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!