But God...

God is about to do something spectacular! He is about to move. He is about to shift. He is about to break through some things. He is about to deliver. How do I know? Because I said yes. This isn’t a pride thing or a boast. It’s confidence that what God brings you to, He equips you for. I am in final preparations for my 3^rd retreat tomorrow and all week, I have been on the enemy’s mind. He has sent headaches, distractions, uncertainty, and nervousness.  He has tried to make me question everything from my call to my assignment. But God! I know that sounds churchy and it isn’t even technically a sentence but it’s been my answer to the enemy this week.

God even sent me to the words of Job just to confirm this thing! “I know that you can do everything, that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2 CJB) According to Merriam Webster, thwarted means “to oppose successfully, to defeat the hopes or aspirations of; to run counter to so as to effectively oppose or baffle”. NO purpose that God puts forth can be thwarted! Can’t be opposed successfully, can’t be defeated or stripped of hope, and can’t effectively be baffled or frustrated! So I challenge you today to stand flat footed and look at your family situation, your health, your finances, your attack or whatever is trying to keep you from your purpose and tell it…BUT GOD!

But God – my way maker

But God – my healer

But God – my deliverer

But God – my strong tower

But God – my protector

But God – my lawyer

But God – my provider

Has that stirred you up yet? No?

But God – the lifter of my head

But God – the One who knows the end from the beginning

But God – the One that battles on my behalf

But God – the One that causes the wars in my life to cease

But God – the One that covers me on my job

But God – the One that sees me

You see, I wanted to quit so many times and I wanted to tell some folks how I really felt about them. Sometimes I wanted to run and I wanted to cry…BUT GOD! So I am here to tell you that if you just put it in your mind that the God that is for you is greater than the whole world against you, you can make it. And not just make it…win! No more frustration or defeat! BUT GOD!

When I really began to think about who God was to me, I just started jumping, right here in my office. Why? Because He has given me the victory! He has given you the victory! So get up, man of God! Stop worrying, woman of God! He is upholding you with His right hand and He is enough!

Amen

Are you ready?

"Are you prepared for your next?" That's what I heard the Lord say after I picked up my iPad just now. It was quick and followed by a waiting silence. You know...like when your mama asked you a question and she is waiting for your response with her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised. It's the kind of silence where you quickly search your mind for the right answer. After a brief hesitation, I answered with a firm yes. "You better be" was His response. 

As God began to speak to me, I felt this energy and excitement that I hope you feel. Here's why. God just asked me about my next because it's already prepared. He already has it planned out, equipped, and waiting. He wouldn't be the problem. He asked me to see if I would be. You see, too many of you are missing or have missed your "go", "jump", "be" because you are trying to line up what has already been established. You are trying to make sense of a move that requires faith and not logic. So I don't have much to say other than this. Stop overthinking, overanalyzing and getting in the way and start praying, believing, and expecting. I'm pretty sure that God is tired of hearing your take on everything. Don't get me wrong! He loves communing and talking to you but He won't compete with you and your plans. 

Do you remember when Pilate kept asking Jesus to defend Himself in Mark 15?  What was Jesus's response? “Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You have said it.” and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?” But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.” (Mark‬ ‭15:2, 4-5‬ ‭NLT) Jesus knew what He had been sent to do. He knew the ultimate plan and how it would all turn out so why should He defend what He knew was handled? I want to challenge you to not walk in Pilate's footsteps. Pilate missed his opportunity to live because position and the need to please man was more important. I really hope your "next" is more important than your crew and your title. If so, get prepared!

Ladies and gentlemen, God is calling you to a mighty work - some to the world, some to the nation, some to the church, some to the streets, some to teens...you fill in the blank. Don't miss your next because you aren't ready with the right response. The sponsor is already in place, the building is already there, the staff is already training, the client is already looking for you. Will you be Pilate today or will you be like Daniel who said, even in the face of lions, I was trust You. If you aren't prepared, you better start today. God's plan is already in place...He's just waiting on you.

Amen

What did He tell YOU?

I know that It’s getting late in the day and some of my regular readers are saying, “Where’s Rhema?” Well, I was asking that same question! I usually write in the mornings because I don’t want to confuse any other words or messages that I have heard from other people. I don’t want to accidentally confuse someone else’s voice with the Lord. Today, it was interesting because I listened to or heard about so many different words that I almost didn’t do Rhema at all. As I went into prayer about it, I asked God to clear my mind so that I could hear His voice and He said something awesome to me. He said, “There is a word for YOU!” I replied, I know, Lord. He corrected me and told me that there is a word for me to deliver that is unlike anyone else and I needed to get to writing. So I want to say to you that there is a word, an assignment, a gift, a people, a position that is just for you. Stop worrying that your purpose has already been done. Stop concentrating on the fact that too many people are doing the vision you saw.  Stop stalling because your neighbor just released a book. Just stop wondering, worrying and delaying and get to work. Start living. Start producing. Start acting. There is a work for YOU!

Let me give you the word that He gave me and I hope it sets you free today!

“He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” (Ephesians 2:10 MSG)

Ephesians 2 is all about the work of Christ and how God sent Him to set His people free. He sent Jesus to do what you nor I could do on our own. He is a creative genius and planner that saw you in your mess before you were in your mother’s womb and prepared for it. He saw a broken people before they were broken and sent a redeemer. He saw sin before it hit the earth and already had the solution. So the question I want to raise to you today is this: If the Lord’s plan was so big that He saw the finished work of Christ before He even died, why wouldn’t it be big enough for what He has called you to do? Too many of you are stuck at a vision because you are worried about the outcome. I want to invite you to get delivered from that today. You have a unique and well thought out work that the Lord wants you to do. He wouldn’t have given it to you if it was already being done the way He told you to do it. Did you catch that? The way He told YOU to do it! The problems start when you want to do something the way the Lord told Sister A to do it because you like how that looks. The Lord doesn’t need duplicates. He made you fearfully and wonderfully with unique gifts and talents for a preplanned outcome. There is a work for YOU!

I want to encourage you today to walk out the assignment that God has placed in you. Please stop missing your opportunities because you want it to look like someone on TV or someone you know. Please stop adjusting your vision to fit someone else’s dream. Please stop sitting still because you’re not confident in the vision God gave you. It’s time out for hating on someone else because you think they are where you want to be. It’s time out for trying to one up people. Deliverance is available today and it will change your life. You are powerful. You are anointed. You are gifted. It’s time to get to work on the projects, assignments, and businesses that God put before you. He always equips and prepares you for what He calls you to. So woman of God, stop coveting. Man of God, let go of the jealousy. There is a work just for YOU!

Amen

 

Watch the scales!

When my grandmother died in 2013, I got a beautiful peace lily after her service. I keep it in my office and it has flourished in the 4 years that I have had it. This morning when I got to my office and looked at the plant, I noticed that there was an infestation of scale bugs that I thought I had gotten rid of. I have been watering the plant regularly but hadn’t done my normal preventative maintenance in a while and the scale had gotten out of control. Though I thought all was well, because I hadn’t been paying a lot of attention, the scale had quietly set up camp on my plant. As I was cleaning the leaves and stalks, the Lord began to talk to me about how easy it was for the scale to slip in and take over the plant right under my nose.

As I thought about my plant, I began to wonder how many of you have allowed your spirit, your freedom, your joy to be taken over and you didn’t even realize it. How many of you have been going to church and praying regularly but not been self-examining and purging? How many of you have let small issues turn into big problems because you didn’t address them when they first happened? You see, the enemy is tricky! He likes to slide in and plant seeds of discord and confusion that will eventually grow into anger and chaos, if you don’t stop it at the root. You see, I was doing the minimum by watering the plant but I wasn’t doing what was necessary to protect it from the scale. That one misstep allowed a whole bunch of bugs to come and it took me longer to clean up and doctor the plant then it would have if I had been watching and addressing over time.

Can I just encourage you to not let the enemy use something small in your marriage, in your church, in your relationships to grow because you won’t address them? Can I encourage you to look at your heart and see if you have some scales growing there? Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vices, for our vines have tender grapes.” It’s not the big predators that usually take you out. It’s the small ones that grow into big ones. I let those little scale bugs take over my plant and it took me a long time to get them off. What I found out was that scale infestations generally result in poor growth, reduced vigor, and yellowed leaves. If left unaddressed, the plant can become so weak that it dies. What does that have to do with you?  Keep right on letting those issues that need to be addressed linger and grow until calamity comes. Keep right on letting little things go unchecked and watch the life get sucked out of your marriage. Don’t you want to grow? Don’t you want to have healthy relationships? Well, if you don’t wake up and stop putting band aids on things that require surgery, you are going to have a dead thing.

Listen…those bugs could have left my plant a yellow hot mess but I remembered that a couple of weeks ago, the plant guy for the school came by and gave the plant an extra treatment and enhanced feeding. That protective measure very well may have boosted the plant enough to keep growing. There were a couple of leaves that I had to take off but for the most part, the plant was still green and growing. The Lord showed me that just like the plant guy came by to look in on the plant, He is looking after you.  He allowed me to see that His grace is sufficient even when you miss His instruction. His love is still abundant even when you ignore the signs. His protection is still all consuming even when you don’t acknowledge it. But He showed me that I have a responsibility to do my part. He showed me what I needed to differently. I am now responsible for the knowledge and I need to make adjustments. Don’t allow the scales in your life to take over because you keep doing the minimum. It’s time to go beyond the routine and the necessary and watch God keep what the enemy would desire to kill.

Amen