in me.” I started to weep quietly with my hands covering my face. Soon after this I felt a weight lifted from me, that I no longer had to prove myself to anyone. Later on in the worship, the worship leader felt lead to pray over people. I raised my hands with my eyes still closed. He came to me and laid his hands on my heAd and spoke these words, ” you are a chameleon a 007 of sorts, people may view you as confused but you are not.”

God was confirming to me, that my walk may not look like anyone else’s, but do not mistake He has called me to it. As I meditated on this at home this verse came to mind written by Paul to the Corinthians-

Paul a Servant to All
…21to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. 22To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. 23I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Press In

Press in to the uncertainty, press in to the pain, press in to the unknown. Hold tight to the known and clothe yourself in His majesty and protection. I shall not fear, I shall not doubt. Is it a trick? Is the enemy also pressing in? Sure he is, he wants your soul. But, your soul has been bought by another. Will my willingness to walk off the cliff hurt those closest to me? A new fear to throw my way, but I press into it, I will not it allow it to control me. I will not fear. Pressing in with boldness, it is what most people say is irresponsible, they dare not step into something they don’t understand. Then who? Who will step in? Who will press in? Who will trust the one who purchased their soul at a very expensive price? Will they watch? Will they fear? Whom shall we fear says He? We should fear not and abide in His unfailing protection and grace. Who holds the key? Who holds the Law in their hands? Who is the law? The one the only. Protect me Oh Lord. As I walk through the fire, the burning fire. Lord hold my hand, ease my heart, soothe my breath. Why Lord,am I filled with this zeal? Why Lord does my heart long for you every moment of everyday? Did you not put this fiery zeal in me Lord? Am I not made with your hands? Have you not counted the hairs on my head? Bottled my tears? Lord, help me to stand, help me to fight, help me to see your plan, not mine. Let me be humble in heart, let not the world’s praises at pivotal moments blur my mission for a land far away. Strengthen my resolve, gird up my mind, renew it with only your will. I only want to sing your song, your melody, smell your fragrance. Lord I am yours for all time. I am pressing in~ 

Faith Walking

Life has been crazy and I haven’t sat down to write in awhile. I have been thinking daily about it though. Every time I get an idea to write, I make a mental note but miss that moment when I am most excited about it. So, here I am back at it. The ministry is coming along,https://msinop1.wordpress.com/2015/01/24/marty-sinopoli-ministries/ hoping to have all the paper work finished for the 501 c-3 done by this week, then just the wait. My daughter Gabby who was diagnosed with Perthes disease,https://msinop1.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/another-layer/  just diagnosed with it in her other hip, bummer BUT my God is bigger than any of our earthly circumstances so I am putting it in His hands. My other daughter just turned 12 years old, and she is growing into a beautiful young woman, but nevertheless embarking on the hardest years of a girls life.

My spiritual life is well and God has been showing me and leading me through refining since the store closed. It is a time of testing and truly trusting the Lord alone. It is scary but is yielding good fruit.

Money is always an issue. Although Gino has a good job, we are still spread thin and debt looming over head from our former venture of GiGi’s. I am trusting that the Lord is going to work it out in His time in His way, But, I won’t deny that the furnace is getting hot. Gino is learning to trust my instinct and ability to hear God. Also, I believe it is a call to him and his life as well. I had a thought a few weeks back while getting ready one morning that God had big plans for Gino and that Gino’s faith would grow strong. I am waiting for that deliverance and am excited for that time in our lives of believing together.

I am still counseling with Center of Hope and truly love that role. I have met some amazing clients and have established lasting relationships.

I will continue to Walk in Faith to what God is calling me to do.

God put a million, million doors in the world
For his love to walk through
One of those doors is you- Jason Gray

Marty Sinopoli Ministries

In 2011, my husband and I ventured into owning our own business, we could have never imagined what God had in store.  Our journey to bring a gift shop to our small town, (population of approx. 8,000), selling affordable gifts, but instead sold hope, love and a sense of community….free of charge!   After a devastating flood hit our area, leaving many with sorrow and loss, hope sprang forward through a tiny prayer i’d said months before, “God if you can use me, I am willing”.  As a business owner we now had a platform, we collected cleaning supplies for our areas residents to help with the huge cleanup ahead, as time went on the town turned it’s attention toward someone they felt they could trust. Thousands of dollars in donations poured in, as well as non-monitary donations. When the crisis was over, I found my life had been forever changed.

Since that time we have taken on several community outreach projects.  Our current projects include free community classes such as; canning/preserving food, adult and children’s art classes, spiritual mentoring and bible study, shopping on a budget, couponing and bartering. These are 12 week courses and as they are completed, new classes will begin based on the community’s needs.   Other ongoing community outreach include, but are not limited to, assisting fire victims, the homeless, Christmas project to assist families of the working poor, heating assistance, essentials for families with major medical issues,  providing food, coats and clothing for children and much more.

We are starting a non-profit to aid us in continuing this much needed assistance.  Please join this cause with a monetary donation, but more importantly join the movement of loving your neighbor and sharing the love of Christ.

Marty Sinopoli Ministries will continue being His hands and feet in prayer, hard work and love, as Christ works to change people’s lives.  We are hoping to set a fire that will transcend the border of this community and spread to the hearts of all who want to help their neighbor in love to those who need it most.
http://www.gofundme.com/martysinopoli

 Adult Art Classes

Canning/Preserving/ Couponing/Bartering

Mentoring Volunteer Event

Children’s Art Classes

Our Family

Most importantly- Jesus showing us how to love those who need it most.

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,500 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Spoon Fed

Just when I think I  won’t be getting another bite, God gives me another spoon full. I liken spiritual growth to being spoon fed by the master, our father. I mean think about it. When we receive salvation we are like babies again, we are re learning everything. We are learning everything in a spiritual way not a physical way. It’s a new life. So, like a baby God spoons feeds us little bites just like we do when we have a new baby. We don’t introduce steak at  3 months old, we start with milk and baby food.

                                                                             1 Corinthians 3:2

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready

 John 3:3

                   Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

So along those lines, God has given me glimpses of things but in small bites. One of the things that He has recently revealed by no will of my own but only through His will is a deeper revelation about numbers. I had written in a post last year about seeing the #44 and how God would use it to wink at me but also it had many significant meanings in the bible( https://msinop1.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/speaking-without-words/.)  The Bible in Hebrew and Greek also in English all have numbers that correspond to each letter. So, with deeper insight of the divine it is more clear that every thing God does in the bible is backed up by numbers, which further shows His sovereignty and gives “the Bible is error because man wrote it theory” out the window. No man could have written this. It is God inspired. A few weeks ago I came across a video that blew my socks off. It was a man who had basically been taught by the spirit to understand this number backed wording of the bible to the 10th degree. I watched it several times and marveled a the deeper revelation God was showing me through this video. God does not just offer us salvation and that leave it at that until we die. He desires to have a deeper relationship with us, so that we can grow our spirit man, the new life in Christ passed infancy. When we desire and seek this, in His time He will spoon feed us deeper knowledge of who He is. It is a journey that is both exciting and risky, it takes us outside of our comfort zone; the comforts of the natural world and reasoning that we are accustomed to.

Think about all of the characters in the Bible. Our biblical heroes, the ones God gave us to learn from including Jesus. They were often called if not ALWAYS called to step out into a realm of “the unknown” as far as their earthly experience had taught them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNuQbHC-52c “44 DNA”

http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net/daily-weblogs/2011/10-2011/the-biblical-meaning-of-44/#.VIXXw2qMs5Y.facebook

Seek and you shall find. If you are ready for solid food ask the Lord to lead you to a deeper relationship, a growth spurt if you will.

Sugar High

A few months ago I was out with friends to dinner. We ate and talked and had a nice time. It was a typical mommy night out, finishing up with a trip to Wal-Mart. As we were meandering around Wal-Mart with no children to distract us, I word popped into my head. You know that God nudging thing. lol. The word was ketoacidosis. I knew I had heard the word before, but couldn’t recall what it meant. I tried to blow it off, but it kept coming back to me over and over again. We headed back to the car and I said to my friend can you look that up. She did and proceeded to read me the definition.

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a life-threatening condition that develops when cells in the body are unable to get the sugar (glucose) they need for energy because there is not enough insulin.

When the sugar cannot get into the cells, it stays in the blood. The kidneys filter some of the sugar from the blood and remove it from the body through urine.   http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/tc/diabetic-ketoacidosis-dka-topic-overview

I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what this could mean. I came home and wrote it in my journal.

I kind of forgot about it. But, this morning it dawned on me that within the past few weeks 3 people that I know died of Diabetes related complications. They had all been sick and all suffered so much.

I thought to myself well there is no such thing as coincidence. So I started to speak to God. I asked Him what does this mean? I don’t understand? I then made a phone call to a friend that was with me that day out to dinner and shopping. I related to her that I had put these two instances together, and did she have any insight to what it could mean. She felt it was a warning to me. We got off the phone and I again went to prayer.I have written before about the weakness everyone in my family has with food. I started to ask God is this about me? I had a full fledged conversation with Him.

I felt this was directly related to how much sugar I eat. That I am showing my girls how to live rightly through my actions in all other aspects, except when it comes to eating habits.

I immediately said to Him; Are you telling me I have to give up sugar? I don’t think I can do that. He reminded me of other great hurdles that I had said the same thing about, and showed me I how I had overcome them. I immediately went to the kitchen and made 2 frozen waffles covered in bananas and syrup. It was an act of defiance, I knew it but couldn’t stop myself. Or I didn’t want to stop myself.

He again convicted me and said this is not something you can avoid, I am asking you to do this for me. He then reminded me of something I had just written on Facebook the day before.

Are you interruptable? God often gives us unexpected blessings, on roads we never planned on traveling. ‪#‎trustgod‬ ‪#‎rejoicealways‬ ‪#‎Iaminterruptableareyou

 I thought I absolutely never planned on traveling a road of strict eating habits. Then I followed it up with but I love food sooo much . How could you take it away? My pure enjoyment? Then I relented, you will bless me on this road I didn’t plan on traveling. The ripple effect of my obedience will bless others? Hmmm that would be good I guess………..

In the midst of all this I knew I had to tell some one who could hold me accountable, but I so  did not want to tell anyone, then they will hold me accountable.

My friend called and I knew I had to tell her. She reminded me of how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his sons life on the altar in obedience. What a tough sacrifice that was, but God knew that Abraham would do it, even though he didn’t want to and great things developed from the obedience, the great inheritance.

I don’t want to do this, but my desire to please God is greater than my fleshly desires.