Still on Track

Sometimes I wonder how I, with my imperfect self, am even eligible to encourage you every week. I wonder how I can be going through a rough patch, a dry period and yet God see fit to give me a word to share. Sometimes I sit down to pray and meditate and I don’t hear anything or the visions are fleeting and I want to send out a message that says “No Rhema today!” I said these things to God this morning and as always He sent a word. He sent a man to walk with me on the track this morning and simply tell me that God loves me. The man walked with me for almost 2 miles and encouraged me and told me that God has a plan for me and He’s already done the work. In my spirit and soul, I already knew that but God wanted to remind me. So in turn, I want to remind you.

Many of you have been going through some of the most difficult times in your life. Your marriage has been a struggle or in recovery. Your church life is frustrating you. Your job situation is not what you want it to be. Your finances are a mess. But something down on the inside keeps telling you not to give up. I heard Sunday that God’s nickname must be “Something” because it’s Him. He wants you to know that He is in control and He is working things out for you. One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 8:28 and I’ve memorized and meditated on that Word in the New King James Version for years and years. Today, however, God sent me to the Message version and included verses 26 & 27. This is the word that He has for you AND me today.

 “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

I pray that you receive it down in your spirit and stand on it. God has not forgotten you in your situation. He has not abandoned the plan nor changed course. He is still going to do just what He said He would do. As that man and I finished walking this morning, He paraphrased another of my favorite scriptures, Isaiah 55:11. He said “God’s word was going to find you today even if I had never said a word to you because His word is going to do what it sets out to do.” Saints, keep going and keep trusting. God’s word never comes back void. I love you! Amen…

Water in the Valley

Have you ever gotten to a point where you felt like you had nothing else to give? You’ve poured out everything at your job, to your family, at your church and at the end of the day you have nothing left for yourself. Mothers are often especially guilty of this. I remember waking up one day and I didn’t recognize myself. I had gained weight and I looked like I was 20 years older than I was. I had become so caught up with doing “stuff”, taking care of my family and meeting other people’s needs that I had stopped thinking about me. I had essentially dried up. I remember asking God to refresh and restore me and bring me back to myself. I had to have a coming to Jesus meeting with God. As He was reminding me of this, He began to talk to me about those of you that are walking around in your own personal droughts. Some of you are so dry that you don’t even realize it; you have just accepted it as your life. But today, God is inviting you to be refreshed. He is calling you into His presence for nourishment for your dry places.

God reminded me of the story of the valley of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. The entire story is powerful and prophetic but the Lord told me to expressly look at the first 6 verses in the New Living Translation and share them with you. “The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones.  He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.  Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!  I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”  

A simple question came to me. How bad do you want to be refreshed? These particular dry bones were referencing the children of Israel. They had lost all hope and life during their exile and they needed to live again. They needed freedom to be in their own land. God was basically telling them that all of their hope could be found in Him and if they would trust His word, He would lead them back to life. The same goes for you! Have you yet reached the point in your life where you realize that your refreshing lies in allowing God to breathe new life into you? Have you come to the place where the dry places are begging for water? Are you desperate enough to speak those places and command them to hear the Word of the Lord? You see, it comes down to making a choice. It comes down to recognizing when you’ve lost yourself and when enough is enough. It’s taking ownership of your life. It’s acknowledging and acting upon the need for refreshing.

Anthony Brown and Group Therapy have a song that talks about God’s presence being like water. It has ministered to me on so many levels over the last couple of weeks. But the most profound thing that it reminded me of was that I could ask God to fill me with His presence like water whenever I needed it. You don’t have to walk around in a drought. You can come to your own valley and God will meet you there just like those dry bones and blow moist life back into you. It’s time out for settling for the dry places when there is a river of water flowing through the Kingdom of God. Revelation 22:17 says “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” Jesus is offering you an abundant and refreshed life, you just have to receive it. I challenge you to take a dip in the presence of God and allow Him to refill you, refresh you, and restore you. Think of me as your Ezekiel in the valley and I am saying, Live again! AMEN…

Rest that Remains

Lately, God has been putting a lot of songs in my spirit! I have mentioned it before, but sometimes a song can really take you in, especially when you are going through things. You know how it is…a song will come on the radio and it sounds like it was written just for your situation. This morning that song for me was “There Remaineth a Rest” by Donald Lawrence. I just kept hearing the chorus repeating itself over and over. “There remaineth a rest, a rest for the people of God. A promise, a finished work and we must guard it with our hearts. Everything you will ever need was provided at Calvary.” I just kept hearing it and couldn’t get away from it. Finally, the Lord sent me to the scripture in Hebrews 4 that the song is based on and once I read the entire thing, it truly blessed me. Today, God is speaking to the fighters, the runners, and the “I can handle it all” folks. He is saying, come and take advantage of the promised rest that remains.

Hebrews 4 is a powerful chapter. I usually don’t do this but I feel led to post the entire chapter here.  I believe the Lord showed me the Message version because He really wants you to get this. It’s time out for striving to fix things that God has already fixed. Often, the reason you don’t see the manifestation is because you can’t take your hands off long enough to see it. Saints, it is finished!

For as long, then, as that promise of resting in him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be careful that we’re not disqualified. We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we’ll experience that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith. Remember that God said, “Exasperated, I vowed, “They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.” God made that vow, even though he’d finished his part before the foundation of the world. Somewhere it’s written, “God rested the seventh day, having completed his work,” but in this other text he says, “They’ll never be able to sit down and rest.”

 So this promise has not yet been fulfilled. Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were disobedient. God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as today, just as he did in David’s psalm, centuries later than the original invitation: Today, please listen, don’t turn a deaf ear . . .” And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience.

God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.

 Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

There is something to be said for rest. Most people don’t get enough of it and it is often taken for granted. As I read Hebrews 4, the Lord just began to speak to me about rest. I looked up the word rest in the Greek and it means a “calming of the winds, a resting place.” The dictionary then went a little further and said “the heavenly blessedness in which God dwells and of which He has promised to make persevering believers in Christ partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended.” Y’all know I don’t always get into definitions but I found it interesting that this was a different rest than the one that Jesus talks about in Matthew 11:28, when He says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” In that case, He was talking about an actual rest, a refreshing, ceasing from movement and labor to collect your strength. But in Hebrews 4, He is talking about the promise of a finished work. It is the same word as when He rested on the 7^th day of creation. He rested because He was finished. Folks, God has already done the work. Herein lies the question…do you believe it? Do you believe that the situation that is taking up so much of your time and brain space has already been worked out?

Hebrews 4 closes with a highlight of who Jesus is for a reason. You see with His death and resurrection, He did it all. But He also sits on the right hand of God as our intercessor and our advocate. God wants for you to be whole and at rest. He wants you to rest in Him, KNOWING that all that you ever needed lies with Him. I challenge you to take that situation, that husband, that child, that job and release it to God. I guarantee that He will respond with ‘I’ve got it under control.’ You know why? Because the Word says that the Lord will perfect that which concerns you and in this instance ‘perfect’ means complete! Do you see how it all comes back to the finished work of Christ? Saints, “there remaineth a rest for the people of God.” I invite you to take advantage!

AMEN

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