Undercover Christian?

I met a couple a few weeks ago who had once been super involved in church, got burned out, and then retreated. The husband admitted that over the last few years, he had become an undercover Christian. He was still a good person, but there was never any overt display of his Christ-centered life. He'd go to church faithfully but never really talk about that or God or what God was doing in his life. His testimony, though extensive, was shut up in his sealed lips. And it wasn't until recently when the Lord began to prick his heart did he realize that he had turned into an Undercover Christian.

Some of you can relate to this world. You have great intentions and love the Lord with all your heart. Maybe somewhere along the way you were hurt. Perhaps you were disillusioned by something someone said or did who professed to be a Christian. Maybe you didn't want to be like so many other public Christians who simply came off as hypocritical. So you keep your nose to grindstone and your lips zipped.

I am reminded of Queen Esther who was presented with a similar predicament. She had an extreme love for God but had settled into living out that love in private. However, contrary what society would have you believe, faith is not supposed private. Faith should be one of the most public things you live out. Just like your favorite sports team or hobby that preoccupies your time and mind, faith should be that thing that EVERYbody knows about because you purposely enter into conversations where you're always "name dropping" God. It doesn't mean being obnoxious, but it shouldn't be a secret. And, like Esther, there comes a time for every Undercover Christian to come out of hiding "for such a time as this".

For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise 

for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. 

Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"  

                                                                                            Esther 4:14 (NKJV)



(When you get the chance, read the whole 4th chapter of Esther.) The Spirit of the Lord has been gnawing at my spirit with the statement that this is the season for bold movement. This is the season to "go" and be bold in the process--unapologetic for doing what God has been pushing you to do. This is the season where remaining in hiding and silent is your choice, but not the best option. So I encourage you today...pull back the covers and claim your rightful inheritance. Like Esther, we have to be willing to risk it all for God and stop worrying about what other people may think and/or do. Move into the things of God boldly knowing that God's glory will prevail.

Be encouraged as you move!

Blessings,
MinD

You ARE Enough!

I had a dream that I couldn’t get in to a very important meeting. The meeting unlocked the key to me getting something I wanted and I was stopped at the door by a lady with a clipboard who said that my clothes were too stained and I would have to change. I ran back to my room searching for unstained clothes—unable to find anything that would work. Eventually I sat in a pool of my clothes and tears, dejected and feeling inadequate. I wouldn’t be able to get what I wanted because of my stains.

That feeling of inadequacy haunted me as I awoke this morning. It is a feeling that I feel at times (I won’t say often but enough). And tears welled in my eyes as I imagined that I was not alone—that so many of you awoke this morning or walk through your lives feeling inadequate. You feel as though the “stains” of your life hold you back and prevent you from getting all that you want out of life. You’re not blaming anyone else but yourself for the fact that life hasn’t turned out the way you want. And there are days when you sit in the middle of your mess feeling hopeless and inadequate.

The Good News is that you don’t have to stay in that hopeless space. I began to be reassured this morning that God fills in the gaps where I am not enough. The Bible tells us:

⁵ Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,… ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

2 Corinthians 3:5, 9:8 (NASB)

Now that’s a good word! Through God we become enough! With that knowledge, attack your day and your circumstances with power. With that understanding, encourage yourself in the Lord to complete those things that you once felt held back from. You can do it. You ARE enough!

Be encouraged,

MinD

DON’T DRAG YOUR FEET!

“I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet, 

was quick to follow your orders. The wicked hemmed me 

in-there was no way out-but not for a minute did 

I forget your plan for me.” Psalm 119:60-61 (MSG)

Thus says the Lord: THE TIME IS NOW. Isaiah 49 calls it “the acceptable time”. Esther says “for such a time as this”. The Spirit of the Lord is saying the time is NOW. Whatever it is that you have been dragging your feet on, it’s time to break loose from those chains that are weighing your feet down and move forward. God is speaking. Take time today to get quiet and hear what He is saying to you. You may say “I didn’t hear anything”, but I promise it’s not because He’s silent. Sometimes He comes with an audible voice, sometimes it’s just that ‘peace that surpasses all understanding guarding your spirit’ around a decision or circumstance, at times it’s through the words of others…these days God even sends emails and text messages. Be intentional about stripping yourself of the noise of your life. Clean out your spiritual ears. Don’t allow the wicked things of this world to hem you up. And when the Word comes to leave, move, do, be, say…Don't just continue to talk about what "you're gonna do" or what you've been "meaning" to do. This is not the time for talk. This is the time for action! DON’T DRAG YOUR FEET and be QUICK in following through, and watch God move on your behalf as a response!

Be blessed as you pursue him with fervor in this day!

--MinD

These Are Your "FREE DAYS"!

9) I tell prisoners, 'Come on out. You're free!' and those huddled in fear, 'It's all right. It's safe now.' There'll be foodstands along all the roads, picnics on all the hills— 13) Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead! Mountains, send up cheers! God has comforted his people. He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people. Isaiah 49:9, 13 (MSG)

The other day, I was going to pay bills and I had only so much money that was well under what I needed to meet all the ends. So I did what any person would do and figured out what had to get done now and what could wait and went to payin’. Truly, the blessings of the Lord had to STRETCH just like they do every month, but I had peace. I had it worked out so that all the important stuff got paid even though it left me with zero. That was ok with me. So when I called to make a car insurance payment and the lady said “I’m sorry but you don’t have a payment due. You are in your free days. It looks like you made an extra payment along the way.” You should have seen my eyes bugging out. I told the woman I didn’t recall making an extra payment but if she said so then OK and I wouldn’t block my blessing. As I hung up, I could do nothing but shout praises to God because I knew that the LORD made that extra payment.

And the Lord quickened my spirit at what she had said: walking in my free days. He wants you to know that we ALL are walking in our “FREE DAYS”! Truly, the Lord has set us free. He gives us license to be released from bondage and go forth in boldness. Whatever/whoever is has you feeling in a funk…press on through! Whatever your circumstance lurks overhead, “Come on out. You’re free!” Today, make up your mind to walk as though you are truly liberated. Though you didn’t make the payment (Jesus paid the price back on Calvary), you can definitely reap the benefits! Decide today that it’s going to be a good day, a good week, a good year, a good season…ON PURPOSE. Break out! Raise the roof! These are your free days!!!

Be encouraged (and encourage someone else)!

MinD

Stop Spinning Your Wheels!

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed 
that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the 
land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good 
courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; 
Wait, I say, on the Lord!” 
Psalm 27:13-14

I was speaking to a friend the other day and she was expressing some frustration with the unknowns in her life. She’s out of work and in a new space with her relationships and simply trying to find her footing as she goes through major transition. Like many of us who are trusting God to sustain us, she doesn’t always understand where her provision will come from. I listened to her as she talked in circles and worked herself up into a tizzy the possibilities that life may bring her way.

As she spoke, the Lord gave me a word for her (and you)—stop spinning your wheels…stand still and know he is God! I gave her the example of being in a car that is stuck in the mud in a ditch. You’ve called for AAA and are waiting on help to arrive, but for some reason you anxiously still keep trying to work it out on your own. And the wheels spin as you get deeper and deeper in—when all the while, help is on the way.

This image came back to my mind as I read this verse in Psalm 27. It’s so easy to lose heart and feel as though your help is never coming. However, the God who made Heaven and earth never misses a call. He’s more dependable that AAA Roadside Assistance. Once you call Him, you can count on the fact that He will come and He will make a way. Isaiah 48:21 talks about how people in the desert didn’t thirst because He made water gush from a rock! If He can put faucets in rocks, how much more capable is He of coming to your aid. It may come from the most unlikely source and it may not come when you’d like, but in His sovereignty His timing is perfect.

So, stop spinning your wheels—stop worrying—and let God do his thing. "Wait, I say, on the Lord!"

Be encouraged!

MinD

Nothing Is Missing!

Do you ever feel like something is missing in your life? There's a void in life? Sometimes you feel like you missed an opportunity or you’re missing a relationship or you’re missing…well you get the point…With life not quite where you want it to be, it feels like SOMEthing must be missing. But there’s a Word from the Lord today and a reminder of his power:

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things,

Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name,

By the greatness of His might and the strength of His power;

 Not one is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)

Not one is missing! In this day, God wants to remind you that He is the Lord of all details. Not even a leaf on a tree is out of place. In our finite minds, we think that perhaps He has forgotten this or not seen that. As we endure life’s uncomfortable moments and experience life’s awe-inspiring times, we sometimes forget that God is a part of it all. He skips nothing. He leaves nothing out. Sometimes we have to be reminded just how grand and sovereign He is. His power extends beyond what we will ever understand. One of the following verses says “The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” His greatness is incomprehensible! Though you can’t understand why he/she died or you’re getting tired of all the madness on your job or you are losing faith in whatever promises He made to come to pass, be rest assured that the Lord we serve understands all and has seen to every detail.

And when you catch hold of that, it is then that you can truly celebrate the ending of the chapter…the popular verse that everyone remembers:  “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (vs 31) God has truly got your back. He’s more efficient than the greatest of event planners and has orchestrated this event we call life to a Tee. He has called you by name. He has seen to every detail. Not one is missing.

Be encouraged!

Blessings,

MinD

STILL STANDING...Good Enough...

I haven’t been writing, because I feel this obligation to have some redeeming quality about what I write. It can’t be all doom and gloom. It has to, in some way, encourage someone else out there. But, to be quite honest, I haven’t been feeling encouraged. I was finding hope in the Scriptures that I was reading, but every time I have thought to write, the words have been blocked by the enemy’s whispers in my head that the victory I was writing about, I wasn’t experiencing; or the authority I was speaking of seemed elusive to me; or the confidence and esteem I pronounced didn’t match how down I was feeling about myself.

So as another week began to slip away without having written, I was doing my morning devotional and read the words: “For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God in the light of the living?” (Psalm 56.13) I shook my head at the fact that I’d allowed the enemy to silence me for the last month or so. All I could do was praise God for the mere fact that I’M STILL STANDING! No, things aren’t rosy and the spiritual battle I’m in is the battle of my life, but I’M STILL STANDING! No, I’m not sure how this month will be taken care of, but I’M STILL STANDING! Yes, my heart is still healing after the bashing it’s taken over the last two years, but I’M STILL STANDING!

A new year…a new opportunity to praise Him…and I’M STILL STANDING…And THAT is good enough!

Be encouraged.

Blessings,

MinD