Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Monday 04/31/10)

Today’s Devotional written by a young woman who has her war clothes on: Tracy Koweh

This is War

Judges 8:4 (New Living Translation)

⁴ Gideon then crossed the Jordan River with his 300 men, and though exhausted, they continued to chase the enemy.

On this Memorial Day my thoughts and prayers are with all the men and women who have fought and are fighting on the battlefield for our freedoms. Our freedom to worship, work and willingly do what we want because we as Americans are "free. Yesterday at church our Bishop gave us a Word that touched the very core of my world right now. He told us to stop being afraid of the enemy and waiting on him to attack us, but to get up and go after him. He told us to give Hell a piece/taste of its own medicine.

Like myself many of us have found ourselves discouraged and beat down from doing the right thing but not seeing God's presence anywhere in our lives. It’s almost as if the more we give, pray, fast, and search for God, the farther He seems to be moving away from us. Well, like my Bishop, I believe God is testing us to weed out the cowards from the courageous. He wants to see who will stay with Him come hell or high water. I have never been to war, or even in a physical fight my 28 years of living, but I am in a fight for my soul and the generations to come.

The more I'm living and learning, I realize that satan doesn't fight fair at all............and part of that is our fault. We sit and wait for him to attack. We play church all the while giving him time and opportunity to come through the back door and unleash hell on Earth in our lives. Well, its time for us to stand and fight. Its time for us to get out of the "take back" mentality and get into the "never lose it" mindset. The enemy is a defeated foe but somewhere along the way he has deceived us into thinking otherwise.

When soldiers go to war, they go after the enemy. They go into their enemy’s territory, their homes, their cities, their towns. They go with a plan of attack and victory. They go with loaded guns covered in armor from head to toe. Soldiers go ready to die for their cause, their home, their families and with victory in sight. Are we as Christians really ready to fight? Do we have our plan of attack and victory ready? Are we loaded with the Word for ourselves? Do we have on our armor of God? and are we ready to die for our God, our homes, and our families?

Today as we honor our fallen heroes around the world, let us stand up for those still fighting and let us join in the fight for our King. Put Hell on notice today that you are no longer the punching bag, but the punch thrower. Happy Memorial Day to all who have served and are serving. Thank you for your priceless sacrifice.

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Friday 05/28/10)

It Shouldn’t Have To Be This Way!

1 John 1:7 (Amplified Bible)

⁷But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].

I heard people often say that they only see family when there is a wedding or a funeral. It is said but often so true. My daughter always likes her family time she tries so hard to rally the family to play bored games or do a movie night. In many cases it ends up being just her and I because everyone else opts out. Everyone is in their own area of the house, doing their own thing. Last week my brother had to have emergency surgery and he still remains in the hospital to date, but our family has spent more time together as a family, laughing, talking and catching up and immersing ourselves in things that ordinarily would not be talked about because we weren’t spending that quality time together that we are now.

Why do we wait till tragedy strikes, or something happens to threaten life, limb or an element of life that is critical for us to realize we need one another, and that we should be valuing each other so much more instead of things. God created Eve for Adam in the garden, because He said it was not good for him to be alone. He encourages us in I Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and build up) one another, just as you are doing.” Our children have no idea, what family dinner means, and our families spend more time with people outside of the house than we do taking time with those who live in the house. Us as parents have taken to allowing television, friends, teachers and the streets raise our children, because we do not spend time instilling in them the God center values that need to be present in their lives. We often take for granted the people that God has blessed our lives with and think, “they will always be there, or at least they will be there tomorrow.

We have not idea, what tomorrow holds, don’t let time with the ones you love and those you have been blessed to have slip away. Make time to love, be in a hurry to show your family, friends and those you encounter loved and give of your time and your talents to God first and to them next. Don’t let anything take your place in the lives of those who are in your life, for there is a reason God placed them there. You are valuable to them and they should be seen and treated equally as valuable to you. Fellowship with one another, to draw strength, gain insight and to be Blessed, but more importantly to be a Blessing!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 05/27/10)

No Trespassing Allowed!

Exodus 34:10-14 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁰And the Lord said, Behold, I lay down [afresh the terms of the mutual agreement between Israel and Me] a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels (wonders, miracles) such as have not been wrought or created in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord; for it is a terrible thing [fearful and full of awe] that I will do with you. ¹¹Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, Canaanite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite. ¹²Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant or mutual agreement with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in the midst of you. ¹³But you shall destroy their altars, dash in pieces their pillars (obelisks, images), and cut down their Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah]; ¹⁴For you shall worship no other god; for the Lord, Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous (impassioned) God,

My mom and I were having a conversation about a friend I had growing up. She did not like our sleep over time to be disturbed, by others. Even if she was aware of another person coming over in addition to her at the time of the invitation or even if the individual was a friend of hers as well, she did not like to share me others. She would make an effort to have me focus on her and to have all of my attention. She had a “no trespass” rule; although unwritten it was present none the less. God has the same kind of rule for us but most of us don’t see it, abide by it or realize that it even exist.

So many of us are wrestling with areas in our lives, and things are going haywire because we have chosen to allow God’s time, efforts, talents, praise and even worship to be given to another. We have willfully focused what belongs to God on other things and people. I am not saying that we must become a recluse, but what belongs to God should be His and no one else’s. It is ironic how when trouble strikes we run to God with our laundry lists of fix its, but when we are getting what we want or we see God moving in our lives, or that He has leaned things in our favor we forget, that God is to be numero uno, not in any other order. His praise is for Him only, His worship is for Him only, His love is for Him only, and His time is for Him only. It is not for us to pick and choose when we give God His just desserts; it is for us to do what is right and pleasing before Him always.

Look at your relationship with God, how many things or people have you allowed to trespass and take your focus? What has God’s money, time or talents? It is time to guard what belongs to God. It is time to place a “NO TRESPASS ALLOWED” sign for all to see, that nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing is going to be allowed to come between you and your Jesus!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Wednesday 05/26/10)

What If God Was One Of Us?

Ezekiel 20:42-44 (New Living Translation)

⁴² Then when I have brought you home to the land I promised with a solemn oath to give to your ancestors, you will know that I am the Lord. ⁴³ You will look back on all the ways you defiled yourselves and will hate yourselves because of the evil you have done. ⁴⁴ You will know that I am the Lord, O people of Israel, when I have honored my name by treating you mercifully in spite of your wickedness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

My mother teaches second grade. One day her class was being rude and was talking without raising their hands, speaking over her and disrespecting one another during a lesson. They were trying to tell her (the teacher) what to do, so she decided to take a seat and allow one of the offenders to take the spotlight as the teacher. My mother and another teacher sat in the seats behind a desk as students, and they began to exhibit the same behavior that was being exhibited during the time when she was teaching the lesson. One of the children turned to her in frustration and asked, “Why are you‘ll acting like that?” My mother and the other teacher said “we are only acting the way you all were acting just minutes before.” What a moment of reflection that became.

As she relayed this story to me, I thought wow, what if God turned and acted towards us as we act and treat one another, or even if he treated us the way we treat Him, what is it that we would be receiving back from Him? OMG, probably nothing we would want…Most of us would be in a world of hurt, some of us would be getting the cold shoulder when we didn’t offer Him enough praise and worship, or some of us would be getting cut off, because we forgot to pray or didn’t pray enough to His liking. Some of us would have everything taken because we didn’t pay our tithes, which belongs to Him anyway. Others still would be cussed and fussed out because that was what He heard us do to someone in the same situation. And the list goes on and on. For many of us life would not be as palatable if God began to treat us like we treat Him and others that we encounter or that we have been blessed to have in our lives.

I am so grateful that God is an “in spite of God.” He is a God that in spite of how we treat him still loves us and cares for us. He is a God that even when we turn our back on Him He promises to never leave us. He is a God that even when we don’t give Him all of what He desire from us, will bless us. He is a God that when we make a choice not to speak to Him, He will speak to us anyway and even hears us when we call. He is a God that in spite of our sin sent His son Jesus to give us back our right to eternal life. I am so glad that God is not one of us, and that He is an “in spite of God,” aren’t you?

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Tuesday 05/25/10)

One Man’s Trash Is God’s Treasure…

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (Amplified Bible)

²⁷[No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. ²⁸And God also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹So that no mortal man should [have pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God.

I remember when we were stationed in Japan and in Hawaii; we lived on an Air Force Base. There was a custom or tradition that was held in high esteem in each one of these places. The night before the trash was due to be picked up; husbands, wives, and children alike would go for walks around the neighborhood. No it was not for exercise, but it was to see the things that people were throwing away, and to see if any of it was in good repair or suited a need in their particular home. At first I thought, wow that is ghetto...but then one day as I watched, I noticed that what had become an item of no use or value to one family was very valuable and useful to another family. Often just like we are.

Facebook is an interesting site; you get to reconnect with people from your past. When my children and siblings first started to utilize this site, I would not. I wasn’t comfortable. But they finally convinced me to try it, so I did. One of my first encounters with an old high school friend was strange, because they began to pour out their heart and tell me how they had ignored me, then, but wished they hadn’t. That they did not appreciate the person I was then, but now they could see my value. Whew, it was mind blowing and numbing all in one sweep. Someone that had cast me away in my younger years now, saw something that they saw others treasured and valued and knew that their assessment then was wrong. How often are we cast aside, despised, looked down upon, or not accepted by people and we thought or felt that it was the end of the world or at least close to it and then God sends us someone that is able to be friend and except us warts and all. They are able to find value in who God has created us to be in spite of what another might have said or done, thought or the way they treated us.

We need to be careful how we assess people and what they bring to the table based upon “our” expectations. But God does not see or view that individual as we do. What may not look good, smell good, or live in the right neighborhood or have the right clothes or education, may be God’s anointed. That individual may be assigned to bless our lives and bring us deliverance, or favor our lives in a way that it has never been favored before. It is those people, those individuals that usually seem the most insignificant, that God will utilize in the largest way. It is that woman with a broken heart and broken spirit, that man that has served time and maybe hardened to the world, that child that didn’t come from the right side of the tracks, that family that lives 10 deep in one house. You see none of those things matters to God. Yes, He sees all of these things and He cares about them but those things do not disqualify or qualify an individual from being God’s chosen, God’s ordained and used by God for the up-building of His kingdom. So before we take another pot shot, before we think another negative thought, before we disqualify people from our lives, remember we never know who it is that we are choosing to pass judgment on and place our stamp of unworthiness upon. They just might be exactly what God wants, and who He is choosing over, even “us.”

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Monday 05/24/10)

Today’s Devotional Written By A Young Lady That Is Growing In Understanding: Tracy Koweh

Trust Him For Yourself

Psalm 138:7-8 (New Living Translation)

⁷ Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies. You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me. ⁸ The Lord will work out his plans for my life for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

Today's message in the music comes from R.Kelly's song "I Believe I Can Fly". The second verse says: See I was on the verge of breaking down, Sometimes silence can seem so loud. There are miracles in life I must achieve. But first I know it starts inside of me. So many times in life we wait on the prayers and faith of others to get us through our circumstances, but there comes a point in our lives when only we can get through to heaven for ourselves.

The past two weeks have seemed to be satan’s personal mission to "mess with Tracy". I have had one crisis after another. The cats got fleas, my dining room flooded, Terminix said I might have termites, the kitchen faucet broke, found out roof needs work, sewage smell under the house, and it just kept adding on more each day. Well, the first thought I had was to cancel the wedding, not the marriage just the wedding, because we were going to once again have to drain everything we had saved for the wedding.

So in my alone time crying with God, I got convicted when I was looking for comfort. God asked me how was it possible that I could trust Him for complete healing from stage 4 cancer in Kenny and not believe He could honor His end of supernatural finances for the wedding. So then it hit me- - - - maybe all this stuff was happening TO drain the savings. Maybe this was all to make my faith stronger and to force me to trust God's word without my "back-up plan" to help Him.

So long story short, one by the one the house is returning to normal and one by one the blessings are starting to roll in. We were blessed with an all expense paid honeymoon to the Bahamas, we received a free engagement photo shoot, and this past week a co-worker of Shane’s blessed us with a floral gift that was a $490 package. So I say all of this to say, that sometimes God will allow all hell to break loose in your life to see just how deep your faith really lies in Him. It’s easy to trust when there is nothing to lose and nothing on the line.

Today determine in your heart that the same amount of faith and belief you have for others, you will now have for yourself. If God did it for your best friend, your boss, or your enemy, He can and He will do it for you.........................but you have to believe it for yourself…………it starts inside of YOU!!!!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Friday 05/21/10)

Sloppy Seconds…

Isaiah 44:5-7 (Amplified Bible)

⁵One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; and another will write [even brand or tattoo] upon his hand, I am the Lord's, and surname himself by the [honorable] name of Israel. ⁶Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God. ⁷Who is like Me? Let him [stand and] proclaim it, declare it, and set [his proofs] in order before Me, since I made and established the people of antiquity. [Who has announced from of old] the things that are coming? Then let them declare yet future things.

A few months back I was watching a movie, called “Love and Basketball.” During the course of a young lady’s quest to find herself and balance her love for basketball, family and a young man, she applies to colleges and she had not gotten a scholarship anywhere and finally she receives an acceptance letter like in the tenth hour. Fast forward to a later scene in the movie, she shows up a more senior player on the team in practice and gloats about it by profiling, after practice in the locker room the more senior player decides to deflate her ego and tell her she was not the coach’s first choice, and that she was only picked after the coach’s first choice became pregnant and the nail in the coffin was when the senior player turns to her and says, “didn’t you know you were nothing but sloppy seconds.” Whew what a blow to the ego and a moment of truth where the realization of positioning came in, and who she really was thought to be.

As I spoke with a young lady this week, we were talking about relationship with God, and how we want God all up in our situation and we want Him blessing us, healing us, delivering us, saving us, and being our miracle worker, our way maker and our provider, but He isn’t our first pick, He has become “sloppy seconds” to us. God, in so many of our lives has become the second and third choice to other things, plans and ways that didn’t work out the way we wanted them to. We choose Him only after we tried everything else and we don’t even come in humility and surrender we come to Him out of selfish need. We had a spot that needed to be filled, we had a way that needed to be made and we had a disease that needed to be healed, we had a marriage or relationship that needed to be saved. Image for a moment if you found out your significant other, your spouse, your family or even your friends only choose you as a last resort, how would that make you feel? I know for some of us that would just about kill us, for all of us it would hurt us to the core. Why don’t we think it would hurt God to the core; why, because He is God? Can He not be touch with the feeling of our infirmities and is He not our creator, the one who we were created to worship?

It is time to stop making a God the low man on the totem pole and place Him in the right order, at the top. He should be our first choice and our last choice and every choice in between. He should be the first person we think about each morning and the last person we think of at night. He should be the first one we consult when there is a choice to be made and the last one we wait on before we put any plan into action. God should always be our first choice and never our “Sloppy Seconds.”

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 05/20/10)

Committed To The Cause…

1 Timothy 1:11-12 (Amplified Bible)

¹¹As laid down by the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. ¹²I give thanks to Him Who has granted me [the needed] strength and made me able [for this], Christ Jesus our Lord, because He has judged and counted me faithful and trustworthy, appointing me to [this stewardship of] the ministry.

Today as I walked in the door, I had already purposed in my heart to go directly to bed and not stop. I had told myself I was in refusal to sit and write the devotional tonight. I was exhausted, I had spent the entire day at the hospital, because my brother had to have an emergency appendectomy and some other health issues were discovered. I had only had about an hours sleep and I was mentally, emotionally and physically spent. My brain told the rest of me I had not one bit of energy left for anything to but to shower and pass out. As I walked in the house, and just as I reach the area where my computer is set up I heard “are you committed to the cause?” I said within myself “you have got to be kidding…I am tired.” But never the less here I sit…

How often can we hang out and do all we want to do, but when Sunday rolls around we are too tired for church? Or how often are we exhausted and we don’t want to go to work, but we press and go anyway, without a complaint. For many of us anything we find important whether it is self, a Boo, a hobby or an obsession, we make time for it no matter how tired, worn out or out of sorts we are, but when we are entrusted with the Gospel and the work of God we get tired, we grow weary or we just prioritize any and everything above it. That is because we are not truly committed to the cause, because when we are, committed to a cause, we find a way to get ‘er done regardless. We pack away the excuses when it comes to getting to a job that yields us a paycheck, but yet we will not stand committed to a God that sent His only begotten Son to die for us; so that we might have everlasting life.

It is time to get our priorities, our commitments and our allegiances in order. It should always read “in God I trust and to Him I serve. All others depend on what who they are wand where they fit into God’s plan for me.” We are created to good works; those good works are the will and mandate of the Father, not ourselves, not people, and not things. Be about it! BE COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE OF CHRIST!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Wednesday 05/19/10)

Don’t Give Up Your Shine…

Matthew 5:13-16 (Amplified Bible)

¹³You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.

I use to go to a young lady to get my hair braided and she was always saying “she was not going to let people take her shine.” I use to chuckle not because of what she was saying but how she was saying it. She said it with such conviction and determination. I was not sure I fully understood what she meant, until one day I was sitting with her talking and she was relaying a story where someone close to her was trying to bring her down, make her feel bad, take her upbeat attitude and make her spin into a place of hurt and confusion, a place where she felt betrayal and alone. But the beauty of it was that she refused to give into the feelings that were trying to be inflicted upon her. She refused to let someone’s behavior impact her ability to be in a good mood, to have a good time, to overlook the obvious pursuits to bring her down and to make her lose her shine!

As I prayed this afternoon after four consecutive conversations, e-mails and text messages expressing personal distress, at the hands of others. I heard the words “don’t give up your shine; don’t give up the light that shines within that I placed there.” All too often we let things that happen, and people that we are close to or just people we encounter, take the light of God in us and diminish it or even in some cases extinguish it. We allow things said and done by others to take us from our God given assignments and bring us into a place of distraction, a place where we become dull and we look just like everybody else. There should be tenacity within us that no matter what, I am determined to do the will of my Father, who sent me His way; that I am going to be the messenger of God’s light because He placed it in me. When we let God control our deeds, our comings and our going, our assignments and the steps we take, we allow the light of His love and purpose ultimately to guide us, our deeds and reactions, so even when people around us treat us poorly we can still lift up our heads and carry on, knowing who we are and who we belong to. Our purpose is founded in Christ and so it becomes His battle to fight, His wrong to right. We just have determine within ourselves to give our whole selves over to God and do what He calls us to do so that He gets the Glory. We have to decide that our light will not be given over or extinguished by anyone no matter who they are.

Today whatever it is that God desires of you, wherever He wants you to go, whoever He wants you to bless or help, encourage or uplift, intercede for, sow into or lead to Him, do it, with the brightness of His light in you. No matter who tries to talk you out of God’s will, no matter who treats you badly because they lack the wisdom to understand “the God in You,” get your shine on! Do Him, with the brightness, swagger, and shine that only God can provide….

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Tuesday 05/18/10)

You Wouldn’t Understand Anyway!...

Judges 13:17-18 (New Living Translation)

¹⁷ Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you.” ¹⁸ “Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.”

2 Corinthians 6:14 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?

Have you ever been in a position to try to explain yourself, your beliefs, your way of thinking or your process of believing to someone who has no reference point for what you are saying? Have you ever tried to prove who you really are to someone who has formulated an opinion about you from others, their own mind or from their past experiences? These can be some of the most frustrating and uncomfortable times that we encounter. We can find ourselves torn, trying to figure out whether to let the person keep their view point no matter how off kilter it may be or wrestling with them to make them see the truth. Is it our job, or not to make ourselves understood by those who clearly do not believe as we do, our walk in the ways of God as we do? We are to live a life pleasing to God before them, but beyond that, probably not, if we did we would find ourselves in a state of perpetual frustration and distress.

On Sunday as we were preparing to receive the Word Of God, and our Bishop was reading a passage of scripture in Judges, Judges 13:17 and 18 jumped out at me, and I could see the relevance immediately…So many times in my life I have paired myself with people that had no clue who God created me to be, never the less, who I was supposed to be in their lives. I have lived through days and nights of frustration and anguish trying to figure out a way to get them to understand me, to understand what I was sent in their lives for or to accept the God given gift I am, or the wonder of who I was, just as an individual. We are ALL Wonderfully and Fearfully made, but we are not all meant to be understood or aligned with everyone. I have come to realize that those who God ordains for our lives will understand, and even when they do not understand they will pray and try to gain a respect for us. It is true that even when it is a God ordained relationship the enemy will try his hardest to be disruptive and cause confusion, but there will be an element, and a draw by the Holy Spirit that will encourage us to seek God’s help, to see what is truth and what is real and what our un-renewed mind maybe trying to get us to accept as truth.

Sometimes who we are is too much for people to understand because we have chosen God’s purpose, will and obedience for our lives, and they have not or have chosen their own brand of belief. Individuals that encounter us may say they get us, when in all truth they do not. They may even try to force their definition, vision and explanation, for who we are on us, and others, in order for them not to have to accept the fact that they do not know God that well or at all and that they are missing who we are entirely. We have to remember to try to force someone that is all the way in the dark, partially in the dark or not ordained for our lives to see the truth of who God says we are, and who He has made us is a waste of time. It is often beyond the comprehension of man, who God has fashioned us to be and what he has predestined and ordained our lives to be.

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Monday 05/17/10)

Today's Devotional Written By A Young Woman Who Does Not Hide From Truth But Embraces It: Tracy Koweh

The Buck Stops Here

2 Corinthians 5:10 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁰For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering ^[a]what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has ^[b]achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing].

Today's message in the music comes from Vanilli Milli's song "Blame it On the Rain". The line I want to focus on today is: Whatever you do don't put the blame on you. Some of us have taken this principle into our spiritual lives and it is killing not only ourselves, but our families, our children, our witness, our communities and our destinies.

I recently had a conversation with a beautiful plus size young lady (will explain size reference in a moment). She is currently in a very unhealthy and emotionally abusive relationship with a college football star. I've only known this couple for a short time but the amount of ups and downs they have had has been mind blowing.. It’s normal for him to cheat on her, emotionally abuse her, lie to her and then say "I'm sorry" and all is well again.

Well, this last incident I just knew would open her eyes. He flat out told her he wanted to be with another girl, one that he had been "kicking" it with on campus. She was devastated, depression and down to her lowest point- - - -this was just last week. Well, Sat night I felt led to make contact to check on her since I hadn't heard anything from her in a few days, and that’s when she happily informed me he had apologized and they were back together. What was wrong with her? What was missing in her spirit to think this was a good thing? Was it her curves that caused her to believe she would not find better.

Well, my response to her caused her to become silent, which was okay with me. I told her that at this point I no longer could blame him, that it was now on her. Whatever pain he caused her next is her own fault. She is setting the standard and sending the message to him that no matter what you do to me, say sorry and we can start over. They are not married, engaged or parents, so she is completely free to walk away and do better but she won't. She can't look at the mirror and take the blame for all that she is going through because right now she is enjoying the temporary bliss of the honeymoon phase.

So many times in our lives, we allow ourselves to be involved in dysfunctional cycles that hinder our growth, maturity, peace, happiness and prosperity and it’s our own fault. We want to blame God, satan, society, the man, and everybody else, but God is calling us all to the mirror of truth. Its time out for blaming ALL of our shortcomings, situations, circumstances and downfalls on the rest of the world, and its time for us to stand and be judged by the Father. Its time to confess, so he can correct and change our cycles. Today declare that the buck stops here, and take responsibility for your words, actions and choices.

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Friday 05/14/10)

Empty…

Philippians 2:1-4 (Amplified Bible)

¹SO BY whatever [appeal to you there is in our mutual dwelling in Christ, by whatever] strengthening and consoling and encouraging [our relationship] in Him [affords], by whatever persuasive incentive there is in love, by whatever participation in the [Holy] Spirit [we share], and by whatever depth of affection and compassionate sympathy, ²Fill up and complete my joy by living in harmony and being of the same mind and one in purpose, having the same love, being in full accord and of one harmonious mind and intention. ³Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]. ⁴Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others.

As I sat down to write tonight I was concerned…I felt empty as if there was nothing present for me to share. I was concerned because many times I hear long before I write what I am supposed to share. There have been nights like this before, where I felt a quietness that made me feel uneasy, but tonight it was different. For some particular reason I thought about everyone that reads the devotional and I thought of their needs and if I did not get something, I could be letting them down. Tonight I did not have the sense of worrying for myself, and the anxiety that usually comes as a result of feeling like I may miss the mark and someone may have something to say or that I may have to sit here for a while and wait on the words to come. Tonight it was about all else and everybody else…

In the moments when I began to slide into the chair and place my fingers on the keyboard I could hear, when you are empty is when I do my best work. It is when we are out of ideas, themes, and agendas, subject matter that God has His say in a way that it breaks down walls, brings about deliverance and heals the sick and broken hearted. We should never think that emptiness is a bad thing when it comes to reaching others for the kingdom; it is the best we can offer people. When we are poured out, God can pour in. He can give us a heart that makes us feel for His people and yearn to reach them and be a vessel for His Glory and use. Having eyes to see what God finds important often gets lost because we are so full; full of ourselves, our agendas, our needs and our wants to value what even our God values and what is near and dear to His heart.

It is about time that we get to a place of being empty so that God can give us His heart, His ability to love, His sensitivity to the issues that are important to Him and even His mindset. Truly when you are running on empty in God’s presences you are truly running full and higher than you are when you are the theme and the focus...

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 05/13/10)

To Worship You Alone…

Ephesians 2:1-10 (Amplified Bible)

¹AND YOU [He made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins ²In which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God]. ³Among these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature], obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind [our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by nature children of [God's] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God--so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation). ⁶And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).⁷He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.⁸For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; ⁹Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself. ¹⁰For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship),recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

All too often in the course of my life I have allowed things that I wanted or felt like I needed to become the priority, and I lost sight of the importance of my time of worship. I am not saying that I stopped going to church or stopped participating in praise and worship. I am not even talking about not reading my Bible or praying at home. What I am talking about is recognizing that true worship is a lifestyle and it should spring up out of our souls with no prompting and it should be the essence of who we are. I have a sister/friend whom I love like she is a biological sister. Some years back she had not come to know the Lord and when I would talk about the Lord and His goodness, she would all but scoff at me. The beauty of this story is she gave her life to the Lord and the girl is on FIRE! She can see God’s grace and His goodness in all things, she is filled with so much praise and worship it is contagious, and outrageous. I can only smile at the very thought of her enthusiasm.

But if we can just for one minute think of where we were five years ago, a year ago or for some of us just months ago, we can see the mark difference in who we have become. We see the transformative hand of God in our lives and realize that we are not our own and that we belong to and are created to worship God and God alone. We have such a sense of gratitude that we understand that we owe God all of us, every ounce of who we are. We spend our days and a lot of nights in what seem to be a constant state of worship. We cannot seem to get enough of His presence, bowing down before Him and acknowledging His awesomeness is what we become about. We cry at the very thought of His holiness and being in His presence humbles us to the point of willful submission to the tears and overwhelming joy that seems to flood us.

God has created us to good works, the act and the life of worship. His praise should be no one else’s, it should not belong to a man, a woman, a job, a position, a child or anything else. No one can do for us what God has and continues to do for us. Truly if we just stop in this moment and reflect upon where God has brought us from and all that He has saved us from including ourselves we would realize that our praise, our worship and all of who we are belongs to Him and Him ALONE!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Wednesday 05/12/10)

My Life Is Not My Own…

1 Peter 4:5-6 (Amplified Bible)

⁵But they will have to give an account to Him Who is ready to judge and pass sentence on the living and the dead.

⁶For this is why the good news (the Gospel) was preached [^[a]in their lifetime] even to the dead, that though judged in fleshly bodies as men are, they might live in the spirit as God does.

I sat down yesterday and began to do a few months in review. It seemed the past few months had not been my happy, happy, joy, joy times...If I could trace it back to an event it would have to be the obedience to do something I had not been obedient in for a while. It seemed the minute I said yes to walk in what God has been calling me to do, so many dynamics in my life began to be challenged and certain elements of my life seemed to be turned upside down. As I sat there on the edge of my bed my eyes filled with tears, but not out of sorrow, but out of the realization that to do what God asks can be costly, but to be chosen to do so is such an honor and a privilege…

My God daughter has spent the last month in the hospital spending time with and ministering to a couple where the husband was diagnosed with cancer, and that she barely knows, because God instructed her to do so. My mom has spent the last school year interceding for her school and every teacher, administrator and student that attends her school, because God instructed her to…There have been times in my life recently that God had me give my last to someone and I did because He told me to. He has asked me to pray through the night turn down my plate for weeks, sometimes months at a time, and I did not understanding why just because He told me to. But most recently he asked me to carry something that I had no earthly idea why I had to carry it, because He instructed me. You see when we really seek after God, and come into the knowledge and understanding of the magnitude of what Jesus has done for us, What God has kept us from and what the Holy Spirit has taught us, our life is not our own. It is not about what we want to do, or how tired we are, or what our agenda is, it is about the call of God and the mandate that He places on us to do His will. You see we cannot be the house divided or the heart that is divided. We were dead, in our sin and Christ raised us up, He quickened us and made us alive once again. He gave us an opportunity to be redeemed and have eternal life. If we have a shred of understanding of what was done and what that should mean to us, we understand that we become indebted to the one who saves us.

Are we still trying to do all things our way and squeeze God in, where we can? Has He not done enough that allows us to see our life is not our own… That God has given us life where none existed and He has called us out of darkness into His light to do good works, hat bring Glory to His name and bring splendor to the kingdom…being a bondservant to God means we recognize the debt in which we owe and that but for Him, paying that debt we would be enslaved to sin.. But God, for God has redeemed our lives and made it brand new, don’t we owe him? Not just our loyalty, and worship, but our service and our obedience, you see our life really isn’t our own…It should belong to God and the way we live and serve the kingdom should be evidence of that!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Tuesday 05/11/10)

Is It Really Right?

Proverbs 21:2 (Amplified Bible)

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs and tries the hearts.

1 John 3:16-17 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁶By this we come to know (progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand) the [essential] love: that He laid down His [own] life for us; and we ought to lay [our] lives down for [those who are our] brothers [in Him].

¹⁷But if anyone has this world's goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him?

I am a people person. I love to find out what makes people tick and what they are about underneath the surface. You can tell a lot about people through their “buzz quotes” or “status post” on various networks. You can see anything from what they are doing at any given moment to what they are thinking, topics they want feedback on or what they really feel is right or even areas that they are struggling with. Someone posted in their buzz quote, “what happens if I give up my right to be right.” When I first read it I thought about it in terms of something I had heard years ago, in a church I was attending about giving up ones right to be right in the terms of a marital relationship. As I meditated on this and on the messages that had been shared over the last few months, I could hear the question arise “who knows what is really right?”

All too often we think that God and people are forcing us to give up our rights or even our right to be right. But is it that we are really giving up what is right, or are we just being asked to look at things from another vantage point or to accept what is truly right, according to God’s commands or leading? You see God’s word clearly say in John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.” It is our acceptance of Jesus, His ways, His truth and His life that will bring us into a place of being right, not in our own eyes but in the eyes that matter, the eyes of God. It is not the plans that we lay, or the things that we place emphasis on or the ways that we make that qualify us as right, it is seeking God through Jesus and accepting and walking in the obedience of what is derived from our relationship with Him that is right. There are times when we feel that it is appropriate to serve people up, to get what we feel is right, or to sacrifice our relationships with God to do what is right in our own eyes. When I was younger and there would be a dispute that would ensue, and my mother would have to become involved, she would say “there is your truth, their truth but the only really truth is God’s.” I use to grow so tired of hearing that, but now I understand what she was saying, that we ALL have our own brand our what truth and right is but that does not make it truth, it just makes it a desire, a focus and our brand of truth that we have created or a code for us to live by. The only way to know what is right and truth is to seek God and allow Him to impart to us what is the truth of the matter, and what is in His heart for us.

My sister and I were having conversation earlier and it was about losing things. My response to her is one that my mother has said to me, and my grandmother has said to us all at one time or another, “we can never give up, lose or misplace what is ours.” If is truly ours it is there, no matter whether we walk away from it leave it some place or forget where we placed it momentarily. But if it was never ours to begin with, it can never be misplaced, lost or given up. So when we think of giving up our rights, or losing our rights, remember they were never ours to begin with. All belongs to God and if we truly want the “truth” and the “right” of the matter we have to go to Him to obtain it. Loving God and following Him means making the choice to actually lose “US” and all that encompasses, to gain Him and All He encompasses truth, rights and all.

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Monday 05/10/10)

Today’s Devotional Written By A Young Woman Who Is a Learning God Daily: Tracy Koweh

Don't Worry About a Thing

1 Peter 5:7 (Amplified Bible)

⁷Casting the ^[a]whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, ^[b]once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you ^[c]watchfully.^(A)

Today's message in the music comes from Bob Marley's "Everythings Gonna Be Alright." This weekend the bridal party was finally able to all get together to try on dresses. As the ladies began to arrive at the store they could tell I was already stressed out. I started the appointment by saying "Thanks for coming out, but if we are unable to find the dresses today, I will be canceling the bridal party all together." So with that we began our search yet again for dresses to fit the vision I have for our special day. About 20 mins into the appointment, my amazing maid of honor reminded me that God didn't bring me this far to leave me now, and that in time it would all work out.

Well, fast forward to store number two :o). With no luck at the first store we were back to where we had been two months before. We looked up right to the point when I was about to give up and break down, I found the PERFECT dress. It was the one dress that put everything back to the original vision I had. Because the dress was new (it had just arrived the week before) she had to check the computer for the dresses available colors. Now most dresses at David's Bridal come in either 20 or 40 shades, this particular dress came in 4. Yep, that was all I needed to hear, but to humor myself I let her go down the list. She named red, gold, jade and regency, and that’s when I almost passed out.

Regency was MY color….I loved it but it was the color that gave me the hardest time. The lady said it was strange because nothing almost ever comes in regency. At that moment I was three things 1) re-confirmed 2) convicted and 3) validated . Re-confirmed because God was yet again proving that His timing is the best timing and that IF He spoke a Word, He would supply everything to bring it to pass. Convicted because I had lost trust in God, and had began to let the words and actions of others plant doubt and fear in me. Validated because I realized in that moment, that if it matters to me it matters to God because He is my Father. I would have never thought He would care about the color of my wedding dresses, but he does because He knows it’s important to me.

Some of us are in a season right now that just doesn't look like there is a way out. Some of us are struggling with promises God has said are on hold for us, because nothing seems to be working out around us. But today I want to encourage us all to hold on to God and press in even harder. It wasn't that I wasn't at the right store two months ago; I was just there at the wrong time. And no matter how small your desire may be, make your request unto the Lord and let Him work it out. The Bible says wait upon the Lord, and for me in this season I am learning that more each day. So, today as we enter into this new week, let the words of Bob Marley play over and over again in our minds: Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every LITTLE thing is gonna be all right.

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Friday 05/07/10)

If Not You Then Who?

Matthew 5:22-25 (Amplified Bible)

²²But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire. ²³So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you, ²⁴Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift ²⁵Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.

My son and I had a little "thing today," it was something that hurt my feelings, but to him it was just an expression of his opinion. A few years ago, I would have let things fester and allowed my hurt feelings to last. Although my thought would have been I am not going to get mad, I would have thought to myself that I will let things fester by allowing him to sweat it out, thinking thoughts that caused him anxiety. It would have been I won't get mad but I will get even in my own little way. But today thank God for deliverance, because I could let it go as quickly as it came.

For so many of us we think it is our place to teach people a lesson, by making them hurt, or making them uncomfortable because we have perceived that they have hurt us or made us uncomfortable in some way. Because we have not allowed God to bring us into a place of deliverance we still think that it is our job to pay people back, for what is perceived as their transgressions against us. There are some that even think to themselves they will have to come to me, and chase me down to make things right, I will make them sweat it out. But is this what God does to us? No, when we were yet in our sin "Christ died for us." Christ came to bridge the gap when we had done the wrong not Him. When we make a mistake, and we ask for forgiveness, He is quick to forgive us and to restore us. But yet we feel within our right to make people pay, suffer or squirm. If we treat people like this we can expect to be treated like this. If we lack the capacity to forgive, we will not be forgiven, if we want to make people pay for their transgressions, then surely we are setting ourself up to pay for ours.

Even if someone has wronged us, it is still our responsibility to forgive and move on. God will handle the rest. If we handle it, God's justice is not needed and we open ourselves up to being dealt what we are dealing out. My mom use to tell me stop giving people a piece of your mind you aren't going to have anything left. Likewise, we need to stop giving away pieces of ourselves to anger and payback, we may find one day that there is nothing left when we need it most. If we are feeling the need to dispense justice, remember mercy may not be present and we will be hard pressed to receive back what we have not given, when we need it most. Whether we have wronged or we feel we have been wronged, make it right, and let God handle the rest! We will find peace in the place of mercy and grace.

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 05/06/10)

Getting Out Of My Own Way...

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (Amplified Bible)

³For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.

⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,

⁵[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),

⁶Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete.

Some of our greatest accomplishments start with a thought, likewise some of our greatest battles and defeats begin with a thought. When I was growing up I remember hearing the saying "you can talk yourself out of things before you get started." Of course then it was hard for me to understand who you would be talking to in that instance and how you could accomplish such a feat without looking crazy if you were actually standing there holding a conversation with yourself. As I became an adult and I began to encounter certain events that challenged what I was comfortable doing and what I had already mastered I understood, that fear, anxiety, insecurities, stresses, old mind sets to go and voices of people from days gone by could keep you from succeeding, accomplishing, trusting beyond what you could do within your own strength, abilities and knowledge or even trying to step out in faith to do something that challenges us.

Recently, I was asked to speak at a friends church, I had been out of the "pulpit" for about six years. I had walked away from ministry because of drama in my personal life and in the life of the church I was a member of at that time. I vowed within myself not to go back into something that had in my past had such a negative impact on my life. When my friend called and asked, initially fear gripped me and I wanted to say no. As I thought about my past and all I had encountered being in ministry I definitely found myself gripped with a range of emotion that all pointed to my declining the invitation to speak. You see although in that invitation God was trying to get my attention to let me know although I had walked away from my call, the call was still in me, and had not walked away from me. But although my spirit kept screaming yes, that range of emotions and thought was screaming no. I found I had to seek God with all my might to quiet all of those anxieties, fears, emotions and thoughts and reminders from the past to hear what God's truth and will was for my life in that moment. I had to allow God to sit me down so that He could be raised up.

There are so many times in this journey God is calling us to do something, or He is leading us in a way that is unfamiliar or uncomfortable for us, and our mind is telling us no way, it can not be done. Or our thoughts turn to fear, anxiety, insecurity or words that we had allowed to take root in our lives over the years that now has become apart of us. But if God is leading us, guiding us or telling us, it really is taking the guess work or thought work out it for us, we just need to move over and move out of God's way so that we can be placed in a venue for His service. So many times God is saying go and we want to have an opinion about whether this is right for us at this time. God is not asking us to think it out, He asking us to be obedient put aside our agenda, our plan, our thoughts, our emotions and allow Him to be God and allow Him to use the vessel that He created and called for His use and His Glory.

What is it that God has been calling you to do or has instructed you to get right that you have been trying to think through, rationalize or you have let your emotions have precedence in deciding? Move out of your own way, but more importantly move out of God's way and let Him do what He needs to do with you and through you. You will find that you will be much happier that way and that the journey will lead you into the places God wants you in the timing that He wants you to be in. It is time for some of us to get out of our own head so that we can receive a renewed mind, the one that is also in Christ Jesus!