Parental Advisory: Spritually Explicit Content "Under the Cover"

For the last few weeks I have been absorbing Psalm 91.  I have found myself longing to stay in the secret place of God; under the shadow of His wings and in His pavilion.  Lord knows I have been going through some things, but as my Bishop and spiritual father told me yesterday I Must be a VIP.  Then my spiritual mother came along and sang to me and reassured me that as long as I stay in the secret place with King Jesus, I don't need nobody else and I can't be touched.  She explained that there is freedom in God's pavilion.  Then God revealed to me that I have the choice to throw one of two kinds of parties.  I can wallow in the pit and have a pity party of one, or I can stand on the Word of God and have a praise party where God will inhabit and dwell; and where the spirit of the Lord is . . . there is liberty!

I called this Under the Cover because my Bishop reassured me that through my steps of obedience and of returning to serve that God has restored me and has kept me under His covering.  We must choose to stay under the covering and in position under the leadership and tutelage of those who God entrusts to watch over us.  

I thought and asked God what it meant to have position and to stay in position and He brought to my memory the story of Jacob and Esau.  Esau sold his position or his birthright for a pot of beans.  In other words he gave away the rights to his future to try to satiate an immediate feeling of hunger because the hunger had become magnified in his mind--that's the kind of thing that can happen to us when we are not under the covering and getting that reassurance from our spiritual parents.  

But God is looking for some individuals who can endure and who won't trade their future divine appointments to try to satisfy immediate flights of fancy.  He wants us to rest in Him for all our needs.  What we must realize is that our physical desires, needs, issues are temporary and must be brought under the subjection of the Holy Ghost.  We can do this through God's process for our lives, through listening to our spiritual leaders and through losing ourselves in the Word of God through consecration and dedication.

There's another reason that we must stay in position.  Consider the story of David at Ziglag.  David and the party that was with David could have just fell out because the enemy had stolen all of their possessions and had taken their families as slaves.  David cried and the men with him cried and considered killing David, but David sought God and asked God should I pursue this enemy?  God assured David that he should pursue the enemy and that he would recover all.  Now if David hadn't decided to head toward in the direction of the enemy when he did then he would never have run into the servant that they had left for dead.  That servant was in the position to help David to recover all.  David caught up to the enemy and got all of his stuff back and then some!

With what i have been going through I have asked God to just let me rest.  I keep telling friends that I need to lean on somebody for a change.  I'm tired for being the strong one.  I laugh to think about this all now because God has surrounded me with people who are not buying any of what I was trying to sell!  They told me to keep it pushing!  God told me that there is no time for slowing down, resting or stopping because kingdom work is still at stake.  He also told me that if I rest now, I won't be able to recover all.  I have to keep pushing in order to experience the richness of God's anointing for my life and in order to recover all and to be properly restored to my rightful place in Him.  

I knew this was absolutely true when I saw my pastor after a long time of not seeing her and the first thing that I did was fall into her arms and experience her mothering and nurturing me and giving me words of love and encouragement.  She may be younger than me in age, but her anointing is that of a mother of nations.  After she loved on me and bandaged me up, my Bishop gave me a hug and said, "Alright now, we are going to move forward from this Elder."  Isn't that just what fathers do!  They do not allow you to wallow.  They want you to brush yourself off and get back in it.  It is nurturing too, but in a different way.  See fathers know that in order for us to stay encouraged and to stay focused we cannot allow the fall or the subsequent bruise to become our focus.  For example, if we were learning to ride a bike, falling off of the bike and getting hurt from the fall are part of the process of learning to ride a bike.  It is not the full part, but we cannot deny that it is a part.  But the most important part of learning to ride a bike is getting back on and trying again and again until we are successful.

It helps me to know that I do not have the space or the opportunity to sit around feeling sorry for myself.  There is yet work that needs to be done.

Read Psalm 91 and get under the cover today.  Stay there and don't be afraid to go through some things.  It is all part of the process.  Not because God is trying to punish you, but because it is just part of the process just like learning to ride that bike.  Why is it that we can accept that we will fall and get hurt learning to ride a bike, but we fall out at the thought that we may have go to through something for the cause of Christ!  Listen to your spiritual father and shake it off, breathe, stretch and let it go.  There is kingdom work to be done.  

Brain Washing

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:5
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  Philippians 4:8

There are other scriptures like these two passages that admonish Christians to submit our minds to a changing.  There is the idea that whatever we've brought with us isn't enough to get us where we want to go so we need to put on the mind of Christ and focus on virtuous things.

It's so funny, but I received a speeding ticket yesterday morning.  Someone that I work with who sits on the other side of the building sent me a message, "I heard you got a speeding ticket!"  I shared that I had and that I wasn't surprised by how quickly this bad news had spread-I think I used the term with lightening speed.  It's a shame that the gospel of Christ doesn't spread as fast or the fact that He's a healer; He's a keeper; He's the lover of my soul.  I wish this news was always on the minds of Christians and on the tongues of everyone I knew.

It's 3:00 in the morning and God has been waking me at this time every morning for a few weeks now.  I am beginning to see that He wants to wash my mind.  He wants to yet and again change my paradigm.  He wants to give me a lasting Word that I can hide in my heart and He keeps drawing me into the secret place.  You know when you are in the throws of a trial or tribulation that has the potential to take you out because God will call to you like He called to Samuel in the wee hours of the morning and He will hide you under the shadow of His wings.  He will show you Himself and allow you to stand still and see His salvation.

God gives us this safe place to dwell so that we can begin to receive a transfer of knowledge, power, strength and Word from Him.  He does this when He needs us to see things differently.  Plainly, God sees your struggle.  As a matter of fact He has allowed your struggle because He happens to know what you need to break the old you and to make you over into a vessel of honor that He can glorify in.  We as Christians need to learn that God speaks to us in more ways than one.  He reveals Himself to us in spite of our feebleness and ineptness or inability to see Him working things out for our good.  We want the power of God, but many of us surely do not want to go through what it takes to have it.  It takes a mind change.  It takes a washing away of me and an adaptation of Him.  It takes me accepting Gods will and to stop trying to fix my situation.  There are some things that cannot be fixed.  There are some things that you are just going to have to go all the way through so that you can experience the journey of overcoming.  Not for you, but for the edifying of the saints and for the glorying of God.  For the lifting up of someone else.  So that you can speak a true word from the Lord of how He is able and will deliver.

While you are in the middle of your situation, think about things that are pure, lovely, just and of a good report, think about virtuous things and of praising our God.  Think on the love of God for you.  Think about what He has already done and then simply rest.  Rest assured that all that He is taking you through is to renew your mind, to protect your heart and to make you over.  Today, let Him wash your mind clean.  Ask Him for the word of life to speak over your own family and over your own situation.  Stop trying to fix it and just go through the process.  Don't prolong it.  Let the Father reveal Himself to you and keep you in the secret place.  Think about the things of God.  Be encouraged that this too shall pass and you will be better for it.  Better for God's use and better for Kingdom work.

Weight Watchers

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. . .

For the past four weeks God has instructed me to change.  That change has come through a simple movement-walking.  I've walked with friends, I've walked with my daughter, and I've walked on my own, but all in all God says for me to keep walking.

As I walk He surrounds me with His peace so much so that when I experience hardship, I am now somewhat perplexed by how I'm not bothered.  Yesterday my car refused to start and I wasn't in a position to have it repaired immediately.  But God stilled my mind and I focused on Him as Jehovah Jireh.  When I did this I was able to rest.  I don't know how, but I do know that God will provide.

He is also showing me His love.  I am surrounded by people who pray for me and with me, who refuse to allow me to fall and stay there.  God has dispatched angels to tend to my needs and to make the way open for my deliverance.  Who wouldn't want to serve a God who loves like this?  He has hidden me in His secret place and He's keeping me there in spite of myself and an enemy intent on my destruction.  He is lovingly and gently taking me through a process that doesn't always feel good, but that is wholly meant for my good.

During this past four weeks of walking in my change process I have lost nearly 20 pounds!  God brought this scripture to my remembrance.  He said any time we as Christians begin to exercise in the discipline of faith, the Word, prayer and praise the weight of the world will be released from us and we will no longer be tethered by sin.  God showed me that as much as I want it, I can't lose the weight any faster than the process will allow and even during the process I will make mistakes, but the goal is to keep moving forward.  Forward means continual improvement.  It means change.  It means I'm obeying God's commandment for me.  And in this time of change there is so much freedom in my praise.  My sister, Minister Cheryl Cheadle, sang of how my praise is not your praise and there is a story behind my praise.  Whew!  I'm shouting.  I hope you are too!

God said to me that the process of dropping the weight is inclusive of all of my tears, my apprehension, my hoping, my doubting, my highs and my lows, my happy times and my struggles.  It includes my new experiences and my past sufferings.  God assured me that with each step, each time I pick my foot up again and place it back down there is a little less of me-the weight-and a little more of Him-the great I am.  Last, I have to tell you that you missed it if you were not at Urban Empowerment today.  Bishop Peat preached about living the double Dutch life.  There ate always multiple things going on in our lives.  We must start out slowly.  Sometimes we'll mess up and we can't jump in.  But we will progress through discipleship and developing trust in God that He will do what He said He would do.  This allows us to drop the weight and double Dutch like a pro!

Today pick up the commandment of God for your life and watch the weight melt away.