What does it mean to me

When we attend church we should be asking ourselves... How can I apply this to my life? Or, what is God saying to ME? Same thing when you read a blog. God, how can this impact my life for the better? Help me hear your voice through this message. Give me instruction for my life. I receive from you Lord Jesus the power and strength I need to do all things that come my way. Lord use this time, sermon, reading, teaching, prophecy to build me into the person I am to be so that You can be glorified to all people. So they can know you, hear your voice and experience how awesome you are!

And it was so

There are hundreds of promises in the bible. Things God promised us as believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bible is evidence of Him and He led His believers to pen His words and actions. The promises are in writing. Writing has a sense of permanency as a declaration, a contract, a deed. His promises are for us. His word is binding. He cannot lie. His words have power. Just as He spoke the world into existence in the book of Genesis… “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so…” God spoke His words AND IT WAS SO. He created you in His image and He wrote that the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives inside of you. Speak forth the blessings of God over your life. Just as He spoke and wrote his promises for us… and it was so.

Mother Heather

We have known this dear saint for years. What an honor. She is someone that has a great burden for prayer. It’s bigger than that. God is using her to bring about 24/7 Prayer. This ministry will have at least one person praying for our Pastor, his family and the church every minute of every day. This is definitely ordained by God and came into being with some trials I’m certain. I don’t know if we realize the impact 24/7 will have. Hundreds of pastors fall in this spiritual dessert we call California. Where the d roams because there are no barriers. But that’s changing. That won’t even be a possibility here at New Birth and it is a direct impact of 24/7 prayer. She has actually caused our pastor to survive and thrive. Do we realize that? I pray for her often because I’m certain her struggle is intense. Thank you Lord for Mother Heather and her obedience and persistence to see 24/7 put into place. This is a great example of ONE PERSON making an impact that will eventually affect hundreds of thousands. You can make a difference too. Do what you are called to do no matter the struggle.

You can lead a horse to water

but you can’t make them drink. Yes an old saying but so true today as I try to share with a co-worker and there is resistance. So I did not get offended I simply smiled and stayed in their conversation. I will still be kind to them. Offer advice and love and pray for them. My job is to present the Lord and if they don’t take the awesome offer then I move on and just love them and live by example. They know who I am and what I stand for. God has released me from carrying the burden of making sure they know Him. How great is that? I don’t have to carry the guilt of them not accepting Jesus. God will deal with them and will bring in someone else, if needed, to talk to them. What a great release for me. I am to live and be an example and speak when the opportunity arises. Hallelujah.

This is a new assurance for me. A realization that I’ve got an awesome thing with God whom provides for me and takes care of me, speaks to me, directs my steps and has promised me eternal life. Things I knew but have recently become a confidence in my life. So, I’m offering it to you but if you don’t want it – ok. I’ll tell someone else. I have a confidence in the "product" so to speak. I’m not going to beg you. Kind of like if you were selling a great shoe. You’d present it, market it and people would buy because it’s great. Same thing. It’s like my boss. He’s trying to CONVINCE people to use him as their broker. He's awesome yet his almost begging makes it seem like the service isn’t that good. Relax and be assured in what you have to offer. Walk in confidence and a knowing you are amazing. Watch how people try to attach themselves to your greatness… that really comes from the Lord.

God's Word is written

Key: Write it down. The Word of God is written! That’s how important it is to WRITE IT DOWN. It’s a record of God speaking. It’s your reminder of how to behave. Oh, so He spoke to you today? AWESOME… that’s the instruction that God is feeding you hot off the wire. STOP, get a pen and paper! Write it down! Do you really want to take a chance of missing God? What’s the worst that could happen? Just obey. He will honor your obedience. Are you trying to rationalize what God said? How ridiculous. He sees all, knows all. He knows what’s best for you. Obey. Stop being lazy. Every time we obey and step out of our complacency it makes it easier to do it next time OR do more the next time God calls on us. What is He calling you to? Why are you struggling with Him? He has your best interest in mind. Just obey and He will lead you to where you need to be.

Write it down

So you hear a word from God. You start to act on what He spoke to you. Days go by, you’re doing great. THEN, things start to arise and you begin to second-guess your decision to act on what He spoke to you. Things like this come to your mind… Did God really say that? Was I truly hearing from Him that day? Doubt comes in. Mistake: you listen and converse and agree. KEY: When God speaks to you WRITE IT DOWN so in your time of weakness/temptation/distraction you can be reminded of what He said. Also, write down what brought you to this. Sometimes we get going and forget our purpose. Writing it down will keep you from going backwards. It will keep you from having to start over again. You know you heard from Him. Come on! Stick with what He instructed you to do. End of conversation. Don’t try to rationalize what He said. Don’t talk yourself out of it. Just do it. And when you have trouble following Him READ what you WROTE down so you don’t give up during your journey. Like Jesse Duplantis says, “Doubt your doubt.” It would sound like this… Doubt speaking... did God really say that? You… What if He did say it! I don't want to miss Him. Example: I started a seven-day media and meal fast under God’s direction. Three days into it and I’m hearing things like… you don’t need to not eat at all, you can have one meal, you can take Friday night off for Sushi, one meal won’t hurt, you can watch a little tv, why fast anyway, what’s the point, will someone be healed, what impact will you make anyway. Scary thoughts? Yes. That is why it’s so crucial to WRITE IT DOWN so in your moment of weakness, doubt or fear you can put yourself in remembrance of what you are called to do.

Paul was great

His writings fascinate me. Check this out… In the book of Romans chapter 6 verse 15 it reads, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Translation: what you give into, what you give time to, what you let rule you becomes your ruler and you are in bondage/enslaved to it. The scripture goes on to say, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Translation: God has promised in His word that if you obey Him and let Him be your God, your ruler, you spend time with Him THEN you will be fruitful and have everlasting life.

Your words have power

Yesterday I wrote about how to start your day praising God. Today we’ll cover what comes after praising God. After you give reverence and honor to God upon waking then you begin to speak life over yourself and it could sound something like this… “Lord, your word says that I am blessed and highly favored. You want to prosper me. You want me to have abundant life. I am the head not the tail. I am more than a conqueror. Your Word is alive and active in me. I can do what the bible says I can do. I am the lender not the borrower. When I speak life goes forth healing, delivering and saving.” You could perhaps include words about your personal ministry like… Thank you Lord that I am a gifted teacher bringing new revelation and causing people to come higher in life or my hands and words bring healing. Thanking him for the manifestation of your gifts, etc. Speak life over yourself because your words have power to bring it to fruition.

Start our day

We have to remember that our words have power. They have life. We need to speak life over ourselves daily. But first we should start our day, before our feet hit the floor, praising God. It could sound something like this upon waking every morning… “Almighty God, there is no one like you. No one else has raised from the dead, no one else has your power. No one else created the universe. I know you are the one true real God because I’ve seen your word work and your healing hand touch not only me but others. YOU ARE GOD, THE ONLY GOD. Lord I thank you for another day. I praise you for your mercies that are new every morning. I praise you for your awesome kindness and greatness towards me. Lord help me to be who you want me to be today. Help me to behave and speak what you want today. Help me be a witness of how real and great you are. Thank you God that I am a child of yours and that my name is written in the book of life. That Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that gave me the keys to eternal life, healing and abundant life here on earth. Thank you Lord that your word says you gave me power over the enemy and all principalities. Thank you Lord that you came for the Jews and the Gentiles. Thank you for bestowing your power in my life so I can make a difference and not just live. So that I can walk like one of the apostles from the bible doing the word of God and spreading life.” Just starting your morning this way will give you strength for the day.

Trials

It seems like there’s always something coming against us to keep us down. To keep us from moving into what God has for us. If it’s not this, it’s that, one thing after another trying to keep us from advancing. Then what happens is we get tired and we give into fleshy things. Like too much TV because we can get lost in it. For thirty minutes or one hour or more – yikes, we can forget our reality and live someone else’s. This should not be. When the trials come we should be going to the Lord in prayer but we are so tired from the struggle we just “check-out” so to speak. Lord help us be strong and good stewards in the trials of life. Enough trials already!

Reminder to choose

When a bad situation presents itself in our day sometimes we are so quick to react. We take the wrong road of being angry or upset. We need to stop a minute and say, “Ok, I have a choice here. I can CHOOSE to be upset about this and behave ungodly or I can CHOOSE not to let this affect me. I can CHOOSE to remain kind to the person who upset me. I can CHOOSE to be the same all the time and not be moody. I can CHOOSE to be godly. It is my CHOICE.” Then after you choose to be godly watch how God blesses you. This is an act of obedience in connection with God’s word and you will be honored because of your obedience to God to walk in love with all mankind.

Year of the double door

It was prophesied this is the “year of the double door”. Meaning the things you are believing for will come through the double doors into your life. Well, my husband and I are complete opposites, (this makes the marriage spicey) so… to get a different take on this prophesy I asked him, “What is keeping the stuff from getting to the people of God?” He said, “There’s so much trying to come through the doors and your pushing on the door and blocking all of it and you just need to let the doors fall open and you would receive. It's like when you walk up to a door and you push on it and it actually says, on the door, PULL so you have to step back and PULL to get in to the stuff." I love him. His thinking is so fresh.

Manifestation of blessings

I woke up yesterday morning praying for the church members that God would manifest His blessings in their lives. Then at church last night Pastor Carl Smith of New Birth Church mentioned how someone that was not a member of our church was mailing in his tithe regularly. This man attended New Birth once, he is not a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ but he grasped the concept of sowing and reaping and believes in that. This man is now living blessed because of his giving to the work of the Lord. The testimony was amazing however this caused me to grieve because how many are sitting in the pews, believers, members and yet not receiving the blessings of God? You have to ask WHY? Why are some still looking for jobs? Why are some still not whole in their minds, bodies and finances as God has proclaimed? If we’re going up in a going down world and God has promised prosperity what is stopping the believers from receiving? Why did this man get it? Could it be that he holds no doubt? Or perhaps he has no ought towards anyone and he walks in love towards all? Could it be that he EXPECTS to receive? What other stipulations in the bible could be keeping the believers from receiving? Creflo was on TV last night and said, “you have to believe something in your heart and have ‘heart-faith’” meaning not just saying yes amen the Lord wants me to be blessed but believe it in your heart. I would call it a knowing. You know that you know God wants to bless you and then wait on it. Live right, live with expectancy.

Dr. Samuel Chand

We had a guest speaker last night at church Dr. Samuel Chand. He’s a minister from India with a gift of bringing healing, hope and insight to the people of God. We laughed so much we were almost in tears. Laughter doeth good like a medicine the bible says and Dr. Chand is being used by God this way. As he shed light on the book of Exodus chapter 3 verse 8 one of the things he said was, God is leaning over the edge of heaven looking at us saying “do you want supersize?” Our answer should be yes. At McDonalds for a little extra money you can supersize your drink, fries, your meal. God is saying for a little more prayer, a little more reading your bible, a little more spending time in God’s presence and HE will supersize you for your obedience. So that ministry your wanting… supersized. That job your after… supersized. The favor you need in your life… supersize. That business you want to start or need help with… supersized. God is awesome to deliver when we are obedient to His call.

Dr. Chand also brought hope and insight to the people speaking on the land of milk and honey. Milk comes from cows and cows also produce “stuff”. Honey comes from bees and they have sting. To get to your land of milk and honey (wherever you are headed) you will have to deal with some stuff and sting in life but know this the milk and honey is around the corner. If your dealing with some stuff know that the cow is nearby/the reward is near and this will give you hope to go on to your land of milk and honey. Thank you Dr. Chand for living the call on your life to serve the people of God.

Obedience

Obedience… Its amazing how it is actually much larger than we see. It appears to us as one tiny little act of obedience. We don’t give the act of obedience the consideration and thought we should for a given situation and because of personal preferences or desires we put aside our obedience and do what WE want. Not realizing the small act of obedience was connected to larger things. Our obedience can move God, it can change the future for an entire generation. (see proof in previous blog about Noah) Example: You have kids and you choose to drink or smoke and know your act of obedience to quit these is what God wants from you. Instead of doing this required thing you say, “well other people do it and they are fine or its not going to keep me from heaven.” So to keep yourself “right” you do it when the kids aren’t around so you think you are protecting them. The smell is still on you and they pick that up as “familiar”. It sets in their minds and memories. Familiarity can sometimes be a bad thing. Do you see how this can affect future generations? Also, if you weren’t smoking or drinking this time would be spent toward something more productive. How you spend your time is crucial. Every act we perform is seeds for the next generation. Whether anyone sees your obedience/disobedience or not. It’s not that your just being obedient to what God asked of you its about how God will use your obedience, how you are honoring His request and how this will change generations and take them higher to a greater revelation and greater living.