In 1960,  six-year-old Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to integrate an all white public elementary school in the South. Every day for months federal marshals escorted Ruby past a mob of angry parents. They shouted, cursed, and threw objects and insults at her. She sat in a class room alone with the only teacher willing to instruct her, while parents kept their children home. A psychologist met with Ruby for several months to help her cope with the fear and stress she was experiencing. Ruby’s mother kept encouraging her to be strong and pray while entering the school. Ruby said every day as she walked to school and back home, she prayed, “Please God, forgive them because they don’t know what they’re doing.” She said this reduced the vehemence of the insults yelled at her and gave her courage. This was a six-year-old child! Her mother protected her the best way she could; with the power of prayer! Did I mention that Ruby was born in 1954, the same year that the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education’s decision to desegregate schools? I don’t believe this was a coincidence, I believe that Ruby was God’s ram in the bush!

Fast forward to June 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school sponsored prayer is a violation of the First Amendment. I believe as many others do that prayer in schools (and everywhere else) is a necessary part of the struggle to limit violence, drug abuse, and other social evils that afflict our country in general and schools in particular. We have seen the increase of violence in our schools and it is devastating! My heart aches whenever I hear about another shooting and innocent kids dying. I don’t have the answers on how we can get prayer back into our schools; however I pray to God that he intercede. Even though I don’t understand, I believe God is still in control and he has a ram in the bush!

There is something we can do. Let me ask a question, if the schools say your child can not take their medicine at school, would you not give it to them at all? We must teach our kids the power of prayer! Pray with them before they leave home. Teach them to pray when they get there and all day in between. Private, voluntary prayer is not only permitted in public schools, but it is constitutionally protected. Let them know that prayer can also be spoken within the heart. Students can pray privately before class or during lunch, before a test, etc. Groups of students can pray together as long as it does not interrupt activities or the classroom. As Ruby’s mother did, we can protect our children the best way we can, by teaching them the power of prayer! Much Love…

 

There is a story where this little boy told his sister if she used an umbrella and jumped off a barn roof the umbrella would hold her up. He told her she only had to “believe so by faith”. She jumped off the barn roof and knocked herself out, suffering a minor concussion, no, it was not me but a similar story happened to me involving my sister, brother, and a wood stove. I have the burn to this day! God does not lie, what He promises, He will do. He is a promise keeper. We just have to make sure we are standing on God’s actual Word when we claim a promise. The popular saying: “I name it, I claim it”, should very well be “God names it, I claim it!  Faith has no power by itself. It only counts when it is based on a clear and unmistakably promise from God. Anything else is wishful thinking. Faith is not a tentative concept where we simply “wish” something to be true. Faith means certainty. In the Old Testament, the men and women were obedient to God, knowing by Faith that the promises He made to them would come to pass.  Wishful thinking wonders if He will, while faithful expectation testifies that He will with boldness. Someone said wishful thinking may or may not be based on the Word of God; but faith always is. I also believe there is passive faith, you know the type of faith where you know that God has promised you something but you are not willing to fight for it. Sometimes faith involves a fight, everyone else may think you are crazy, but because of your faith you will not give up and give in to the enemy without a fight. Another big difference, wishful thinking believes God is a genie or santa claus, ready to do our will; Faith knows God as our father, and we are ready to do His will. God is dependable, reliable, and worthy of our trust!  He has already kept his greatest promise, by sending Jesus to die on our behalf so we can have eternal life in Him. How can we doubt He will keep other promises He has made? I know that the Word says by His strips we are healed. So no matter how I feel and what the providers say, I am healed! At one point the doctors thought I was crazy when I claimed that, now they are amazed! In this life people will disappoint us. And we, as much as we try not to, may fall short in keeping some of our promises to others. But one thing I know for sure: God will never break his promises. He is the promise keeper! Much Love…

A book by Sharon Jaynes titled, Silencing the lies that steal your confidence, discusses the lies that keep us bogged down in shame, insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. We look at others and view them as examples of what we should look like or how we should act. We let these negative thoughts enter into our heads; I’m not educated enough, I’m not pretty enough, my body does not look right, I’m just not enough! I agree with Ms. Jaynes, we must silence these lies that steal our confidence! God desires perfection and our good deeds will never erase our sin. But thank God for Jesus who was perfect in every way shape and form. He took responsibility and courageously died for our sins. So even though we don’t deserve it, God loves us just as we are and knowing him will only make us better. Don’t pay attention to the world because through Christ you’re a child of God. Don’t ever feel you have to look a certain way or behave a certain way to be loved. God loves us.  God does not look on the outside for perfection. He looks at our hearts and it is a display of love not perfection that moves God. I rather live by God’s standards than the temporary standards of the world. We silence the lies by accepting God’s grace, and no longer let past failures define or confine us. We silence the lies by knowing that no matter what the world thinks of us , in God’s eyes we are beautiful and each of us is valuable to Him. We are good enough because of His power that works in and through us. Last week I had a flare-up and I did not write at all. My energy level was down to zero and I started thinking, maybe I just need to stop blogging. My Spirit said no, this is what I told you to do, and when I tell you to do something, I will give you what you need to do it. So I encourage you to not put off doing something because you feel you are not good enough. Unleash the champion in you! God chooses to do extraordinary work through ordinary people who will bring glory to his name. He is looking for believers who will be obedient regardless of how they feel, their present fears, or past failures. Whenever I start to fall in the “I’m not good enough trap”, I think about how God loved me so much he gave his only son. Am I good enough? Oh yes, I’m good enough. In fact, I’m better than good. So are you. Much Love…

There are people who use the “nobody’s perfect” excuse to rebel against God and his expectations of Christians. They say; God knows me, the Bible says don’t judge, so you’re trying to act holier than thou, etc. It is true we will sin and make mistakes, but we must not use that as an excuse or to justify sin. While we are saved by faith alone in Christ, that faith will result in obedience and good works. We must strive to behave everyday like Christ. It is not what we are trying to be but what we are, God says when we are truly saved, we are a new creature. We may fall short at times, I know I do, but there should be growth. I thank God for His instruction book on life; the Bible.

I used to think it was a sin to get angry. So I would say, “nobody’s perfect” (I was one of those folks I was talking about earlier). But in my Christian growth, instead of justifying it as me not being perfect, I wanted to know what the Word said about anger. God did not tell us we couldn’t feel anger, He said we should not vent our anger. The Word says be slow to anger. I have always been slow to anger, but what about when I do get angry?As Christians we do not like to admit we are angry. We might say we are “upset”. Upset and angry have different meanings. When you are upset you are usually sad and tearful, but when you are angry you want to react, even if it’s just with words. The way the world is today with satan running rapid with deceitfulness and his lies, it’s easy to get mad. I get mad when I see injustice, homelessness, hunger, and the mistreatment of children and the elderly. What do you do as a Christian when it’s personal? Someone or something has lit your fire and you are burning up. What do we do as Christians when our “mad” is too big. I used to say, (still do, but not so much) “please don’t make me angry because then I’ll get mad!” The word mad originally meant “crazy” or “insane” in American English, and in the UK it still does, but is commonly used in the phase “mad with rage”. That doesn’t even sound good so you know it’s not of God! Everyone has or will at some point experience anger. Sometimes it is difficult to control your emotions.Through the grace of God, I am learning when I do get angry how to control it instead of it controlling me.

Admitting that we are angry is the first step to dealing with anger the christian way. The second is realizing it is impossible for us to control anger without the power of God at work in our hearts and lives. Thirdly, it must be properly motivated. There are times a person can be angry for appropriate reasons. Religious hypocrisy, injustices of poverty, or oppression is proper, godly reasons to become angry. Jesus experienced anger.When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. They were taken advantage of those less fortunate. He drove them all from the temple area, he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. When Jesus asked the religious leaders if it was okay to heal a person on the Sabbath day, and they would not answer, scripture says, “he looked around at them with anger.”  He stilled healed the man while angry which lets us know that we can still do good while angry. Clearly some forms of anger are wrong, and this is the anger that Jesus spoke out against in Matthew 5:22 – angry that you did not get your way, anger that is destructive and unnecessarily demeaning. We should not let our anger turn into bitterness or hold grudges. Never let others anger you to the point where you become someone who you don’t  recognize! That is man’s anger; Jesus did not exhibit man’s anger but the righteous indignation of God. When we let our anger control us, we break unity with the body of Christ. I tell you God and his Word is the best anger management class you can take! It will take time, for spiritual growth, like human growth, is gradual. I thank God for not just convicting us of our sins, but for transforming us through the Holy Spirit. I thank him for meeting us where we are but also loving us enough to not leave us there. For myself, when my mad gets too big, I like to say “Jesus fix it”, because I know He can. Please refer to the scriptures in Food for the Soul to see what God has to say about anger. Much Love…

 

 

                                               SOME HARD TRUTHS:

TAMMING THE TONGUE (James 3:1-10)

“The tongue is the smallest part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. It can corrupt the whole body, set the course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. Animals can be tamed but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless quill, full of deadly poison. How can we praise our Lord and Father, and with the same tongue curse our brothers and sisters who have been made by God in his likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. This should not be.”

DON’T JUDGE ME (James 4:11-12)

“Brothers and sisters do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the Law and judges it. When you judge the Law, you are not keeping it but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?”

 TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED (James 4:13-16)

“You say “Today or tomorrow we will go to the city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you should say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.”

 So there you have it my people. Some hard truths from Apostle James.  He is described as one of the first disciples to follow Jesus. Please go to Food for the Soul and pray with me to our Father for help with these things which are not pleasing to Him. Much Love…..

 

I have never been a spontaneous person. I have planned things as long as I can remember. I had my life all planned out. And when things didn’t go as planned, I just moved to plan B. Yes, I always had a plan B. I thought I knew what was best for my life. That was before the wilderness. My plan B did not stand a chance up against the wilderness! In hindsight, I feel like God was trying to get my attention. There is nothing wrong with planning, if you are getting direction, advice and guidance from God. God’s plan comes with total submission to His will and authority in our lives. There was a time when that would have been hard, giving total control to anyone, even God. I thought I knew what was best for my life. Our plans are self satisfying, temporary, and usually separate us from God. God’s plans are always best for us. God’s plan for our lives are peace, prosperity, hope, and a future with Him. Even when we follow God’s plan, there will be detours on the road we travel. We will find obstacles, persecution, hurt, pain, rejection and suffering. The difference is God will be there with us, guiding us through all of them. I believe before I ended up in the wilderness, I was following my plan. The wilderness was not in my plans so I didn’t know what to do. Once I submitted it all to him, he was right there with me in the wilderness. And what I thought was the worst thing that could happen to me, turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me. He is the God of second chances. I no longer need a plan B. I know God’s plan for me is not only eternal, but full of hope, joy and peace, even in the mist of life’s storms. What do you do when God’s plan does not align with your plan? Go with God’s plan, it is always better! Check out Food for the Soul and read what God has said. Much Love…..

Today I just want to say thank you Lord. Thank you Lord for all you’ve done for me. You have been my protection every step of the way. Thank you Lord. Every day you keep on keeping me. Thank you for your love, thank you for your mercy, and thank you for so much grace. There’s no one like you. Thank you for your favor. Thank you for guiding me. I want to say thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my friends. What would I do if I did not have you Father God? Where would I be without you? Thank you Lord. Every morning brand new mercies. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for loving me enough to die for me. Who else would do that? Thank you for loving me unconditionally. No one can love me like you. From the bottom of my heart I thank you. Thank you for so many blessings. Thank you for the storms and the wilderness. Thank you for the lessons. Thank you for preparing me for my purpose. I thank you for everything! I praise you Lord. I love you God, you are so worthy to be praised!

                             “Let everything that has breathe praise the Lord”. (Psalm 150:6)

 

 

 

 

If you are going through a test and all your options are closing in without any way out, then you should start shouting! Your breakthrough is closer than you think. Let’s take a look at Daniel, (Daniel 10:1-21). He fasted and prayed for 21 days to gain greater insight into the revelations he received. Then an angelic being finally showed up with an answer to his prayers. This messenger said he had been trying to get to Daniel for those 21 day, but had been detained by the “prince of the Kingdom of Persia”. The chief angel Michael had come and freed him. It seems as events play out on earth, there is corresponding activity in the spiritual realm. This scripture shows us an example of what is taking place outside of our sight. God does not want us to know more about the angelic realm than what he revealed in the scriptures or he would have revealed more. We must believe and be patient when we pray. Some breakthroughs need fasting and praying until we hear from God. Fasting test where the heart is. And when it reveals that the heart is with God and not the world, it moves God. There was a time I could barely walk and after fasting and praying for 21 days, I ended up walking 3 to 4 miles every morning! Fasting is like prayer on steroids! Some breakthroughs are achieved quickly, others may seem to take a long time (God don’t do time). If you are praying for a breakthrough and not seeing it, in fact you are experiencing even more discouragement, frustration and doubt, you’re most likely up against more than you know. This is when your faith, determination and your endurance must kick in. When the pressure is mounting, the devil wants you to give up. I almost did. I am so thankful that I did not. If I had I would now be destitute, homeless and definitely not in my right mind. I would not be walking today. (according to doctors). Glory to God. I used my determination which some people call stubbornness. My frustration and anger helped to fuel me. Use whatever it takes to keep going, and absolutely use and lean on God. Unlike man, God loves it when we use and depend on him. I was scared and depressed but I refused to give up. I felt like a failure but I refused to give up. Whatever you do, refuse to give up! When my breakthrough came, my faith level shot up. I am still and will continue to contend for full healing. I believe there will be full restoration because I did not give up. I stood my ground and God brought me out. I don’t know how but he did it (love that song). I live each day with gratitude and joy! And now when oppositions come, I get excited because I know God is doing something I can’t see and the devil is mad! Knowing that gives me the courage and strength to keep going. I wonder how many times people give up just before a breakthrough. Please don’t be one of them. Much Love…….

 

 

Have you heard the quote “I love my haters, they motivate me”? I have a cap with that quote. I wear it every now and then but honestly I disagree with the “motivate me part”. I don’t believe it’s a good thing to depend on haters to motivate you. We should love them because it is not them we have to worry about; it is the evil one that is using them. Know that hate doesn’t do anything but breed negativity. Nothing good ever comes from hate. Hate belongs to the devil (which means slanderer). So let’s talk about satan (which means accuser). He works through people, sometimes our own family, or our brothers and sisters in Christ. He delights in using us believers if he can. He will fit in where he can get in. He uses his favorite possessions such as; jealously, doubt, shame, fear, pride and hate. None of those are from God. The devil uses those things and people to become what we call haters. I am thankful I don’t need haters to motivate me but if this is true for some it’s ok; just beware of whom you are dealing with. However for some people, negative feedback or criticism can be discouraging and cause them to want to give up. Do Not Give Up! Satan is a liar and a deceiver, do not underestimate him! He is often camouflaged so we don’t see him coming. He will use the people who we thought we could trust. He will use the people we love the most. He will whisper in our ear. That is why it is important we know God’s Word, so we can identify God’s voice. Remember, satan has a plan for our life jut as God has a plan. God’s plan is to prosper us, give us hope and a future. The devil’s plan is to steal, kill and destroy. So when someone tells you anything negative or you hear a whisper in your ear; stop for a moment and think, does this encourage me, or does it seek to destroy my dreams, my hope, my life? If the devil tells you that you can’t do something, you say, “I Can!”!  If he calls you anything negative, you say, “I Am Not That”! (love those words). When we do not surrender to the tricks of the devil and trust the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, we fulfill God’s purpose in letting satan live. In the end, satan serves to magnify the power, wisdom, love, grace, mercy, patience, and the wrath of Jesus Christ. When we look around us at this broken world, it may look like satan is in control. However, Jesus, not satan is in control. When satan wanted to destroy Job and prove that God was not Job’s treasure, he had to get God’s permission! God governs satan’s every move. The day will come when satan will be destroyed completely and removed from the earth. Those of us who have read the end of the Book, know that satan will lose the battle. Until then our best defense against criticism and satan’s lies is God. Seek God’s wisdom. Ask Him to help you discern the good and bad in criticism. Yes, love your haters but we don’t really need them to motivate us. God’s Word does that. According to His Word we can do all things through Christ, the Word say’s we are victorious! I choose to believe the Word over the haters. What about you? Much Love….