Humility is something we should always seek. 1 Peter 5:5 admonishes us to clothe ourselves in it. God gives grace to those who are humble. How comforting is that? Yet, so often we walk around thinking how WE are this or that. Invariably, we forget we can do nothing without God’s help.
When we walk around with humility we rightfully put God in the place He should be in our life. So, when we are constantly looking unto God for EVERYTHING we are in a safe place. It is difficult for us to forget that He is our creator and maker.
God opposes pride because pride hurts us in the long run. It is why Satan was kicked out of heaven because he got full of himself. When we get full of ourselves, we sometimes put our foot in our mouths. We do some other foolish things and later regret our actions.
God tries to save us from all of that, if we let Him. We have to remember we serve a loving God that would never steer us in the wrong direction. We may not understand when the hurts and pains come when He allows it and sometimes orchestrate them.
Moreover, we read over and over in the Bible God always has a bigger plan than what we can imagine. It is why we have to learn more and more to trust Him. Humble thyself under the mighty hand of our God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Peter 5:6). Love & Blessings!
We recently celebrated another jail ministry graduation. This is the 6th graduation the Chesapeake Jail Ministry has had for the women inmates. It is truly a milestone for these ladies. It propels them forward into the plan God has for each of their lives. Please continue to pray for them. They need to seek God on a daily basis. This will help them as we all must do.
As I go to minister to the ladies, God is revealing many things to me. Where Is God Now Ministries is the hands, mouth, and feet of Jesus on the Earth. God has shown me the needs of the inmates. He wants our ministry to fulfill these needs. It is clear the inmates need holistic centers that will address their various needs. God is laying out the plans. Where Is God Now Ministries is to execute them. In the coming months we will share more.
As many start the program, only a few actually finish it for various reasons. Some are being transferred to other facilities. Some are being released back into society. Unfortunately, some are sent back into the regular jail population. They committed violations that would not let them stay in the program. As we know Satan’s influence is everywhere, even in the jails and prisons. He is nonstop.
For now, join me in congratulating the ladies who graduated from the cohort through your thoughts and prayers for them. Additionally, we have started a new cohort with many excited ladies happy to be in the Nurture Block program. I know many of you have been praying for these ladies. It is what they need most in their incarceration.
My constant advice to them and anyone else in life is keep your eyes on God. He will get you where you need to be… It is TRUE! God already knows the plans He has for our individual lives. If we cooperate with Him, He will get us where we need to be. Amen! Love & Blessings!
Allow the Lord to fight your battles (Exodus 14:14). Many wonder what does that look like and feel like in the natural? It looks and feels like a situation you have that is frustrating. It may present anxiety or something that may lead you into depression, which is not of God. It could feel intimidating. It is not a pleasant situation at all.
When we allow God to fight for us the first thing we do is take our situation to Him. It is our way of honoring Him and letting Him know we trust and believe in Him. There may be some things we have to do like talk to someone in charge or in leadership to let them know what our problem or concern is. In this act we display the fruit of the Spirit and let Christ’s light shine through us. Sometimes God may not have us to do anything. This is the importance of our intimacy with Him so we will know what to do.
Once we pass this stage, we hand it over to God and allow Him to work on our behalf. It is a BEAUTIFUL thing to witness! You KNOW it is the FAVOR and HAND of God working on your behalf!
Personal Experience:
A recent situation I encountered with my car inspection started bringing on much stress. Everything passed in the inspection, EXCEPT a rusted area on the frame. The rust was not in direct contact with the car. The inspector told me he would have to fail it.
That was not what I wanted to hear. Immediately, I took it to God. In my quiet prayer I was telling God about my stress of having to get this fixed in 14 days along with everything else I had to do. Ironically, the inspector had a difficult time giving me the correct name of the part of the frame that had rust on it.
Nevertheless, as the inspector and the guy at the front desk are trying to figure this out, I patiently wait to see what the outcome will be. Finally, they came back and told me since the rust was not in direct contact with the car they would pass it this time, but highly recommended it be fixed by the time it was due for next year’s inspection.
Trusting God’s Timing:
PRAISE GOD! I said it out loud! The man said, what did you say? I said it again… PRAISE GOD! He smiled, I smiled, we all smiled! I was thanking God within my spirit, too, acknowledging what He had done for me and relieving that stress from me. Moreover, I now had 365 days to fix the problem! This was the outcome I was hoping for.
Sometimes the outcomes are different. Occasionally, depending on the situation God may choose to intervene right on the spot. Or, He may intervene in days, months, or years. Usually it may manifest in actually what we were expecting or something better. Regardless, the end result will be met!
Needless to say, Satan always tries to throw his influence into things. Predictably, he tries to make us think that God is taking too long, He has not heard me, it is not EXACTLY what I asked for. Without a doubt, these are the schemes of Satan. Invariably, anything he can do to discredit God he will do. Innocently, we are sometimes so vulnerable to Satan that we fall for his schemes. Cast him down when he tries to do that to you. Amen! Love & Blessings!
We so often put God in a box without even realizing it. We often limit him to our human mind when He is beyond our human mind! God is MIGHTY and AWESOME! He has no rival or equal. Who would dare bet against Him?
There is a wonderful story in the Bible on how the priests of Baal bet against our God (1 King 18) These priests were false prophets who believed in their idol gods. Unfortunately, we start to believe in idol gods, like our jobs, money, children, family, homes, etc. Anything we put before our God is an idol in our lives.
Elijah was so bold and confident. He knew our God was the one and true God. The bet was to place a bull on the alter as a sacrifice and pray to your god to light a fire without doing it yourself. What a challenge, right?
Elijah was quite patient with the priest as they prayed to their god from morning to noon. When nothing happened, Elijah joked and said their god must be asleep. Now it was Elijah’s turn to prepare his alter to God. He built an alter with a trench around it, set wood on the alter with the bull on top. He then drenched and soaked the wood with water and had the water drain into the trench. He did this three times!
Now comes the prayer. Elijah prayed that God would light with fire the alter! Not only did God light the alter, He consumed the alter, bull, stones, and water with fire. God left NOTHING intact. That is how MIGHTY and AWESOME our God is! Love & Blessings!
We are God’s loving children. Imagine that! He loves us with an everlasting love and wants the BEST for us in our lives. He uses many tools to deliver His best to us. Some we love when we receive them. Some are painful, too. However, Romans 8:28 says ALL things work together for our good to those who love God and are called to His purposes.
Needless to say, if all things work together for our good, that means we take the good with the bad trusting and believing God is orchestrating and scripting our lives as we live and breathe.
We have to keep God first place in our hearts, mind, body and soul. Satan is always waiting for an opportunity to kill, steal and destroy from us. He is not our friend! Intentionally, each and every day we have to LOOK for God… SEE Him working in our lives. Certainly, we may not understand it all, but when we take on the mind and heart of Christ, we can SEE Him… Embrace it!
Remember, when we dismiss God in our lives, we miss God in our lives. How sad is that when you think about it? Unequivocally, I cannot overstate it enough. God is constantly working in our lives. The Bible says God neither sleep nor slumber (Psalm 121:4).
We have to honor God and acknowledge Him in everything. Why? Because literally He is our EVERYTHING! Love & Blessings!
Psalm 27:14 asks us to wait on the Lord and be of good courage. This is so much easier to write than to do, right? Truly, when we are talking about waiting on the Lord we are talking about the timing of God. The saying goes God is not early, or late but always on time! In our humanity, though, it is sometimes difficult for us to grasp this.
There is victory when we start using our spiritual eyes and minds on a consistent basis. This is why the disciples had such a difficult time grasping everything Jesus was saying to them. Daily, they walked the Earth with him, but lacked understanding. However, it was after Jesus died and resurrected, that they gained understanding and started using their spiritual eyes and minds day-to-day.
I love the Bible because it is our guide book. It tells us what to do and what not to do. It is also there to help us to see things from God’s perspective. Because God knows our beginning to our end, He truly does know what is best for us and at what time. This makes His timing perfect!
We have to trust and embrace God’s timing for our lives. Walking and living in the spirit help us to do this on a daily basis. It is apart of the abundant and victorious life Jesus said He died to give us. If Jesus died for us to have this life He describes, we can rest assured that God’s timing is indeed, perfect and the best for us. Amen. Love & Blessings!
Well, we are in the throes of another U.S. Presidential election. As a matter of fact, it is fast approaching! The topics of age and aging are swirling all around us. I believe it has landed with questions being raised about the age of the candidates. One in particular, about current U.S. President Biden, is he too old to run for another term as president?
In a recent interview, Biden made the statement to the effect, if God Almighty were to ask him to step aside to run for president he would. That prompted me to look into who has God used in the Bible that had an “age” problem.
The names are quite impressive of who God used age 80 and up. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when they had Isaac. Moses was 80 and his brother, Aaron, was 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh. Zacharias and Elizabeth were “advanced in years” when they had John the Baptist. Some scholars suggest Zacharias could have been in his 80s or 90s. Although we do not know for sure about Zacharias, these examples clearly demonstrate God can use ANYBODY at any AGE. Pooh-Pooh to those who believe otherwise, including today during this day and time.
What we know is the two candidates for US. President, Biden and Trump, will both be in their 80s at some point while serving in office. Age and aging are not a problem for God. We are all aging. Yes, we change, our bodies change as we get older, but that is not to say God cannot use us MIGHTILY if we are available for Him to use. I believe this should be the biggest takeaway from this current dialogue about age and aging… Amen. Love & Blessings!
Christians are Christ-followers. Personally, I like to say we are modern-day disciples. What a privilege and honor to represent Christ on the Earth, right? In my book, Where Is God!? Blessed Are The Pure In Heart For They Shall See God, I talk about how we should reflect Christ on the Earth. Therefore, when people see us they should see the Christ in us!
What does looking like Christ on the Earth look like? Simply, we are the Light! The Holy Spirit lives within us helping to do the things Christ has asked us to do. Because of the Power of the Holy Spirit, we can do what Christ has asked. Needless to say, we can do NOTHING without Him (John 15:5).
This is the beauty of our Faith! We rely on Him to help us. So, we help those that are in need AND our enemy. Further, we show kindness and gentleness to others and ourselves. Even more, we do not repeat gossip. Without fail, we are peacemakers. Undoubtedly, we turn the other cheek. Our lives preach the Gospel more so than our words. This is the meaning behind St. Francis of Assisi’s declaration… Walk ye in it (Isaiah 30:21). Love & Blessings!
Who are you trying to please in your life? Are you chasing after the approval of this world? Are you chasing after the riches of this world? Are you chasing after the nods you receive after you have impressed people?
Galatians 1:10 challenges us. Without fail, we can get so caught in the things of this world so fast. I call them the distractions of Satan. Glaringly, the challenge in this scripture plainly tells us we cannot serve God and man at the same time. Needless to say, we are either a servant of Christ or we are not. Paul, the author of this book, cuts no corners here, right? He clearly draws a line in the sand.
I recently heard someone make the distinction between surrendering to God and sacrificing to God. Sacrificing is when you are choosing to give certain things in your life over to God. Surrendering is when you have turned your whole life over to the Master. It is what Galatians 1:10 challenges us to do. Love & Blessings!
Where Is God Now Ministries, Inc., is honoring our Dads! Sometimes Dads are our superheros. They swoop in and save the day. They love to fix things. Whatever it takes to fix it, they will do. They will hold your hand, wipe your eyes, lend their ear, give advice, and bring you flowers. If it needs nails or duck tape, they will use that, too!
Dads are protectors. It is instinctive. God made them that way. It is one reason He said they are the head of the household (Ephesians 5:23). Moreover, they are fighters, warriors, soldiers, and church parking attendants! Tirelessly, they work two, three, four jobs to make ends meet. They are ever vigilant keeping their eyes on things to keep them running smoothly.
Dads are also tenderhearted. They have been known to give the best tea parties ever! They also build the strongest forts for theirs and other children, too. Undoubtedly, they give the best bear hugs and can sit you on their shoulders so high that you can see! Further, they take over the kitchen and grill to give us scrumptious yummy meals.
When men pray, they humbly submit themselves to God. They realize ALL of their strength comes from Him. They want to be the man God wants him to be. As like women, you do not have to have birth or fathered a child to be a Dad. Everything I mentioned above and more, pouring into the life of another human being makes you a Dad. Needless to say, it is when Dads keep their eyes on God he will reflect to his family all what God has made him to be. Without question, this makes his family and God SMILE, too. Love & Blessings!
