The Heat is on!

Good morning!  I stopped by to tell you this morning that you may be in or about to go through some heated situations, but God wants you to know that He has purposed these heated times in your life.  The goal is to refine you, to unbind you and to remind you that He is your starting point!  So the heat is on!

Consider Daniel Chapter 3 and the story of the 3 Hebrew boys.  Recall that these young men took a stand and each refused to bow down to the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had commissioned to built.  The first thing that you have to know is that today is your day to take a stand against some stuff that has been built up in your life or some things that other people have tried to place in your life and give a larger presence or give more precedence that our Holy God.  You already know in your heart, mind and spirit that you can't bow, you can't bend, you can't move and you can't blend to anything that's not of God.  Instead you've got to tell yourself as these young men did, that even if God doesn't deliver me, I KNOW that HE can because in fact, He is my starting point and He is the only one true and living God.

Second, once these men decided to take a stand, they saw that the enemy had attempted to lay a trap.  See there were some folks who didn't like these young men.  They didn't like Daniel.  They didn't like how God was blessing them, promoting them and working in their lives so as a result of their own insecurities, selfishness and misunderstandings, they wanted to get rid of them all.  So they plotted and maneuvered to get the king to build the image, knowing that these young men would take the stand to not bow, and then they'd have their chance to finally get rid of them.  Don't you know that there are some folks that the enemy is using to try to snuff you out?  There are some situations that the devil is using to trying to get rid of you.  It may be intimidating, but you have got to learn how to take a stand and to say like these young men did, "It's for God I live and it's for God I'll die!"

Next, these young men were sentenced to be thrown into the fiery furnace because the king could not go back on the word of his decree so the enemy thought that these men were down for the count.  As a matter of fact the king ordered for the fire to be turned up 7 times hotter than normal.  He was upset that these young men wouldn't do what he wanted them to do.  You better understand that the enemy is so determined to get rid of you that he will put it in some one's heart to turn up the heat in your situation.  The heat may get turned up on your job.  The heat may get turned up in your home.  The heat may get turned up in your own mind.  And just like with the 3 Hebrew boys the heat gets turned up so much so that even the very person throwing you in gets consumed!  But I'm came to tell you that sometimes we spend precious energy and time thinking about the person taking us into the heated place or taking us into our fiery situation.  But don't worry baby because that person is going to be consumed!  Your goal is to remain focused on the fact that God's got you in His hands.  Don't be afraid because the enemy sends his most mighty men to bind you up and cast you into the heated situation.  Don't focus on that person other than to know that they are positioning you into a place where you can see for your self that God is your starting point.

Notice in the story that folks could see what the 3 Hebrew boys were going through because when you read it says that Nebuchadnezzar was astonished.  Although they had thrown three men into the furnace bound when they looked there were four men walking around.  See your adversary wants to see you down and bound.  He wants to watch your destruction.  I find the perspective of the story particularly telling.  You see the story didn't say that the 3 Hebrew boys testified or talked about the 4th person in the furnace.  Instead, it said that the very person who ordered their destruction saw 4 folks walking around in the furnace and was astonished!  When you make God your starting point, the enemy may think he has you bound and down in a hot situation that's going to break you down, OH! but God will show up and walk around with you in your furnace.  Not only that, but He will cover you and protect you and let the enemy watch it all!  

What you need to know today is that God is concerned about you.  So much so that He will allow a hot situation to occur in your life.  But the heat is meant to refine you.  It's meant to burn things off of you, but not to touch you.  It's meant to unbind you or free you of the ropes and ties and the things that have bound you up.  And finally, you need to recognize that God is always there with the purpose to keep you and protect you in the very midst of the heat when it has been turned up hotter just for you, that's only because that's what it is going to take to get some stuff out of your life and off of you.  Endure it.  Accept it.  Trust God in it.

Last and this is for free, one day last week, I thought about the scripture that talks about how sometimes we cannot feel God on our right or on our left.  But God told me and told me to tell you not to worry, because as long as God has filled you then He's feeling you whether or not you feel Him!  And because He's feeling you, you're covered!  Have a blessed and bright day and remember today to take a stand on the word of God and make Him your starting point! 

Try, Fail, Change: Prune, Try Again and Grow

The CEO of IBM quoted Try, Fail, Change this morning.  I immediately thought of John 15.  It's no coincidence that God conveyed the example of Jesus as the True Vine through John.  Consider the following from John chapter 15:

1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 

If you consider yourself to be a branch, then imagine what's on a branch and what comes forth from a branch.  Branches are compelled to birth fruit of some kind.  Sometimes it's flowers, could be nuts, or literal and edible fruit, or it could just be leaves.  If you have watched a tree grow and bear fruit and if you have subsequently collected the fruit of the tree, there are some basic things that you learn to accept.  First you cannot take all of the fruit from a tree.  You cannot pick a tree totally dry of it's fruit or eventually it will fail to produce.  Second a tree must be properly pruned in order to harvest consistent and continual growth and to produce more fruit.  The fruit of each tree must be treated differently - not all trees are alike.  Some fruit must stay on the tree until it is ripe or almost ripe.  Some fruit must be removed from the tree and allowed to ripen that way.  In the end the key is to learn through the planting (trying), through the failure to yield fruit (failing) and through rethinking how to approach the situation so the tree will bear fruit (change).  

Also consider that not all of the fruit that is produced is edible or usable.  But just because a branch produces some non-edible fruit doesn't mean that the branch is no good and should be cut off.  Instead it is an acceptance that part of growing is failure.

What I am trying to articulate for you today is to consider the times of your life where you have tried and failed.  There is a wealth of information to gain and learn from failure.  It's in our failure where God's strength is brought to the forefront.  Its in our failure where we can do nothing but acknowledge that God has sustained us, kept us, forgiven us, moved us forward and picked us up.  

Today as you go through your day, maybe you will be faced with a failure in your personal life or in your work life.  You may have to deal with the fallout of a failure.  Transparent moment for me - I have been blessed with opportunities for a great deal of education.  I am an extremely introverted person.  I am very task oriented and driven.  However, over the last year, after a failed marriage, I am learning that I must show the people around me that I do treasure and value them.  Because I am introverted and task driven, I find it difficult and somewhat painful to grow in my personal relationships.  It's not at all because I do not value the relationship.  It's more because I have not developed properly in that area.  When become adults, everyone around us assumes that we know how to respond, how to act and what to do and for the most part many of us, even knowing our weak areas are too prideful to admit them so that we can be pruned and learn from our failures in order to grow.  

I so treasure my friends who know all of this about me and accept me anyway in my failings.  I feel like those are true friendships.  There are people that I'd like to reach out to, but I sometimes even fail to form the relationship outside of my own mind.  I think how great it would be to be some one's friend or to have a better bond with people that I love and care about, but years of abuse, lack of trust, and under developed social skills have stunted my growth in the area of creating and properly maintaining personal relationships.  For some, it seems that personal relationships are so easy.  They find it easy to talk to others, to share a piece of themselves, to trust and to develop friendships.  For me establishing personal relationships is painful because it's just difficult for me to talk at the right time or to know what I should say and to feel like I'm being genuine and real when I say it.  Most of the time I feel like relationships I want simply pass me by or I let them go too easily.

BUT . . . I realize that I can't stop trying. Even when I've experienced an epic failure and all of the associated hurts.  Just like everyone else, I need personal relationships.  I am not immune to the the need, even though, I sometimes tell myself that so that I don't have to push through difficult conversations or situations.  Sometimes it is directly in the middle of my failure that I learn the most valuable lessons, like how to be loyal and how to keep confidences.

I am glad that this area of my life is only a portion of what's on my branch and it's a fixable portion.  Through my failures, my tenacity to recover quickly and to keep trying and to want to grow, I believe that God sees that in me and that He cuts those areas that need to be cut and allows me to continue to grow.  Not everyone will stick around to see that growth and to know that they have a part in the results.  Not everyone who does stick around will readily recognize my growth, but I thank God that He will do it anyway for His glory and for my edification.

Think of yourself as a branch, which has been grafted into the true Vine.  There may be some unusable fruit or some leaves that are not so green.  No worries.  Yield that up to the Father who is the keeper or the husbandman as the scripture puts it.  It's His job to observe the branches and the fruit and to prune in such a way that will produce more.  Pruning may not feel good, but in order for you and I to be at our most productive, it is necessary.

Keep trying.  Accept that there will be failure.  Learn from the failure and make chances.  Allow yourself to be pruned based upon those needed changes.  Try again.  Grow.

Do You

Have you ever looked back over your life and began to regret what you hadn't done or what you hadn't accomplished?  If you have then you're just like Kind David!  In 1 Chronicles chapters 22 and 23, David laments over his regret at not being able to build a temple for God.  It was an accomplishment that he so wanted to achieve because he loved God and he wanted the Ark of the Covenant to be in a stable place.

This feeling is normal.  There comes a time when you realize that you cannot do everything that you've envisioned.  This shouldn't make you sad.  It should actually make you hopeful.  There's so much work to do in the Kingdom of God that such a notion should make us realize that we should be busy doing what we were instructed by God to do and moving out of the way so that others can do the same.  We are part of a body and each of us has a function and a purpose.  I cannot do what you do and you cannot do what I do, but when we work together we can fulfill the work of the Lord.

The scripture above reveals that God specifically told David that he would not be able to build the temple as he had so desired.  Guess what?  God told David this and David accepted it.  This information didn't make David any less a great king.  It didn't diminish his accomplishments or feats.  It made no dent in who he was in God.  David still remained a man after God's own heart.  He still wrong songs.  He still secured a great nation.  He still was an awesome leader.

When you come to the realization that you can't do everything for everybody all the time and that you may not get to do some of the things that you've envisioned accomplishing in your lifetime, please do not take this realization as some type of defeat or as some indication that you are less than who God called you to be or not where you should be in life.  There are reasons that God called you to the position He called you to fulfill.  There's a plan and a purpose just for what you're supposed to accomplish and do.  If we continue reading in 1 Chronicles we find that it was David's job to prepare the way for Solomon to have the years of rest and peace needed to fully focus on building the temple for God.  David's purpose was not to build the temple, but to set Solomon up for success so that he could build the temple.  David made sure that there were resources laid aside with money, skilled people, and items that would go into the temple.  David made sure that he built good strong relationships with the rulers around him so that there would be enough years of peace so that the temple could be built and so that Solomon would have people he could reach out to for other materials and funding that he would need.  David even began the process by setting up the Ark in a stable place and instructing the Levites on how to proceed from that time forth.  So while there was one ultimate thing that David didn't do, there was so much more that he did do that made the temple building process even possible.

So now look at your own life.  Who are you preparing the way for?  What is God doing through you that someone else will be able to pick up and run with?  What are you laying up so that someone else can use to further the Kingdom of God?  Do not be saddened by what you haven't done, but instead be encouraged at what God has purposed for you to do.

Here's a transparent moment . . . I recently went on a 3 day fast.  I went into it with my prayer requests and supplications, with my thoughts of what I needed to accomplish and where I thought I needed to be.  After it was over, someone came to me and shared their struggle.  Instantly, I realized that I had not gone through the consecration for myself.  I had gone through it for that individual.  I was able to minister to that person because of my preparation and out of fulfilling what God had told me to do.  It was both a rewarding experience and a painful realization.  It was rewarding because I knew instantly that God told me to do something, I did it and He was glorified in it.  It was painful because there was something that I had wanted so much, that I was praying about and I learned that the moment wasn't about me or what I wanted.  So at the end of it all, I turned to God and acknowledged that His will be done and not my own.  It hurt as I imagine that King David hurt when God told him that he would not be the one to build the temple.  But like David instead of focusing on what you can't do, focus on what you can do to prepare the way.

Today, your mind my be invaded by thoughts of what you don't have, where you haven't been, what you haven't seen, what you haven't done for the Lord or what you know you'll never be able to accomplish.  If and when that should occur, remember that you remain who God called you to be.  You are not diminished as a person.  Your godly position does not change.  Ask God to shift your paradigm and help you to prepare the way.  Ask God to show you how valuable you are and how important it is for you to be obedient to what He has called you to do.  And remember that without a David there would have been no Solomon to build the temple.  Without a you, someone else would not be in a position to do what they need to do for God.  Settle your heart and mind in knowing that God's purpose for you is just for you to fulfill.  Do it with joy.  Do it to the best of your ability.  Do it with all obedience to God and He will bless you greatly.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I was reading a devotional this morning and the writer admonished that since we are so blessed and since we are the hands and feet of Jesus in the world today that we should do our best to give to others by donating gently used clothing, shoes, etc.  What stood out most to me was that the writer said that Jesus was a master recycler.

In fact He is.  Take a look at the definition of recycle:

1. Convert (waste) into reusable material.
2. Return (material) to a previous stage in a cyclic process.

We are so used to talking about God's creation power, but today I want to talk to you about His power to recycle, to make renew, to make over and to restore.  When I look at the definition above I get excited because what it shows me is that when we accept that Jesus does this in our lives, it gives us hope that truly it ain't over until God says it's over.  I can put so much of my current situation into perspective because I see that Jesus is recycling me, my voice, my ministry, my calling, and my destiny.  He is taking parts of me that I thought were wasted and used up and He is conforming those things to a new use, for His glory and for my edification.

In my prayer time this morning I asked God to use me.  Actually, it has been a consistent prayer of mine since I was a seven year old just learning to pray.  I used to imagine myself as a tool that He could take out and use when He wanted.  I still see that.  When we grow up sometimes we feel regretful about whole portions of our lives.  We feel like it was time wasted, hopes lost, dreams deferred or disappointments in people.  But I truly trust that all things do work for the good of those who love the Lord and who are the called according to His purpose.  So there's no experience that I have endured where God wasn't trying to mold me and conform me into reusable material for His glory.

God is able to return us to a right standing in Him.  He is able to reconcile us to a Holy place and again this is for our edification, but most of all it is for His glory.  Following are some scriptures about God's restoration power:

Jeremiah 30:17, ESV For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord… Isaiah 61:7, ESV Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.

Joel 2:25-26, ESV I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Job 42:10, ESV And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Isaiah 1:18, ESV Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Psalm 51:10,12 NLT Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. 

Examine yourself today.  Are you in a place where you have been wondering about your current purpose?  Have you been a worker in the Kingdom and now you're feeling like your season is over?  Have you been in a holding pattern for a while?  

If your answer to any of the above questions is Yes, then just know that you may in fact be in a place where God is reducing some things from your life; maybe even some people, so that you can travel lighter, move faster, be more responsive and have more ability to move when He needs you to move.  If you answered Yes, then God may just be moving you into a new season in your life where He wants to reuse you.  God provides more and more clarity for us as we seek Him diligently and where you may have once been used in one capacity in ministry, God may be moving you to a new place or a higher level so that you can be reused.  Don't fight Him on this because it is for your edification.  He's not through with you yet.  Don't give up on Him!  Endure what you need to endure just like Job.  Go through all that you need to go through to be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that God can put your life to reuse!

Last, if you answered Yes to the previous questions, God just might be recycling you.  He just might be preparing the places in your life that looked like: wasted time, wasted space, wasted talent, wasted potential, wasted effort, failed marriage, failed relationships and wasted opportunities, for a new use.  Do not limit God with your imagination, but instead allow Him to work through your limitless faith and trust in Him to do what He needs to do.  Ask God today to allow your will to align with His will so that you can pray strategically, so that when you are in His presence you can seek His purpose for your now in your current state because I know that He still has use for me, which lets me know that He still has use for you.  Let the Master work with you.  Be flexible, pliable, malleable, and mold-able.  If He needs to burn some things off of you, let Him.  If he needs to wash you over and over, endure it.  If He needs to shake you to get some things loose from your life, take it.  Today, make it up in your mind that it's not too late for you because God wants to reduce, reuse and recycle you.  He wants you to become a new creation.  He wants you to be renewed in your mind and in your heart.  Take on the mind of Christ.  Accept this opportunity for God to do His greatest work in you with what you thought was nothing.  As Pastor Christine Woods would preach, God works well with nothing.  There is an awesome potential in your nothing!  Because God can take your nothing and turn it in to His reusable material for His glory.

What's in Your Weighting Room?

The entire 27th Psalm is a great read for encouragement, but there's one verse in particular that caught my attention yesterday morning as I spent time in God's presence during intercessory prayer.  He asked me what my waiting room looked like.  I was clueless until I read Psalm 27:14, Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

God asked me what I was doing between the time that I made my supplication known to Him and the time of the manifestation of His promise to me.  He asked me if I was being of good courage and if I was allowing Him to strengthen my heart.  He asked me if I was getting to know Him better during the wait.  He asked if I was re-learning to trust Him in my waiting room.

The interesting thing about waiting is that we all have to do it.  None of us are exempt.  We can do it in a way that facilitates what God wants to do for, in and through us or we can do it in a way that just makes the wait longer.  Once, I was heading to the cashier's office at a university.  While I was in the office, I walked past a young man in the line who said aloud, "Man this line is too long.  I'm not going to school this semester!"  It was at that moment that I changed my philosophy that everyone deserves a chance to go to college.  It was the most asinine statement I'd heard at that point in my life.  Who would throw away the opportunity for higher education because they had to wait in a line, but reflecting back on that now and typing out this blog, we throw away the blessings of God everyday by getting out of the line.  Funny thing though, we wind up praying the same prayer for the same thing and waiting even longer on the same manifestation because of our ignorance, impatience and immaturity. 

We all must wait for something, for some reason at some point.  It may be at the DMV, the grocery store, the bank, or at the movie theater.  It may be waiting on your change to come, on your ministry to develop, on your next level in spiritual maturity, or on your calling to come forth.  It may be on a spouse, on a new car, on your financial situation to change, or on the baby you've prayed so earnestly to God to have.  

We all have the experience of waiting.  It is part of the human condition.  The question is not whether or not we wait.  The question is how are you waiting?  What's in your waiting room?  I was chatting about this with a friend and she said it reminded her of a doctor's office.  While we wait to be seen by the doctor, in the hopes that she/he can help fix what ails us, we have to wait for our turn.  You see some people reading magazines, others may be on Facebook or texting, or something on their smart phones; still others may be holding a baby or chastising a child, and there's that one guy or gal who has to complain about how long the doctor is taking and how the doctor must be running way behind because they got there at such and such time and it's been over an hour.  If you're not this person and if you're like me you probably cringe and try to find a distraction so that you don't have to listen.  But there are those who are persuaded to join in the negative conversation and soon there's a group of folks feeling sorry for themselves and justified at judging a situation that they know little or nothing about at all.  Sort of like Job's friends huh . . .?

The thing about waiting well is asking God what He wants you to gain during the wait.  Generally speaking, meaning I can't tell you what you need to acquire during your wait, but I can say that whatever it is that you're waiting on, is something that's needed for God's glory and for your edification.  It is the key that will unlock the promise.  It is something that needs to be added to you so that you will be ready for your promise.

Think about it this way.  Let's say, you're recently divorced . . . and your finances are horrible . . . and you don't really trust . . . and you're shy . . . and you're a bit overweight . . . and you're tired . . . and you need to spend time with God . . . and you need to read the Bible . . . and you know for sure that you don't want to be alone.  Given all of these things you begin to pray and ask God for the blessing of a help mete or a spouse.  You're wanting your Ruth or your Boaz.  

As He does always, He answers you.  He shows you a vision of your future.  But think about it seriously, if your spouse were to come to you in your broken condition would you be ready for him or her?  Would you like you in all that mess?  Would you want you like that?  So what happens is between the time we ask God for something and the time that it becomes manifest in our lives, we get this wonderful opportunity to exercise in our waiting (weighting) room.  We get to pray and lay prostrate in His presence.  We get to shed a few pounds and lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily distracts us.  We get to get our finances in order by living within our new normal means, paying tithes, giving an offering of our time and our money to Him.  We get to read and learn who He is.  We get to observe how He moves in our lives; rearranging things, people, scenarios and situations.  We get to trust Him beyond what we have ever done before and slowly we are encouraged and our hearts, minds, bodies and spiritual beings are strengthened.  We start to look good financially, spiritually, physically and mentally.  We are less likely to complain in the waiting room because we have purpose, goals and objectives.  We have something to do.  We have something to strive for.  I offer to you today that no matter what it is that you've just come out of, that you are about to go into or currently find yourself in, God is watching your waiting room activities.  Will you extend your time in the waiting room because you're not redeeming it?

Look around your waiting room today and consider how you're waiting.  Consider what you asked God for and what He has shown you.  Don't worry about the how, the why, or the when; that's God's part.  Focus on the yes, the what do you want me to learn Lord, the is this glorifying you Lord, the how is this edifying me Lord.  Focus on the strengthening of your core and your inner man.  God wants to grow you.  He wants to stretch you.  He wants to mature you, but most of all, my job today is to tell you that it IS HIS good will to bless you.  He is not withholding any good thing from you.  He is preparing you in your wait.  He is making you ready in your wait.  He wants you to be able to handle the promise without losing it.  He wants you to appreciate it.  He wants you to be happy in it.  Look around your waiting room.  What you need for your next level is in there, and as my friend told me, God really meant for you to wait well because He said it twice in the same verse!

Baggage Fees: God is trying to lighten your load

Matthew 11:28 - 30 reads:

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

There's a song whose lyrics say, I'm climbing up on the rough side of the mountain and I'm doing my best to make it in.  Those lyrics always make me laugh because I try to image someone climbing up the smooth side of a mountain.  You thought about that right?  It makes no sense.  What makes a mountain climbable is the fact that it is rough and you have something that you can grab onto to pull yourself up.

Interestingly you never see professional mountain climbers carrying a lot of stuff.  They're not carrying huge baggage.  They have their equipment, water, something to eat and maybe a tent, but they can fit it all into a back pack.  As you are ascending to the next level of your life, God wants you to divest yourself of your baggage.  He so wants this that He assess baggage fees.  Yep.  That's right.  The air lines didn't think of it first.  God did.

He charges fees for the issues that you don't want to put down or let go of so that you can sore higher in Him.  For some of us that baggage is a person or some people in our lives.  God has been telling you to let it go.  He's been saying it loud and clear so He begins to assess fees.  The person starts to act uncharacteristically terrible, treating you horribly.  You just get to a place where the fee is too high and you let it go.  Guess what that was God's fee!  Or maybe it's a job, a house, a car, a pet, I do not know what your baggage is, but God wants you to let it go.

How do I know?  Because the scripture referenced above tells me.  God said, for those of you who have a lot of baggage and it is weighing you down come and bring it to me in exchange I will give you my yoke and my burden, which are light.  With the tools that God has for you, you can soar.  It's like the hiker's backpack.  God's yoke and burden are the things you need to help you climb up the rough side of the mountain.  You may find a word of wisdom in that bag.  You may find prayer in that bag.  You may find anointing in that bag.  Whatever is in that backpack is what God is trying to get to you so that you can soar.

So don't be afraid when folks start falling away from you or when God begins to speak to you about divesting yourself of some of your poor relationships.  Don't be upset if you lose some material things.  Don't get all caught up in stuff, when God is trying to take you to a new level in Him.  So today, I say, when you see me getting rid of some people, some stuff, paring down my lifestyle, don't mistake me for someone whose lost it, instead understand that God is teaching me to lighten my load because that stuff or those people can't go with me where I need to go.  They're too heavy and God needs me to be svelte.  He needs to be neat and fit so that I am prepared for the climb.

Today, think about what you are trying to hold onto and the fee that you're paying to try to keep it in your life.  Is it worth it?  I'm believing not.  Instead, drop all that and take up God's burden and yoke.  It will fit better and you'll be able to travel faster. 

It's Fair

Luke 12:48 reads as follows:

But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The context of this entire chapter is Jesus sharing with the crowd that had thronged him as well as with his disciples how to prioritize, be aware, watch and prepare.  But this particular verse seems a bit unfair at first blush.  When I read the verse I was reminded of my 6th grade teacher Stella Fiddemont.  As a matter of fact, earlier in the week, I shared with a friend about my fractions moment at the board in Ms. Fiddemont's class.  We were studying fractions and we all had a turn at the board to solve problems that she had given us.  It was my turn along with several other students and I was struggling.  It was adding fractions with differing denominators, you know, where you have to figure out the least common denominator before you can add?  Anyway, the students next to me were struggling too.  But I watched Ms. Fiddemont help each of them.  I raised my hand for help too and she said, "No.  You can do this on your own."  I had a whole gamut of emotions.  I couldn't believe that she would help the students next to me and not me!  And what did she mean I could do it?  If I could then why couldn't the kid next to me do it without help or intervention?  I only recently understood and it's because of the context of this chapter.

One might ask themselves if the servant didn't know what was going on, why would he be beaten with few stripes?  I get it.  It's the same reason that Stella Fiddemont didn't help me that day.  God deals with each of us differently.  We each need a different level of motivation which is connected to our personality, our learning style, or ability to hear, listen and comprehend, our maturity and our gifting from God.  When God gives you  a gift, He requires productivity from you based upon the gift.  When He leaves something in your hands He expects for you to do something great with it.

When I was standing at the board frowning because my teacher wouldn't help me, I didn't realize that she didn't help me because she saw in me the ability to solve it myself.  She saw me in a place and a space where I didn't see myself.  I saw myself in a weaker place; in an ignorant place, but she knew that I had the knowledge and the skill.  Now, nearly 30 years later I see that and I see what God was building in me.  When I experience something with God it is like a journey of "self discovery" to use a phrase from my sister, Minister Sheila Walls.  When I go through it, then I have more compassion for others.  I see what God wants others to experience in Him and its beautiful.  I can see that He wants people to know that He loves them so.  I can see that He wants to reconcile them through the blood of His son.  When I experience a feeling of helplessness like I felt at the board, I know how other people feel when they reach that same place and it is the drive of that burden that makes me love people.  It is what makes me the Elder that Bishop and Pastor Woods appointed me to be.  When I walk a path, I immediately search for others who are also experiencing the same hardships and I give them the Word that was given to me.  That's how God deals with me and why He has to take me on my self discovery journey the way that He does.  I will no longer see the stripes that I have to bear as part of this process as a negative thing or as me missing out or not getting the help that I need.  Instead I will see it as me taking my few stripes because God has given me much and is holding me responsible for producing based upon the gifts that He has provided.

Think about your gifts today.  What has God given you?  Are you a giver?  Are you an encourager?  Do you teach, preach, pray for others?  Do you play an instrument?  Can you sing?  Are you good ad administration, evangelism or helping?  Whatever God has given you and in whatever way He has provided it to you figure out how make productive use of it.  God is waiting on you to become what He has always seen you as being.

Ready. . . Set . . . WAIT!

I remember a song I used to hear when I was a little girl titled, "When the Lord gets ready, you've got to move!"

I was sitting in service at Urban Empowerment this past Sunday, thinking, "Lord why do you have me in a season of waiting?"  It feels awful to cognitively realize that you cannot move.  But there is such a lesson in being still and I so need to hear from God right now and learn what I need to learn in this season.

God gave me some encouragement to help me through my waiting and I hope that sharing it with you will also helping you if you are in a season of waiting too.  He told me that there are somethings that I need to stop doing, there are somethings that I need to start doing and there are some things that He will do.

Stop wondering why you have to wait and why you are where you are.  I have a friend who has found richness in stopping to pick up coins.  He says that it's really not even about the coin at all.  It is about being obedient to God to stop, reach down and pick it up.  I found that interesting because that's how God works with us right?  I mean we see something that catches our attention.  We have the option to stop and address it or to keep going on past it.  When we stop and address it, say bend down to pick up a coin, we never know what we just ducked from and missed as a result of our obedience and to boot, we are now richer and more edified for having been obedient.  God places us strategically where we are for His glory and for our edification.  So instead of asking God why you're stuck where you are . . .

Start asking God what you need to learn while you are where you are.  God is trying to get you to gain something.  He is trying to add something to your life.  He is trying to prepare you for your next move.  Rest.  Be still and she His salvation.  And while you are in the midst of learning what you need to learn and being prepared for your next level . . .

Stop telling everyone else around you about your credentials, your background, your qualifications, your education and your expertise.  Evidently, all of that is not what you need to get to your next level.  We desire to glow, go and grow, but God has to qualify you for His promises and His blessing so until He refines you, learn to be still and take the heat.  Stop trying to rush God.  He knows how old you are, He knows your biological clock is ticking, He knows you feel lonely - maybe He does too.  Maybe He misses intimate time with you.  He knows you're awake in the midnight hour, He's the one who woke you up to get you on your knees and in His word so that you would spend some quality time building a meaningful relationship with Him that will allow Him to move on your behalf.  He's trying to purge you of your old mind and stinking thinking. He's trying to help you by allowing the Holy Ghost to sit on you in your loneliness.  He's trying to make you over again.  He's trying to restore your finances.  He's trying to get you to pray.  He's trying to get you to put off your old ways so that you can be prepared for your new spouse, your new car or your new house.  God is trying to work.  LET HIM!!!  And while you are allowing God to work on you, you will find that you are . . .

Starting to be patient.  Recall the story of Abraham and Sarah.  God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that his seed would be innumerable like the sand on the sea shore. Abraham shared this promise with Sarah and they knew it was going to happen.  See God will reveal your end to you.  He will show you the promise.  What He doesn't reveal is what you have to go through to get to the promise because if you knew you wouldn't endure it.  God is always working things out for your good and for His glory.  This is a principle that we need to grasp because when we neglect to grasp it we create issues for ourselves that interfere with the timely delivery and enjoyment of our promises.  Remember that Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 years old when the promise of Isaac was delivered.  The issue though was that before the promise, Sarah looked her her situation with natural eyes.  She thought about it.  She looked that the logic of it and decided that the promise was true, but maybe she wasn't going to be the vehicle.  So she offered her hand maiden to her husband.  But what happened in Sarah's impatience is that she didn't allow God to work in His time and in His way.  God meant for Abraham's seed to be born into freedom.  Haggar was a bondwoman.  Her child was the child of a servant.  That's not what God destined for Abraham.  And I imagine that as long as there was no Isaac, Ishmael was cool.  Sarah watched him grow and may even have loved him.  But when her promise showed up, Ishmael became a problem.  This is what God so wants us to avoid because we can get ourselves into some Ishmael situations that we may never get out of.  Our Ishmael may cause our promise to be delayed or may make it not as enjoyable.  Eventually, Sarah wanted Haggar and Ishmael to go away.

Interestingly, in this blog about waiting, you also need to be able to recognize when it is your turn to go!  Hence the song, "When the Lord gets ready, you've got to move!"  It is through prayer, supplication, meditation on the Word, speaking the Word, declaring the Word aloud, applying the Word and living the Word that we learn to recognize our diving appointments.  We must keep them.  Each is a building block and a proving ground.  If we want to really experience the favor of God, we have to know when He is moving and nudging us to move and we have to be ready, willing and able to move when He says to do so. 

Ask God today what you need to learn while you are where you are and when He wants you to move.

That New Math

Luke 9:12-17s states:

12And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.

13But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.

14For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.

15And they did so, and made them all sit down.

16Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.

17And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

We are in the beginning of an outstanding Bible study series at Urban Empowerment about prayer.  Bishop and Pastor Woods often say, much prayer, much power, little prayer, little power.  That saying is so true.  When you pray effectually, fervently, consistently,  continually and you are committed to having a prayer life and constant open communication with God, you begin to experience what feels like new math.

Take the text of Luke above.  The disciples felt the need of the crowd that had gathered.  The people wanted, no needed to hear what Jesus had to impart to them.  They needed the Word.  But when it was time to feed them naturally, the disciples began to think of how this need could be handled so they asked Jesus if they could disperse the crowd so that they could go and take care of their needs.  Interestingly, Jesus told them to feed the people.  I imagine that the disciples were confused and that they wanted to be obedient, but had no idea how they were going to do it, so they pointed out to Jesus, just in case He wasn't aware, that they didn't have enough for everyone.  They pointed out that they could go get more.  Jesus simply instructed the disciples to divide up the crowd of men into companies or rows of 50 per row.  The disciples asked no more questions.  They got busy doing what Jesus told them to do.  There's so much there, but that's not my assignment today.

Jesus then took the five loaves of bread and the two fishes and looked up to heaven.  He blessed them as He would have done with any other meal.  He began to break them and give to His disciples for distribution.  The disciples then gave it to the crowd and the crowd ate and were filled.  After everyone finished eating, there were still twelve baskets of fragments.  That's new math.  God can take what we have, break it up and based upon our obedience to His command, make it be more than enough.  In man's hands five loaves of bread and two fish may be able to feed one family, but when you speak the name of Jesus over your situation, little becomes more than enough.  

Bishop Woods is teaching us that prayer is really to bring our will in alignment with God's will.  It is really to help us to put on the mind of Christ.  It is really to bring me into order so that I am prepared to carry out the command of God at a moment's notice, for example, when God's people need to be fed and there's no opportunity to try to go and get something and God doesn't want them sent away because He has something more in store for them.  As an Elder, Minister, Deacon, Armor Bearer, Evangelist, Teacher, or whatever role we have, God needs us to be ready to carry out His will.  In order for me to carry out His will, I have to know what it is.  I have to hear from Him.  I have to be in order and in alignment with Him.  So I have got to pray, supplicate, meditate both day and night, praise, worship and hear from Him.  I have to put myself into submission so that I can hear when it is time for God to work some new math in my life.

I pray today for God to be able to perform some new math in your situation.  Where you have been feeling like you don't have enough, I seek God to break up your situation into fragments and to feed you until you are full and have fragments left over to gather up.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Good Deeds

Matthew 6: 1-4 states:

1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

James 2:1-17 states:

1My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

3And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

4Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

5Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

6But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

7Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

8If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

9But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

10For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

12So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

13For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

 

Gave all that before I brought up the story of the "Good Samaritan."  We all feel good when we perform good deeds and it is especially rewarding when we do it for the Kingdom of God.  Question is though why are we doing it?  Think about the story of the Good Samaritan.  The fact that the Jesus goes so far as to call the Samaritan good is important in and off itself.  The Samaritan's were despised by the Jews so for Jesus to tell a story making a Samaritan the hero of the story and then calling him good really puts emphases on what Jesus was trying to communicate.

See we love to do good deeds if there is a way we can get credit for it or for someone to see us and make sure we are getting acknowledgement in some kind of way.  It is quite difficult for us to do something and say nothing and let it just be between us and the person we are caring for.  The Good Samaritan did something that no one else would do.  As the story goes, a man was robbed and beat up and left for dead.  A priest passed him.  A Levite passed him.  Not only did these men pass the man who needed help, but they made the extra effort to go to the other side of the road to avoid the man altogether.  But the Samaritan, the despised person, stopped and took care of him.  Luke chapter 10 explains that the Samaritan saw the man and took pity on him, he bandaged up his wounds, he put him on his donkey, he took him to an inn, he stayed with him took care of him, he left money with the inn keeper for the man and finally, told the inn keeper that he would take care of any bills that the man made because of his stay.  That's love.  Jesus asks those hearing the parable of the three people that were presented, which one was a neighbor to the man.

The issue is so many of us are like the priest or the Levite.  We base our helping others on what's in it for us.  The hurt man presented a problem and the question really became if the priest of Levite would see the real issue or would they say to themselves, that's not my problem.  We are humans and in fact at a higher level, which is what Jesus was trying to explain, the plight of one is a problem for all of us as it could easily be us and for many of us it was or is us.

I am often flabbergasted at people who have suffered so greatly and been the benefactors of someone like a Good Samaritan, but yet have so little compassion.  So it makes me ask why?  The Good Samaritan helped because he had compassion.  He would have done it for anyone.  I ask myself, do I exemplify this?  Will I help when needed or will I help to advance my own agenda or for some other internal reason?  Will I help others when it is convenient for me only?  Will I help others so I can talk about what I did later?  One of the things I so strive for is consistency.  There are a lot of good characteristics and manners that I lack, but I hope that there's no one who can ever say that I was impartial when it came to helping others no matter who they are or what the situation was.  When God calls us to do something we should administer that gift to whomever He presents to us.  The previous scriptures that I have included try to explain that.  So often we give place and much higher importance to those who look the part of being rich or well off.  We like to help those people because there is a possible reward in it for us, but who wants to help the poor and destitute?  Who wants to help a person who can't pay you back?  Jesus did. When He died for us He paid a debt that we could never repay.  He gave something that we could not work for so it was a gift.  

Think about giving a gift today to someone who can't pay you back.

Best Friends

God has blessed me - no not just blessed - rather, so very truly and richly blessed me with dear and precious friends.  As I am yet now making my way through one of the roughest patches of my life, I contemplated the story of Job.  Job lost so much; his children, his wife, property and even his health failed him.  Interestingly though, while his friends may have misunderstood his plight and criticized him undeservedly, Job still had his friends.  And unbeknownst to those friends, they actually helped Job through what must have been the roughest patch of his life.

Friendship is so important; stark proof of that is in the Word where Jesus felt so strongly about it that He told His disciples that He no longer called them servants, but rather He referred to them as His friends.  St. John 15:15.  I found some scriptures about friendship that struck a chord with me.  Proverbs 27:17 says, Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.  Proverbs 27:6 reads, Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

I am grateful for those individuals who have been able to look past my moodiness, flakiness and aloofness to see a "me" in need of their friendship and worthy of their continued efforts at relationship with me.  All of us need true friends and I am the benefactor of the truest and most loyal friends one can have in life.  We each need someone who can see" us" even when due to the circumstances of our lives we have learned to hide behind thick brick walls.  I thank almighty God that there are people who tap me on the shoulder every now and then to remind me that just because I'm still a little girl inside my mind hiding in the closet so my father won't find me and abuse me, that they can actually see the me that needs them and longs for healing through that tap.

I told a friend yesterday that my expectations of him had grown too high, but in fact God put him in my life to withstand my "me-ness".  I have a tendency to feel less than - no matter what I know and this particular friend always sees past that mess every time and challenges me to stay in my Word and to trust that all that has happened to me over the course of my life has not dug for me a pit into which I should through a party, but has instead created for me steps elevating me to a place of stepping over the challenges that could have and would have taken me out, had God not strategically structured my life in such a way that I would have friends at every step to encourage me to take the step and held me up as I placed my foot onto uncertainty.  Like Job's friends, my friends sometimes say things that reach into me and pull out things like prayer, deeper commitment, forgiveness and healing.  Those friends may not even have those fruit as their goal, but God put them in my path; nonetheless, to help prune me into spiritual productivity. 

So with today's blog I share that I very much cherish my friends and look forward to new friends that God will send my way and I pray that I can be as dear a friend as my lifelong friends have been to me; encouraging, lifting, checking in on, speaking life into, holding up, picking up, supporting, listening to, advising, reciting the Word of God, enlightening, inviting into a place in my life and my heart, reuniting and always reconciling, loving, hugging, ever longing for  belonging and finally, living a life showing that friendship is so important that the  Bible recites, that no greater love exists than that Jesus would lay down His life for us, His friends.

I encourage you as we approach "Best Friends" Sunday at Urban Empowerment Ministries, to connect or reconnect with your friends and appreciate them.  Tell them that you do appreciate them and show them.  Thank God for them and be ever referent of the relationship with them.  Most of all, seek to build a relationship with Him so that He will know you as His friend.  And don't just be His friend, but be the best friend to Him that you can be; faithful, loyal, trustworthy, thoughful, intimate and caring; obedient to His Word and open to His command; accepting of His will and every ready to befriend whomever He puts into your path for a divine appointment.

Is God Impressed with Your Press?

We find in three of the gospels the very well known story of the woman with the "issue" of blood.  As the story goes, this woman had suffered with her issue for twelve long years.  She had given all her living to doctors.  She had spent all she had.  She was an outcast due to her condition.  She was unable to live a normal life.  Imagine all that she missed struggling with this issue for all that time.  Interestingly we tend to focus on the woman's issue and perhaps we identify with her because we've got some issues of our own that are keeping us on the outside of the life we truly want to live.

But my instruction today is to reveal to you how impressed Jesus was with this woman's press.  Imagine, if you will, the pressure on her mind and on her heart in dealing with her illness over such a long span of time.  Some of us can't go through anything for two minutes, what if you had to be separated from everybody for twelve years!  What if you couldn't get out and go shopping or go to work or to school or to church even?  What if the issue that you were wrestling with brought so much shame and grief to your life that it kept you bound for 12 years?  That's the place this woman found herself.  She was broke financially.  She was tired physically.  She was drained emotionally.  She was just spent entirely.  But note that it was the very thing that she struggled with that compelled her to seek out Jesus.  She had become desperate for a change.

Are you at that place?  Are you desperate for change?  She was.  She was thirsty for a life altering divine appointment that she never imagined would impress Jesus.  This woman was so desperate that in spite of her condition and the law that made it illegal for her to be in the crowd of folks she pressed her way.  Can you see her?  Can you see her squeezing through the throng of people all trying to touch the Master?  Can you imagine her falling to the ground and crawling?  She's made it up in her mind that she doesn't need to get His full attention even.  She just wants to touch the hem of His clothes.  She just wants to reach out to Him.  And so she does.  So much so that Jesus stops turns and says , "Who touched me?". The disciples were confused. They looked on the crowd and saw a crowd of folks all "touching" Jesus, but they failed to see the one whom He had touched as a result of her faith.  The disciples saw many, but Jesus looked at the crowd and saw one.  One impressive woman who exercised great faith!

He said to His disciples that He knew that someone had touched Him because virtue went out of Him.  Does your press compell God to act on your behalf?  Does it compell Him to bring attention to your faithfulness?  In spite of the millions upon millions that pray to Him daily does your press cause God to pause and to respond to your situation?  When we get desperate enough and when we have no more means to try to make something happen on our own maybe we will press our way into the presence of an awesome God.  Maybe we will lift our hands to the Father for Him to pick us up like a child does with her parent.  Maybe we will press our way with our faith into a place in God where He is compelled to heal and deliver us.  Today be determined to impress Him with your press.  Don't stop trying to touch Him because He so wants to touch you too.  If you have got to crawl, do it.  If you've got to just touch the very hem, do it.  Whatever you need to do to impress Him with your press, do it! Get to the place in your Christian walk where your heart is fixed and your mind is completely made up that it's for God you'll live and for Him you'll die.  Don't allow your issue to keep you from the Master; rather, allow it to draw you to Him seeking the life altering change you need.  Healing is one press away.  Keep pressing your way!

Listen up

It's so awesome to see a new year. For the first time in many years I made no New Year's resolutions. The only thing that I'm resolved to do, for the remainder of my life, is to be absorbed into God's perfect will. In the words of the Psalm , I wish to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God. To that end, I've made up my mind not to make any moves without hearing from God. Yesterday, a friend admonished that so often people hear what they want rather than what the person is actually communicating. I agreed. I think not listening is at the center of so much miscommunication and hence ruined relationships.

 Consider the eleventh chapter of John. It is the well read and well known story of Jesus' dear friend Lazarus. As the story goes, Jesus was informed that Lazarus was ill and it was feared that without Jesus' intervention that Lazarus would die. Upon hearing the unctioning for Him to come, Jesus stated plainly what was going to happen. Here is where my friend's statement comes to life. No one really listened to what Jesus said. Jesus was clear that Lazerus' condition was not about his dying, rather it was about showing the power of God. So folks went their way with the hope that based upon the love that Jesus had for His friend and the relationship that had been built, that Jesus would come quickly and address the matter, make Lazarus whole again and all would be right in their world once again. But this is why it is so important to listen and to accept what is actually said. It must have pained Jesus greatly to fully realize that His words were entirely mistaken and that as a result people whom He cared for greatly would wind up hurt, disappointed and frustrated. But Jesus knew the greater purpose of His work and in spite of how much it must have pained Him, he stayed away, allowed His friend to pass and for people to feel toward Him as they must. The Bible says that Martha met Jesus and advised Him that Lazarus was dead. Jesus' response was to "groan" inside Himself. Why? Because He already recognized that there had been some mis-understanding. Before He could get into the town good, folks were mad and hurt, Mary-that same Mary who had anointed Jesus' feet with oil and washed His feet with her hair, was among the most hurt. She didn't even go out with her sister to meet Jesus when her sister went be ause she was dealing with her hurt and disappointment over her own misunderstanding. The issue? She didn't listen to Jesus' words. She heard through the filter of her own desires. I imagine her mind went through what most of us go through at similar junctures of misunderstanding.  She probably thought back to all she had given up and done, including washing Jesus' very feet with her hair!  Can you imagine her thoughts?  Sure you can.  She felt hurt because she hadn't really heard what Jesus actually said and all she saw before her was a missed opportunity for Jesus to have prevented her brother's dying.

When our will doesn't line up with God's will the result is misunderstanding on our part because every message that God sends to us gets garbled through the filter of our own personal agenda and desire. Instead of trusting God at His Word, which by the way is always meant for our betterment, edification and for His glory, we settle for the misinterpretation. God's Word speaks plainly and clearly. So as the story goes, Mary finally goes out to meet Jesus. She is visibly upset and says to Jesus that if He had only come earlier, Lazarus would not have died. Now, her statement is true, but be that as it may, and in spite of the anguish that she suffered, Jesus knew there was a greater good and purpose. So He did next, what He stated He would do in order to yield the results that He stated would come to pass in God's plan.

What's the lesson? Hear God's Word and then listen to it. God has plans for you. He has plans for your life and for your future. You don't have to stumble through this year blindly trying to figure out what God is doing in you or through you. You don't have to struggle trying to comprehend why you are experiencing the issues, trials or tribulations that you are dealing with. Because the Word of God is plain on its face. He has told you that if He is for you He is more than the world against you. No one can pluck you out of His hand. He will never leave you nor forsake you. All things work together for your good. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. You are peculiar. You are sanctified for His use. His Words are clear! Did you hear them? Are you listening to them without filtering them for your own interpretation? If you want to make a New Year's resolution that you can keep, vow to be a sheep that hears and knows the voice of God. Vow to take Him at His Word. Vow to apply the logos to your life and to stand still and see the salvation the Lord. Make it up in your mind not to fall out and be hurt when tragic situations and circumstances come your way because it's for your good and for His glory!