Dream a little dream!

While I was enjoying the solitude and my CSI Miami marathon yesterday, I couldn’t help but praise God for all joy and peace I now have. The best part of spending time in praise is the download of wisdom. My heart and my mind were setting an exhaustive pace. It was as if I could see the open door before me hear a voice tell me it was time to walk through it.

Routinely, logon to my Pandora station first song was “We Acknowledge You” and my scripture for the day is 2Timothy 2:15 but not in KJV “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

It was like music to my ears when I heard clear as a bell, follow me and I will lead you to your dream in 2015. I reached up my hands and said “Yes, I will follow and I’m ready to take my rightful position. No matter how difficult. I’m standing with my shield of faith held high. Knowing all the wisdom given to me these last few years has made me ready for the step.

For years I felt as if the only thing I could use to carry me through was the knowledge that God understood because of Proverbs 13:12” Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” Because He is aware of the losses; heartache; path changes; slip ups; failures; successes and the feelings of being inadequate.

Not wanting to accept that I was the only thing keeping my destiny from being complete. I was allowing my thoughts of what my mirrored reflection made visible through my impaired vision. Not applying Philippians 4:13” I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”, ignoring “Whom he calls He equips”

The freedom of reaching my hands in praise and my vision was wide opened. Following him and being able to know without a doubt God had hear my cries and turned my sadness into joy. Peace flooded my soul, reassured my steps are ordered by God. Knowing I was more open to his voice than ever before.

With a renewed sense of self and purpose I heard the voice that has been my compass for so long, tell me clearly keep following me and I will lead you to your dream in 2015. With a renewed attitude, with no regrets of yesterday, moving towards a hope deferred with a healthy heart. Hoping many will come along for the ride. Fixed Friday! Smooches~~

My Gift!

It seems only appropriate to give all Praise and Honor to Jesus today, after all this day is supposed to be about his birth. As I celebrated with friends yesterday, I realized once again this season is all about the opening of our hearts and spreading those feelings on to the ones who share our lives.

More than sharing, giving, receiving, and eating goodies. More than singing the traditional Christmas Carols. This is a day set aside to give extra thanks to the one who gives me hope and life.  The one thing I feel led to share is this:

Jesus is not in the Manger

Jesus is not on the Cross

Jesus is alive in my heart, mind and soul and I do my best to share all that He’s blessed me to share. I don’t have great financial wealth, but I have exceedingly above amounts of Love and compassion!

As I watched the sun come up, I found myself singing, not a Christmas Carol, but “We Acknowledge You” by Karen Clark-Sheard. It was as I was dipping my tea bag, I accepted fully why I’m here. My ministry is to share all the spirit endows in the words of knowledge.

I’m not here to tickle the ears, I’m here to shift the mind sets and bring about a change in the lives of those who want to know more. I love the Lord with all my heart and it is this love that allows me to open more and more to his voice and the knowledge He gives.

Allowing my mind to drift to the tests which have become many testimonies of hope, faith and love, I find a deeper Love of God for me. When I think about this love it makes taking steps of faith even easier. It makes me want not just more of Him, but to be more like Him every day.

One thing I’ve become used to is this is not an easy task. My heart goes out to those who have dedicated their lives to spreading the Gospel, the sacrifices they must make, and the ridicule they withstand.

Some think the confession of faith means all of a sudden you are to be flawless, but the truth is the flaws make us more useful to God. The demonstration of God using the foolish to confound those who believe themselves to be wise. Those who judge everything by a barometer only they are in possession of and a platform they themselves can’t even measure up to.

It used to bother me when I’d make a human error and the harsh voices saying, “Well just what kind of Christian are you?” My answer to those who feel I’m not able to make mistakes or succumbed to my flesh because of my bold proclamation of faith of an unseen God – I was born in sin and shaped in iniquity, but I press towards being a better human being and sharing the lessons I’ve learned as I strive to be more like the Savior I follow.

When I proclaim I’m a Christian it is not to boast or brag, not to be held up to a different standard, but to do all I can to overcome my weaknesses and my flaws. Not even to strive for perfection because I know there is none perfect but the father.  Submitting my whole self to a Life giving God who has kept me here to fulfill my purpose in giving him my first fruits and my complete love and devotion, even in the midst of my pain, sin and moments of diminished faith.

I want to encourage everyone to keep running the race and hold fast your profession because only He can and will judge your end! To that end, I wish everyone a Glorious and Merry Christmas! Smooches~~

Tis the TRUTH about Christmas!

Today I want to discuss one of my pet peeves about the celebration and the hoopla of Christmas. First let me deal with the Manger. It is a beautiful sentiment and it pains me that not one Christmas pageant tells the story correctly. Again, the world has dominated a biblical event and distorted the truth and the complacence of Christians have allowed this lie to be told year after year.

The images of the birth of Jesus are of Mary and Joseph in an open manger and gifts being presented by three kings. Well if you’ve ever read Matthew chapter 2 and Luke chapter 2, it would be obvious how off these images are.

Luke chapter 2 tells of the birth of Jesus and the first to come to the manger were shepherds. They brought no gifts other than their praise and gave glory to God. There is no mention anywhere in this chapter that says they followed the star, they were told of the birth by Angels.

Matthew chapter 2 tells the story of the wise men and how Harod brought these men and requested they return once they found this young child so he could worship. When the wise men saw Jesus they went to the house of Mary and Joseph where they presented three specific gifts.

These two stories have been intertwined and distorted to what is now a mainstay in the Christmas pageantry of today. Then to top it off, this story has been linked with the practices of Paganism. What Christians don’t realize is the history of how Christians got mixed in with the Pagans.

History tells us that in the attempts to convert the Pagans to Christianity they incorporated some of the traditions as a way of giving comfort and show their willingness to combine the Pagan practices and traditions.  The integration of the tree comes from 17^th century German traditions.

These practices are so readily accepted because the beliefs are considered similar, but in truth Christianity has invited Paganism/Witchcraft into a day which should be holy and set aside to give thanks for the birth of Christ.

I must admit when my children were young I enjoyed doing all the hoopla and presenting gifts to glean the laughter, joy and fun for my children. To see the excitement in their eyes and receiving all the hugs and thanks made me feel good.  What I never thought about was the truth.

The tree is acceptable because somewhere the cross is sometimes referred to as the tree Jesus was hung on.  My question today is when are Christians going to stop conforming and start transforming the world to the truth of God and his goodness?

Because I have not yet shaken off these traditions and am going to spend time with friends in celebrating. If you are really wanting to worship God in spirit and in truth; I admonish you to take the time to do some research and soul searching for yourself. Wrecking myths Wednesday. SMOOCHES~~

Wake-up Call!

It is amazing what comes from spending time in prayer and studying the Word. The news has been bombarded with hate and killings; race being the motivator. All I keep hearing over and over again is pray. Then I heard, it is time for the dead in Christ to rise. 1Thesselonions 4:16 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”

I read this scripture and asked the Lord why he was pointing me to this particular verse. What I heard shocked me and made me think really hard. All I kept hearing is the dead in Christ must rise. This really threw for a loop because I had always been taught this verse was pertaining to the end times. Then I heard this is the end times and it is time for the dead in Christ to rise.

If you are asking what the heck I’m talking about, let me try to explain all that I heard. For the last three decades there has been a serious amount of death in the church. The shepherds have been doing exactly what Jesus was angered by when he went a little ballistic in the Temple. Matthew 21:15-16 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

The larger church leaders are not just standing in the pulpit teaching, most are writing ministry helps books, touring around the world teaching and selling their goods. Don’t get me wrong, I admire some of the prominent Preachers and Teachers, but the truth is the truth. No matter how anyone tries color it the Church has taken on too many of the characteristics of the world. Many even confess from the pulpit that church is a business. Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

The other side of it is because a Church is considered a Non-profit, unless the Leader has a LLC, or Corporation, etc., for the items being sold they are then doing exactly as Jesus said, making the house of God a den of thieves. We have to abide by the laws and rules of the land, but bending them will make us no better than how the world perceives Christians.

Let me preface what I’m about to share with one thing, I tithe and don’t believe it is always about money. If the church would wake up then there would be less hurting and struggling members. If some of the mega churches took some of the funds and followed the guidelines set for us in Malachi 3:10-12. The church should be a place not just for us to worship and praise God, but it should also be a place for the needy to come get the needs met.

From personal experience I found this not to be so with a few of the mega churches. I personally was in a situation with my children and when I sought help from two of the mega churches and was told by one because I wasn’t a tithing member they couldn’t help; the other told me they would help but I’d have to attend a four week class for membership. Both ministries did offer to pray for me, but at that point I needed a place for me and my children. I was hurt and thankfully the prayers helped, but the hurt…hummm.

Now if as a Christian I was turned away and felt extremely discouraged and disappointed; I can only imagine what a non-believer must feel and think about Christians. To be honest, it is only my thinking, if the church did what it was intended to do we’d have no need for the billions of nonprofit agencies or wait until December to have the “Spirit of Christmas”.

Wake up Christians!!! Jesus came for us to have life and we are walking around like Zombies and going through motions dictated by misconstrued information. Focused on material gain and keeping up with the media propaganda. Keep in mind being dead is not just being in the grave, but being dead to the needs of other, dead to giving, dead to truth and dead to joy. Too many are sleep among us and when you're asleep you are not praying. Praying for the conditions in our country and putting faith into action and doing the right things for Jesus without expecting something in return.

This made me think about WWJD fad that sprung up a few years ago. If you ask me I think Jesus would once again weep. I think he would tare through some of these churches and tell them to get it together. We need to find a way to not just cross over the color line but the denomination lines and find a way to be united in these perilous times.

I’ll end my rant here and hope not to offend, but truth is truth and offences will come. If I’m incorrect, then I ask the Lord to correct my thinking. The thing here is for the last few days all I keep hear is it is time for the dead to rise and the sleeping to wake up. So, Ephesians 5:14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.  Truthful Tuesday. Smooches~~

Not My Battle!

As the holiday approaches I’m still fighting to keep my tears at bay. It’s not easy to go into a holiday set aside to give Glory for the birth of my Savior when there is so much in the news about the still ever present racial divide on this earth.

The hardest thing about recent events is I believe in my heart the issue of race will never be eradicated. It is in the news here in the US every day, but there are issues in other countries as well.

I’ve searched and searched for an answer as to why there are specific races or religious groups feel supreme. Being African American makes me feel like Justice is just not for us all the time. I’ve been really silent about all these recent events and maybe have been in denial just a little. Maybe because I’ve been blessed to have not been touched so often by racism.

The part about all of this is the lack of unity of religious groups. The fault lies hundreds of years ago when men used religion to imprison, to start wars and to control.  Historically, the biggest culprit of bastardizing the word is the Catholic Church. The early Popes concern was not about spreading love and teaching of God, but of keeping people under their thumb, gaining wealth and notoriety.

It isn’t a surprise oppression brought out rebellion and birthed scholars like Martin Luther and john Calvin bringing forth anger and causing a divide. The beginning of discord began well before the idea of religion even came into play. If the truth be told Cain and Able were the start of men becoming enemy with one another.

The root of the enmity in most cases is the based in jealousy and covetousness. Wars fought because one man or group don’t want another to supersede them. The results were wars and battles were riches, but not the intention of the battle. Since my goal is to speak truth and to so that truth through the word.

It could be said the divide became greater when Nimrod, a great hunter before God, began to believe he was a great or greater than God, Deuteronomy 10:9. It was his actions that caused God to be angered to the point all language became confounded.

The Philistines because of one man Goliath, felt superior because of his size. He taunted and bullied the Israelites and a war was being fought. This wasn’t ever a fair fight for the Israelites, but they stood their ground and God proved to men that size doesn’t mean victory.

The one thing I’ve found to be prevalent throughout the word is the one thing the devil has been successful at doing; causing division, separation and strife with God’s creation. The devil didn’t stop there and he gained a foothold from the very beginning when he caused Eve to take from the tree of knowledge.  God told Satan because of this act and his jealousy, Genesis 3:17 there would always be strife. It seems to me the devil took it one step further and by the looks of things he has been successful. Our world is full of bigotry, racial divide, hate, hopelessness, hostility and greed.

All of this has cause tremendous doubt in there being a God. One thing I have faith in is that God is in control. I’ve heard time and time again, there is nothing new under the sun and God changes not Hebrews 13:8.

So I don’t have to get all worked up about things God is taking care of. These things will continue and probably get worse before it gets better, but this is not my battle and my job in this mess is to pray. To believe with all my heart Isaiah 57:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

I may feel the sorrows of the events occurring around me, but I have faith no matter what happens; 2Corinthians 10:3-5.  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

 So to be obedient and follow the instructions I’ve been given, I am praying without ceasing and trusting this battle will be as God has planned. Made up mind Monday! Smooches~~