God has not left you alone....

Job 1:12 - The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (NIV)
Job 2:6  The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”(NIV)

Even when we think God has left us, He has not. As you see from the scriptures above, God has His hands on Job through it all. Although, if you would have asked Job, he would have thought not so much; so even it does not seem like it, God is presence. Even when it seems that Satan is running havoc over or in our life, know what God allows or does there is a blessed promised at the end of the tragedy. For every trial we have, we become a living testimony. For every struggle, we become the new standard for success for those coming behind us. So, when things look like it is out of God hands, or He is nowhere near just remember Job. God really did have his hands on him, and the Father taught Job a lesson as He provided him a blessing.  God has not left you, no matter what is happening in your life. Never forget that; its important, it matters, and it is your choice.

Who do you serve?

Joshua 24: 15 - ‘But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Who do you serve? This is a good question because many times our actions do not depict truly who we are serving, other than ourselves and man’s logic. We seem to forget, that what God ordains, He maintain. We need to be secure and unwavering about this truth; who we are serving. When we waffle, and waver on who we serve, we find ourselves, more likely than not, focusing on the wrong thing. For we serve with our mouth, but our actions tell a different story than we want told about us. Then we wonder why this happening to me, or why this did not happen for me? Well, why would confusion not be part of your life, if confusion is part of your disposition, persona, or who you are every day. See, when you serve Him as you profess you do, you can sing ‘You Covered Me’ by Donald Lawrence with tears of joy, not shouts of convictions because of the hypocrisy we are living.

When you are clear on who you are serving, it gives us a compass that does not change by a new magnetic force. We are able to be sure, we are going in the right direction, and our path clear. We walk with the unyielding peace in the midst of the chaos, although tears warming our face, grace reign in our mind, and ringing in our soul, even if the Father does not deliver, does not mean He is not able 'not my will, but Thy will be done!' Who do you serve is each of our choice. Choose well, and be blessed.

Key Performance Indicators

‘I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit,  out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.’ Psalm 40:1-4

There is not much to say after this verse for me today. It says it all. It has the key performance indicators in which we should use if we are progressing in our relationship with the Father. One waits patiently, if we cannot do that, we are already done because chaos will soon ensue. Two, as a result of you, me waiting patiently, the LORD turns to and hears our cry. He does not stop there, He lifts us out of the madness, chaos, and confusion we are in, it does not matter if we put ourself there, or someone us puts us there. Glory!! Then, he sets us free, and puts us in a safe place that is secure. Three, because he did, we have a renewing of the mind, and a have new song in our mouth. We can’t really sing a new song, unless we have an authentic new, transformed mind predicated on the God’s attention to our need, we now see. Lastly, we fear and have trust in the LORD. It changes things when the key performance indicators are in place. We choose them…

Do you really believe?

Do you really believe? Is a question we all must be able to answer, not just with scripture rhetoric but heart, soul and mind (so there will be no scripture reference because you know them but believe them, well that is the point of this blog).

See we have this cognitive understanding, and we spew out the verses as if they are the absolute truths. Yet, when it occurs in our personal life, as it does, we begin to compartmentalize God omniscient power by our faltering and posturing. We begin to put our hands in the mix to assist the Father with His work. We seem to have forgotten what lane we are assigned to, and step into God’s way. Then we wonder why things did not work out, promises not fulfilled, or change didn’t come. We begin recruiting others with like minds and disposition who guide us down a path of easy going but chaotic end. Rather than say, I believe, and thou none one go with me, no one understands, and it seem like crazy on an ordinary day; don’t count me out. Yet, don’t count me in with the number of negative Nancies or Nathans. God does not appear in the ‘expect to see worldview’. God moves in the way, that makes no sense to our sensitive sensibilities. Transitioning with God is a messing matter because it does not fit in our conscious or unconscious seamless understanding of things; it is a new thing as we do not see what God sees. 

Now do you really believe the words that you speak, preach, teach, pray with, or do you need to shore up on some things…Choose this day, who you will believe to trust and obey God or man's way?

What is in your past holding you back?

Luke 9:62 - Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (NIV).

What is in your past holding you back? Is a question, we must all ask ourselves as we move forward on the word of God. Because the thing is this, God will never ask you to give up anything that He does not have something greater in store for you. Neither does the Father tell you to not look back to mess with your head; he does so because you need to be focus. See, we go in the direction of our focus, whether we admit it or not. As our focus influence our thinking, and our actions. God also knows what lies behind you will draw on your heart strings and divide our efforts. Resulting in us being unsure, unsteady, and indecisive in our choices, which ultimately could, more likely than not, lead to doubt, then fear, then anger, thus no forgiveness.

What in your past is holding you back? We all have family members and friends who love us so much, they do not want us to move forward and prosper. They do not mean any harm but they have been in this funk of a mindset and lifestyle for so long, nothing else seems plausible. Therefore, they throw up roadblocks while covering them in sweet and sugary, “you know, I want what is best for you, and I love you’, all the while throwing up bricks to block your path, and roadblocks that stop you from moving forward and upward in God’s name. So, yes Virginia, do not look back because God gotcha your soul covered 360.  So, when he says look ahead, just do it, or end up like Lot’s wife Gen. 19:24-26. God just asked we trust him over others, to serve him above all others, and believe him with our whole heart. The same we ask of our loved ones, and friends, if we desire it and expect it of them, and we are flawed. How much more is our God? God forbid, we get so high, we become unfit for service because we can’t see the miracle lying in our God’s smile…We choose, it is always our a choice, to make. So, don’t let what in your past stop you from achieving, rather say, done and done!

Transformed by the renewing of your mind

And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Rom 12:2 (ASB)

Hey everyone! I have been gone for a minute. I know, I have been M.I.A. for real, I had to get some things together and find my way too…smiling. 

So, lets work. I have had the verse above rolling around in my head for a week or so. I just cannot shake it. I guess, because I live in a world where ‘fake it, until you make it’ is the more than a notion, but a way of life. The problem, I have with this is, when are we going to metamorph in the beautiful butterfly, and not continue to stay spongey, shapeless thing. When ‘we fake it, until we make it’, we forget, and we get our feathers in a ruffle when others are not buying, what we are selling; it is fake, they see it, and do not care for it. See it seems we do not mind, making outward changes so we are socially acceptable, politically correct, or religiously right because we have been told this is the SOP (standard operating procedure) for life; but it is not always bought as it is sold…  We are not really having this thing called change, renewing, transforming the mind as part of our 'things to do list.'. Why? It requires confronting some truths, we rather not confront.  More often than not, we refuse to admit our flaws, imperfections, and fears to ourselves, which means we cannot even begin to change so we can see the good and acceptable things of God in its fullness. The verse above states - … ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God… Now, us nice Christian people, most of us, speak it, but we not trying to do it…Now do not get me wrong, I am not talking about us putting our issues in the street for everyone to take shots at us. What I am speaking of is being authentic with self, so you shall live your truth, and be free, and start creating and having honest and authentic relationships. . No it is not easy, but nothing worth having in this life ever is; the journey, the process grants the value.

Yet, owning where we are flawed, imperfect,and/or our fears is the beginning of change. We cannot have healed, what we will not reveal, and the revealing and admitting begins in the head and the heart.  God cannot get through to us, when we are caught up in like fashions of man, and react according to the wiles, ruse man has present before us. See we can be washed, white as snow, have it shot out, but if the heart is not right, we just had a good ‘high’, a good fix nothing more. We have to begin the process of inward change.  See, once the inward change had been done, the outward change of doing right is no longer a chore, work, struggle, it is done with a seamless unconsciousness ease because you are authentic with you, thus, it is easier to be authentic, positive and kinder in our verbal exchanges.