I Surrender!

Lord I am doing everything I know to follow your will. I feel so inadequate for the calling on my life. I'm not sure what you're doing, but I know you are up to something.  I know it's time for healing. I know it's time for you to take control of my life, therefore I surrender. I surrender everything I have from the physical to the spiritual.  Do something in my life that ONLY you can do Lord.
Do you have days like this?  You're so tired that you just can't do one more thing on your to do list?  Do you have days that you feel so inadequate that you wonder how you're going to accomplish what God has given you?
The good news is that God doesn't call you and I because we have the skills to do the job. No, He calls us because we are willing. We are obedient to surrendering to His will and His way. We don't like the changes going on inside us because it feels like there is a roller coaster ride happening inside.
Yet, God is up to something and he's making all things new in His time.

~ Be encouraged my friend.  God is up to something and it is all good.

Missed Opportunities

I am reading a small book titled "Life's Little Instruction Book" which has 511 suggestions, observations, and reminders on how to live a happy and rewarding life.  Before I read the introduction, I was taken back by some of the instructions that were in it. Here are a few:
#18 * Drive inexpensive cars, but own the best house you can afford, #23 * Floss your teeth, and # 38* Keep Secrets.  I learned that a father was writing this list of thoughts for his son that was going off to college; therefore, it made since to me.  Then I came across one that really touched me and made me think about so many missed opportunities.  It is number 41 *Don't postpone joy.  Out of all of the ones I read, this one sticks out the most.

How many times did we get mad at someone saying one bad word towards us? We gave our joy away.
But this says "Don't postpone joy." We have the opportunity minute by minute to make a choice to be filled with joy. We can receive the bad words spoken to us and become grumpy or we can put our hand up and not receive those toxic words. Once we put our hand up, we don't allow for the joy to be diminished by someone else.
Have you seen people smile, but the smile appeared fake or like they weren't "feeling" happy or joy?  It saddens my heart for they do not have the joy of the Lord.

Don't postpone your joy; even count it all joy when you have trials too. Your joy will come in the morning.

~ Be encouraged Butter Baby not giving your joy away or postponing running into it. Your day will be better for it.

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Do you remember the song "What's Love Got to Do With It?" by Tina Turner?  There is a line in the song that says "what's love but a second hand emotion, what's love got to do, got to do with it who needs a heart when a heart can be broken." 

I can honestly say that I've had those broken hearts. I have experienced love as a second hand emotion; it's called an unloving spirit. This kind of love tells you that you don't deserve to be happy, you don't need someone to hold you and it won't allow you to get close to others. Most importantly the unloving spirit does not want you to love yourself. It will make you believe that you are not worth anything.
I have been spending a lot of time learning about love and all that "it" has to do with. I have found that 'it' is called a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I have been experiencing prayer healing and I must tell you that God has been performing heart surgery.  He told me that we would be spending time together to heal "our" relationship.  WOW! That meant a lot to me, to have the Creator of the Universe tell me He cares how I feel. Now, the unloving spirit will say "oh He didn't really say that." Oh shut up you imp, Yes he did! He wants us to work on His and my loving Spirit.
Since that time I am learning how God loves me so much that He gave his son to die for me and show me how to forgive.  Jesus was given over to his peers who tormented Him for doing no wrong, slashed His skin, pierced His hands and feet with spikes, pressed long and thick thorns on His head in the form of a crown, and mocked Him by saying "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
Jesus was the great example when He said to His Father while hanging on a cross, "Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing."
If anyone had a reason to hate and hold bitterness it was Jesus. Yet, while He was on the cross Jesus forgave these people who walked with Him and heard of all the good things He did. He still loved on them with that prayer to Father God.  What a role model for me.
Well, I have been basking in Jesus' love for me.  He has transported me to my past only to move me forward in healing. Did you know that only He can do that?  I began crying uncontrollably and didn't know why, therefore, I cried out to God and asked Him.  He told me 'you have a broken heart.'  I genuinely felt the pain in my heart. I asked again; 'Where is the root of this pain?' I was transported thirty two years back when the first boy in my life broke my heart. The pain I felt that day when he broke up with me was the same exact pain I was experiencing at this moment. As I let the tears flow, the hurt continued, and allowed myself to feel this hurt; I was healing. I cried for two hours straight as I traveled through the years of heart ache I've experienced. I went from thirty two years past to the present time. I wanted love and thought the best way to find it was actually in the wrong ways.
Today, my view of love has changed. Jesus showed me that His stripes are deeper than a paper cut. His stripes are more than two inches deeper. The weapons used on Him were not as thin as paper, but as thick as a three strand twisted natural fibre rope. It was deep and His love is deeper.  He loved me enough to sacrifice Himself for my life. He loved me so much that He gave up the finer things in life and in heaven.  Who am I that He would do such a thing?  I don't know any man on earth that would do that.
So, today, I am learning what it means to love with my heart. I am learning to give with my gifts. I am learning that my body is a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. I don't have to give it up for love except to Jesus Christ for His love and purpose.
After my morning journey through time, I began forgiving and asking God to sever all soul ties. This was freeing me to love with my whole heart. It freed me to live holy and pleasing to God. I am not who I was, but I am who God says I am today; a new creature in Christ.

~ Be encouraged, people will use your past against you because they agree with Satan that what you did defines you.  That is a lie from the pit of hell. Satan only has your past to use against you.
Be encouraged still, You are who God says you are; a child loved by God the Creator.  Give all of your heart to Him today.

My Brother's Keeper

I had a dream I was in a restaurant with a mother that came in with three children, I was with a woman and there was a young waitress. The mother with her three children walked by and I noticed the children were wearing shorts with tank tops or mid-drift shirts. What caught my attention with this family was the bruising, cuts, and burns on these children's back, elbows, and in front and behind their knees.

As the family was preparing to walk out of the restaurant, I noticed the faces of these children. Each child had a very sad and sullen look about them. 

I called the waitress over to ask her if she said anything to the mother or called for help. The young waitress got an attitude with me, asking what business was it of hers or mine, for that matter, what was happening in that family's home.  The waitress then, turned to my guest and asked what was I doing with 'her kind' in a public place. I told the young waitress, I was trying to help her as I wanted to help the family that just left. Once more, the waitress gave the impression that she wasn't going to consider the family or what she saw for one more second. 

As I woke up from this dream, my heart was heavy with sadness. The scripture that came to me over and over in my mind and it was from Genesis chapter four.  Cain had just killed his brother Abel and the Lord was having a conversation with Cain about it.  The Lord said to Cain, 'where is Abel your brother?' he said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" 

The answer is yes; otherwise God may not have asked Cain this question. We are responsible to do the right thing and to love on each other.  The problem is that no one wants to get their hands messy because life is messy.  Most people don't want to even face their problems because life is messy. 

~Be encouraged, if no one did anything, then someone would do nothing, but then everyone should help someone in order to make life better; shouldn't we?

Joy and Peace for a Day

"Wait with me for a while. I have much to tell you.  You are walking along the path I have chosen for you.  It is both a privileged and a perilous way: experiencing My glorious Presence and heralding that reality to others.  Sometimes you feel presumptuous to be carrying out such an assignment.
Do not worry about what other people think of you.  The work I am doing in you is hidden at first.  But eventually blossoms will burst forth, and abundant fruit will be borne.  Stay on the path of Life with Me.  Trust Me wholeheartedly, letting My Spirit fill you with Joy and Peace."  (1 Kings 8:23; Galatians 5:22-23)

I read the above devotional and the only word that came to my mind was "wow."
I recently have stepped out and done what I would call "unbelievable or unimaginable" things that the Lord has lead me to do.  I have learned that I cannot do anything a part from Christ. When I do things in my own strength, it does not go well.  I have come to realize that people see things in the flesh and quickly believe in what they see; not relying on faith at all.
It is difficult to carry out assignments from God that are irrational to the world. I have learned that when I trust Him wholeheartedly, the devil will use friends and family to stir up trouble all because of God at work in my life, but God's Spirit fills me with joy and peace. The joy and peace I am given is by Him and not as this world wants to give it to me.

Are you having a hard time walking with God and carrying out he assignment He has for you?
Be of good courage and know He is doing a work in you that no one can see; not even you.  Trust in the Lord with all your being and be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do. You won't go wrong in the care of Jesus.

~Be encouraged