Author: Leslie Eaddy-Brooks

As we close 2021, I can’t help but reflect on the concept of leaving an inheritance or legacy. The dictionary defines Legacy as,

“1: something (such as property or money) that is received from someone who has died; 2: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.”

Sadly, so many don’t understand that we are here to leave an inheritance to future generations. The Bible declares in Proverbs 13:22,

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”

There are several other scriptures in the Bible that speak of an inheritance.

Psalm 112:1-3 declares,

“Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. ² His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. ³Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever.”

And again, in Proverbs 17:6

“Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father.”

Another scripture that speaks of inheritance is found in 3John 1:4

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”

Those of us with children have a responsibility to leave a lasting, positive legacy to our children. According to the Word of God, a good man will leave a good legacy to their children.

For those of us who never had children, as long as we have breath in our bodies, we have the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life. Every morning God allows us to awake, we have an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy of faith.

We never know how a kind word or deed will leave a lasting impression on those we encounter. You might be the very thing that a person needs to make a change in their lives.

This is Leslie Eaddy Brooks, Think About It!

My husband and I were getting ready for the day today and we were discussing how the words we speak are so powerful in shaping our destiny. Immediately the Holy Spirit flooded my heart with today’s blog post.

I began to think of Bible scriptures that discuss the power behind God’s words and the power He has given us with the words we speak.

In Genesis, we read how God SPOKE the world into existence. God said it and it was so.

In Matthew 17:19-20, there was a demonic spirit that needed to be cast out of a person. The disciples said, “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So, Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will SAY to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Proverbs 18:20-21 states, “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his MOUTH; From the produce of his lips, he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

In Isaiah 55:8-11 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

James 3:8-13 “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”

Our tongues have the power to heal or to kill! They have the power to restore or destroy. In the same way, we attract things to us based on our words. If we are always articulating defeat, lack, and a losing attitude, more than likely we will have the same type of people in our inner circle and we will see these things manifested in our lives

Likewise, if we confess victory, abundance, and a winning attitude, it will display in our lives and more that likely in the people we consider our inner circle of family and friends.

Beloved, my prayer is that we become more aware of the words we allow to come across our lips. What we say is the direct result of our thoughts. Our words produce our actions!

WORDS CARRY POWER! CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY!

This is Leslie Eaddy Brooks, Think About It!

Throughout history, man has built feats of marvel and wonder! Man has mastered the art of homebuilding as well. In building a home or any structure, it is important to first make sure that a proper and solid foundation is laid.

The Bible says in Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The interesting thing is, even when a natural house if built on firm foundation, over time, the house begins to settle. The natural occurrences of the shifting of the earth, wind, erosion, and other elements will also cause slight shifting in the house. Cracks in the walls and floor may soon appear. Generally, if the foundation is secured on solid footing, the cracks can easily be repaired without further damage.

Likewise, what happens when a house is NOT built on firm foundation. We see in Matthew 7 Jesus using a natural illustration to explain a spiritual principle. Anything that is not built upon the solid rock of faith in Jesus Christ, will soon crumble.

The longer we live, challenges are certain to occur in our lives. Our faith will be tested. Our health may be tested. Marriages are certain to be tested. People will disappoint us. Our finances will be tested.

We are so busy trying to fix the cracks we see in the wall. We keep putting spackle and plaster over the cracks. It appears to be working for a short while, but then the cracks start to reappear. What we fail to realize is that the cracks are but a mere result of a much bigger problem!! The problem is that the FOUNDATION is not secure! The wall was placed on foundation that was not built on secure ground!!!

In Luke 6:47-49 the Bible states Matthew 7: 24-27 again, “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

It is so important for us to build our lives, our decisions, and our faith on the solid rock which is Jesus Christ.

This is Leslie Eaddy Brooks, Think About It!

The Bible has stories etched thru it in the form of parables. Jesus used concepts and customs of that day to drive home spiritual truths. One of those stories is the story of old and new wineskins. The Bible states in Matthew 9: 16-17,

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved”

During the time Jesus walked on Earth, people carried liquid in animal skins. Fermented liquids, such as wine, would expand during the fermenting process. If you attached a new patch of animal skin to an already expanded ‘old’ animal skin, the new patch would expand as the fermenting wine expanded, thus causing the old skin to detach from the new patch.

At the time Jesus spoke this parable, John the Baptist was in prison for declaring that Jesus was the Lamb of God and for baptizing Him in the River Jordan. While in prison, John sent his disciples to see Jesus’ activities.

They returned to report that Jesus was gathering and eating with sinners. John may have been disturbed by this news because he was a keeper of the law, observing fasting rituals and abstaining from strong drinks and particular foods.

What Jesus was trying to illustrate in the parable is that He came to introduce something new that neither John the Baptist nor the people of that day had ever experienced before.

Isaiah 43:19 is a foretelling of the coming Messiah and the redemption of man back to God. It states, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

You cannot put a “new thing” into an old way of thinking. What Jesus was saying is, in order to contain the “new wine” He was offering, you have to remove your old way of thinking and accept His message in a new mind.

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

This is Leslie Eaddy Brooks, Think About It!

In the Bible, we read an account in I Samuel 17:38-51.

³⁸ So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. ³⁹ David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So, David took them off.“

⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. ⁴¹ So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. ⁴² And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. ⁴³ So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. ⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹ Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.

David could not use the equipment Saul gave him to fight Goliath. They were unfamiliar to him and if he would have used them, I believe he would not have been successful in defeating Goliath.

David had to use the tools he was comfortable with. He was very familiar with using a sling shot and stones, for he had used it many times before in protecting his sheep from harm. David also knew his God and he said to Goliath, “But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

The Bible also says in II Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

We cannot use natural weapons to fight spiritual battles. The Bible says our weapons are mighty through God.

Just as David recognized he could not use unproven weapons, so too, we must recognize as Christians, our only proven weapons to fight the enemy is the name of Jesus and the word of God.

This is Leslie Eaddy Brooks, Think About It!