What you seek, man can’t give you

John 5:41-44 KJV
I receive not honour from men. [42] But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. [43] I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. [44] How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

It’s so funny how current events are unfolding. People keep saying that the church has been talking about the last days forever and they have, but we’ve never seen things like this that have transpired recently. A lot of people still believe they have time, when time is up. All the way up. They are banning the Bible, making Christianity a crime. All those luke warm Christians that aren’t paying attention to the signs of the times will be just like Peter and deny Jesus when the accusers come and say they were with Jesus. How quickly they will forget all that God has done for them. Their hearts will faint in fear and the world will become their master.

I have suffered and sacrificed because of my belief in the one true God. I have lived comfortably and now I am learning to live abased, again to prove that I am serious about my walk and my belief in the Father. Despite what my life looks like right now, I know what he saved me from. I know what he saved me for. I’m not looking for men to validate me only God knows my true worth. The heart is deceitful just like the enemy. So don’t follow your heart, follow Jesus. He will lead you to salvation, the enemy will lead you to damnation. It’s time to choose. Lines are being drawn in the sand. Which side will you choose? Jesus is coming soon.

You can’t decide your calling, it was preordained by GOD

Matthew 25:44-45 KJV
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? [45] Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

It’s funny, but not really, how some people view doing the work of the Lord. Some people think it’s just about holding a title and serving in the church. Other people think I’ll just be a good person help out where I can. Then there are those who are out in the trenches, on the streets. Everyone has their place and their calling, but it’s not for us to decide what it is that we do in this life that is pleasing to God. Does that make sense? He gave us all gifts and talents and we’ve all had experiences that were meant to lead us to our callings. A lot of us ignore the calling because we want to do what we want to do. A lot of us look down on people who are doing the work because they don’t look like what we think they should look like. We condemn people because they aren’t moving the way we think they should move. Some of us are so attached to the world and thinking and moving like the world that we can’t even see or comprehend what God is doing and telling us or those around us.

It’s one thing to do things out of the goodness of your heart. That is commendable, however, most of the time that kindness goes sour and becomes pride. It’s another thing to do it because that’s what we are supposed to do and not expect anything from it. Every day some of us walk past the homeless. Some are drug addicts or alcoholics, some are prostitutes and some just fell on hard times and don’t know how to get back up. We walk past them and prejudge them. We turn our noses up at them and we refuse to be a blessing to them because “if I give them money, I know they’re just going to drink it or smoke it up.” You know how we do, but are they not also children of God. Haven’t we all done things that were not pleasing to him? Have we all not had encounters with him or the people he sent to save us from ourselves? How then can we walk past his children who are hurting and lost and pass judgment? How can we, being children of the Most High, not show them the love of Christ who looked past all of our flaws and saved us? How can we help people and then brag about it or throw it in people’s faces? How quickly we forget when we needed help or when we were at our lowest. God sees everything and he keeps a record. Jesus is coming soon. Are you on your post? Are you doing what God intended for you to do or are you doing what you want to do or are you making excuses about not doing anything at all? It’s time to choose. Choose wisely, because the things of this world will not last, but the Kingdom of God will stand forever.

It’s ok to let someone in

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 KJV
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. [10] For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Let me tell y’all, lol. I do not want to keep having these types of messages. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that I am single. At almost 50 years old, I’ve never been married. Yet, the Lord made a point to let me know that I would be married. That he had set me apart, to be married to a minister. I didn’t want to be married at all if I’m being honest. I had been let down by men my whole life and I had no need for them. Anything I wanted, I would and could get it myself. The only good thing that came from being with a man was my beautiful children. So, I guess they had their place, lol. I had made up in my mind that I was never getting married. That I would be forever single. I had no desire to have to be accountable to or for another person outside of myself and my children.

This decision had consequences. I had to do a lot of tough stuff on my own. I had to raise my boys alone. I had to take care of my whole family by myself. I had to carry a weight I was never meant to carry. All because I believed the lies of the enemy and let my past dictate every decision. Every hurt, injustice, disappointment, and heartbreak was the catalyst for each decision I made, good or bad. We don’t realize that giving in to the lies of the enemy, believing the foolishness he tells us, and living by the deceit hurts us more. More than anything anyone else could hurt us. I had to learn that the hard way and while I didn’t want to carry the weight alone, I was too proud to admit it to anyone. Even if everyone knew and just pretended they didn’t and were waiting for me to ask for help or remotely look like I couldn’t handle it. If I was drowning and there were people on the shore I would have rather drown than ask for help. That is how bad people had hurt me and how much pride I carried.

Again, I didn’t want to carry all of that alone, but if I’m being honest, my expectations for the one I would allow to help me were probably unrealistic. Ask anyone that was raped or molested as a child. We want people to be mind readers. We wanted people to be God; all-knowing. We wanted people to see us. We wanted people to know what we needed without us having to say a word. I wanted the man that I would spend my life with to dote on me and spoil me like the little girl in me longed for. I wanted him to notice everything about me, to know me inside and out, and could recognize when I was not myself or something was wrong. See, unrealistic. I wanted the type of husband you only see in Hallmark movies, but a man of God, lol. I can laugh now at the absurdity of it all. No one would have ever measured up to the standards I had set. He literally would have had to be God, because he also had to be able to love me despite what I’d been through and what I put myself through and only God could love someone as broken as me unconditionally.

So, now, all these years later the Lord in all his infinite wisdom and comedic flair wishes that I should have a husband. It took years for me to even remotely come close to accepting that. I had the plan for my life mapped out and a husband was not included in that plan. Not after I turned 45 anyway. It took me all these years to realize and accept what this passage of scripture means, especially in regards to ministry and marriage. All the ways I was afraid someone would/ could let me down come to mind when I read this and it gives me anxiety….still. Opening up to someone has never been my strong suit. Letting someone in, being that close to someone terrifies me, but I know that my marriage is destined for great things. I know the weight the Lord has placed on this union and the lives it will affect. One minute I’m excited, the next minute I am petrified. Who is this man the Lord has chosen for me? How can anyone love someone like me? Have I changed enough to truly be worthy of this gift? I don’t know and still I wait.

My marriage isn’t just about me if it really is at all. When it comes to fruition I pray that it does what God ordained it to do. That I do not get in the way of it’s mission. That I don’t somehow derail it out of fear or disobedience. We were never meant to walk this life alone. If you are struggling to release the spirit of independence or fear. If you struggle with the idea of surrendering and allowing someone else to take the reigns. Just know, you are not alone and it is one of the best gifts God can give his daughters. Put the weights down, you’ve proven to the world how strong you are. It’s time to let her go, she served her purpose. It’s time to become who God intended you to be. Jesus is coming soon. Walk in who God says you are, not who the world made you.

Don’t Give Up Now

Hebrews 10:23 KJV
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Oh man! Let me tell you! Life is so crazy right now. It looks like the enemy is winning. So many believers are barely holding on by a thread, waiting for the promises of God, any of the promises of God to be made manifest in their lives. Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It’s getting harder to hold on to our faith while hoping or to hold on to hope with our faith. Does that make sense? It just feels, some days, like it would just be easier to let go and go back into the world. Nobody said that following Christ would be easy, but they never said it would be this heard either. Let’s just be honest. If you are trying to live for Christ and follow his commands and be a willing vessel, it feels like you’re always under attack. It feels like the test or trial is never going to pass. It feels like as soo as one storm passes another comes right on it’s heels. It feels like the more you cry out, the less God answers. Trust me I definitely have moments when I feel like that. Feeling confused, like you have no idea what it is God wants from you. Like you thought you understood the assignment and then you realize you absolutely did not.

Trying to stand grounded and rooted in the word. Trying to stay in prayer and in the presence of the Lord. Trying desperately to walk out your calling like you thought you heard him tell you to. Feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders as you watch the end times play out, something you never thought you would see in your lifetime. Feeling lost and heartbroken by all the truly lost that don’t know Jesus.

We have to hold on. We have to hold on to his promises. We have to believe that his word is true. It is the only way to make it through these perilous times of persecution and judgment going forth throughout the land. He is faithful. He is ever faithful. May not be in our timing. May not be the way we want it done, but his plan has been since the beginning of time and it won’t change just because we don’t like it or because we think it’s taking too long. Everything has a time, a place, a reason and a season. We just have to stand firm and be patient. He will make all things known in his timing; never wavering, because he is faithful to those that are faithful to him.

We place so many things before God, it feels like he’s lost when it’s really us

Lamentations 3:25 KJV
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

It can’t get any plainer than this. We all want something from God, out of God…prove to me you’re real. Lord, give me a sign. All of these requests we make known and burdens we lay at his feet, but how many of us are really seeking him and not just what he can do for us? Let’s be honest. How many of us let the distractions of the world come before our relationship with God? The job, the kids, the spouse, the BD or BM, the aging parents, the mortgage, taxes; this list could go on forever. So many things we let come before Christ but we always want him to do something for us. He gives us so many opportunities to minister and witness to people but we choose not to. He gives us so many opportunities in our busy schedules to be a blessing to someone and we choose to ignore it, yet we have the gall to be upset when he doesn’t answer our prayers when and how we want them answered.

He is good to those who wait on him and to the sous that seeketh him. The word good is subjective here, because what some people consider good…no, what the world considered good is not what believers would consider good. To a believer, every morning they wake up is good, because they Lord is giving them another opportunity to get it right. To a believer, just having breath in their lungs is good. It’s not always material stuff that will make a believer tap dance on the enemies head. You gotta know what is truly important to serve the Lord. He should be first in your life, not an afterthought; not just when you have a few minutes, not just to bless the food. Have mercy. Matthew 6:33 reminds us, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. You have to seek him to reap the benefits. At least the ones that matter. Not the ones everybody else will receive just because he is a good, good Father, but the ones you receive when you diligently seek him and are obedient to his commands.

We don’t have time to wait anymore. The time for playing and procrastinating is over. God has waited patiently for you to choose him. Time is running out. Jesus is coming soon. The time to choose is now.

It’s all coming to light

Luke 14:11 KJV
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

We are watching history in the making. Not that this is the first time it’s happening, but it’s the first time in my lifetime that I’m seeing such a mass dethroning of the elites. I have been warning people for years about the corrupt government and media that was aiming for our children and everyone thought that I was doing too much. The truth is being exposed. How their aim has always been for our children, the purest and most innocent of the human race. That the music they produced to the television shows all had/ have subliminal messages in them to plant seeds of all types of immorality into our children. Now, we are watching the conspiracy theories become the truth no one was willing to accept and of course, there will be some that still won’t believe, but what can you do. You can lead a horse to water and all. People are waking up to the reality that we as believers have always known and have been praying against. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you’ve been brainwashed your whole life to believe a certain way to then have the bandaid ripped off, it can be a bit difficult to handle. But God!

He forewarned us about what would happen. Now is the time for his people to go out and take the land. People are lost and hurting and don’t know where to turn or who to believe. Jesus is still the only way. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can get to the Father except through him. We have to hit the streets and every corner of our assigned space to tell people about Jesus Christ. It is time for a great harvest, we just need the workers, because there are so many who need to hear the truth like they’ve never heard it before. There ae so many that need to hear the truth period. They are just waiting for us to get on our post and do what we were called to do. There is no more time to waste. Jesus is coming soon. There is going to be a great revival and I can’t wait!

It’s the ones no one was expecting

Matthew 23:11 KJV
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Let me tell you! God is so intentional! First, let me say that my punishment for disobedience has been restless sleep. I already didn’t sleep much, but now it’s restless, I just toss and turn all night. So, in my tossing and turning this morning, the Lord gave me a revelation, lol. If I turn over and it’s after midnight, I’ll say my prayer for the day. I have a specific prayer list right now and the Lord was showing me the people on my prayer list. One is a pastor, struggling with his ministry because he doesn’t have enough help. He doesn’t need resources, God has blessed him with that, he just needs help. Another gentleman has just lost two people very close to him in business. It has caused him to be overworked and missing out on being where he is needed most, with his family. The one place the enemy attacks the hardest is the home. Both of these men are single; not married. When he gave me that realization he took me to Genesis 2:18, And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. The best, grassroots, nothing but the truth ministries are struggling for lack of help. The ministries with the unknown pastors and men with a heart for God, out here on the streets meeting the needs of the people are struggling for lack of help. Everyone wants the blessings but no one wants to do the real work. The work we are required to do as believers. We can’t save people who already think they’re saved. We have to go and get the ones who have lost hope and don’t believe that Jesus loves them and died on the cross for them. We have to go and get the ones who have believed the lies of the enemy that they are worthless and unworthy; that their sins are unforgivable. Those are the ones we need to reach. The ones who have been tossed aside by society and looked down on as less than. Yesterday’s scripture said the last shall be first, right?

The servants of the Lord are out here doing the work. They aren’t looking for fortune and fame. I heard a pastor today say, he’s on a rescue mission. These are the ones who will be greatly blessed and not because they asked for it but because they are willing vessels. They don’t whine and complain, they are obedient to a fault. Everything they do relies solely on Jesus Christ. These men are only seen as servants but are the greatest among us all. This is what a man of God looks like.

So, look, I was about to go off on a tangent. I almost forgot the second part of the revelation. The Lord told me that my ministry would not be fulfilled completely until I met my Adam. Now it makes more sense to me. Again, marriage has nothing to do with us and everything to do with the kingdom of God. It is a physical representation of Jesus and the church. Help me Holy Spirit because I don’t know how to say it how he gave it to me. Well, how he showed me. He told me that my husband would have the other half of my ministry. I, leaned unto my own understanding of what that meant instead of asking and assumed that because I have a women’s ministry he placed in me that my husband would have the men’s ministry or because he gave me the ministry for the youth that my husband would be a youth pastor or something Idk, but it’s making more sense that I would be the other part of his ministry too. We will be in this together and if I’m being honest, I don’t want the responsibility of running a whole ministry by myself and having a ministry does not mean that your spouse will be or has to be a preacher or a pastor.

minister: n

• 1. a member of the clergy, especially in Protestant churches.
• 2.(in certain countries) a head of a government department
• ARCHAIC – a person or thing used to achieve or convey something.

minister: v

1. attend to the needs of (someone).
2. act as a minister of religion.

There are so many other ways your marriage/ ministry can function; feeding the needy, clothing the homeless, holding bible studies with co-workers, or assisting your pastor. Whatever it is that Lord has called you to do, now is the time to be doing it. Jesus is coming soon and there are still so many souls left to reach. Where would you be if Jesus had let you be?

You were never last

Matthew 19:29-30 KJV
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. [30] But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

Oh boy!! I needed this! Y’all don’t know how bad I needed this. I promise I don’t know how the disciples endured. It’s too much. To be called to such a great calling is mentally, physically, and spiritually draining. Crying and praying and trying to study to stay focused, reading the word is tiring. Being patient is tiring, lol. Wanting to save everyone that you held dear is tiring. Not everyone wants to go. Not everyone can handle what is coming or even care. A lot of people, especially since 2020, just want life to go back to normal and it will never be normal again. Not for nonbelievers and believers alike. The word warns us in Matthew 10:35-49, ³⁵ For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. ³⁶ And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. ³⁷ He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. ³⁹ He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

I remember as a child, when we found out that my great-grandmother had cancer I was told all I could do was pray and make her comfortable. I remember my prayers were always that I would see my whole family in heaven. That’s what I had been taught; pray for your family and I’ve held on to that, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize that everyone does not want what you want. don’t understand what you understand, or care about what you care about. Including family. It used to baffle me when we would sing I’m On My Way to the Canaan Land and one of the verses said, If mama don’t go, won’t hinder me…and I was distraught like why wouldn’t my mother be going? So, as a child, my prayers became more fierce in that area. I couldn’t imagine not seeing all of my family in heaven when Jesus comes again. I guess I’ve held on to that because I have stayed in situations with family I have endured situations for family. I have fought hard to try to keep everyone together and on the same page, nobody realizes or appreciates it, but that’s how I spent my life and I’ve been praying heaven down for some of them. Only to realize that not all of them want to go. Having to realize that I can’t save everyone. There is a point in the bible when the Lord tells the prophet not to pray for those people because it will do no good. They won’t understand until they suffer my wrath and he ain’t listening. That is where God is with some of our families and friends and there is nothing else we can do. We can’t save everybody, but those of us that tried; those of us who have endured and pressed in and prayed will be rewarded.

For everything you lost, it will be returned. For every injustice, God will repay. For every plot and plan, for every time they allowed the enemy to use them, the Lord will return it to them. It’s nothing to brag or boast or even be happy about, but God is about to change some circumstances around. The ones that have been looked down on and ridiculed have found favor in the eyes of the Lord and will be blessed. He is dropping blessings that no man can take credit for. He is elevating the least likely suspects because people counted them out. Those who held on until the end and did not conform to the world, are about to be catapulted to the front. Your day of redemption and restoration is near. Just hold on.

It ain’t always easy

Ephesians 4:29 KJV
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Man, I needed this reminder about a week ago. I keep telling y’all Christians or believers are not perfect. Far from it, we are just able to accept and admit that we are sinners in need of a Savior. I for sure am one of them. My flesh rose up about a week or so ago despite me crying out to the Father to help me and keep me. When that time came, however, I failed miserably. I literally cussed somebody out and I haven’t done that, in that manner, in ages. Which is just another reminder that despite how long it’s been since you committed a sin, you are never that far removed from it, because we are not perfect. So, I acted unbecomingly, not Christlike at all, and in my sin, I felt justified. In my anger, I felt justified, but the word says be ye angry and sin not. I knew when those words escaped my mouth that I was going to be in trouble, but I could not and did not want to stop. The enemy has been picking at me with the smallest of things for months and I’ve turned the other cheek, I’ve prayed about it, I thought I had given it all to the Lord, but boy was I wrong. I had just done what I always do and I suppressed it. I hid it away in the darkest recesses of my mind to serve as fuel if I ever had the opportunity to release and boy did I?

I’m not proud of what I did and the Lord made me go and apologize. I even had to pray and ask the Lord to bridle my tongue then because there was still stuff I wanted to say, lol. Like I hadn’t said enough, but I was still so angry. I think it’s a combination of things too. Like, Lord, I don’t want to be in this situation. I didn’t want to be here in the first place because I knew it was going to be a problem and now this. Like, I think I was venting my frustration about God too. He made all these promises and we have seen none of them. It just looks like we’ve gone from the fire to the pan. It’s still hot and I don’t know what to do. He keeps sending encouraging words, but at some point you just want to get on with life and whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing. We have a heart for his people. We want to be out serving his people, but how can you do that when the situation you’re in does not lend itself to the cause? I don’t know.

What I do know is, we are never that far removed from our sins. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Whatever it may be. In my frustration I am also a stones throw away from smoking a cigarette and it’s been probably close to 7 or 8 years since I had an actual cigarette. Never too far removed. I’m telling you. Even when we stumble, we are supposed to get back up, repent, apologize and keep on moving. It should never be our intention to hurt someone else or attack someone else or make someone else stumble. Our walk/ life is supposed to point others to Jesus and we should own up to when we make mistakes and not act like we’re too holy to sin or our sin is not as bad as other people’s sins. Sin is sin. We are not better than anyone else. Get back up. God forgave you. Keep pressing forward.

Only God Will Do

I do not own the rights to this photo

Matthew 28:5-7 KJV
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. [6] He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. [7] And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

I know this is supposed to be about Easter, but the message I got from it as soon as I read it had nothing to do with Easter and everything to do with our lives and how we live them. Let me explain. Before most of us come into the Knowledge of Christ, we are just out here trying to figure it out. RIght? Living and trying to cope with traumas. Trying to navigate through life with our limited resources and knowledge. We fall a million times. We suffer multiple setbacks. We fall into some bad habits. Meet the wrong people. Get heartbroken and/ or betrayed. We look for things to fill the voids that life has left. We insert worldly things that will only bring us temporary pleasure and we keep trying to plug things into this God-sized hole that was only meant for God.

When someone introduces you to Christ, they are the angel or like the angel. Come and see where Jesus died. Come and see where he sacrificed himself for you and where he rose from the dead. He is in none of the places you’ve been searching. He’s been waiting for you and once that hole is filled with the Holy Spirit the mantle is now passed on to you to go and tell others about the goodness of the Lord and everything he’s done for you. Hallelujah! After you taste and see that the Lord is good, you can’t keep it to yourself, you have to go and tell someone else. You now have to walk out what you’ve learned, reflect the one who saved you, and teach what you’ve been taught. Simple as that. Everything after that has nothing to do with you. Once you say I do, God will take care of everything else. That is why he said to cast your cares on him. When you pick up your cross to walk out your purpose, God’s got you. There will be lessons to learn along the way. There will be painful moments and things we don’t understand, but God knows and he wants us to trust him. Lean not unto our own understanding, because we’ll never get far that way. God is the great I Am, the Alpha and Omega, the Author and Finisher of our faith. We have to know that he loves us and everything he does is for our good and his glory whether we understand it or not. Do the work and he’ll take care of the rest. Jesus is coming soon. There is plenty of work to be done.