Reaching yours is reaching mine!

Take a moment today to do something special for a young person that comes across your path who needs encouragement. There are children & teenagers everywhere who are hurting, angry, fearful, lonely, & just struggling to find out who they are. These are not the world of tomorrow, but of today. They need us! It's easy to reach out to those who are always lovable, but not always do we find it quite so easy to reach out to those who aren't. Pray and ask God to use you in the life of a youth that  He is desiring to change. Ask Him to lead and guide you in every act of kindness toward them. Do special little things for them on a regular basis. I am convinced that what you will do for someone else's child...God will do for yours. As I reach out to youth, I have the confident expectation that God is sending other men & women of God to reach out and be a light to my children, also. Is there a young person that God has already placed on your heart & mind? If so, begin to be the light of Jesus to them today, and form a relationship with them so that in a time of their trouble....You... just might be the answer to their parents prayers!

The strip down!

       ...As you remember from the last blog "A whole lotta shakin goin on" ... first, we talked about the alarm sounding but not arousing the body, and secondly, a shaking in the body of Christ going on. Now, I want to tell you about what I have more recently seen. I began to see a visual of a parent holding a child who was fighting to keep from getting a bath! While the mother held the child whose clothes and body were soiled with dirt up in the air by one arm, with their little legs and arms violently kicking and fighting, I saw the parent begin to strip off the filthy garments. She moved the unrelenting child over the bathtub full of water; all the while their little legs and arms were stretching out and grasping at all attempts to keep for being plunged into the water for the clean-up. I believe that we are not only in a time of being shaken out of our sleep, but a time of being stripped of the things that soil our spirit man. We are due for a good bathing! We are the children of God and the bride of Christ. Christ is coming back for a bride who is ready for him, yet Jeremiah 3:32 depicts the bride of Christ as one who is not prepared. "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten me Days without number." Oh, yes, I know that we go to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, etc...  However, I am not talking about the outer works, but rather the condition of the heart. You see... you can be the most devoted church member in your church; doing all that is expected of you and much more, yet still forget God. Not really having that intimate relationship with him. How many of us have been so busy working for our spouse, washing their clothes, cooking for them, running their errands, picking up after them, and all the things that we do for them...just to end the day of "doing for them"...and be too tired when we lay down next to them to be intimate with them? Busyness has been the downfall of many marriages. Marriage in general is a picture of our relationship with Christ. Are we so busy with doing all the things that we do for God to be intimate with Him? We are preparing for our wedding day, ...or have we been so busy with "things" that we have forgotten to prepare?  About two years ago, I was in the church by myself at the altar weeping, and again the Lord gave me a picture of two brides. They were both a picture of the bride of Christ. The first bride was in complete disarray! Her dress was smudged with dirt and blood stains. Her hair had obviously been attempted to be fixed, but was all out of place and messy. There were missing and forgotten jewels; one earring on and one off. Black mascara was smeared down her face, and by her appearance her make-up was no doubt thrown on in a mad rush. In short, she was one frazzled bride! However, the second bride was beautifully adorned in spotless white; her hair was fixed to perfection and her make-up was tastefully applied. The sparkling white pearls gracefully adorned her neck and ears. She was the flawless epitome of beauty; poised with grace. Both of these Brides are the bride of Christ. They are both born again by the Blood of Jesus Christ, however, one is not prepared. Perhaps sin is the reason for the lack of preparation. Perhaps, she is just too busy taking care of the things that concern her groom, which is not a bad thing, however she is so caught up in "the doing" that she has forgotten to attend to their relationship. Whatever stands in her way...she is still unprepared. There were two women of God in the Bible, Luke 10:38-42, one was Martha, and one was Mary. As Jesus was in Martha's home one day, the Bible states that, "Martha was distracted with all her preparations." She was very busy serving Jesus. So busy taking care of things in fact that she became frustrated with Mary who was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. When Martha began to complain because she did not think her sister was doing her part, Jesus replied to her by saying, "Martha, Martha, you are so worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." If we are not careful, we will allow so many things...even that seem good to do...to take us away from sitting at the feet of Jesus. He wants us to take time to talk and relate to Him, and to listen to Him. We, the body of Christ, have allowed so many distractions to separate us from spending time with Christ. It is in His presence that we are made beautiful...ready for Him. If we are truly born again, we will get that bath that our daddy God wants to give us. We will get in the tub willingly, or against our will, whichever we choose. It is time to get the dirt of this world washed away. When your alarm rings in the morning, you will get up from your sleep & out of the bed, stumble to the restroom & into the bathtub. After you get cleaned up and clothed in nice fresh garments, you will be ready for your day to begin. We are in the process of being spiritually prepared in the same way. 

A whole lotta shakin going on!

About 3 and a half years the Lord began to give me a vision of the body of Christ as if they were a person in a very deep sleep. I heard an alarm with a long, deep, drawn out, yet loud ...bommmpt....bommmpt...bommmpt... It was steady and persistent, yet the body was just lying there as if it were dead. No movement, no arousing of the sleep whatsoever. The Lord began to speak to me about this visual that He was giving me. He shared with me that His body was in a very deep & sound sleep. The alarm was sounding, but rather than awaking, the body was actually being lullabied into a deeper sleep by the very sound of the alarm. Being led by the Lord to do so, I began to teach & preach about this revelation that I knew God was giving me, and everywhere I turned, I began to hear many other ministers preaching about the alarm that was being sounded, therefore, this was confirmation to me that this was a message for the whole body of Christ.
Moving forward a couple of years... the next thing that I began to hear from the Lord was, "Anything that can be shaken...will be shaken." Everywhere I looked, there was turmoil in lives, marriages, finances, families, ministries, health, and trust me... I didn't have to look very far. There was a very strange attack that had begun in just about every area of our lives. It was evident...We were being shaken! Shaken from our wonderful comfort zone that we had created and loved. It didn't feel good either. As a matter of fact, I did not like it at all! We can be sure that God will allow the enemy to attack us so that He Himself can turn those very attacks around for our good. He desires nothing but the very best for us, and He will use even the worst situations that we can encounter in life to bring about His purposes for us. I don't ask for these visuals from God, but I get them anyway. I saw a vision of God just shaking us and junk just falling off. We were not rising up on our own, therefore, it was high time for Him to wake us Himself! Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have things that are hidden even to us that may not even seem harmful, they may not even seem to be a negative factor in our lives, they truly may not even be "bad" things, but can seriously keep us from walking in the fullness of His plan for us. God will even physically reinforce what He is speaking to us. As an example, I went & bought some new praise & worship music that I had never heard before. I love Juanita Bynum. She is one of my favorite artists so I purchased an older c.d. of hers. I put it in the disc player as I got into my car, & this song began to play..."Shake us again." The whole song repeatedly emphasizes a shakin going on...for a purpose. Do you think God was speaking to me? I think He is speaking to many of us!
A shaking from God in general just does not feel good. We can fight Him, as long as we decide to, but He is the Almighty, and He will have His way. He does not want us to stay in the comfort of our sleep, but He desires that we be productive. Not just appear to be productive, but to truly be productive. He is always pushing us forward in greatness. Many times, we will not step out of our comfort zones & step into what God is calling us to do unless we experience a shaking from God. I have recently had another visual from God which is in line with what happens after the shaking. I will share it with you, but you will have to read it...tomorrow. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

I Need You!

I am very thankful for every person that God has allowed in my life.

Every person that comes into your life is necessary for you in order to fulfill that divine destiny that God has placed upon your life. You were born with a purpose; God has a unique plan devised just for you. Have you ever allowed someone access into your life just for them to cause you much heartache; to deeply wound you? You may ask, "What was the purpose in that... I mean honestly...If God is so good then why would He allow bad to happen to me; why didn't He protect me from them?" No one ever has all the answers for these types of questions.
The truth is, though, that you will never fully develop into the person that God wants you to be without the people that come into your life. Even those that you may have questioned their reason for being in your life... those who have hurt you, used you, or abused you. The reality is even though they were wrong in what they did to you...you needed them. They are/were there to help work something out of you. We all have things hidden deep inside of us that hold us back & imprison us from stepping into our destiny, & the Lord knows just what we need/who we need to help work those things out of us. We are all in a struggle to become who He created us to be. Whoever these people are...good or bad...we need them. We need them to help us to grow and mature spiritually, maybe to build & encourage us, to correct or direct us, to teach us how to forgive & love unconditionally, or perhaps to help us to gain the courage to stand up against fear itself & fight. We need them to help us...(through experience)... to learn to trust & rely on God alone & not mankind. We need some to help hold us up when we can no longer stand on our own. In short, we needed all the people who have been in our lives. They all have impacted us & taught us a valuable life lesson whether it was a lesson that we desired to learn or not.
Life does not always seem fair...people can be even further from fair, but God is faithful to never leave you nor forsake you. He will truly take all that seems to devastate you, and turn it around for your good when you trust in Him. Concerning those who are/were in your life and not in order to do you good...the Bible says to love your enemies, bless...do good...& pray...for them. When you learn to do this, you are well on your way to stepping into your destiny...that thing for which you were born for. Someone out there needs you; they need to know how to overcome what you have made it through.

If you are reading this, I am truly thankful for your place in my life!