Have You Died Today?

We are living in a world that is abnormally concerned with self. Everything is about my plans, my successes, my failures, my life. Even when we go to church, we are often concerned about what God can do for me and not others. We’ve been conditioned by the world to think of ourselves first. Think about some of the shows that you’ve seen on TV. A lot of them work on the theme of chasing something so that you can be happy or successful, whether it’s money or a man/woman, or weight loss. The ultimate goal is fulfilling self. The problem with that goal is that it goes against all that Jesus taught us in His ministry. We are to die to self every day of our lives.

Whoa, Ebony! What are you saying to us? I know that God wants me to have the desires of my heart and be happy. Yes He does! Absolutely He does…but did you make note of the whole verse? Psalms 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart”. Did he say delight in your happiness? Delight in your money? Delight in fame? Nope! He said delight yourself in the Lord! Delight means to give pleasure to or be pleasing to; to hold spellbound. Doesn’t that sound like God wants you so wrapped up in Him first before He focuses on giving you what you want? Okay, okay…so maybe you don’t think that’s a very clear example.

Galatians 2:20 in The Message Bible says, “Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” It’s time for us to stop living for ourselves. If Christ lives in us, our life is not our own so our first thought cannot be what is going to please us. It has to be would this be pleasing to God. When Christ died on the cross, He died to self. He SUFFERED, I mean really suffered, for our sins. He could have gotten down off that cross and called legions of angels to come and help Him but He said what God has sent me to do is more important than any plan that I could have.  He isn’t even asking us to hang on a cross, He’s just asking us to kill that part of us, our flesh, that wants to control everything. Let Him be in control.

This is a daily struggle for me but my prayer is always, God I submit my will to you. It’s my daily prayer because I was the queen of trying to fix things on my own. Then when I had messed everything up, I was running to God for Him to get me out of it. Clearly, not the way to go! So I have to say, God, I die to myself today. You take control of my life, my plans, my ideas because there is nothing that I could think of that could come close to You.  I had to make Isaiah 55: 8-9 one of my life verses, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  It reminds me of my place in the grand scheme of things.

So here is the final thing, Luke 9:23 and it’s something that a lot of us as Christians do not want to hear. “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  If you are going to follow Jesus, you have to do it. Kyle Idleman, in his book, Not a Fan, talks about how this verse is the difference between being a fan of Jesus and a follower. It’s not comfortable for us to deny ourselves. We want to live the good life!  But Luke 9:24 tells that “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.”

And that’s the key, though you are dying to yourself, you are gaining a way better life! One that is eternal and secure. No temporary highs here…just joy everlasting and unsurpassed peace.

So my question for you is….Have you died today?

Be blessed…

Where are you going?

In recent days, I‘ve been hearing a lot of teaching on Heaven and Hell. God has been calling for repentance and He’s been calling for holiness. He ultimately wants everyone to go to Heaven but the fact of the matter is everyone is not going. There will be deacons, preachers, sweet little old ladies, teenagers, mothers, and fathers going to Hell. The question of the day for all of us is, if you died right now, where would you go? And we have to realize that this is reality. Death can come to any one of us at any time. We have no idea. We also don’t know when Jesus is coming back. The Bible says that no man knows the day nor the hour. It could be in 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 years – we don’t know! The key is to be ready NOW!

Let’s think about this! You’re living your life and having a good time. You go to church on Sundays and maybe to bible study but your life outside of the church is filled with sin. Are you in right standing with God? Will you make it to heaven because you went to church and bible study even though you just had a few” outside things” that you participated in? Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 makes it pretty clear and I am using the Message Bible because I want everyone to understand. "Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'

Do you want to hear that from Jesus when you go before God for judgment? Remember that God was sick of us! He was ready to throw in the towel on the world but instead He loved us so much that He sent Jesus. Now how do you think He feels that He sacrificed His ONLY Son and we treat the gift like garbage? Because that’s essentially what we are saying to God when we go do our own thing! Your sacrifice wasn’t worth it to me. It’s not worth my extra time, it’s not worth my weed, it’s not worth my obedience, it’s not worth my abstinence, it’s not worth my money. It’s not worth the game. It’s not worth my all. Can you imagine what that feels like to God? How would it feel to you if one of your loved ones said that to you? After you have given your all to them – they turn to you and say I found something better to do with my time than spend it with you?

I know that you probably wanted an uplifting word today and MY intent was to feed my own needs and give you one but this is what has come forth. It’s about obedience now! That’s what it comes down to – doing what God says to do! When you have the opportunity, read about Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22 - 31…he wanted to do what he wanted and he lost his kingdom. 1 Samuel 15:22 says obedience is better than sacrifice.  Time is short and there is no more time for games.  We have to stop picking and choosing what we want to follow in the Bible. No more rationalizing our sins to make it fit what we want to do. I was the queen of that! But I asked God to show me Ebony and He has.  

This is not just for the unsaved! Yes, God wants everyone to be saved but once that happens, He wants us to be obedient to His word! In order to make it into the kingdom, we have to live a life that is holy and acceptable to God. That doesn’t mean that you won’t sin because we all have and will again but we have to repent and live according to His Word. We have to stop using Romans 3:23 as a crutch! Yes we all have sinned and fallen short but now we move forward…we don’t stay there!

Time is short. Get in the word and do what it says. Then the next time the question is asked, if you died right now where would you go; you will be able to answer with a resounding voice…HEAVEN!

To God be the glory for the great things He has done!

AMEN

Overcomer!

Have you ever had a week where it felt like you were the top target on the devil’s hit list? Everything that could come at you does – people on the job acting crazy, money looks funny, sick in your body. You’re looking around, shaking your head, wondering why now? Because it always seems to happen when you have something to do, right? Of course, it does and do you know why? There is something that God wants you to do. He has an assignment on your life and it’s the devil’s main mission to stop you from accomplishing it.  If this is you right now, I want to encourage you! The devil is defeated and God is exalted!

All this morning, I have been hearing word that encourages us to keep going in the midst of a storm. You see, Satan has come to kill us and destroy our lives but Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. First, we have to recognize that the devil attacks to distract us from God’s purpose for our lives. It gives him great pleasure if we give up when faced with pain, lack, and hurt because they come from him. But it’s time to give the devil a black eye! He needs to know that like Job, we will endure all his attacks but we will not turn around, go back, or give up on God! I don’t know about you but He’s done too much for me to give up on Him.

Don’t look at your circumstances or your life with your natural eye. Look beyond the drama at the morning! The bible says “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!” When it seems the darkest in your life, start praising God for the morning! Revelations 12 talks about the Great War when Michael throws Satan out of Heaven. Verse 11 of that chapter says “they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.” In other words, no matter what the devil has planned for you, he cannot win against the blood of Jesus Christ and the words of your witness! You have so much power but the devil doesn’t want you to know it or remember it. That’s why we have to stay in the Word of God so that we can tell him where to go.

Today, I want you to fix in your mind that no matter what the enemy tries to throw at you, you are MORE than a conqueror through Christ Jesus and NO weapon that’s formed against you shall prosper.  But WAIT… you need to know that there is something that you have to do! You need to be saved! In order for us to have all this power and victory, we have to give our lives to Christ and BELIVE! If you are already saved, make sure that you are a follower and not just a fan! Make sure that you are living a life that is holy and acceptable to God. He is so faithful to us, let’s be faithful to Him!

James 4:7-10 gives us a perfect lesson on how to be covered and protected from the devil.

So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.(The MSG)

If you didn't get anything else out of this, hear the words of Jesus Christ in John 16:33! "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Its already done!

Be blessed... I love you with the love of the Lord!

In the Middle

I wondered this week if I was getting it all wrong with this blog. The devil kept telling me over and over that I am not who God says that I am. He played on an old issue of mine – the need to be acknowledged. He tried to attack my mind and for a minute I started to give in to those thoughts. Nobody is reading it. Maybe I wasn’t hearing from God. Maybe I haven’t drawn as close to Him as I thought. Maybe, maybe, maybe…But even through the attack, my spirit kept crying out to God and contradicting what the enemy was saying. I made up in my mind that I was going to praise my way through. So whenever the enemy said something, I gave God the praise and glory! I rested in His Word and this morning, I felt the breakthrough!

I kept feeling an urgency to turn on the TV. The girls are usually watching The Wiggles or Mickey Mouse in the mornings so it was strange that Sanai wasn’t focused on the TV at all. So I turned it on and Joyce Meyers was saying turn to Romans 5:3. I did and I knew that word was for me! “There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!” Romans 5:3-5 (The MSG)

Then I remembered that a couple of weeks ago, God sent me a word through a strong woman of God that I had to keep writing in season and out of season. I didn’t know how soon that would come up because at the time I felt great about writing. But isn’t it awesome how God will prepare you. He knows the end from the beginning so He won’t allow Satan to sneak up on you. The key is seeking God regularly so that you are open to receive the preparation. I had to remember that I am on assignment to share God's word and give Him glory so why wouldn't Satan want to stop me?

Remember the story of Job, God had to give Satan permission to “consider” him. And when Satan attacked him and killed all of his children, what did Job do? He fell to the ground and worshiped God! “Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'll return to the womb of the earth. God gives, God takes. God's name be ever blessed.” (Job 1:21) All of his children were dead but He blessed the name of God! How about you?

Are you in a storm right now? Have the circumstances in your life built up to the point where it’s hard to see around them? Praise your way through! In the middle of the storm, give God praise for the victory! You see, the enemy wants to keep you in a place of bondage. He wants you to give in to those circumstances and throw in the towel but the thing is, if you are saved, all Satan can do is want because Isaiah 53:5 says that the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. The Message Bible puts it this way, “He took the punishment, and that made us whole!”  Doesn’t that make you want to shout?! You don’t have to let the status of your bank account cause you to walk around with your head down. Your unsaved husband doesn’t have keep in you tears. Your crazy boss doesn’t have to raise your blood pressure.  Believe in your promise and not your reality! And give God praise for the promise!

My prayer for you today is that you would live and not die! That you remember that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. Remembering that when you praise God in the midst of the storm, you are taking the power away from the enemy and giving God the glory! Thank you, God for the victory…Amen!

Who's Who

While I was praying this morning, the phrase “it’s not fashionable” dropped in my spirit and it kept popping up all morning as I got ready for work and during my drive. Okay, God, what do you mean by that? What’s not fashionable? Well…I prayed and prayed asking for some revelation because I was completely blank. I sat down to write, still with nothing, when the title of a book that I just received from a friend, all of a sudden came into my memory. The book is called Not A Fan – Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus. AAAHAAA! Okay, God!  I got it!! We’re not on this journey for the world’s fads; you want us to be classics!

We are living in a world today that focuses on how a person looks and lives, especially famous people. In order to be seen as successful you have to look a certain way, drive a certain car, etc. Children at school are often judged by how new and “in style” their clothes are. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to outgrow that because adults are still being judged similarly. The question is, however, what will God look for when He ultimately judges us? Will He care that you had the hottest new Coach bag or the baddest Brooks Brothers suit? No, He will be looking at your heart. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says, “…wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.”

And just as the world has judged how we look, it has tried and convicted holiness. It has made people think that if you are living for God that you’re doing something wrong and outside the normal. You’ve heard it before or maybe even said it about someone that you know - radical, holy rollers, “it doesn’t take all of that”. In other words, it’s not fashionable to be sold out for God. But God says in Leviticus 11 to be holy because He is holy.”  Doesn’t get much plainer than that, right?

Maybe this will help, since people sometimes look at going to church all the time in the same light as trying to live a holy life.  It may be hard for you to imagine why it’s necessary to go to church any other time besides Sunday. I mean, that’s the main day, right? As long as I give God those 2 hours, I am covered! Nope! God is an all knowing, loving and PRESENT God. He is always waiting to talk to us.  So why would He want you to limit your time with him to one 2 hour period on one day out of the week? What if your breakthrough is waiting for you on a Wednesday night? Do you want Him to hold on to it until you get there on Sunday? I’m not saying that you have to be at church every night to connect with God. But are you seeking Him at all outside of what tradition says? Are you chasing after Him, anxious to learn more and grow more? It all comes down to this: Who are you trying to please?

God doesn’t want us to base how we live our lives on the world. He is calling for us to step out of our fear and walk in power. 1 Peter 4:16 says “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” If you want to be fashionable to God, walk in love! Tell someone about how Jesus saved you, forgave you and cleaned you up and that He can and will do it for them!  Present your body has a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. He will replace all of your old habits with new experiences. He will give you the strength to put down those burdens that you have been carrying around like a suitcase. Let’s change the whole definition of style! Let’s show the world that being a Christian is not something that we put on when it’s convenient, like a jacket in the fall. I promise you that if you turn your focus from the world and towards God, you will be blessed!

I challenge you today to stop worrying about what the world has to say and seek out what God has to say! On that note, I will close with 1 John 2:15 -17 in The Message Bible.

 Don’t love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

Be blessed! AMEN

Cross Encounter

I have been doing a lot of reading lately trying to dive deeper into the Word and draw closer to the Lord. It’s been a journey and I definitely still have a long way to go. As I’ve been reading and studying and listening to different sermons and teachings, there’s been a common theme of repentance lately. I even noticed how much that has been reflected in my last few blog entries. God obviously wants the message to get across to the saved and unsaved that the time for playing games and living any kind of way is over.  But I wondered out loud to God recently,  “Why is it so hard for people to give up the world?” Why does it take some of us years and years and often something traumatic to come to a place where God is at the forefront of our lives and we want to live the way God has called for us to live? The answer came to me a couple of different ways this week while I was on a business trip and had the chance to spend some uninterrupted time with the Lord.  The Cross hasn’t become real to some of us yet.

I have to admit to being a bit floored! What do you mean, Lord? That’s the first thing we confess when we get saved. How many Easters have we celebrated the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross and God raised Him from the dead 3 days later. I mean, when the preacher says “Early Sunday morning, He got up with all power in His hands”, that’s when everyone starts shouting, right? So how can it be possible that anyone could miss the meaning of the cross?  You’re going to have to clear this up for me, God!

Then I got it, it’s not that people don’t honor the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again. But until you’ve have had what T. Austin Sparks calls a “Cross Encounter”, it is just words to you. Have you ever had an experience where you felt like you were out there all alone? Your family didn’t seem to quite understand. You were being talked about, you were hurt or you were just plain lost? You might have even felt like God had left you and wasn’t answering your prayers as He had in the past? But then the sun started shining again. You could get through a whole day without crying. God brought you back from a dark place and gave you a peace and joy that you didn’t understand. Then all of a sudden when you read Isaiah 53, it hits you at your very core because you realize that Jesus Christ died on the cross for YOU! That He laid down His life KNOWINGLY for your lying, hateful, gossiping, fast self!  Or that He took the punishment so that you could have peace!  That’s a cross encounter! When you’ve experienced something that shook everything that you thought was you and you got back up. That’s a cross encounter!

It can’t just be words that we read out of habit. It has to be real! It’s when we really come to see that we are only here because of God’s grace and sacrifice. Sometimes all it takes is really thinking about what we were and I mean really examining ourselves and realizing that Jesus took on ALL of our sins so that we could be new creatures!

I challenge you today to have a personal encounter with the Cross. Take some quiet time and just remember what Jesus Christ has done for you. He did it just for you because He loves you. How much of ourselves can we give back to Him? Isn’t the Cross enough to strive to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God? I’m a witness that once I had an encounter with the Cross, I couldn’t live the same old way anymore. I wanted more and more of God and that desire overwhelmed the need for the things of the world. It’s not always easy, nor do I always get things right but it's worth it because of what He did for me.

I want to leave you this week with Isaiah 53 in The Message Bible translation. I pray that it blesses you as it blessed me! To God be the glory for the great things He has done!

 ¹ Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

^2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.

^7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.

¹⁰Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

^11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many "righteous ones,"
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

AMEN!

Heart Fixer

It seems that everywhere I’ve turned recently, people are speaking of repentance and bringing people into the Kingdom of God. In a time of political correctness and “feel good” enabling, God is urging His people to be real, get it right and share that news with the world. He wants people to know that Hell is real. It’s not a party place where people go that didn’t want to live holy. There are people that actually think that! I saw a whole conversation on Facebook a while back where people were basically signing up for hell because that’s where all the fun people would be. I was stunned! There will be nothing fun about hell! Eternal torture and suffering is more like it. I don’t know about you, but that’s not my idea of fun!

So God is really urging His people to witness to people about His goodness and His grace. He created us and wants us to return to Him, not be condemned to Hell. Last night, as I was sitting in church, God dropped the words Heart Fixer into my spirit. This was immediately after receiving a strong word about repentance. God wants people to realize that He doesn’t have a list of qualifications and requirements for salvation. You don’t have to be sober and clean to come to Christ. He wants you to come just as you are and He will do the cleaning!

I’ve heard so many times from people in my family and friends circle that they will get saved when they’ve gotten themselves together. You don’t have to do that! If you are an alcoholic, God is the ultimate AA counselor. If you are addicted to marijuana or cocaine, God is better than Betty Ford or any detox clinic. If you are a liar or a gossiper or a molester, whatever you are, God is the HEART FIXER! He can restore you like no one else. The key is to confess it, repent and GIVE IT TO HIM! You can’t get clean, holding onto it.

Even some of us that are saved are holding onto old habits and addictions that we have not fully released. It is time to let them go…now…TODAY!  God is waiting to take your hand and perform a complete detoxification on you. Lay those weights that you are carrying down. 1 Peter 5:7 says to “Cast your cares on him, for He cares for you.” Jesus did not die on the cross, for you to keep sleeping with someone that you aren’t married to. He died on the cross for you to be free of that.

Romans 5: 6 – 8 in the Message Bible sums it all up! “Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”

There is nothing that you have done or are doing that is too bad for God! He is waiting! Don’t let Satan convince you that what you are doing is alright, if its not. If you aren’t sure, read the Bible. If you don’t know where to go in the Bible, ask someone that you know that has a relationship with God and is living it.

 I want everyone that reads this blog and everyone that doesn’t, to go to heaven! I won’t be satisfied until I’ve done all that I can to tell you that there is a fullness of joy in being with the Lord. I am telling you this as someone who had a full experience of what the world has to offer. My friends and I were the party crew! We drank while we were getting dressed for the club, at the club, and maybe after and we shut it down! But it was a temporary high…when we woke up the next day, we didn’t always feel so good. But I can tell you, that when I finish praising God, it’s a real high that lifts me and stays with me!

If you aren’t saved today, I invite you to give Jesus Christ your heart and let Him fix it! Seek out godly people who will pray with you and support you on your journey.  If you are saved and are struggling with some things, I encourage you to return to your first Love. Let Jesus love on you and bring you back into fellowship with Him. He’s such a forgiving and merciful God and He’s the ultimate Heart Fixer!

God bless you and AMEN!