In the Time of the Lattereign

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say,  I have no pleasure in them;”  (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Under the shadow of the almighty I find protection. I know that the Lord has prepared a place of refuge for me, a sanctuary where nothing can harm me as I wait on him. Oh, the world may be in turmoil, with wars, sorrow, and pain, but when I am under the shadow I can rest and find peace. It’s not easy to find peace or to leave the world of problems at Jesus feet in prayer. My natural tendency is to show the problems, then pick them back up on the way out to charge the mountain. If I could only realize that Jesus wants me to cast every care on him and trust him to work all things for my good. That is all things, the difficult circumstances, along with the minor details. If it concerns me, then the Lord wants me to leave them at his feet.

We can’t afford to stop growing, or to stop pressing toward the mark. This month we are celebrating our 34th year in Greenville, NC. We have big plans for the coming weeks. In the midst of our celebration, we can’t forget the events of September 11, 2001. As we remember 911, I am humbled by how blessed I am to live in America, where we have freedom to worship Jesus Christ. He whom the son sets free is free indeed. Let’s not take our liberty for granted, for each day that we’re able to serve the Lord, without fear, is precious. Just knowing that although our world is troubled and uncertain right now—God remains steadfast, faithful, and in control of our lives.

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” If we keep praying, keep believing that the Lord will deliver us and that he is a present help in the time of trouble, then we reap the victories.

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

I am blessed to be a part of The Pentecostals of Greenville. I feel like we’ve been called to prayer as a nation, to reach the lost. I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. We can have peace even when the world in which we live is in chaos, for our hope is in Jesus, and the things of the world are only temporary. God, on the other hand, is eternal and he loved us enough to give his life so that we might live. God bless America.

Committed to believe that God is

“Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” Psalm 36:5

I think about how many times I started to write and found that the words would not come. Is it just a dream, or will I have the faith to step out and do something effective? How many lives will be changed as a result of my efforts? I feel so inadequate; but didn’t Moses feel that way before he had to face 40 years in the desert with the responsibility of shepherding the complaining Israelites?

I want to go beyond the mediocre walk with God, but it doesn’t come without sacrifice. What have I brought for a sacrifice?

Broken dreams and shattered hopes. Disappointments and bruised emotions. I brought it all; and gathered it carefully–so fragile, and yet, as I lay it at your feet there is peace. There is a well beginning to spring up within my soul and it’s going to reach the top, someday. It will open up to reveal who I really am; the light of your love will search the deepest parts of my soul, and expose the very depths of my relationship with you.

Will I like what I see? Will there be something to cling to once it has been tried by fire? or, will it all vanish away like my dreams and hopes as a child: to write; to be heard; to be understood?

from journal entry July 3, 2005

“Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)

 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand:(Psalm 37:23-24)

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing” (Isaiah 10:27).

It is not grievous to serve the Lord. Sometimes the Lord requires us to make some tough decisions and walk through what seems like endless storms, but if we’ll just keep walking and trusting in his undying love: we can be overcomers in spite of the fiery darts the devil throws our way.

We don’t have to stop living just because God chose us to serve in a unique way. There are people that I may reach with the gospel that you will never be in contact with, and the same goes for you. Each person commissioned by the Lord to “Go” is responsible to fulfill that calling. Sometimes people reject the gentle wooing of the Holy Ghost; too often people choose to deny it. When the Lord speaks to your spirit it is time to say, “Yes, Lord.” It’s time to serve: seek his face; study the Word; bask in his presence; listen for his voice.

To be used by God should be the desire of every believer, but aren’t we ALL used by God when we take the time to pray? Our prayers will touch heaven and the lives of everyone that we pray for.  It is sad when we have the mindset that we are not important to the body. We are all important to the body.

It will take saints who desire to seek the Lord unconditionally, no matter what battles they are facing, to move us forward in faith. Do you believe that the Lord is coming soon? We have heard it for years, until it’s almost a cliché. Just as sure as the sunrise, so will the Lord come again.

When you do have a burden and you are required to carry a yoke about your neck, the Lord tells us that the very yoke that tries to hold you back, drag you down, and destroy your soul, will be destroyed when you have the anointing. He will be with you through every trial; you can trust him.

The key to finding his favor is worship. If we’ll learn to praise the Lord in the good times, and the not so good times; praise him when we feel like it, and even if we don’t; praise him when we feel hope, and praise him when we have lost faith in our own prayers; if we’ll only learn how to lean on him; he will lift us up and carry us to a new level of worship. We may not understand how we can have so many trials, yet praise God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, but we’ll do it because he is worthy.

Having the anointing of God is our hope. May the blessing and the anointing of the Almighty God, manifest itself into your life.

Prayer

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

“Through faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3).

“But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

The Lord has set before us an open door and if we face life’s challenges we need to remember that the Lord will always cause us to triumph! Unfortunately, we shouldn’t stop when we obtain the faith to believe God, because someone has to show up and do the work. It takes people to get the job accomplished.

No amount of desire, alone, will ever cause a building to be built, and I can look at the dishes piled in my sink, all day long, but unless I actually fill the sink with water and begin to wash them, they won’t get clean! (Unless someone has mercy and washes them for me.) It is the Lord’s purpose and his will that we have faith, but we won’t see much ever get accomplished if we don’t get to work.

I used to try to be all things to all people, (still do, much of the time), then, I realized that I was working awfully hard for little return. Now, my whole attitude has changed about working for the kingdom: I desire to be a vessel of honor. It isn’t what I can do for God; it’s what he can do through me. He can take my imperfect vessel and miraculously flow through me to bless others.  I must be open to his call.

James 2:26 tells us, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”   I can have faith all day long and it’s good to have a measure of faith, however, when it comes right down to it, if I have within my power the means to help someone, and I neglect to help them, my faith will not save them:

What doeth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body: what doth it profit? (James 2:14-16).

The Lord encourages us to work and to be involved in building up the church and each other, because he knows that without the church body working together, we will be hindered in fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives. It takes teamwork to get the mission accomplished, and that requires that you be actively involved, because the Lord will always have a people. I want to be a part of it. Don’t you?

I spend a great deal of effort reaching out for God’s purpose in my life. Unfortunately, I keep grasping for the proverbial carrots that are hanging just out of my reach, never taking the time to look at the overflowing baskets of carrots that God has already provided for me.

The bible says to be content. There is a reason for this. When you are content, you aren’t always reaching for things to satisfy you that God may not be ready to give you. How many sunsets have you missed with someone you love, because you were trying to find just the right camera app setting to capture it?

Life’s too short to miss the most important things in life, and the key to not missing life is to be content.

Are You Missing Out on Your Miracle

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Psalm 34:8).

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way because the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth” (Psalm 37:3-9).

We serve a great big God. How often do we try to confine him into our boxes of doubt? We pray and say that we trust God with our lips; then we ponder our situation until we can’t think of any thing else but the problems that grow bigger as we feed them. The more we nurture our problems the greater they become and the more desperate we become. Sometimes it clouds our vision until we can’t see God working to bring us through to our good. “My grace is sufficient” he said and sometimes God, who is sovereign, decides to let us keep the thorn in our flesh. . He’s still God.

I will get discouraged if I don’t stay in the Word and find the strength to hold up my shield of faith. The shield of faith and the breastplate of righteousness will protect me from the fiery darts that try to steal my joy, kill my dreams, and destroy my walk with God.

He promises us that if we’ll delight in him that he’ll give us the desires of our heart. If we have not fulfilled our part, why do we think that God would give us our deepest desires? It’s time to restore our commitment and to do what he commands for us to do: Rest in the Lord. I am convinced that the Lord has my life in his hands and that every step that I take is ordained by God.

“I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8).

“And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee” (Psalm 39:7). When we put our hope in the Lord, there is no failure, only the understanding that the Lord has every situation under control.

If life’s circumstances are going contrary to the way you would desire them to go, praise the Lord for the situation and exercise your faith. Although we may not know how the Lord will intervene, there is no question that he will intervene at the right time. Just like Esther, we could be in an impossible situation, “for such a time as this,” to be a witness that God is faithful, and he is a miracle working God, “who is not slack concerning his promises.”

Is Your Life in Perfect Balance

Book bags were packed by the youth group, and then, distributed on Saturday at the POG block party. 

Ask me about Sunday School? We wore a badge that said, Ask me about Sunday School, or Bible Studies. When people asked, we gave them a ticket for a prize drawing.  As a reward, if you turned in a ticket and got information, you received a sweet prize. Free home bible study program charts were prominent on the table next to Sunday school, as the bible tells us to “study to show thyself approved.”

This is the second year that the Pentecostals of Greenville hosted a Back to School Block Party in the South Greenville area, and we have had an amazing turnout each year. Over three hundred people registered at the event, and 100 book bags filled with school supplies were distributed, along with drawings throughout the event for gift cards, toys, and a scooter for a grand prize.

Why go through the effort? It can be contributed to having a burden and a compassion to reach souls in our communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had the opportunity to meet people, introduce our church, schedule free home bible studies, give an encouraging word to people who needed prayer, join others in worship, share the bible, participate in playtime, and feast on pizza!

This is all fantastic, but the greater vision was to show that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8) and he still loves us unconditionally. Continually pray for Greenville, NC.

About My Father’s Business

Sure, that’s easy to say when you are on the other side of the trial, after the Lord has made the way clear, but it’s not that easy to do, when you don’t have a clear road ahead of you. Perhaps your life feels like you have been abandoned on the darkest of nights, in the middle of a mine field.

One false step could lead you to certain destruction, so you fret and worry about the what ifs and the circumstances that seem insurmountable, and you take your eyes off of the Lord who is shining the light down the path to light your way. He has already prepared the way, and our simple task is not to navigate the path and fight off the obstacles, but to pray and worship our way one step at the time to the victory.

Trusting God, through every circumstance, will keep us safely in his presence. It is a blessing to just be in his presence, and knowing that no matter what we must face, we are not ever walking through it, alone, because he promises to never leave us nor forsake us. We can hold to his promise, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Trust God at All Times Even When Life Changes

We can go through life, living the same way, going through the same routines, day after day, and we’ll get the same disappointing results time and again. Or we can take on the challenge of starting over afresh and renewed in the spirit of our mind. It isn’t easy to begin again when the same failures still try to hinder us from reaching out for a fresh anointing. After all, every time that we try something new, we become disillusioned and ultimately reap another failure to add to our disappointments.

Have you ever thought that those disappointments and failures are nothing more than the Lord teaching us that we need him? He allows circumstances into our lives that will strengthen us. It is during our greatest weaknesses that the Lord shows his greatest strength to us.

If you are continually lacking in his blessings it is time to get your eyes off of others and learn of him what he would have you to do. This is the will of God for your life: the interruptions, the disappointments, the failures, the rejections, and all of the other negatives. They are necessary to perfect you, although difficult to endure.

Without God in our lives, we’ll not be able to stand up to the onslaught of the world. But we must remember that we don’t have to stand alone! He is more than able to conquer any situation.

He is the Lily of the Valley. In the valley you may find thistles and thorns and tangling vines that would try to choke your worship to silence. Don’t give in to the temptation of complacency. It is not good to be defeated when the Lord has already won the battle. He has the victory, but unless we believe it, it will not manifest itself into our life.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn.

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified.

They shall build the old waste places, they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations” (Isaiah 61:1-4).

When circumstances interrupt your life, you have a choice to let them defeat you, or to pick up and let God make you stronger. To overcome, is to keep the victory, even when we travel an unfamiliar path by faith. Always remember that God is in control.

Lean not to Thine Own Understanding

“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31).

Have we forgotten the God that we serve? There is nothing impossible with God. No situation is out of his control. When the storms come, we must learn to trust him. Maybe you have forgotten or you are so overwhelmed with the pain and frustration that you can’t see God at work through the turmoil. When I face the storm, I find him in my prayers. Sometimes, I don’t even know how to pray I am so consumed with the problem, but if I’ll remember to worship him he begins to work out his perfect plan in my life.

Keep moving towards the light of his presence. In the still of my night, I find him embracing me. I shall not fear the darkness. Although every sign tells me that it’s hopeless, I still hold on to hope that he is sovereign and he has already answered my prayer even before I speak the problem in prayer. It takes time. When I feel so impatient waiting for your promise, Lord, calm me down enough that I enjoy the day that you have prepared. Take me back to simplicity, life before schedules and deadlines, when we’d catch lightening bugs in the backyard and put them in mason jars. I miss it, and yet I thank you for today.

I have not been promised tomorrow, and yesterday is just a memory. The only thing that I desire from you is another today. A moment in time, Now. In my now let me not miss opportunities to share about your goodness. Jesus Christ: His mercy endureth forever. Life is too short to spend lamenting over what might have been. Let me live in the now. Today, is the day of salvation. While I am living, help me to learn to walk in your shadow.

There is safety in the shadow of the Almighty.

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” (Isaiah 60:1-2).
“Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah” (Psalm 84:4-8).

Abiding Under the Shadow

I have been in a constant state of organizing and purging the things in my home that I don’t need. I am amazed at the stuff that I have held on to for years, without even knowing why I have it! Was it the memory attached to it? I don’t know, but one thing is certain: every day that I let go of the past, I am more hopeful of the future. Things have a tendency to weigh us down, so much that we begin to turn in circles and not know where to begin to get free. We can apply this to our spiritual lives as well.

We have a tendency to harbor old grudges and fail to give them to God and ask for forgiveness; but unlike the dust laden stuff in our closets, grudges eat away at our spirits like a cancer. We may be able to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks on our own because we have been gifted by the Lord to do so, but unless we are willing to allow the Lord to clear our spiritual closets, it will be nearly impossible to visualize the greatness and significance of what we can accomplish. He took special care to shape man into his image and he breathed the breath of life into that body. He has a purpose and a plan for our lives that won’t be realized if we refuse to give him our all.

Somewhere along the way, we have missed it, with our ultra busy lifestyles (all for the glory of God, of course) and we have failed to refresh ourselves with the power that only comes through being in his presence. We say our two minute or thirty second prayers before meals or while heading out the door, with little time to reflect on God, his goodness, or what He desires of us for that day. We are all guilty of over scheduling.

When a relationship is only one-sided, it can go sour fairly quickly. We wouldn’t think of totally ignoring our spouse, our children, or our job. The consequences of doing so could be grave. But we don’t think twice about ignoring to read our Bible, fellowshipping with the Lord through prayer and supplication, or going days without end without so much as speaking the name of Jesus. No wonder we lose our victory and anointing at the first obstacle that stands in our path.

It is good to work for the Lord like Martha; it is better to develop a Mary spirit and worship at his feet. There are no pretenses, no agendas, no deadlines, and great power and strength to gain from just acknowledging that we can do nothing without Jesus. He has the ultimate control in our lives.

If we spend our time holding on to past hurts and disappointments, we may not reach out to the Lord who is ready to fill our lives to the fullest with joy and peace that passes all understanding. Are you willing to lose your future, just so you can keep holding on to the past?

What wonderful things we can accomplish when we learn to spend time in his presence! The mountains in our lives that would try to separate us from him, will be removed. The Lord has given us light to bring us out of darkness. It will guide us into all truth, if we’ll learn how to take the time to just BE in his presence.

It is a great gift: the power of being.

It’s Not Complicated to Live for God