Stay on the Journey

I heard Pastor Smoky Norful singing in my mind this morning. “One more day, one more step. I’m preparing you for myself and when you can’t hear my voice, trust my plan. I am the Lord, I see you and yes I understand.” Sometimes God let’s a song minister to you because you can take the message easier. You know, kind of like when you give a baby medicine with their food to mask the taste. Perhaps you are like me and have had some hills to climb and struggles to overcome lately. You’ve made every attempt to be obedient to the voice and instruction of the Lord but there is still more to learn, more to survive, more to endure. Perhaps you have even gotten to the point where you want to throw in the towel. But today, the Lord is saying, 'I’m preparing you for Me. I am strengthening you for this next stage because it will require more from you than ever before. These tests are difficult but they have a purpose if you will just hold your ground and trust Me. I will be with you to the end.' Saints, today, I encourage you to stay on the journey.

You know it’s interesting because, this was the title of my initial sermon. God kept speaking to me about the journey and how I needed to stick with it but I thought I was done with it. But ever since I gave that word, I have had to remind myself several times to stay on the journey. The Bible speaks of endurance and remaining steadfast many times. One of my favorite scriptures is James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” I have always loved the scripture but would kind of shake my head at how optimistic James sounded. Where is this perfection and completion he is referring to?! But it’s true, after you have survived a test with faith, something has changed in you. If you really examine yourself pre and post test, there is a level of growth that is unmistakable. And that level of growth is complete until you are ready for the next step. Revelation! Each time you go through, you are gaining something new in your arsenal! You have a new weapon, a new level of anointing, a new strength. But if you get off the journey, if you give up, how will you get there? Stay on the journey, saints.

As I was singing along with Pastor Smoky in my mind, I kept thinking about the part about trusting God’s plan. Isn’t that what it’s all about? God has told you that He has a plan for your life. He said it was to give you a future and a hope. He doesn’t however tell you how you will get there. He doesn’t always give you a step by step guidebook that tells you what pitfalls to watch out for and which turns to take. You have to listen to His voice and make adjustments when He tells you. It’s often so easy to get caught up in what you want the end result to be that you miss all of the trust part. God has been working with me on this for a long time. Sometimes, I just have to trust His plan. I can’t always have it laid out for me like my administrative mind would like for it to be. But if I just stay with it, He will do what He promised.

The end of Hebrews 10 is always a blessing to me but I read it today in the Message translation and it really blessed me. In this chapter, Paul is reminding the people to live by faith. He starts from leading them from the law to the gospel to uplifting Christ’s death and sacrifice to remembering their own personal confession and relationship with Christ.  He ends with reminding them about how far they have come and to stick with it to the end. I pray that His reminder will also bless you to stay the course. No matter what circumstance you find yourself in right now, you will overcome, if you continue on the journey and trust His plan.

“Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn’t touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.

It won’t be long now, he’s on the way;
    he’ll show up most any minute.
But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust;
    if he cuts and runs, I won’t be very happy.

But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.”

Stay on the journey! AMEN…

 

Freedom in your YES

I would love to say that I always get things right with God. I would love to say that when He tells me to do something I immediately obey. I’m sure everyone would like to say the same. The truth of the matter is that a lot of things get in the way of that perfect response to God’s question or call. Fear, people, past experiences all quickly come to mind. But this morning, God is simply asking for your yes. He told me quite clearly that there is freedom in your yes. I had a feeling this word was coming. You see, I am an expert at trying to negotiate with God. You know how it goes. ‘Well, God, maybe next year when I’m ready.’ ‘This really isn’t a good time.’ ‘I’m not good enough.’ Perhaps you have even said some of these same things. But God doesn’t need your perfection, He needs you. He needs your willingness to submit, your heart turned towards Him, and your spirit open to receive. He wants your yes.

Last night, I became a minister. It’s scary to say out loud much less reveal it to you. I ran for a long time, all the while asking God for another way. I figured I could keep writing Rhema and that would be enough but He wanted more of me. I knew it but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. But one day, the Lord told me that my very life depended on my yes. That floored me! The idea that I was holding up progress in my life because of my resistance was a bit mind blowing. You may be thinking to yourself, God is not calling me to preach or be a minister but what is He calling you to? Has He told you to pray more because He wants to use you as an intercessor? Has He told you to go back to school because He wants to put you in a company that needs a witness? Has He told you to write or sing because your message has power and someone will receive it from you when they couldn’t from others? God is looking for your yes. And I’m here to tell you that there is freedom in answering Him with a yes. For one, you no longer have to carry the burden of fighting it.

Do you remember the story of Esther? She was chosen out of many women to replace Vashti as King Xerxes’s wife and queen. She had the king’s heart and his ear but she was secretly a Jew. When Haman, the king’s second in command wanted to kill all of the Jews, someone had to go to the King and speak up for the Jews but there seem to be no one in the position to do that. You see no one was allowed to just go before the King unless he called for you. Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, sent her a word. “Don’t think that just because you live in the king’s house you’re the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.” (Esther 4: 12-14 MSG). At that moment, Esther had a choice. She could keep silent and continue to live in secret but perhaps be found out and killed as well or she could take a stand for God’s people and go before the King no matter the consequence. Notice what Mordecai said. “Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.” God’s timing is perfect. Don’t you think that what you are experiencing right now is happening at this time for a reason? It is preparing you for something else. Esther sent back her answer to Mordecai: “Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I’ll go to the king, even though it’s forbidden. If I die, I die.” Esther said YES! She went before the king and she received favor. Everything turned around for her good. The enemy that had set out to kill her and her people ended up dying along with all of his children. All she had to do was say yes and God worked the rest out.

You are meant for greatness! God is not instructing you to do something without purpose. He knows the outcome and He just wants you to be willing to go along with His plan. He wants you to trust Him enough to know that He is not out of tune and off schedule. He knows exactly where you are and what you need to go forward. Again, His timing is perfect even when it doesn’t seem like it to you. If you don’t know what your next step is, ask Him! Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. (Matt. 6:33) He wants your yes, because once you give it, He is free to work in your situation and circumstances. There is a freedom in releasing control of the plan. If you just trust Him, He will turn your yes into your next level. May God give you the strength and courage to answer His call with a yes! AMEN…

Decision time!

Last night in Bible Study, one of the Elders made a statement that rang in my spirit this morning. She said, “It all comes down to a choice.” A simple statement but one that is packed with power and truth. At some point, you have to make a choice on how you are going to live your life. You have to decide what you will and will not allow in your space and what is worthy of your time and energy. God has given all of us free will but He has also given us tools and resources to make the right choices. God wants you to be whole and prosperous. He wants you to live your best life and quite frankly, most people are not. I’ve seen too many people struggling at home, at church, at work for them to be living their best life. It’s time out for pretending and time to make a choice. Today, God is challenging us to walk in our truth and make the hard choices.

I’ve said this before but I think it bears repeating. If you are not being honest with yourself about where you are, you cannot possibly move forward into where you are supposed to be. Self-examination is the key to a free life. You know why? Because most often, what you blame on other people and things are not what’s holding you back. If you look deep enough, it usually circles back to you. Don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying that the things that have happened in your life are not legitimate or traumatizing. But how long will you allow them to hold you captive?  God already knows what is going on with you and He is willing and able to help you out of it. If you are being held captive by your past, take a look at who is holding the keys. Jesus tells us in John 8, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” He goes on to explain how everyone is a slave to sin but “if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” You are free! It’s time to stop living like you are not. It’s time to make a choice to not accept what the world and Satan has fed you.

The Lord reminded me of Joshua when He gave me this word. In chapter 24 of Joshua, all of the people of Israel are brought together and God speaks to the people through Joshua and reminds them of all He had done for them from the time of Abraham’s father up to that point and how he blessed them time and time again. Joshua lays it out for them. “So now: Fear God. Worship him in total commitment. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped on the far side of The River (the Euphrates) and in Egypt. You, worship God. If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.” The people decided to worship God and made a covenant with Him. God told me to remind you of what He has done in your life and encourage you to make a choice. It’s not a matter of whether you are a Christian or not. It’s a matter of whether you are willing to submit to His will. It’s a matter of whether you are willing to release control of your situations and let Him handle them. It’s a matter of prioritizing Him in your life. It’s time to make a choice.

You know, I always struggle when God gives me what I consider hard posts. I like it much better when I can just be encouraging but God is tired of watching His people die spiritually. He’s tired of watching fear and unforgiveness and anger win. He’s tired of watching you held hostage by finances. He’s tired of watching you who He knows He has ordained for a purpose allow the expectations and actions of others to kill your spirit. He sent me to 1 Kings 18 and the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. There is a severe drought in the land and Elijah has been in hiding for a long time. God tells him that it’s time to move because He is about to bring the rain. Per instruction, Elijah tells King Ahab to call everyone together including the 450 prophets of Baal. Ahab surprisingly agrees and calls everyone together. Elijah makes a powerful statement to the children of Israel before he challenges the prophets of Baal. “How long are you going to sit on the fence? If God is the real God, follow him; if it’s Baal, follow him. Make up your minds! Nobody said a word; nobody made a move.” Here we are thousands of years later still facing the same question. The only difference is now it’s the internet, friends, books that are God’s competition. God’s response to the people’s lack of response was to use Elijah to prove Himself yet again and the people then decided to worship Him. I encourage you to read the account. God showed out and ended the drought. He has done the same in our lives yet we, like the people of Israel, still struggle to trust Him at His word.

It’s time to make a choice, saints! It’s time to examine your heart, your life and your spirit and free God to work in your life. You are not strong enough in your own might to fight these battles, but God in you IS! Choose today to worship your way through. Choose today to allow Him to take control. Choose today to be free and be free indeed! It’s time to make a choice…AMEN

 

 

Stop it!

Over the last few weeks, the Lord has led me to write about getting back to yourself, finding your joy and releasing all of the “stuff” that has held you hostage. As I thought about that, a question popped into my head. How much is your peace worth to you? My immediate answer was A LOT! Right? I’m sure your answer was similar. But then the follow up question came. If that is the case, why is it so easily sacrificed? Wait…what? Not true, Lord! But the more I thought about it the more truth I saw. How often do you make decisions based on someone else’s comfort and disregard your own? I don’t mean as a mother for your children or doing a nice deed. I mean when you know that you should say no, have heard the Lord say no, but you said yes to appease someone else. How many times have you gone along with the program for the sake of keeping “the peace” but the only one suffering is you? Today is really a simple challenge…own your peace.

I watched Maya Angelou specials all afternoon on Sunday, interview after interview. She was a woman of great wisdom and there were so many nuggets packed in her words but one statement stood out to me. “Stop it!” She said, and I’m paraphrasing, at some point you have to learn to cut people and things off that mean you harm whether intentional or not. It struck a chord in me because I know that there are times when I have let some things go on for too long in my life without addressing them. I’m talking about things, people and situations that I knew were not adding value to my life but I didn’t want to disappoint or disrupt. Not a good look, folks! And usually, the outcome of this is Ebony having a headache, Ebony stressed out, Ebony needing a break. Why? Because I didn’t value my peace enough to say STOP IT! The Lord brought Mary and Martha to mind. Do you remember when Jesus visited their home and Martha was all over the place, stressed and mad because Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening and resting while she was working? “But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10: 39 -42 NLT) Mary could have responded and reacted but she let Jesus handle it and stayed where she needed to be. Mary valued her peace and her purpose and she was not moved by someone else’s opinion about what she “should” be doing. Martha, on the other hand, was so disrupted by what someone else was doing that she missed a key time with the Lord. It’s worth examining which role you would play in this story.  Are you Mary or Martha? Own your peace.

Isn’t amazing how you can wake up feeling great and get around someone who is depressing or angry and all of a sudden your mood takes a turn for the worse? This happens a lot in churches and in offices! I’ve seen people laughing and having a great time and one person with a bad attitude comes in and changes the whole atmosphere. It took a while to get there but I now see it as an opportunity to practice keeping your peace. I was taught a long time ago to be a thermostat and not a thermometer. A thermometer changes according to the atmosphere. But a thermostat changes the atmosphere. Think about it, how often have you allowed yourself to be a thermometer? Perhaps you have taken on the pains and stresses of the world and others, when they weren’t yours to take and it changed you. Perhaps your peace took a backseat to any number of people and things and you’re finding it hard to get it back. Paul gave us great advice in Ephesians 4:31 that I think speaks to what you should not allow in your space. The NLT says, “Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk.” If you don’t protect your peace, who will? If you don’t say the peace that God has given to me is worth keeping, who will? If you don’t say “stop it!” to people that are sucking the life out of you, who will? You have to own your peace! How do you that? Keep your mind stayed on the Lord and He will keep you in perfect peace. (Is. 26:3) Acknowledge that Christ “took the punishment that made us whole.” (Is. 53:5 MSG) Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. (Col. 3:15) Own your peace.

Let me just say this as I close. You deserve to have peace. You have given a lot of yourself for the sake of others but now it’s time to make decisions and choices that will help you to live in that peace. It’s up to you. No one should be allowed to come in and affect you to the point where your peace is lost. Own your peace…it’s worth it! “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thess 3:16) AMEN