Happy New Year - Live Out Loud!

LIVIN' OUT LOUD IN

As we close out this year and enter into the new year, I kept hearing that this is the year of LIVING OUT LOUD and manifesting the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT in uncommon ways. (The Bible tells us in Galatians 5 that the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.) The number 14 means a double measure of spiritual perfection (7 x 2) and means deliverance and salvation. This is the year where your DECISION to live on and WITH purpose is what will lead you closer to attaining that double measure of deliverance and "spiritual perfection" that we all are working hard to get as we strive to be like Christ. Some of the things you've struggled with or needed answers about are tied to your obedience to manifesting the fruit of the Spirit with great intention and purpose.

This means you have a choice to make about what you will do with the gift of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that has been so freely given to you. I heard someone say once that the emotions we choose to let run our lives are like packages that get delivered to our doorstep. In many countries, when you receive an important package, the post man comes to your door and you have to sign for the package in order to receive it. Similarly, satan doesn’t have the power to just put things in your spirit. He comes to your back door of your heart and asks you to sign for the package that is filled with frustration or packages that are wrapped in anger and lies. But just like with the post man, you have the power to tell the devil “I’m not signing for that”. This year, you must remember that you can make a choice on what to accept. YOU HAVE THE POWER! You must be purposeful about the things you encounter this year. At every turn you must make a decision to LIVE LIFE ON PURPOSE. My saying for the year is that I'm "Livin life OUT LOUD so don't shush me!" You can't allow the enemy or the people he may use on this earth to derail you from God's purpose for your life. Part of that purpose means being an ambassador for Christ and bearing HIS fruit. If you've been hateful, you're gonna have to put on LOVE. If you've been over-indulgent, you're gonna have to put on SELF-CONTROL. If things have been running ragged and crazy all around you, you have to be the bearer of PEACE and so on...

Make 2014 the year you manifest the fruit of the Spirit in uncommon ways. Make 2014 the year where self-control helps you overcome your bad habits. Make 2014 the year where you express kindness and experience peace even in the midst of longsuffering. Make this a year where you are gentle with others and gentle with yourself—forgiving others and forgiving yourself.

Remember to LIVE OUT LOUD this year and don't allow anyone (but God) to silence you.

Be blessed in His presence and Happy New Year!
With love from the Congo,
Pastor Andrea

Day 24: Preach, Life. Preach!

³⁰ One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones, and then passed the vineyard of a lout; ³¹ They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down. ³² I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened: ³³ "A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next? ³⁴ Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!" --Proverbs 24:30-34 (MSG)

The story of this lazy man caught my eye in today’s reading of the proverbs. The immediate question that came to mind was, “What sermon does my life preach?” The author of Proverbs describes this man whose overgrown vineyard was evidence of where he had not been attentive through the years. It further helped him to understand his future in permanent poverty. So what about us? What about you? What's overgrown in your life? What area of your life have you allowed to govern itself—not really paying close attention to how it develops? What part of your world sends the message to onlookers that God is a part of your life and what witness do other parts send? Or is it a consistent message across the board?

As we self-evaluate and prepare to finish this year strong, it is important that we are honest with ourselves about where we truly are, how far we have to go, and what role we play in that process. Perhaps we’ve become “lazybones” who need a little prodding so we understand that our vineyard needs attention. Perhaps we’ve simply been content to let things fester—relationships go down a slow spiral, businesses lose face, weight gain leading to one ailment after another. No matter where you are now, you simply need to understand that it’s never too late. Sometimes before a good harvest must come a good pruning and weeding season. Sometimes others will do the work for us while most of the time it’s work we must do ourselves.

Today, be encouraged to do the work so your life will begin to preach the message that both you and God will be proud of.

Blessings,

MinD

Where's Your Added Value?!

I was talking with a friend and she said something poignant. It’s a lesson that she tries to teach her kids by demonstrating it in her own life; and I liked the way she put it. She said she was appreciative of the value her friends added to her life and always tells them that the people you surround yourself with should bring added value.

Her words stuck with me longer than our conversation as I began to reflect on the upcoming new year. I’ve seen many posts on Facebook and Twitter talking about getting rid of this or that type of unproductive person in your life. I’ve heard the sermons (particularly towards singles) on getting rid of zeros to make room for heroes. We live in a selfish world that is often taking on that old Janet Jackson adage of ‘what have you done for me lately?’ and rarely the other way around. But today my thoughts were not on the other person. 

Today, I began thinking of 2012 as The Year of Added Value. Put simply, I want to bring added value to the life of anyone I come in contact with. It’s easy to point to the other person and say who isn’t doing enough for us, but what if we are the ones who are short-changing others? Are you sitting on gifts and talents that God has been trying to get you to use? Are you praying when God says pray for someone? Are you forgiving when God says ‘humble yourself’? Do you bring positivity or negativity to every situation you are in? Are you stale seasoning or do you bring that added zest? As much as we want to tell others to hit the road, this is the time to assess for ourselves: If I am not added value, then perhaps I’m the one who needs to make a move.

As you ask yourself those questions, know that, if you fall short, grace abounds and that you too can decide to make 2012 the year of added value. Won’t you join me?

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, 

how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing 

but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." 

Matthew 5:13

The Curtain Will Go Up!

"Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge." Psalm 19:2

I don't know about you, but 2011 has been a challenging year. I thought 2010 was pretty difficult and was glad to see the new year come in. However, what I didn't expect was that the transition out of the difficult was going to be almost as bad if not simply fully of more questions than answers. I'm not sure if that makes sense to you who are reading. I can only liken it to being in a theater before the show starts. It took a lot of energy to buy the tickets, brave traffic, find parking, wait in lines, locate your seat, have people cross over you and step on your toes to get to theirs and you finally get settled...THAT was 2010. Then what happens? The lights go out just as the show is about to start...THAT has been 2011. In that darkness, you sit anticipating the lights coming up to reveal great things. You are excited about the prospect of being entertained and having an enjoyable experience. But that dark moment can be nerve-wracking if something goes wrong behind the scenes and it is prolonged for any reason. The darkness then becomes a bit daunting and anxiety can even set in. You know something good is coming but that brief extra moment of night is seemingly endless and a bit nerve-wracking.

As we started 2011, the Lord told me that this would be the year of redemption and the year of transition from places of bondage in our lives. I believe that Word to be true and have watched it come to pass in my life and others. But the PROCESS that transition takes has been trying and tiring. Much of the year I have found myself in those moments of darkness before the show and simply wondering (with hope and expectation), what is on the other side of this night season. But what I have found in the darkness has been an unexpected blessing. I have gotten to know myself better. I've gotten to know others better. I have been able to lean on God more fully. I have been challenged with trusting him implicitly.I am reminded that time for God is not as time is for us. And though that moment of darkness has seemed unending at times and nerve-wracking, for God it has been only a momentary lapse in time and the curtains are about to go up.

Today, I want to encourage you with that fact that revelation comes during the darkest of times. Sometimes you'll get it while you're in the dark and sometimes it will come after. But one thing is for sure, the curtain does eventually go up!

Be encouraged and encourage someone else today.