Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Friday 12/31/2010, Happy New Year's Eve)

Sometimes You Need To Leave It Right Where It Is…

Acts 5:38-39 (Amplified Bible)

³⁸Now in the present case let me say to you, stand off (withdraw) from these men and let them alone. For if this doctrine or purpose or undertaking or movement is of human origin, it will fail (be overthrown and come to nothing); ³⁹But if it is of God, you will not be able to stop or overthrow or destroy them; you might even be found fighting against God!

Acts 5:38-39 (New Living Translation)

³⁸ “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. ³⁹ But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”

            I have this practice, when I am out shopping.  If I see something that I really like, but I had not planned to buy it, I will not buy it on impulse but I will go home pray about it, or contemplate whether I really need it or not. Sometimes I have to weight if it is a want or if it is a need, and the practicality of the purchase.  Many times the result is leaving it right where it is. Sometimes even when it is a need I have to ask is it a high or low priority need and make my decisions based upon that.  That is often how I evaluate people in my life as well.  If there seems to be constant issues with no clear resolution I will pray and ask God for insight, I pray for God to show me whether this individual is a lifetime person, a seasonal individual or whether they have only appeared in my life for a reason.  In periods of transition God will give me insight that I have to leave them right there and our time together is over and they can go no further, or else they may become a weight, a stumbling block or a distraction.
            The other day, I was praying and mediating.  As I began to evaluate and pray for guidance I could hear that a lot of the things I had been through this past year along with a number of individual were to be left right here in 2010.  That my future was indeed a place of purpose and destiny and some individuals that had been holding on for the wrong reasons I needed to cut the strings and move forward.  But it did not just end there were memories, events, behaviors and perspectives that I could not carry into 2011 with me. In those moments I realized that what was going on was bigger than me, and God was demanding things of me that would cause me to stay in His will and seek His wisdom without hindrance, and to be able to follow instructions without an extreme amount of outside voice trying to influence my decision making or my obedience to God. For us to carry people things and behaviors that do not fit our future tense from our past into our future could be disastrous and produce only what the flesh can manifest, and we might even find ourselves fighting the will of God when we refuse to leave people and things right where they are. 

God knows best what we need for the days, months, years ahead and it does not always seem like what we are used to or what we may even understand, but we have to understand that we need to leave the design and the purpose to God and let Him guide what moves with us into our future and what stays behind. We need to understand that God will never ask of us something that is not for our growth, development and movement. So whatever it is that He has been speaking to you about, letting go of, and leaving in 2010 or cutting off or out our lives we need to have an ear to hear, listen and obey.  For today’s manna, can be tomorrow’s worms!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 12/30/2010)

As I Am Going…

Luke 7:1-10 (New Living Translation)

¹ When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. ² At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. ³ When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. ⁴ So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, ⁵ “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.” ⁶ So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. ⁷ I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. ⁸ I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” ⁹ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” ¹⁰ And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

            Recently I have found that movement does not hinder the work that God does in our lives.  As I began to prepare for the years end and the start of a new year, I noticed that in spite of so many things this year I had to continue to move.  As I have moved God has been in full movement and operation right alongside of me, and even often ahead of my request. As I sat tonight I could hear in my spirit that “as you are going” God is moving.  He is fixing some things, healing some areas, and eradicating some unnecessary things in our lives. I remember in 2009, when I was suffering from unbearable headaches for weeks at a time, it was when I moved and went to church and placed myself in the presence of God that I found that those were usually the only times I felt normal, and headache free. This year it was emotionally, I had to keep moving and it was only when I stopped that things became overwhelming, but as I moved God was healing me, teaching me and strengthening me, through my movements.

            All too often we adopt the “stand still and see the salvation” approach.  Yes that is a valid approach when God instructs us to do so, but for many of us we become the dear caught in headlights and we stop, moving just because there is a crisis or we hit an area in our lives that challenges our faith. But God is working and if we would just get some tenacity and motivation about us God would send His healing virtue as we go.  He would work us out and work us over, He would be able to realign us and readjust our lives, our attitude and our lives as we are moving.  Why many of us are still hurting and suffering through things we have gone through because we refuse to move passed it and let God’s word, heal us as we are going. If we could just begin to have faith enough to proceed, we would find God is actually in the movement, and is sending the answer as we are proceeding.

            As we are approaching the start of a new year, the same hurts, habits, attitudes and situations we have desired and needing to be changed, healed and delivered, can be if we are determined to keep it moving, and not stand still and keep allowing the enemy, or our mind to cause us to relive the pain, the mistake, the incidents, and the diagnosis over and over.  We have to take up our bed and begin to walk, and in that movement, in that act of obedience to go God will be right there, or even ahead of our request and He will do what is necessary to heal, deliver, and save us. God is a living spirit that moves, that means that we must do the same. Moving passed, and moving towards; moving passed the pain and towards our deliverance and the power and abilities of God.  Don’t live another year in the same space as last year, MOVE! God is all about the movement!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Wednesday 12/29/2010)

May God Judge Between You And Me…

1 Samuel 24:15-18 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁵May the Lord be judge and judge between me and you, and see and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hands. ¹⁶When David had said this to Saul, Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. ¹⁷He said to David, You are more upright in God's eyes than I, for you have repaid me good, but I have rewarded you evil. ¹⁸You have declared today how you have dealt well with me; for when the Lord gave me into your hand, you did not kill me.

            At the end of each year I begin to pray about the coming year and for guidance.  This year as I began to study and pray I reviewed what God had said this year would be about (2010).  Truly it was evident that testing was on His agenda, and order was as well. Then I began to look forward, and I discovered that eleven is a number related to judgment and it has also been identified with witness, because of the addition of its two numerals. As I studied some more and prayed, I heard in my spirit what is a test for? It is an assessment; it judges whether what was taught and what was asked on the test was actually learned. But the witness portion is about God bearing witness with those who have chosen Him and He has chosen them.  It is God choosing between us and others, in a form of identification and even separation.

            My grandmother use to say, everybody saying they saved isn’t saved, and everybody saying they are going to heaven isn’t.  It is my belief that God is about to tell on some people.  He is about to identify that what they proclaimed as God was not Him at all.  The compromises, lifestyles chosen and proclamations made were not His and they are none of His.  I use to get so upset when I would see people do others wrong and then go on to live what seemed to be a charmed life.  My mother use to say, it appears to be blessed, but everything that looks blessed isn’t.  She and my Grandmother both would say reaping time is coming after a while.  I understand that well, now, because I understand God’s law.  People have been living any way they please and treating His people poorly and God is about to begin to judge them, and identify who is His chosen ones and who is not. Just as He did with Saul and David, although David had the opportunity and the right to hurt Saul ( because of Saul’s treatment of Him), He did not because He recognized and honored Him as God’s chosen and said the judging, vindicating and payback would not be done at his hand but at the hand of God, if God was to choose Saul and not him.  God dealt with Saul, and identified David as who He had chosen. If we have stayed our hand, God has us and will deal with those who have dealt a hand of judgment on us. He will also grade us (judge us) on how we did on our test, did we stay focused and complete the course?

            As we prepare to enter 2011, it is about to be made plain as to who is with God and who offering is accepted and whose is not.  The attitude that we have possessed and treated others with, has been looked at, and God is in the process of grading lifestyles, life choices and behaviors, and in the year 2011 grades will be posted and His red pen is poised and ready to mark us on how well we endured the test And how we have been enduring and showing forth His love and obedience in the earth and towards others. What Grade will you get and is it you that He will chose or another that has His anointing?

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Tuesday 12/28/2010)

The Best Laid Plans…

Proverbs 19:20-21 (New Living Translation)

²⁰ Get all the advice and instruction you can,
      so you will be wise the rest of your life.

²¹ You can make many plans,
      but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.

            Many of us at the close of a year begin to plan for the next year.  We begin to think of all the things that we can do differently and all the things we want to accomplish.  We cover everything from diet and exercise to financial plans and career paths.  Some of us have family mission statements and family goals for the year.  But as I found out this past year the best laid plans can sometimes be what does not transpire. We can write it out, make graphs and charts and still not know about the elements that are unexpected, that can cause our best laid plans to fall apart or become delayed indefinitely.  How do we handle it when things do not go as planned?

            In these finally weeks of this year I have talked to a few of my girlfriends and relatives that have been ready to throw up hands and say forget it in some ways because the plan that they had for their lives has run amuck, or taken some turns that they were far from ready for. But the one thing many of them have failed to see, is that even though they were things that they planned for; they were not necessarily in God’s will or the person that they were planning their future with was not the one that God had intended for them to share those things or moments with.  We have to understand that many times when we lay out a plan that it is subject to change without any advance notice or approval from us or to us. I am by no means saying that planning is bad or that we need to neglect to plan, but we need to be able to be ready for alterations and adjustments.  They are bond to come even when we have done all that we can to be prepared for every possibility that may come. We often get caught up in the planning process and forget about the God’s purpose and His process to get us where He wants us in the timing that He wants us there. We forget that we ultimately are not running the show but God is and He is going to have His way and get His perfect work out of us; even if it kills us (our flesh mainly).

            Understanding the purpose of a plan and what it is for will help us in being able to see that plan is a best case scenario and not always do situations lend themselves to the best case; because all too often what is our best case is not God’s.  What He has in store is far from matching up to what we planned out and have outlined for ourselves. Learning to allow God room to be who He is (which is our guide) will keep us from being disappointed, when things that we plan do not manifest.  When we understand the ways of God we will understand the best laid plans are often laid out of what we know and understand and God’s purpose is often none of what we understand and little of what we know. Understand that planning has its place, but God’s purpose is by design and it is the thing that should prevail!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Monday 12/27/2010)

Today’s Devotional Written By An Insightful Young Woman With A Huge Heart: Mrs. Tracy A. Dixon

Lay It Down

Luke 10:38-39 (New Living Translation)

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

 38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.

            Today's message in the music comes from Lloyd's song, "Lay it down". Yesterday nothing went as planned. We woke to discover several inches of snow on the ground, and more falling. Called and found out church services were cancelled. Attempted to watch our bishop on the computer and the site wouldn't load. At that moment, I thought we were going to be in for a rough day. But then something happened. My spirit rejoiced at the free day with family, we had all the girls over so we went outside and played in the snow for awhile.

            After getting clean and eating we decided to make the best of the day. We couldn't go to the store. We couldn't take the rest of the items to the dump as planned. We couldn't exchange Jaida's shoes that were too small. We were stuck and in a matter of moments, I went from frustrated to relieved. It was in the quiet moment of looking at the snow fall that I decided to lay it all down. I laid down my plans. Laid down my wishes, and just relaxed and enjoyed the precious gift of life God gave us.

            As the year is coming to a close I realize I wasted so much time on planning and handling things, that I seldom took the time to lay down my concerns, hurts, plans, ideas, and decisions at the foot of the Father. I was so busy trying to fix everything on my own, that I became worn out and exhausted. But my God, how much more peace would I have had if a snow day would have forced me to look at all I had on the inside. What strength would I have, if I had leaned on God and not on myself? What wealth would I have, if I had trusted God and let go of my resources more?

            Today as we begin the last week of this year, let us lay down all that we have been carrying. Let us turn over all we are trying to handle and control. Let us lay our head on the pillow of the Father and trust He is working it all out.