Are you really free?

Today, God gave me some specific instructions for you and I am going to get right to it. He said, “Stay right there.” What does that mean, Lord? Stay right where? He answered, “Stay in your truth, until you get where I’ve called you to be.” Before I go too far, let me be clear. This is a “meet you where you are” word. This is a word of self-examination and truth. This is a word for YOU. How can I say that? Because it was a word for ME first. So many times when people talk about freedom and breakthrough, it is wrapped up in what someone did to them. The bondage is easily identified with a point of impact or a traumatic event - the abandonment of a parent or a spouse, the mental or physical abuse, the molestation, the divorce, the death. Those are real places and they have real effects on how you live your life and how you interact with other people. I am not talking about that today. Today, I am talking to you about you. I am talking to you about how you tell yourself that you are in a good place, when in fact, the enemy has blinded you to how you actually present to the world. I am talking about those moments when you hear the Holy Spirit speaking conviction but it is easier to say it is about other people.  I am talking about how you pray for others to get free but you have missed the areas that still require work in you. I am talking about truth.

Jesus left the Holy Spirit on earth with clear responsibilities in John 16. He left Him to be a comforter and an advocate. He left Him to remind us of God’s righteousness and convict us when necessary. He is to be a conduit of Truth. He does not speak on His own but tells what He has heard from Jesus. He is the voice of the Trinity. He is to guide us into all truth. I really started thinking about this thing and it really started to blow my mind. Jesus wanted to make sure that when He left this earth in the physical sense, the truth of who He is as our savior was clear to His people. Why? Because truth is who He is. Do you remember what He said in John 14:6? He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life…” So the question is why don’t you tell the truth? Why don’t you acknowledge that a lot of what is happening in your life can find its roots in you and your decisions? Don’t take offense! I am not minimizing what has happened to you, however, it is time to have real talk. I mean, at what point do you say to yourself, “Pride has kept me from apologizing to some people.”  “My unwillingness to acknowledge that I did not get it all right has separated me from some people that had my best interest at heart.” “My attitude has kept me from being promoted at work or in ministry.”  “My need to control everyone and everything in my life has caused isolation.” Does any of this sound familiar?

Jesus was not talking to non-believers in John 8 when He said, “And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” He was talking to His people! Look at John 8:31! They were so comfortable in their position as descendants of Abraham that they didn’t see that there was areas in their lives that needed to be addressed. They didn’t see that they were missing the message of Christ because there wasn’t room in their hearts. They ended up wanting to stone Jesus in verse 58 because He called them out of their complacency and their position. Are you willing to come out of your position to get free and I mean really free? Are you willing to stay in the trenches of your own “stuff” until there is nothing left except the Holy Ghost? Are you willing to tell the truth today? Pride has to die. Anger has to die. The spirit of competition has to die. The need to be right has to die. The Pharaoh spirit has to die. Jezebel has to die. Come on! Tell the truth and call that mess out. I’m tired of watching whole families stay on a cycle of poverty, lack and chaos because Grandma won’t tell the truth about her pride. I’m tired of watching churches fall apart because Pastor won’t admit that he is broken and needs deliverance. Lord, help us today to tell the truth!

Hear the word of the Lord, tell the truth today and break the stronghold that has been over your life and that of your family. It is time. Stay right where God puts you until you get it all. Why? Because whom the Son sets free is free indeed.”

Amen

Stop your mess!

Listen…obedience is hard. It’s hard when people don’t understand your why but you still have to do it. It’s hard when your yes makes others uncomfortable. It’s hard when you have to leave what you know because the unknown holds your destiny. Yep...obedience is hard. The last year of my life has been a study in hearing the hard instruction and saying yes. It has meant lost relationships, lonely moments, and hard conversations. It has meant understanding that what God had for me was more important than what people felt about me. Let me tell you…not fun! But what I have come to know more than anything else is that my obedience is enough. My willingness to follow God’s lead is exactly what He wants from me and it is what He wants from you. You see, at the end of the day, your feelings don’t matter. Why someone did what they did doesn’t change what God told you to do with the information. Your response is what He is looking at. I’m learning that God’s plan for my life doesn’t always include the outcomes that I want or think they should be. Things don’t always look how I want them to but if I do what He says, the end result is always the right one.

I want to briefly point something out to you that I just really noticed today. It’s the why that I have often sought when thinking about my life. Hebrews 5:7-9 says, “While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”(NLT) It was through those hard beatings and the taunts, that Jesus saw why He had to obey. It was through the doubt and the abandonment that He saw why humankind needed a savior. It was the challenges to His deity and the questions about His power that made His yes make sense. Because of those lessons, God exalted Him and lifted Him up as the One that we all must obey. Out of His suffering came obedience and from there qualification and elevation. Don't you think your obedience is worth it?

Oh yeah! There are some of you that have gotten this obedience all wrong. The Bible didn’t say stay and suffer. This verse said the suffering birthed the obedience. Men and women of God, your obedience is necessary. You can no longer let your comfort or your fear dictate your move. There is too much work to do in the Kingdom for you to keep living in disobedience. So I’m calling you out today! Scared to start your own business even though God told you He would provide? Stop your mess and obey! Stuck in a dead place when God has shown you life? Stop your mess and obey! Been holding on to that blank school application for 2 years but won’t turn it in even though God showed you the perfect program? Stop your mess and obey!   I’m sorry that I don’t have anything soothing to say. I’m just plum out of soothing! It’s time for action and I mean NOW. You have waited long enough! Let me help you out before I close. Ready?  I made it and so will you. I know what it is to survive hard instructions and thrive. You just have to do it!   I am now free to be who Ebony Bryant was called to be because I said yes! I know that God desires the same for you.

Amen

Future so bright...

Last week, I invited you to say goodbye to foolishness. It was a challenge that I felt deep in my soul. One that stretched some of you to look some people, situations, and circumstances in the face and tell them farewell! Well today, I want to invite you to say hello to your future. You might ask what the two have to do with one another and it’s an easy answer. You can’t walk into your next place carrying the baggage and weight of your yesterday. You can’t walk freely in your tomorrow if you are holding on to the struggle and the fear of what was. You see, foolishness has taken up a lot of your time.  And by foolishness I mean the people, places, and things that God has separated you from that you keep trying to hold on to. If you haven’t already, I want to encourage you today to change your perspective completely. Turn your face toward your future and begin to welcome it. The old stuff is behind you and freedom, peace, and deliverance await you on the other side. If you will just take the step of courage, you will see and feel the breaking and shifting that you have been seeking.

You see God is on the side of your future. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Do you see that? It’s future tense. It’s telling you that what you leave behind won’t be allowed to take you out because God will be there. It’s telling you that no matter how the people react or how the situation turns out, you have a safeguard. You have a promise that God won’t let fear or dismay be your end result. **Insert praise break** Yes!!!  Isn’t that good news? Jeremiah 29:11 says that He has plans for you and they are for a future and a hope. And guess what? Your future is full! Why? Because if God is with you then love, strength, and peace are with you. Isn’t that God? He is the All Sufficient One!

So get up, let’s say hello to that future! God does not want you holding on to your past when He knows what He has in store for you at the end. Come on saints, you’ve wasted enough of your shifting time because you’ve been scared of the movement! No mam! No sir! It’s time to say hello to your next. I mean…LISTEN…it’s time.  Today, I am speaking freedom over you! I am speaking life into your future! I am cancelling every chokehold that has held you attached to your past. You need to dance right over those chains and into your joy! And can I tell you that there is no dance like a freedom dance?! Hello, future! I’m ready for you!

Amen...

Goodbye, foolishness!

I have been relaxing all week since Rhema ended. I even contemplated not writing today and as you can see, it is late in the day. But then, I heard this one thing that I need to share.

The call on your life is too important to risk on foolishness. 

If God has given you a business, a vision, an assignment, or a dream, please don’t let people stop you. Please don’t let opinions and schemes keep you from walking in obedience. Please don’t let your own doubt keep you in the clutches of someone else’s need for control. You see, the Lord doesn’t waste His purpose. Nope! When He gives it to you, it’s because He wants to see you walk in it and no one else should have the ability or power to tell you when or how to move in that purpose. So today, in these few sentences, I want to stir up your confidence and remind you that you have nothing to fear because God is with you!

“One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid anymore, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you in order to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” (ACTS‬ ‭18:9-10‬ ‭AMP‬‬)

These 2 verses slapped me in the face today out of nowhere. I don’t remember having ever paid attention to them before. They are nestled in the same chapter where we are introduced to Aquila and Priscilla and yet, they took me completely by surprise. The verses are God’s reminder to Paul after a particularly harsh encounter with the resistance and opposition of Jews in Corinth. He shakes the dust off himself and decides that he is going to preach to the Gentiles. After, Paul makes that decision, many are saved at the home of Crispus. What is your point, Ebony?

Once you make up in your mind that the calling on your life is worth walking away from old mindsets and traditions, your whole life will change. Once you recognize that you have Jehovah Shammah, present with you, your vocabulary will change. You will see that you don’t have to fear because God is with you. No more keeping silent because you don’t want to upset someone else. No more downplaying your gift and purpose so that “bound” people will be comfortable. No more believing that you need a certain set of people to push your vision. As The Lord told Paul, no one will be able to succeed in their attack against you because He has put people in place to support and cover you. You might not even see them but they are there – ready to sow, ready to cover and ready to bless. So, let’s get going! Tell silence and fear goodbye. The call on your life is too important for foolishness.

Amen