Hold on to it!

This is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it! Are you feeling joyful? Are you excited for what God is doing in your life? If you’re a little slow to answer, let me encourage you this morning! God is with you and He wants you to remember that what He has given you is not temporary. God said hold on to it and don’t let the enemy snatch it back. What do you mean, Ebony? God showed me that some of you are fighting to hold on to the breakthrough that He gave you. Some are battling not to turn back to the old relationship that brought you down. Some are even struggling to keep the faith in the midst of rough circumstances. Today, God is saying hold on… I’m in the fight with you!

I ended up in Isaiah 41 this morning where God is reminding Israel of His promises and who He is to them. It’s really a powerful chapter if you just need to hear God describe Himself. Today He sent me to strengthen your faith and charge up your resilience. He says, “I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will old you up with my victorious right hand.  “See, all your angry enemies lie there, confused and humiliated. Anyone who opposes you will die and come to nothing.  You will look in vain for those who tried to conquer you. Those who attack you will come to nothing.  For I hold you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.”  (Is. 41: 9-10 NLT) Do you see what God is saying to you? If God has called you to an assignment, to a purpose, to a breakthrough, then He is going to stay the course with you. He is going to be present the entire time. It doesn’t matter what the enemy desires to do to you, you will be victorious because God is victory.

I need you to remember who you are in Christ! I need you to know that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. That’s not just a cute phrase that people throw around in church! No, the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, “But in that coming day   no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice  raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord;  their vindication will come from me.  I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Is. 54:17 NLT)That means when you hear those weapons forming, you silence them! Doubt speaking loud in your ear? Hush, doubt...you LOSE! Low self-esteem whispering into your spirit? Hush…I’m fearfully and wonderfully made! Your past ways trying to remind you of who you used to be? Hush, I’ve been redeemed! See? God is with you fighting the battle and upholding you with His right hand!

God doesn’t do halfway and He doesn’t do temporary. If He gives you something, He’s going to do it fully. It’s your responsibility to hold on to it. Don’t give your breakthrough up to the enemy because he asks for it. Don’t give your peace of mind up because circumstances look harder than you expected. Don’t relinquish your joy because man says you shouldn’t have it. No, you hold on to what God has given you and keep going! He’s right there with you!

Amen

Making Life easier...

 Today, as I was praying about the word He wanted me to share, God said to me "obedience is key." Awww, man! God, are You really going to hit me with that one this morning? And the answer was yes...sigh! Then He reminded me of what He told me when I first started writing Rhema and that was to always be transparent. Really, Lord?! Today? The answer was yes again. So I guess this is transparency day. I have admitted this quite a few times but for those that don't know, I was notorious for trying to work things out on my own instead of just letting God do what He does best. It took a lot of mountains and repeated tests for me to finally get that I just have to trust God...period. I know now that if I would have just done what God said, I wouldn't have ended up in a lot of those "mountain" situations. So today is about encouraging you to obey...

God then sent me to 1 Samuel 15 and a crucial conversation between King Saul and Samuel. The Lord had grown tired of Saul's constant disobedience and disloyalty and told Samuel to tell him that his time as king was over. Saul defends himself by saying all of the things that he did that God told him to do. Have you ever felt that way when God gave you an instruction and you did some of it? Samuel basically tells Saul that partial obedience is not obedience.  “But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams." (‭‭1 Sam‬ ‭15:22 ‭NLT‬‬)

This scripture speaks to me every time I read it because it reminds me that God just wants me to hear His voice and do what He says. You see, Saul thought that by doing a mix of what God said and what he wanted to do was sufficient in God's eyes. But God wants all of you and He wants you to listen out for and obey His voice and commands. I'm convinced that so much would be different in the world, if people would just obey. 

Back in 2013, God showed me a retreat that He wanted me to do. I didn't agree and went along on my own way. I didn't see myself in the role of retreat leader, especially not the planner. I could see working with the church on something but definitely not doing it on my own! I pushed it off and ignored God's urgings and reminders about the retreat until finally I couldn't get away from it. I had to go through so many avoidable experiences because I wouldn't just go with what God was saying. Now, 2 years later, that retreat is coming to fruition this weekend and it's only because I finally listened and obeyed.

God may be telling you to do some things that you don't understand. He may be sending you somewhere that makes no sense to you. He may even be challenging you to step into some things that you have never expected for yourself. Can I just tell you that God has a plan for your life and it involves a hope and a future? What is happening right now may look completely different from how you would like it to be or expect it to be but it is all in the plan. You have to understand that God is a long range planner. He knows the end from the beginning so He is positioning you today in preparation for where you will be. You can't see all of the things that He sees so... isn't it easier to just do what He says? It's just like when you do the trust walk. Do you remember those? It's when you are blindfolded and being led around various obstacles by your partner that can see. In order to win or reach your goal and avoid falling, you have to do exactly what your partner says. I encourage you to trust and obey Jehovah Roi, the God who sees! He will never steer you wrong!

 

Amen...

Thank YOU, Lord!

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me! Bless His holy name! (Ps. 103:1) My mama used to open all of her sermons with those words and I would get so excited because I knew that what was coming next was going to bless me. I still get excited by that scripture because as long as I can bless Him, I am still here and able to give Him glory. This morning, I woke up with a gratefulness in my spirit. I just wanted to tell God thank you for my life, for breath, for my family…for everything! It’s so easy to fall into the trap of sadness and depression and constantly focusing on what is not going right in your life. But today, the word God has for you is celebrate the good!

I spend a lot of time in Rhema encouraging you to push past the hard stuff, and keep pressing, and don’t give up. All of those things are good and I am confident in my calling to edify the saints of God but sometimes you have to take your eyes off of the struggle and look at the gifts. You have to look at what God is doing in your life and be encouraged. If you are reading this word right now, you are alive! You can see and you have the capacity of your mind to understand what you are reading. That is a blessing worth giving God glory for! So many people in the world would pay money to be able to do one out of the three. You are blessed! Your life may not be what you want it to be or what you thought it would be by now, or even what you think it could be but you have it! Paul gave the church at Thessalonica some advice that I hold dear to my heart. I actually have it written down and pinned to the wall at my desk. He said, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18, NLT) It does not matter where you find yourself at this moment, God is present and working. So don’t waste your time being sad about the circumstance, rather rejoice in a God who sees and pray to Him. Just being thankful can change your entire mood! Celebrate the good, saints!

My prayer for you today is that you change your perspective. Shift your focus away from what you are struggling with and turn your sights on the great things. Don’t have a job? Thank God for the time that He has given you to rest and hear from Him about what your next move should be. Grieving the loss of a loved one? Thank God that He blessed you with the amount of time you had with that person and the memories that He stored in your heart. Struggling in your marriage or the aftereffects of divorce? Thank God that there is no love like His and that He is able to perfect things that you can’t see. This is not by any means meant to downplay your emotions or your feelings but rather it is taking the power away from the enemy to control you with them. When you speak thankfulness, the enemy can’t work in that. When you speak gratefulness, the glory goes to God and not the situation. When you speak gratitude, life starts stirring up in you. Celebrate the good, saints!

On your feet now—applaud God!
    Bring a gift of laughter,
    sing yourselves into His presence.
Know this: God is God, and God, God.
    He made us; we didn’t make Him.
    We’re His people, His well-tended sheep.
Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank Him. Worship Him.
 For God is sheer beauty,
    all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever. (Ps. 100, MSG)

Don't Give Up!

I’ve been writing Rhema every Thursday for 4 years. Sometimes, I hear what God wants me to say quickly and other times, I have to wait for it. Sometimes, I am super encouraged that the word is blessing people and other times, I feel like no one is reading it at all so why bother. Sometimes I get tired and just don’t feel like writing and other times, I wake up excited to get to my computer. It’s like life. There are highs and lows, joys and sorrows, success and failure. Sometimes, you just aren’t sure what your life is doing. But even in all of that, God keeps saying something consistently to me and I want to share it with you. Don’t give up! I’ve written these same words many times over the last 4 years but it bears repeating. Don’t give up!

I am a witness that life can wear you out. It can make you question your faith and even your commitment to God. Then when you add in the devil and his schemes, it can get completely crazy. But can I tell you something today? God is not unaware of your situation. With everything going on, you can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking you are out there on your own. But I feel the need to snap some folks out of a trance! You are not alone! God is present and aware of where you are right now! He knows how frustrated you have been by people and their lack of effort. He knows how tired you are of going around the same mountain over and over again. He even knows how disappointed you are with Him for not doing some things that you have prayed for. But God highlighted one of my favorite scriptures to help you out today. “God isn’t late with His promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining Himself on account of you, holding back the End because He doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.” (2 Peter 3:9, MSG) Peter was talking about the last days but it gives me great comfort to know that God isn’t late with His promise. He’s working some things out for you and IN you that requires time. It also shows me that He is fully aware of our situations. So much so, that He won’t even bring about the Day of Judgment without giving us time to get ourselves together. Don’t give up!

I know some of you are at the “throw in the towel” stage. Some of you are inching toward the edge and contemplating a jump or a fall. But I just want to encourage you that God is there. He is Jehovah Shammah and He is present with you. He promised not to leave or forsake you. But can I also tell you that all of these things that are happening in your life are building something up in you? James 1: 2-4 encourages you, “when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” Don’t you want to get to that point? Do you want to be whole and complete without lack? Well, that’s what happens when you keep going instead of giving up. So imagine me sitting in front of you, looking you straight in the eye and saying, DON’T GIVE UP! You are so close! Your vision is going to come to pass! Your child is going to get delivered! Your marriage is going be restored! Your joy is being renewed! I have on good authority that if you believe it, God will do it! Don’t give up! Your process has a purpose and when you come out of it, your story is going to bless someone else.

Enter in...TODAY

Can I just encourage you today? Can I just remind you that God is faithful and present and desires that you be whole and free, living in victory? This has been quite a week in the world. There has been death and destruction, struggle and triumph. There has been weariness and there has been restoration. When you put that altogether, you will discover that there has been life. You see life happens to everyone. It doesn’t matter how holy or deep you are, how famous or smart, life can come out of nowhere and take you where you didn’t expect to go. But God told me to tell you today to enter into His presence and find your rest, find your restoration, and find your worship.

This morning as I was running and listening to the book of Hebrews, something jumped out at me in chapter 4 that I had not ever highlighted before. The word TODAY. It literally got louder in my ears when I heard this word. You see, the chapter talks about the rest that God has promised His people. The author talks about how this rest has been prepared for us since God created the world. But as I kept listening, I heard verses 6 and 7 and went in! “So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering His rest, and that time is TODAY. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts.” (Heb. 4:6-7, NLT) WOW! Do you see what I see? God has been reaching out to His people offering this rest for ages and ages and has been disobeyed and basically ignored. But TODAY, He wants you to enter into His rest. TODAY!

You have been searching for peace, for answers, for breakthrough, for joy, for understanding, for so long that it has worn you out. It has literally caused you to change the way you operate. It’s caused you to act out of character at times. It has even caused you to not enjoy life the way you should at times. But TODAY, God is calling you home. He’s calling you to Himself and offering rest from your search. He’s offering you all that He has.  Today is the day to press go on your life. Today is the day to leave your anger and bitterness behind. Today is the day to tell sadness and depression that it can’t have your best days. Today is the day that you trust again. Today is the day that you rest in His presence. You see, all throughout the Word, you will see that all that you need is there. His presence will go with you and He will give you rest. (Ex. 33:14) Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Cor. 3:17) In His presence, there is fullness of joy. (Ps. 16:11) Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. In Him you have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of your trespasses. (Acts 3:20) Do you see what is waiting for you?

I can testify how hard life can be when you get outside of that rest, especially in your heart. That’s why David said to make sure your heart was not hard when you hear His voice. For me, I’ve had to come to the place where I see rest as real and all encompassing. I have to have the word rest taped on a piece of paper above my desk, literally staring at me all day. Why? Because I don’t want to get too far away from it. I want to be reminded constantly that if I rest in who God is that I can stand, I can survive, and I can press on. Today is your day to make that same declaration. Today, I challenge you to make resting in God your goal. I challenge you to enter in to His rest. Stop working so hard at life. Stop working so hard to make things work the way you want them to. Stop saying you trust Him but your actions show differently. Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart. Enter in and rest.

Amen

I hear You, Lord!

Have you ever been in a place where you just didn’t know what to do next? You know that you aren’t supposed to go backwards and you don’t feel ready to go forward? You just know that you have to do something. I had one of those type of weeks. I faced some tests that I wasn’t expecting and they left me questioning what my next move should be. I know that God has a purpose for my life and He’s shaping and molding me to walk that purpose out but sometimes…Sometimes I want God to just give me the paper with the bulleted list of points that tell me exactly what to do next. Wouldn’t that be awesome?! Maybe it’s just me but I hate guessing. I like to know what’s coming so that I can prepare myself. But today, God told me to STOP…LISTEN…and OBEY! Well then…what do you say to that? So here’s what He told me and hopefully you will be blessed.

One of the hardest things to do is stop doing something that has become a habit. Think about it. Complaining, talking to a guy/girl that you know you shouldn’t be talking to, eating and the list can go on and on. For me, it’s internal planning. I am constantly thinking of how to figure something out or make something work. That’s what this week was about. I hate waiting and I have been trying to figure out this place that I am in and instead of resting in who God is and His plan for me, my mind has been running a mile a minute. But I am reminded that God said in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” You see, in order to stop, you have to trust. You have to know that God has you in the forefront of His mind and He already has a plan for you and it is good.  You have to know that even though “a day is like a thousand years to the Lord and a thousand years is like a day, The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” (2 Pet. 3: 8b – 9, NLT) There’s a reason for God saying stop in your life. He wants to make sure that you are in the right position for the promise instead of destruction. Woooo…I hear you, Lord! STOP…

So, God really had my attention at that point but in true Ebony fashion, I asked what’s next?! He said to me, LISTEN! You see, how can you know what’s next if you’re too busy talking and not listening to what God is saying? Proverbs is full of powerful statements about listening but one jumped out at me in the first chapter. Wisdom is crying out in this chapter and says, “But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.” (Prov. 1:33, NLT) This is God. Haven’t you noticed that when you take time to hear from God before making a decision or a move, you have peace with whatever you have to do? Doesn’t mean you want to do it but you have peace.  Sometimes, it’s hard because your voice sounds so inviting or your flesh is saying exactly what you want to hear and you get distracted from what God is saying. But John tells us in 8:47 that “whoever is of God hears the words of God.” That tells me that I have a responsibility as one of His people to listen to what He is saying because I am a part of Him.  Obviously, there can be a difference between hearing and listening but at the heart of it, you have to stop letting your flesh and your emotions tell you how to run your life instead of hearing God.  Okay…I hear you, Lord! LISTEN…

As I was starting to feel better with this conversation with God, He told me to just obey. He reminded me that partial obedience is not obedience. And then He gave me 2 verses that made me sit up and take a breath. The first one in John 14:15 is unfortunately often forgotten. Jesus quite simply said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If that isn’t motivation, I don’t know what is! If you are professing to love Christ, then you have to obey Him. It was a powerful reminder but I think God wanted to make sure that it was solidified in me so that I can trust Him in this place. He sent me to Luke 6 to pull it together. “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.  It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.  But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” (Luke 6: 46-49, NLT) God is not going to instruct you to do anything that is wrong. He is building something in you that you may not understand but it will be well built and strong. You just have to do what He says. You have to obey. There’s really no getting around it. But the best part is that you will be better for having done it. I got it, Lord! OBEY…

God is faithful and loving and awesome but He doesn't need your help! That's what I came to realize through this conversation. He only asks that I listen to Him and obey what He says and that encompasses everything. STOP trying to figure out His plan, LISTEN to what He is speaking into your life and OBEY His instructions. You will find, as I did, that your peace increases. It doesn't mean that you won't still wonder at times about what's next but it does mean that you can live while you wait.

AMEN

Peace, I need you!

I woke up this morning to reports about a mass shooting at a church this morning and my heart sank. The idea that someone, a young person, would sit for an hour before opening fire on people gathered for prayer and bible study, completely tore my nerves up. I immediately started praying and asking God for help with understanding this type of sick hate and disrespect for His house and His people. And though I wanted to focus on the enemy’s actions, because let’s call it what it was, an attack of the enemy; God went in an entirely different direction. The scripture that immediately came to me was from the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9 NKJV) I was a bit confused because that’s not what I was thinking. What did being a peacemaker have to do with anything?  I wanted a plan of action. I wanted an explanation.  But He began to talk to me about being in His presence. He began to talk to me about peace. And I realized that in a tragic situation like this or some of the hard places that you may be facing in your life, the first thing you need is God’s peace.

Why did God speak that verse into my spirit when I asked Him for understanding? I believe He was saying something about how you respond to difficult situations in your life.  It would be so easy to stir people up for revenge and for answers. I mean, with all of the things happening in society today, emotions are on edge. But Jesus specifically taught that those that work to bring peace are God’s children. They are connected to Him in a special and meaningful way. How are you handling tragedy? How are you handling difficulty and hurt? Are you seeking to bring peace and reconciliation or are you stirring up confusion and causing discord? The Message translation of this verse says, “You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.” (Matt. 5:9)  Isn’t that powerful? God wants His people to be ones that bring light and peace where there is nothing but darkness and confusion. Today, some peacemakers are needed.

I almost laughed when God showed me the other scripture to share with you. It just showed me how much higher God’s thoughts and ways are above mine. Again, I was coming from a whole other direction and God was still speaking peace. He led me to Psalm 4 and specifically verse 8. This is one of David’s psalms and he’s talking to his son Absalom and basically admonishing him about the pointlessness of attacking one of God’s servants and calls for them to repent. David says all this because he is confident in who God is. “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.” (Ps. 4:8 NLT) This seemed an odd scripture to use in light of the situation that happened last night and I said that out loud to God. He answered by telling me to read the verse again. Then I realized that He was giving the peace that I desired so much in this situation. He was letting me know that those people, though attacked, were with Him. They were in His presence at the end of their lives, praying to Him, reading His word. They were truly in the best place that they could have been. And though I am sure that they were afraid, they were surrounded by a God that has a plan and they immediately went from this earthly place to His presence; for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  I wonder if you can say that you trust God so much that you can lie down and sleep knowing that He has you and your situation. I wonder if you can look to Him when things aren’t going the way you would like and know that He is watching out for you. You see, even in tragedy, the Lord is present and His word doesn’t change. Today, some peace is needed.

As I close out, I pray that God’s peace rises up in you today and surpasses all understanding. You see, God has a way that is mighty sweet and He can do for you what nothing else can. Don’t allow anger and fear to govern your life today, instead let peace and comfort reign. The enemy is not allowed to win in your situation because God is already victorious. “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 15:13 NLT)

Amen.