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Keep Pushing…

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Scriptural Foundation:

Philippians 3:13-14 New Living Translation (NLT)

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 

 1 Corinthians 10:13 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

Reflection:

Last week we talked about holding-the-line. At some point, we have to gain our footing in the spirit and advance.  That is why we are on this journey together.  As Believers, we have to stop playing defense in our spiritual warfare and play offense.  One huge stumbling block to advancement is pride.  The world cultivates a thought process of self-sufficiency, so much so that husbands and wives sometimes think as individuals rather than as one, which is counter to the Word of God – ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. ’Since they are no longer two but one, 9 let no one split apart what God has joined together.” Mark 10:67-9 A prideful spirit says you can do all things yourself. That is not the order on which the world was formed.  God created the heavens and the earth.  He created man and women to be joined together as one.  The Lord tasked Adam and Eve with two things take dominion over the things He created and multiply the earth.  We all know how that story ended and humanity has been toiling ever since.

One of the best books I have ever read is Authority of a Believer by Kenneth E. Hagin. It is imperative as a Believer that you settle in your heart how much of a game changer accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior has done.  You went from the toil and shame to kinship and inheritance to the Maker of the universes.  Do you know how much power coming through you via the Holy Spirit?  There is no reason for living a defeated life.  God has given you all things to make you a victor in this life.  You have to keep pushing in pray, leaning in the Spirit, reaching out to touch the hem of His garment like the woman with the issue of blood.

We keep pushing forward in the Spirit not because of ourselves, but for the ones that are to come behind us on this journey of sanctification. – Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. John 6:68

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook:

  • List out your biggest struggles to date
  • Describe how God manifested in that situation.
  • Now look at the thing or things that are challenging you today.
  • Thank God ahead of time that through the help of the Holy Ghost finding your footing and pressing forward to your victory.

Hold-the-Line

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Scriptural Foundation:

Ephesians 6:13 New Living Translation (NLT)

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.

Jude 20 New Living Translation (NLT)

But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, …

Reflection:

I looked up the Hold-the-Line phraseology at yourdictionary.com and it said the following:

Verb

  1. (idiomatic) To firmly maintain one’s viewpoint, principles, or situation; to refuse to change one’s practices or plans.

Origin

Probably an allusion to a line of soldiers remaining steadfastly in position during combat.

I found the definition describing it this way solders keeping formation, while being under fire. Can you imagine that? Staying in place despite brutal attack. I don’t know about you, but being a Believer is not a walk in the park. Choosing to swim upstream when everyone around you is riding the current is hard. However this is what the Lord has called us to do. We are in this world, but not of this world and because of that we are enemy number one when it comes to the devil. So he comes after your loved ones, your finances, your health desperately trying to shake the hold that you have on the Lord. The funny thing is that even if we let go in our weakness the Lord still holds on – If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is. 2 Timothy 2:13.

So if you feel like life is beating the snout out of you and you are certain that you are in the perfect will of God…hold-the-line. When your spouse is being disrespectful – hold-the-line. When your child is being rebellious – hold-the-line. When the bank suggests foreclosure on your home – hold-the-line! There is nothing impossible for the Lord, after having done all stand. Stand in the gap for your marriage, stand in the gap for your children, stand in the gap for your finances having done all that you know to do. Know that God is working on your behalf and if you don’t quit you will see His glory in your situation.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook:

  • List all the battles you are facing today.
  • Find a scripture, a promise in the Word of God that covers that need
  • Confess that scripture daily and expect that mountain to move.

Not by your might, nor by your power will mountains in your life become plains…..”but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.” Without God we can do nothing, with Him landscapes (situations) are changed!

Hands up, boots down!

 

 

 

But Lord, that is not enough…

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Luke 9:16-17 New King James (NKJV)

Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

Reflection:

Standing at the gate of the abandoned 100-acre horse farm with an unfocused vision on my heart. The property is worth four million dollars, I only have three pennies, but I think Lord, that is not enough Or a church member has been out of work for several months and the Lord spoke to my husband’s heart to give him $100, but I think Lord that is not enough…. I know you have been there before, but I can only speak for myself.  For years we have struggled to be on the “right side” of the world system’s interest equation.  For years things just have not added up.  It wasn’t until the Lord gave me revelation on our key passage that I started seeing things a little differently.

Say what you want about the twelve disciples, having seen so many miracles yet when given the opportunity to put what they believed into practice, they repeatedly failed. Thank God for Jesus!  He took five loaves and two fishes, resources that in the natural could not feed five thousand plus people, but acknowledging that the spiritual realm supersedes anything here on earth, thanked the Lord for the items. He had an expectation that the Lord to multiply what He could not see.  Saints, we need to stop looking at these stories as fables and have it resonated in our souls that the events of the Bible actually happened.  We need to be able to look at our checking accounts, thank the Lord for the money that is there and start expecting for the Lord to multiply our seed.  In 2 Corinthians 9:10-11, the Word says, Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.  Like the disciples, we are too quick to settle for defeat or mediocrity at best, instead of expecting a miracle around every corner.  Instead we need to look beyond our narrow-minded focus of providing for our immediate families.  We need to start expecting to provide for thousands of needs, with our seemly limited resources.  When you have an eternity mindset then the process of time doesn’t seem like an issue.  So getting back to my 100-acre farm…there is a purpose why that land is on my heart.  For the $100 sacrifice to our brother in the Lord we couldn’t afford to give it and I didn’t think it would make a difference in this life…it is not my job to be enough, it is my job to have faith that God is enough and our actions of obedience is the currency that will bring the manifestation of testimonies to pass.

Seeking Revelation:

Create a notebook:

Different from your main journal, create a notebook that just references your sacrifices and testimonies. Over the years, you can be like David that told Saul why he was going to beat the uncircumcised Philistine, because of his victors over the lion and the bear.  Those victories were bench marks of faith the he could look back on and justify the reason for his courage.  If maintained, this victory journal will cultivate spirit of thankfulness in your life and will become one of your most prized possession. 

 

Got Salt?

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Scriptural Foundation: 

Matthew 5:13 New King James Version (NKJV)

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Reflection:

Every season of your life, provides the seasoning for your life’s purpose. Think about that! When cooking seasoning by itself doesn’t taste that great, you’re not going to eat a bowl full of onions are you?  However seasonings applied to meat or vegetables in concert together taste amazing.  The same is true about life…this season in your life may not be the most favorable memory, but it will provide a better life for you and your family having gone through it.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your note book.

  • List every area in your life (i.e. Relationship with the Lord, husband, kids, home, work, study group, etc)
  • In the reflection we mentioned meat (aka dying to self – dead flesh) and vegetables (aka – raw resources/situations the Lord puts in your path). Identify the items on your list as a meat or vegetable.
  • Present your list to the Lord, ask Him where you have lost your flavor and then for those items ask Him to restore its flavor for the sake of the Kingdom.

 

 

 

 

 

Why are you still asking for an Aaron?

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Scriptural Foundation:

But Moses argued with the Lord, saying, “I can’t do it! I’m such a clumsy speaker! Why should Pharaoh listen to me?”

Exodus 6:30 New Living Translation (NLT)

Reflection:

When the Lord put it on my heart to start a blog, my first thought was yeah right. Not because I didn’t enjoy coming along side someone and loving on them, but because the thought of social media exhausts me.  Everyone having their own opinion, whether right or wrong the medium just seems like a whole bunch of people yelling in the same room.  Not in the same words that Moses used, but I basically told God, what could I have to share.  People relate to heart ache and pain, I didn’t have any of those things.  Can I tell you something, don’t ever question the maker of the universes, He knows what is best! In the year or so, that past after the Lord put that on my heart, I started unpacking my life….not to say that I am done, but there was a lot of stuff that pushed down or set aside.

The more time I spent seeking the Lord, His vision for my life didn’t get any smaller to match my view of things, if anything it became bigger. It took my brother-in-law being put in prison to get me to start writing.  I made it a point to e-mail him as much as I could, especially in those early days.  The Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance Matthew 25:36 –I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. I stayed with it for his year sentence.  It warmed my heart that I could minister to him, and his appreciation for my consistency gave me the nudge I needed to at least start setting up the blog.  Now social media had not changed in the time that the Lord gave me this assignment, but my mindset that manifested from my time encouraging my brother-in-law, changed me.

I wish I could tell you I have it all figured out, but I live and walk out the scripture Isaiah 55:8-9 – For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. I heard someone say one time “Delayed obedience, is still disobedience.” I don’t feel any more equip today then I did when I first got the call, but I have the resolve that with the Lord all things are possible.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook:

  • What big visions or dreams do you have on your heart.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit for direction.
  • What little steps can you make today towards that vision or dream?

Luke Warm

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Scriptural Foundation:

Revelation 3:15-16

 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Philippians 3:14

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Reflection:

What motivates people? What inspires or drives them towards change? I have found that success is not how much money you have in the bank or your status in the community, but how one keeps moving forward. In Philippians 3:14, it says we are all called heavenward to a higher calling.  If that is the case, then why do we sometimes feel like we are living the same situation over and over again? Personally for me it is getting in shape.  My mother asked me the day before my birthday one year, to do her a favor.  She wanted me to get up and walk the outer parameter of my neighborhood.  The next day it was dark, cold, and raining on top of it.  However, since I told my mother I would do it, I got up and did it.  Then the next morning, the alarm went off and I really had to sit there deliberating for two minutes if I should go or stay. Sadly, left to my own devices and with no accountability, I was seriously questioning an action that yesterday I was propelled out of bed to do.  So what changed? My ability to get up and go for a walk had not changed, but my motivation came from an outside source not from within.  When it was just me, my warm bed and my suddenly irresistible pillow, suddenly the decision to go seemed so difficult.  Then came the usual mantra playing in my head…..”You need to ease into this”…..”You can do it later on in the day.”…… “You do so much, you should rest, there is always tomorrow.”

Then I sensed a scripture bubbling up in me…… “I know your works, that you were neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” That got my attention, then I thought back to how determined (how hot) I was yesterday to report back to my mom that I did take time for myself and took that walk. And then today I was lukewarm when the weather conditions were better!?!? It took me sitting up in bed, in the dark for twenty minutes to realize what I already knew about my circumstances…..that I lacked the personal motivation or drive to better myself in this area of my life. Then I thought about what Jesus said in John, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Jesus knew He was going to die a horrible and excruciating death, yet He was motivated by the glory that was set before Him (Hebrew 12:2).  There is a huge gap between my lack of motivation to exercise and Jesus going to the cross.  However in both circumstances action started with decision.  Personal decisions have generational and eternal impacts.  Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith.  You and only you determine how your life story will end.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab you note book.

  • List the people and/or strife filled circumstances that seem to repeat themselves in your life.
  • Be honest as to what you think is the cause. Present this list and causes to the Lord.
  • Act on and be obedient to what the Lord says concerning your list. You will find the more honest you are with yourself the sooner these cycles are broken in your life.

Protect your vision like a unborn child…

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Scriptural Foundation:

An expanded interpretive translation of John 10:10*:

“the thief wants to get his hands into every good thing in your life. In fact, this pickpocket is looking for any opportunity to wiggle his way so deeply into your personal affairs that he can walk off with everything you hold precious and dear. And that’s not all – when he’s finished stealing all your goods and possessions, he’ll take his plan to rob you blind to the next level. He’ll create conditions and situations so horrible that you’ll see no way to solve the problem except to sacrifice everything that remains from his previous attacks.  The goal of this thief is to totally waste and devastate your life.  If nothing stops him, he’ll leave you insolvent, flat broke, and cleaned out in every area of your life.  You’ll end up feeling as if you are finished and out of business! Make no mistake – the enemy’s ultimate aim is to obliterate you…”

“…But I came that they might have, keep, and constantly retain a vitality, gusto, vigor, and zest for living that springs up from deep down inside. I came that they might embrace this unrivaled, unequaled, matchless, incomparable, richly loaded and overflowing life to the ultimate maximum!”

*From Joyce Meyer’s book Let God Fight Your Battles: Being Peaceful in the Storm 

Reflection:

I have never really allowed myself to be excited about anything, but when I got pregnant it was the best gift I ever received from the Lord. So much so, I selfishly kept it to myself and had my husband promise that he wouldn’t tell anyone either.  For a short period of time I soaked up the joy of the miracle within me.  So, as we started telling my parents, friends, co-workers…. the joy seemed to start dimming as love ones started sharing how much this and that was going to cost and how this or that could never be achieved on the salary that we were making.  All of a sudden my baby utopia was tainted with reality checks doled out from whoever wanted to give them.  Instead of continuing to see our needs being taken care of by the Lord, I started looking at our limited resources in the natural. I was like Peter that stepped out of the boat and started walking toward Jesus, but starts sinking when the waves distract him from the Lord.

Each time, I got pregnant we waited that much longer to tell people, just to prolong the inevitable “rain on your parade’ conversations. The stress and rejection that I experienced during my last pregnancy was so great that the thought of continuing to have children, although that was my heart’s desire to have one more was simply too much.  Fast forwarding years later, all our needs continue to be met by the Lord and I have three beautiful gifts from God that are truly my grace grower….my only regret is that I didn’t have a fourth child.  The vision that I had for myself since I was a little girl, became altered by my drowning circumstances. As a result, I abandoned one of the visions that I had in my heart and though my life is bitter sweet now, I always think what if I had trusted God a little further in that area of my life.

The Lord gives us visions throughout our lives. Instead of holding on to those visions, we have our circumstances dictate to us if that vision can really become a reality.  Everything that is seen has a counter symbolism of the spiritual realm.  Daily there are hundreds of thousands of abortions happening in this country, the same is true in the spiritual realm as it relates to visions.  The Lord speaks to you in a dream or day dream and it seems so quick and fleeting that we tend to brush it off as some child-like fantasy. The Holy Spirit keeps gently bringing it to your remembrance.  You were born for a purpose, called for a certain assignment that will fill your heart with joy overflowing, don’t let the devil convince you that it is impossible for you.  You serve a mighty God and He won’t give up His vision for your life unless you do…

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook:

  • Jot down all the ideas, dreams, and passions that you have laid aside over the years.
  • For each item, list all the reasons why it is not possible.
  • Now that is out of the way, search the scriptures for promises saying that idea, that dream, that passion is possible through the Christ Jesus.
  • Once you are fully persuaded that your vision is possible, pick up that mantle again and press on towards it. Protect it like an unborn child until the Lord releases you to share it with others.

All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. Luke 2:18-19

But God that wasn’t the plan….

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Scriptural Foundation:

Isaiah 55:8-9 New Living Translation (NLT)

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Reflection:

Have you ever thought or utter the words of today’s scripture? I went through a season in my life that I thought about these two scriptures all the time. Not that there was anything wrong inside my home, but it was all the stuff on the outside of the walls that I couldn’t directly control in the natural. Thank God that it is not where the Lord’s reach ends…at the end of my rope.  When I recognize that I am striving in my own strength then I know I am existing lower than God’s best for me.

At that time, the Holy Spirit asked me a question – “If all your needs were met by the world, would you ever turn to me?” I really wanted the answer to be yes, but in my heart of hearts I knew the answer was no. Growing up I had everything a child could ever ask for. Totally oblivious of the sacrifices my parents made day after day, year after year, I was completely unaware how difficult life could be. It wasn’t until I fulfilled the plans that my parents had laid out for me – “go to college and get a good job” – that I started to flounder. Somewhere along the way I lost the essence of the person I was and became, someone I hoped my parents would be proud of. Well I climbed that mountain and then at the top I had no satisfaction. It was at this point of emptiness that I could finally hear that still small Voice beckoning me towards more. Now I wish I could tell you I have everything figured out and that my destiny is in full focus….on the contrary I have no idea what I am doing and I am at peace with that. These days I wait for God to speak and then I act. Would I love to know the whole plan up front? Are you kidding me….yes! But it is in my best interest and keeps me out of my own way by just being led by God. Just like my parents had a plan for my life as a child, so does our Heavenly Father have a plan for each one of us. Determine in your heart that you will seek His plans rather than your own.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook:

  • What plans do you have for the short, mid, and long-term future?
  • Present your plans to the Lord and have Him identify the true plan for your life.
  • Follow the plan it step by step as the Spirit leads and watch how the world unfolds with blessings.
  • Repeat 1-3 often to ensure you course correct along your journey of faith.

Sin is like BO

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Scriptural Foundation:

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Luke 6:41-43

Reflection:

The arrival of ‘Fall’ means it’s school time again! Hence the resumption of team practices.  And the all too familiar smell that stubbornly fills the car every school day afternoon.

Me: Did either one of you put on deodorant this morning?

Son: I don’t smell anything!

Daughter: I did!

Daughter #2: Hey, It is not me!

Me: Hold on a second. (I close all windows in the car.)

Son: Oh I smell it now.

Daughter: I can’t breathe!

Daughter #2: It is not me!

Me…Silence: Point proven.

Have you ever noticed while you are working out you don’t smell your own body odor until you are done? The same is true when running through your spiritual life, you can’t smell the “sin” of yourself, but you will certainly turn up your nose at others.  Renewing your mind daily is like giving your spirit and mind a well needed bath.  Keep in mind that people can still become nose blind to their “conditions”…aka short comings.  It is when you stop moving in both the natural realm and spiritual realm that things start getting real stank, real fast.  Once you are aware of your own, sin, the stench of sin around you from others, at times become unbearable.  In Luke 23:34 – Jesus says “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”  It is only when we acknowledge and address our sins’ odor that we encourage others to smell the fragrance of the anointing on us and let them be drawn to the Lord in us.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook.

  • List the most annoying things you can think about your spouse, family member and/or friend. (please don’t share)
  • Then list the things that you have been told that are annoying about something you do.
  • Pray and ask the Lord to reveal your true list of sins/short comings.
  • Start working with the Holy Spirit on these items and leave your original list to the Lord. You will be amazed at the change that happens from the inside of you toward your loved ones.

So you think you have the stuff…

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Scriptural Foundation:

Luke 9:57-62 New Living Translation (NLT)

As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”  He said to another person, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.” Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Reflection:

To be a disciple it is going to cost you something. One can’t expect to receive God’s best for their lives yet make little or no changes in behavior or thought patterns.  When you follow God there will always be obligations to family and friends that if it is in direct conflict with what the Lord is doing in your life, you are going to have to choose between following what the Lord says and disappointing/upsetting some people, or asking the Lord of all things to wait until you are ready.  It sounds like an easy decision, but many believers choose to put the Lord on hold, then have the audacity to be upset when God seems to be taking a long time fulfilling their next request.

We have divine appointments that are peppered throughout our lives to help fulfill our assignment on this earth. Can I provide the visional that the Lord gave me?  Do you remember the game Chutes and Ladders?  It is a race to the finish line that comprises of short cuts and pit falls.  A player can either land on a ladder that helps them skip a bunch of spaces or land on a chute that causes the person to fall backward several spaces.  The same is true in life, there are divine appointments in your life that you choose to make them a ladder getting you closer to your destiny or a chute that will have you repeat the same situation again.

Seeking Revelation:

Grab your notebook:

  • Think back at defining moments in your life both good and bad
  • List the good under ladders and the negative under chutes.
  • Focusing on the “chutes” in your life, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you when you get to those same “trap door” situations. By actively choosing to act or react differently you will change that chute into a ladder.