Move Without Delay

There's a snippet of scripture in the book of Judges that always catches my eye. It's somewhat obscure in that I don't think that I've ever heard it preached, but it is interesting to say the least. The book as a whole is filled with story after story of the children of Israel's struggle between obedience and disobedience/doing evil. True to form, they were evil in God's sight then they repented, cried out to God, He heard their cry and raised up a deliverer (Ehud) from among them. Interestingly, Ehud killed the king behind closed doors and managed to slip out without being noticed. In fact, some time that had gone by before anyone even noticed that the king was dead. And, as a result, Ehud got away:

"But Ehud had escaped while they delayed..." (Judges 3:26)

It's a small portion of scripture but so poignant to me and has me asking: How many times have we missed things in life because we delayed? How many times did we allow something precious of ours (as the king was to his peop
le) to die because we were not vigilant? This week, God will be giving you direction in small ways. His voice may not be clear but this is where your faith has to fill in the gaps of confidence and clarity and MOVE WITHOUT DELAY. This week, make a choice to not allow opportunities to pass you by simply because you failed to act with vigilance with the things God has blessed you with. Walk with confidence and assurance instead of fear and defeat.Be encouraged to move in boldness--not allowing the enemy any room to steal, kill or destroy that which God has ordained for your life.

Blessings
@PastorAYD

No Explanation Necessary

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. ~ Psalm 1:1-3

There are times in all that we do when we feel that pressure to answer for our actions. Why did you do that? Where did that decision come from? What were you thinking? The questions about life's choices plague our ears from without and our minds from within. And the problem is that we don't often know what to say to ourselves or anyone else (for that matter) especially when the answer is based in God. The pressure to clearly articulate and explain our faith walk in a way that makes sense to those around us can be overwhelming.

As Christians there are times when the opportunity to attribute choices to God comes and goes with our silence. It's easier to not answer than to say "God said" and deahl with the skepticism and doubt that we at times may face. We think no one will fully understand the decision to be fully guided by the Holy Spirit. But this week's point of prayer is a simple reminder that you don't owe anyone an explanation for the things God is doing. You only owe God the glory. At the end of the day, your victory will tell it's own story...your testimony will shout of your faith and God's goodness from the rooftop. In the mean time, you don't have to explain yourself for doing what God said.

This week, choose to walk in the confidence of God. Let the Spirit guide you with freedom--standing like that tree planted with leaves that don't wither and whose fruit will be the ultimate explanation for Who God is in your life and all that He is capable of doing.

Be encouraged,
MinD

The Task To Believe

"And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak"

II Corinthians 4:13

Over the last couple of months there have been so many changes in my life. Most of those changes have mandated how I view my life. I've had to reconfigure the lens through which I see what God is (or is not) doing and find ways to be okay with that. And, if I'm honest, in the midst there is a part of me that has been losing ground--my ability to believe. Now, I'm sure that it's sacrilege for an ordained minister of the Gospel to make such an admission. God often compels me to preach and teach around the very topic of belief. It is certainly not lost on me that the power to believe in what God says and in what the tenants of the Christian faith suggest are cornerstones to being victorious in this journey. However, when we put that faith into action, there are times when the monstrosity of our problems and circumstances seems to dwarf the fortitude of our faith--casting a shadow over life that begins to dim our ability to see God clearly.

In this equation, God hasn't changed and never will. However, I came to the realization that I was having a difficult time truly believing that God wanted to do the things He has said for, with and through me. I have no trouble believing in the ability of God to take care of me and my situation. His omnipotence and sovereignty are never in question. However, I find myself constantly thinking of the three Hebrew boys and the fiery furnace--before being sentenced to the fiery furnace, they told the king that they trusted God to be able to bring them out and knew that the only way that they wouldn't make it out was if he didn't want them to. (Daniel 3:8-25) With them in mind, I've often put a caveat on what God has said for me that resembles that very idea but with a flaw. I realized that in providing God that "out" verbally, I have also been giving my belief an "out" as well. In my human desire to guard my heart and avoid disappointment, I had unwittingly put a chink in the very thing that undergirds my faith--that basic ability to believe God. Forgetting who I am in Christ (heir to the throne and one of His chosen people), I had begin to think that maybe God simply doesn't want to bless me in this area or that. I know He can, but when I don't see it happening, it is easier for me to believe that He's changed his mind about me or changed his mind about doing certain things for me (marriage, ministry, direction, etc.). Without much effort, the enemy had begun to slowly erode away at my confidence in being able to hear God clearly by shining a tiny light on the corner of doubt in my mind--resulting in making the task to believe a greater one. And it took two people (prophets of God) on different occasions to reiterate the things that God has said in the past to make me realize just how much of a foothold I had given doubt over my faith.

So this week, it was important to me to send you a reminder to knock doubt off it's pedastal in your heart. Turn off that small light on the corner of doubt and focus on the ability for FAITH to shine brightly if you allow it. I've come to remind you that whatever the Lord said to you before--before the madness of life and the whispers of the enemy began to take root--you need to believe. Whatever God said you need to speak. Don't give faith an "out". Not only is He ABLE to do what He said, He is WILLING and WAITING to accomplish every thing that He set out to do in your life. And your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to encourage yourself and solidify the strength of your belief by speaking that thing each and every day until it comes to pass.

Be encouraged and encourage someone else.

Blessings,
MinD

Get Your Mind Right (Day 7 - Freedom Week)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 

1 Corinthians 15:10

There are days in this faith walk where confidence begins to wane--confidence in ourselves, confidence in God's plan, confidence in God himself... It's easy to allow discouragement to set in and determine the trajectory of your hopes. So that makes the words of Paul that much more poignant. He writes in I Corinthians 15 that "by the grace of God I am what I am". Here is a man who spent the greater part of his ministry imprisoned and unrecognized by other religious folks. And yet his resolve was that of a confident and fearless man. The Bible says that you are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and that God's work in you was/is "marvelous" (Psalm 139:14). Simplified, that can  mean that our physical being was made marvelous. However, that does not begin to truly scratch the surface of the wonder that God breathed into you. He made you for a purpose. When you decide to rest in that knowledge and settle your mind on the fact that you are what you are--that God's plan for you did not change because money didn't appear the way you wanted or grades did not measure up to the level you studied or relationships couldn't stay on track despite your best efforts--then you give God the freedom to rule in you; and you can move knowing that all He has imparted into you is not in vain.

The world stresses self-confidence, but the confidence Paul speaks of stretches our understanding of self and explodes across supernatural lines of reality. This confidence is in who the Lord made you to be. It's a confidence in the omniscience and omnipotence of God. People about to play in a game, fight a battle or simply conquer a difficult task will say the phrase "Get your mind right" and that is all that is coming to mind to pass along your way. Remember Who God is. Remember the power of His grace. Stop settling for your pity party, shift out of depression and GET YOUR MIND RIGHT! It's time to move and the grace of God has made it possible for you to accomplish great and mighty things in His name TODAY. So be encouraged today to pick up your bottom lip and be about the business of the Lord.

Blessings,
MinD

Just a Test (Day 6 - Freedom Week)

"Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him." Psalm 105:19 Today's message is pretty simple and to the point. As we are on the eve of Easter, I am reminded that everything God says will come to pass. He told us redemption would come, and it did. God told us he loved us and he does (as evidenced by his giving of Christ) . What he said is true but will sometimes bring tests. As you approach this new day, praise God as the trials come and as God tests his word in you. People will die, situations shift, money moved and so much more. But God's word is True. It will come to pass. Hang in there. Be encouraged, MinD

Hail to the Victors (Day 5 - Freedom Week)

For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”...Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

2 Chronicles 20:12b, 15b

 

I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for the overtime game of the NCAA game to end. My team had been the underdog. They'd been down for the count and simply not as much on their game as their competitor. With virtually no time left on the clock, they tied the game and the competitor missed a shot--sending the game into overtime. My team came out fighting and never gave up. It seemed as if the call for OT was almost a refreshing for them and a defeating call for the competition. They stepped up their game. The five minutes of overtime where equally as tense as with 23 seconds left on the clock and no time outs left, the officials stopped the game for a time clock adjustment. But alas, my team pulled it out in the end.

The team couldn't hear me and I was alone in the room, but I along with so many others celebrated with bursts of school/alumni pride, singing along with the marching band as it played "Hail to the victors valiant. Hail to the conquering heros...Hail! Hail to Michigan..." And as the excitement subsided about the game, my excitement about that song began to bubble over. You see, these days, I've been feeling a lot like the underdog in the game. There have been some points where I feel as though the enemy has simply out-played me--moments where I could practically hear the commentators of my life shaking their heads and asserting what move they felt that I should have made.

But, at the end of the day, Good Friday...my relationship with Christ...my walk of faith all remind me that the victory is already mine. The victory is already yours! I am reminded that there was a "trick play" made thousands of years ago on my (and your) behalf on the cross at Calvary. A play that takes our game into overtime where we are renewed and look like whole new competitors. When Jesus died on the cross, he brought a refreshing to the game that is destined for VICTORY. So even when you feel like everything is against you, when you feel like you've been down on your game, when you feel like the commentators of your life have doomed you with their tongues, the Bible reminds us that "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment (God) shall condemn." (Isaiah 54:17) You simply cannot give up and need to step up your game. The enemy would have you believe that the game is his, but inevitably, he always misses a shot and underestimates the renewing power of Christ in our lives.

Plain and simple: The competition has already been won. He has delivered the competitor into our hands. And for as many people who are "commenting" against you, there are others silently watching on, ready and waiting to burst out and celebrate with you when the True Victor is revealed--when God's Greatness shines through. Because of this, we can shout now. Because of this, you can strike up the band and play your own victor song. "Hail to the victors valiant. Hail! Hail to <<Insert Your Name>>..." You may be in overtime, but not to worry: It's already done. It's already won.

Be encouraged,
MinD

Simply Breathe (Day 4 - Freedom Week)

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 

Hebrews 4:9-11

 
It seems that over the course of this day, there has been one recurring theme:  BREATHE. As I prepared to have my class give a presentation that we had been working on for some time, I had to keep remind my kids to simply have fun and enjoy the process. A friend stopped me today to tell me about a new app that they had on their iPad that takes you through breathing exercises. And, along the way home, I spoke with an elderly gentleman on the train with our conversation centering around taking those moments to stop and enjoy each moment. It seems that everywhere that I turned today there was a reminder to simply take a moment, stop, and breathe. So often, we bulldoze through our days--with appointment after appointment (even the kids have planners and full schedules). Some even move so fast that silence becomes foreign.

When was the last time YOU took a deep breath (that wasn't laced with anger or impatience)? Do truly took a moment to "smell the roses"? Did you actually see the route on the way home or did you simply look up and realize you had arrived? When was the last time when you allowed the silence to overtake you and simply enjoy being alive? Today's reminder is simply that tomorrow isn't promised. With every day comes passing moments that are to be cherished, and that sometimes takes intention. For the next week, set five minutes aside to simply look out at your lawn or watch the sun rise. Take a minute to simply breathe and remember the blessing of the little things in life.
you remember the expressions on your children's faces today or is it all a blur? When was the last time you

Be encouraged to BREATHE.

Blessings,
MinD