Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Monday 11/01/2010)

Today’s Devotional Written By The New Mrs. Shane Dixon: Tracy Dixon

Whose Report Will You Believe?

1 John 3:1 (New Living Translation)

1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

Today's message in the music comes from Lyfe Jennings song "Statistics". The verses of the song school women about the probability of finding a good man. He then breaks the facts into percentages and categories, and gives a list of rules to expose the ninety percent that is bad, and to hold onto the ten percent that is good.

As I listened to this song over and over again, I began to think of all the statistics I've heard in my life. If we listen to, and believe, the statistics of the media, all of our young girls will be pregnant before they graduate high school. Young men will be locked up, in a gang or dead before the age twenty-one. Married couples will divorce and the list goes on. If we listen to, and believe, the statistics of family and friends, some of us won't ever become anything. Some of us will turn out to be "JUST LIKE" our mother or father. Some of us would only be good enough to lay on our backs, others would be too stupid to do anything at all. There are even some of us who have been told, we should just jump off a bridge and die.

The other day as I was listening to the radio, the DJ asked all of his callers if they had been polled about the progress of the White House. Every single caller said No. The DJ then asked, "so who are the polls on TV reflecting"? If we are not careful, we will hear statistics, believe them and then miss our destiny. But my God, what does the Word have to say about all of this. My Bible says He knew me before I was even in my mother’s womb. My Bible says I'm the head and NOT the tail. My Bible says that if I am reborn in Christ, I AM a new creation, the old is gone and the new is here. My Bible says that I am more than a conqueror and that no weapon formed against me shall prosper.

Today as you look at all the statistics against you, ask yourself "whose report are you gonna believe"? You have to get around people that will speak life into, no matter what it looks like. Who will breathe scripture into you, and not quote statistics. I know many men and women who defy the odds every single day. So today throw out what/who the world says you are, will be, or should be, and stand on what and who God says you are!!!!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Friday 10/29/2010)

Losing Control And Loving It…

Jeremiah 10:23 (Amplified Bible)

²³O Lord [pleads Jeremiah in the name of the people], I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or in a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps.

On Wednesday night as I was leaving the house, my daughter asked me, was I really going to Bible study? I replied, “Yes, Lord I have to go, I need to go, I need a right now word.” She said “but mommy you have been sick for almost a week, I don’t feel like you should go.” I told her, “everything I was depended on it.” When I entered Bible study, I was struggling to keep my emotions from taking over, and falling prey to all that I had been feeling for a week, the overwhelming feeling that I had been fighting that had caused my body to spin into a place of turmoil of its own. As Praise and Worship started, the song the Worship leader chose was “I give myself away, by William McDowell. The words to the song are: “I give myself away, I give myself away, So You can use me, I give myself away, I give myself away, So You can use me: Verse 1: Here I am, Here I stand, Lord, my life is in your hands, Lord, I’m longing to see, Your desires revealed in me, I give myself away. Verse 2: Take my heart, Take my life, As a living sacrifice, All my dreams all my plans, Lord I place them in your hands.” And then the Worship leader transitioned into, “My life is not my own, but it belongs to you, to worship you alone.” In those moments the Holy Spirit began to ease the pain of the week, but then I heard deep within my heart, I thought you said you trusted me with your very life.” All I could do is weep uncontrollably with uplifted hands, in total surrender to God. You see I had given myself away, but I had tried to take it back, when pain hit my heart. But in those moments God gently reminded me, that my life was not my own, I belonged to Him and that He alone knew what I needed to force me to grow and what I need to bring me closer to Him and into obedience to His will and way.

I was texting my sister earlier today and she was struggling with an event that was about to take place in her life. I told her, what was to be would be and what was not to be would not be, but what was God speaking to her about that situation? And then I gave her what God had given me a day before, “My life is not my own.” Her reply was “then that means I have no control over this right?” She then added, “that is the part I don’t like.” All I could do was chuckle, because I understood all too well what she was talking about and going through. We don’t want to lose control, we don’t want to really give ourselves away, and that would mean that we really have to trust God. That we cannot just talk it, but we have to walk it out. We have to be living faith in action. Giving up control means that we understand that we are surrendering all of who we are to God and allowing Him to mold and make our lives to what He would have them to be, not us doing it our way. It is ensuring that our will, our souls are yielded and brought under subjection to the will of Christ. For so many of us, we want the Blessings of God, but we do not want the submission to God. We want God to rescue us and answer our prayers, but we struggling with losing control, of our lives to God, and really loving it. In those moments on Wednesday night I learned a valuable lesson, which was to lose control meant to gain, perspective and to gain peace.

Today you may be struggling with an issue, a person, an illness, a circumstance, or any number of things, but if you could just see that you cannot change one bit of what is going on right now in your life if you tried. You’d understand that as long as you say you will follow Christ, that there is a cost and that price tag is you and allowing Him to do the work, in you, through you and around you. Yes we are responsible to do some things, but those things are in compliance and obedience to Christ. Give up the control of your life to one who gave His life that you can really live, if you do you will find that you are loving it, because stress, worry and anxiety will become a thing that does not dominate, control or even destroy you, because you have an understanding that God, your Father who loves you so intently is taking care of all of the details of your life and truly He is working it out for your good and His Glory!

Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Thursday 10/28/2010)

Have You Gone Under The Knife Recently?...

Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified Bible)

¹²For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 (New Living Translation)

¹² For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

There is a medical condition called cutting. It is when someone feels as if they have little control over the elements of pain and discomfort in their lives, they will often cut themselves, as a form of controlled pain, and although it does bring physical pain, it releases adrenaline into the body and gives the person a rush, a high of sorts. Although pain maybe involved, it also brings about sense of relief, and comfort and it helps to soothe the internal turmoil that exists. No I am not condoning this behavior, but the word of God is like this process, although when we read certain passages, of scripture, that deal with some areas in our lives that need altering correcting and that deliverance may need to take place, it may be painful, but when we yield to the Word Of God, it soothes us and calms us and helps us to get control over the areas in our life where pain, anxiety, bad habits, and sin abide, through God’s power and guidance.

So yes I am asking have you put yourself under the knife recently. When was the last time that we opened up the pages of the Word of God and allowed it to cut us deep enough to expose the true content of our character, our frailties and the places where sin still abides and disobedience still reigns? For many of us, reading the scriptures is ritualistic, it is something we do out of habit, and because we know we should do it, but it is seldom, something we do because we have areas in our lives that require deliverance, transparency, relief, transformation and recreation. The word of God should be sought because it is our guide to live by and it is our measuring stick. It should be the thing that convicts us, converts us and can divide our thoughts and the very intent of our heart to reveal who we really are, and what we really stand for. Living without seeking God through His Word is like living in a world that has no laws; there will be pain and anarchy. But when we apply God’s Word to our lives it may cut us deep, but it is also the balm, the ointment, the salve that helps us to heal and become better than we were previously. It gives us relief in times of turmoil, it can give us joy for our mourning, it can provide us comfort when we are distressed and it can give us life when we feel as if we are dying.

So when is the last time you allowed the Word of God to be a scalpel cutting you open, and even cutting away things that are inside your soul that have the potential to kill you spiritually or physically hinder your growth and progression? We need the Word of God to be that guided instrument that cuts us deep, but relieves the pain of whatever circumstance we may be going through or challenges within our lives. We need to allow God through His word to challenge us, to be better, to convict us when we are out of His will. To comfort us when we are hurting and cannot control the pain. We may be scared of a little pain now, but I had to ask myself as I sought the Word of God on some issues that lay within me, would I rather have a little pain now or a lot of pain later? Likewise, ask yourself, would I rather let God’s word cut me now or miss God and salvation and spend eternity in pain and in anguish? The choice is always ours, to make.

Words Of Encouragement o Start The Day (Wednesday 10/27/2010)

Praising My Way Through…

Psalm 16:7-8 (Amplified Bible)

⁷I will bless the Lord, Who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons. ⁸I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

One of the key elements I have discovered in my walk with the Lord is when adversity hits, that I need to find a vehicle by which to get me out of my present state, whether that state has come to kill, rob, or destroy I have the ability to pray, praise, worship, fast, read my word or any combination of these weapons that I have learned. They are all powerful and very effective when used properly. But in this season, I have found that my prayer, my praise and my worship are the three weapons in my arsenal that are becoming sharpened and cultivated. I am finding that when something hits me and tries to make me depressed or cause me to relive pain, I begin to pray and praise my way free from those feelings.

Have you ever been around a farm, or on a farm? Have you ever been on a farm when it is time to begin to plant? The farmer must prepare the ground to receive the seed. He usually will take a tracker with a special tool on it designed to turn over the hardened earth. As the blades rotate it flips the dirt and readies the soil to receive. Praise is that same way. Praise will turn over and even remove things out of our lives that will block us from receiving what God is trying to do in our lives, speak into our spirits and what He is trying to sow down in us for days to come that will be harvested later. We do not often understand the value of our praise. It is an offering to God and it opens us up, it clears our heart and our mind to receive the Word of the Lord. Praise helps us to be strengthening enough to stand and to endure, even when unforeseen things hit our lives.

Are you cultivating your praise? Do you even have a praise, so when things go wrong, that your praise can help, move you into right standing with God to prepare you to receive what God has and to see the significance in what is happening in your life, whether that something is good or bad? When we have the ability to praise, we have the ability to refocus and to turn over or move out things that will hinder our growth, movement and ability to function in God. Praise will make room for the Spirit of God to have His way in our lives. Our praise will ready the soil of who we are for God to plant His seeds to grow and mature us, so that when He is ready to harvest our gifting’s and callings they will have grown in fertile ground. So no matter what it looks like praise your way through it. God will speak to you through the praise and in the midst of your praise. Don’t despise your circumstance or your situation just realize that when you praise there will be a fire ignited that will burn out what is impure in order for us to get to God and God to get to us!