21 Day Daniel Fast: Needing God’s Grace to Build Emotional Strength
Hi Everybody!
It’s been a busy New Year, more busier than I anticipated, but we are back in the mode of the 21 Day Daniel Fast. My Fast started on the 2nd of January and so far I have decided that I won’t chronicle my meditations daily as I did last year. I found that last year the fast was so intense that I found it difficult to sleep because I was in such a spiritually heightened state that I developed insomnia which I have not been able to get over since now.
David has Emotional Strength to defeat a Goliath
These days, I feel the need to just bask in solitude and will type up whenever I have the time my thoughts during the fast. So far there have been many strange things that I have been noticing as of late, but despite all that I have witnessed and experienced and still continue to witness, I can attest to the fact that God’s grace during the fast is amazing. I find that the beginning of the Fast is always the most difficult for many including myself to start; however, as time goes by it gets a little bit easier once you reach your determination level to stay the course.
I find that just by being silent and really just training my spirit to hear what the Father has to say has been a humbling experience. Although I see visions of things happening and things yet to come, there is that sense of feeling overwhelmed by the information that I’m receiving that has caused me to feel like I just need to be silent for this fast. It’s that waiting period when you are awaiting instructions and at the same time taking the time to observe that which ought to change within (yourself) in order to change throughout. I probably am not making any sense right now to others; however, what I will say is that as I sit here contemplating about God’s grace in my life, I can testify that there are times when I have taken it for granted. I think to some extent we all do. Life is seemingly so transient, but when you find the path that leads to eternity, your life never really stays the same again unless you decide to forsake the path.
From what I can see, this year is going to be dynamic and at the same time a trying year as well. I get the sense that there will be difficult tests that each person will have to go through in order to see a new side of God in their lives. Developing spiritual strength starts from developing emotional strength. The one word that hit me at the beginning of this fast that has been disturbing me for quite some time is the word “Treachery”. I’m not exactly sure why this has been on my mind as of late, but from what I understand, all I can think of is that as I have been talking about the David Generation rising this year, it is important to know how one should engage the enemy especially enemies that have a Saul-like spirit. There was a point where David had an opportunity to kill Saul because of his treacherous ways, but David did not kill him even though he may have been justified in doing so. It is so important to NOT create any room for hatred to enter into ones heart. It has a way of contaminating your spirit. This is why we need to make room for God’s grace in our lives. The Grace of God helps us to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
Read about how “David Spares Saul” in 1 Samuel 24-28
David Spares Saul’s Life
This is why it is important to develop emotional strength. I think for myself…this will be the area that I will be focusing on this year since I admit that I can be emotionally immature when dealing with certain kinds of people. I know that when I lived with my grandparents, I witnessed various forms of treachery that it developed in me a sense of taking justice into my own hands because I couldn’t stand to witness injustice. Thank God I never did because God doesn’t want us to do such things. He wants us to allow Him to take care of our enemies His Way, if only we just learn to TRUST HIM. This means….vengeance belongs to God and we have to step aside and let Him do His thing. That’s extreme humility and that’s what we all should develop if we want to be successful in Spiritual Warfare. We usually say things like “the Battle is not ours, it is the Lords” and yet some people take the battle into their own hands and suffer incredible losses because they refused to wait on God to take over and ensure victory. Defeat can be avoided when we yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, so for this year…people, develop emotional strength for the battles that you will face. I can sense that the war is heightening in intensity this year, so I urge all who are participating in the Fast to focus on building fortified walls of HUMILITY. God is your strength and shield, Amen!
Another thing that I want to say is that it’s one thing to be anointed, but it’s another to have the right mindset to handle the weight of it. Even so, God’s Grace is sufficient to meet the need as long as we remain humble. Humility is completely key this year. Also, from my own meditations, the one thing we must understand is that might and power won’t take us to the destination of our destinies. We can only reach our destinies through the power of the Holy Spirit. Not everyone has trained themselves to rely on the Spirit because they are too used to having faith built by their own hands, but if you want something to have “staying power”, you need to let the Holy Spirit build things His way so that whatever you try to build will not be shaken. Christ is the solid rock and He should be our foundation. So for those participating in the Daniel Fast, recognize that this Fast trains you to strengthen your Humility in order to be successful in your Spiritual Warfare. Humility takes you places…pride halts progress.
The Daniel Fast is also a form of Spiritual Warfare to receive answers and instructions from God so continue to meditate on God’s Word and keep it in your Heart when you encounter your battles this year.
I have a song to lift your Spirit up today called Grace sung by Bebe & Cece Winans. May this Song Bless your Spirit. God Bless you Everybody!
Prayer for 2013 – “I Will Expand Your Borders”
Father God,
I lift up my family, my blogger friends, my real friends and others serving faithfully in Your Name to the throne of God.
For the Year 2013, cover us all under the Blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 5:6; Revelation 1:5).
Walk with all of us like a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21), Cover us with the full armor of God as it says in your Word:
Ephesians 6: 10-20
The Whole Armor of God
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Father God it is time for the Year of the Davids to rise up. I pray oh Lord that you will expand our borders and our territories to spread the message of the Gospel in the Year 2013 as it says in your Word:
Isaiah 54:3
For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open the gates,
That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
3 You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.[a]
5 For He brings down those who dwell on high,
The lofty city;
He lays it low,
He lays it low to the ground,
He brings it down to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down—
The feet of the poor
And the steps of the needy.”
7 The way of the just is uprightness;
O Most Upright,
You weigh the path of the just.
8 Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
O Lord, we have waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.
9 With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
10 Let grace be shown to the wicked,
Yet he will not learn righteousness;
In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,
And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
11 Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see.
But they will see and be ashamed
For their envy of people;
Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
12 Lord, You will establish peace for us,
For You have also done all our works in us.
13 O Lord our God, masters besides You
Have had dominion over us;
But by You only we make mention of Your name.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
They are deceased, they will not rise.
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.
15 You have increased the nation, O Lord,
You have increased the nation;
You are glorified;
You have expanded all the borders of the land.
So in the Name of Jesus, I decree that God will walk with His Children this coming year of 2013 accompanied by signs and wonders that the world has never seen before. I decree, bless your chosen David Generations with the authority to dispel darkness which is the IGNORANCE of the Word and empower them to spread the Word of God, the Light of Truth which is KNOWLEDGE throughout the nations in every town, city, country and continent as they operate in Your Will following you in obedience to the Call. No longer will You have to say that for a lack of Knowledge your people perish (Hosea 4:6) for the Lord will help us to reverse curses and increase blessings in our lives. Darkness shall flee in Jesus Name!
John 1:5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Expand our borders and enlarge our territory(1 Chronicles 4:10) this Year Father God right into the next as we will be blessed in our comings and in our goings, blessed in the city and blessed in the fields, blessed wherever we may go (Deuteronomy 28:1-14) . May the angelic Hosts of God war with the Children of God in the coming Year of 2013 and may it be so that there are more for us than those that are against us (2 Kings 6:16) as a thousand fall to our left and tens of thousands fall to our right as we grow in maturity and stature with the David-like spirit that runs after God’s heart seeking to establish His will which is to walk humbly, love mercy, act justly in righteousness and peace (Micah 6:8). I decree, we will be victorious in Spiritual Warfare and those that envy the Children of God with a Saul-like spirit will be put to shame.
1 Samuel 18:7
So the women sang as they danced, and said: “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.”1 Samuel 18:8
Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?”
May the Kingdom of God be established by the David Generation rising in the Year 2013 operating in the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8-10) being able to do exceedingly and abundantly walking in the reverential Fear of the Lord for we know that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of All Wisdom (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10). The Lord will be our Rear Guard,
Isaiah 52:12
For you shall not go out with haste, Nor go by flight; For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.Isaiah 58:8
Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
The Lord will prepare the path and the David Generation will be living sacrifices to the Lord that will establish a greater and higher level of Praise and Worship that will make the weak say they are strong; that will make the poor say they are rich; that will make the sick say I am healed; that will make the oppressed say that they are delivered as the nations will witness and come to testify that “Surely, the Lord is among His people”.
Living Sacrifices to God
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Serve God with Spiritual Gifts
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Behave Like a Christian
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”[b]21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
With this, the David Generation will follow the Lords precepts and decrees and God will say, “I will walk with them for I shall be their God and they shall be My People” (Jeremiah 32:38; Hebrews 8:10). May the Lord bring a fresh outpouring of His anointing from day to day and may it be poured upon the David Generation that will triumph in doing the Greater things that they shall do in Jesus Name I pray, AMEN!
John 5:20
For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
The Role of Angels in Spiritual Warfare
Hi Everybody!
So today I feel like the Lord is pressing me to talk about something that isn’t really talked about let alone thought about because Angels are always left in hindsight when they are an important and intergral part of our Christian walk, especially in regards to SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
Every person whether they are Christian or not are assigned an angel(s) from the day they were born. When we pray, angels are released; when we fast, angels are released and when we praise, angels are released. Why am I saying this??? Spiritual Warfare is always present in our lives whether we are aware of this or not. There is a constant battle in the Spiritual Realm for every persons life regardless of whether you believe what I am saying or not. I think that if everybody had spiritual eyes and could see the spiritual realm in its fullness they would be shocked to see what is surrounding them at the moment.
If you look at the US Presidential elections that just passed this year….the fact that the elections swayed too and fro in a 50/50 almost tied stale-mate…you can tell that the prayers of the American Christians was causing a type of pressure in the Spiritual realm that left people wondering what would be the final outcome. Although Obama won the election, what I want Americans to understand is that “Christians..your prayers were definitely being heard in Heaven at this time!”. Even in the face of a hurricane…there was Spiritual Warfare present throughout the season of the elections. Your petitions throughout the election period released a multitude of angelic hosts to fight forces of darkness (in particular the principalities and powers and the spiritual wickedness in the high places Ephesians 6:12) hovering over the land in an effective battle…
1 Peter 4:8
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”2 Chronicles 7:14
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
In a way it didn’t matter who won…What American Christians need to know right now is that Obama and Romney don’t hold the future of America in their Hands…the Church of Jesus Christ holds the future of America in their hands by their fasting and praying and also in their Praise and Worship.
My Message to you is “Do not stop doing these things until you see change!”
James 5:16
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
I’ve read many blogs that have been stipulating that God is going to judge America because of the level of unrighteousness present in the land. They are not really far from the truth in a way; however, what I would like to say is that what I’m hearing in the Spirit is that Judgment can be halted by what Christians do right now during this season as we reach the close of the Year of Divine Government 2012.
I think it’s time to step your game up Christians of America. I know I’m not American…but you have so much power within you right now that this isn’t the time to give up….
Apply pressure in the Spiritual realm with your Praise to God. I believe that at the present time…though the state of affairs is that America is still recovering from the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy, don’t stop applying pressure in the Spiritual realm right now. Something is happening….I am sensing that there is a great shaking in the spiritual realm over the land and what is interesting is that the voices of the Lord’s people became more pronounced during this election season than any other one in previous years which was something the world did not anticipate nor expect to see. This year is indeed very different and very unique. It would have been rather fearful to think of what the future holds for America had the Christians remained silent in the face of this election.
Angels are released everytime a believer prays. I believe that in the present time…no matter where you are…you can even pray by proxy…keep praying to see change manifest in your nation. The worst thing is to give up too early when the fight has just begun. When you understand the roles of Angels…you will prepare yourself effectively in your prayer life especially for the new year in preparation for the 21 DAY DANIEL FAST that some churches will be participating in the New Year.
It is so important to understand the role of Angels so here is my list to help you understand what they do for you:
Angels Protect you -
Psalm 91:11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
Angels send messages of Warning -
Genesis 19:15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”
Angels can be seen in your dreams –
Genesis 28:12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Angels heed to the voice of God -
Psalm 103:20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word.
Angels are Heavenly Ministers -
Psalm 104:4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
Matthew 4:11
Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Angels are Worshipers and Praise God -
Psalm 148:2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!
Hebrews 1:6
But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”Revelation 7:11
All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
Angels are Reapers of the End time Harvest -
Matthew 13:39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
Angels administer God’s Judgement -
Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
Matthew 13:49
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,
Angels are assigned to every person when they are born (including unbelievers) -
Matthew 18:10
[ The Parable of the Lost Sheep ] “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
The Devil and his evil angels are already sentenced to hell -
Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
There is an army of Angels in Heaven that can be released at the command of Jesus when you pray -
Matthew 26:53
Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?Hebrews 12:22
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
Angels are present with you when you Fast -
Mark 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
Angels are present when you confess your sins and your faith to GOD -
Luke 12:8
[ Confess Christ Before Men ] “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.
Angels rejoice for every soul that is saved- 
Luke 15:10
Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
Angels release the Prophetic Word –
19 And he said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!”So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”20 Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come.
Although this list is no way an exhaustive list of what they can do…I just want people to understand that as Christians…when we go through Spiritual Warfare…it is important that you understand the role that angels play in your life.
I have seen some of them in my life…and sometimes I wish people could see them too, but the most important thing is to understand that they are with you always. Christians are powerful when they believe. Every prayer releases millions to billions of angels each time. If 1 person can put 1000 to flight and if 2 people can put tens of thousands to flight…what say you with a congregation of 100 people????
Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
So today, apply pressure in the Spiritual Realm in your Fasting, in your Prayer life and in your Praise and Worship. Angels are waiting for Christians to be active in their Faith, AMEN!
I have here a song by Micah Stampley called War Cry. I pray that it blesses you today. God Bless you everybody!
A Lifestyle of Worship
Hi Everybody!
I hope you all are having a wonderful week! Monday has just passed and we’re now onto Tuesday depending on what time zone you’re in. Today, I was thinking that as a worshipper we must consider what it means to worship God in all that we do. I think to some extent we only make the time to worship God as a Sunday affair and miss out on worshipping Him every single day.
Living a life of worship means praying, thanking, praising, exalting, remembering, believing and trusting that God is always with you every step of the way in whatever you do. Some people shelve Him after Sunday Service is done….but we need to learn that we must worship and love God with all of our hearts and our minds and our Souls. We can’t compartamentalize the Lord in the far corners of our minds and think that we have all the time to get to that place where we will make the time when each second of each day is literally a gift from God. So when you wake up in the morning, praise the Lord that you are alive to see another day.
When you go throughout your day, bless the Lord by giving thanks for all the good things that occur in your day. Every good occurance in your life is from God to begin with…nothing is left to “chance” and nothing is a “coincidence” because your life is predetermined by the choices that you make. When you bless God more, you’ll see more blessings enter into your life and right before you lay your head to sleep, remember to give the Lord praise for He is the author and finisher of your day and will give you peace to deal with the next one. Tomorrow is never promised, today is a gift and yesterday is gone so start now and live a life of worship unto God and remember that God is not a Sunday appointment, He is your daily bread so worship Him everyday with every chance that you’ve got because each second is a blessing from on high.
Have a Blessed week everbody and know that God loves you!
Scriptures to Meditate
Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 7:9
“Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
Deuteronomy 10:12
[ The Essence of the Law ] “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deuteronomy 11:13
‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deuteronomy 30:6
And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Matthew 22:37
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Mark 12:30
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
1 Chronicles 16:29
Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!
The Most Powerful Prayer
Hi Everybody!
It’s the weekend and so far it’s been foggy, rainy and on the cooler side this morning, but it’s still another day that the Lord has made for you if you are able to read this message so REJOICE! 
You must be wondering what the most powerful prayer is since I entitled this post “The Most Powerful Prayer”. There are indeed many prayers that are powerful but the one I’m showcasing today is the one that we all know. It is the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus in Matthew 6: 8-13 covers all the things we need to do when we pray to our Father God. Instead of writing it out for you, I’ll give you a video about it. Praise God, Seek Forgiveness for your faults and failures, then Forgive those who have wronged you and then exalt the King of kings.
May this Video bless you today everybody! 
What is Important Right Now?
Hi Everybody!
HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!
I was sitting in my chair thinking of what to write today since a few things have happened to me this week that I haven’t really gotten off my chest about and I decided that I’ll just talk about what I’ve encountered this week. I’ve encountered both constructive and destructive criticism, I’ve encountered opportunities to minister to some people and did, I fell sick during the week and yet had things I needed to accomplish which made things rather challenging since I was in the midst of getting some projects done at work, I also encountered some individuals this week who were definitely self-serving and inconsiderate that it made me think “what is wrong with people these days?!”. In fact, I think you could say I was pretty frustrated and angry at the nonsense that kept poppin’ in my week that I even went and talked to my mum about it and she was calm and collected which is so like her. I love the fact that she doesn’t allow things to get to her so easily unlike me who does, and she knows me very well to be an emotional person so she let me rant and rave as much as I wanted until I cooled down which I’m still trying to work on, but have a ways to go on that front so I decided that I needed to pray about my attitude since I still did not feel at peace even after all that blowing off of steam. I even ranted to my twin who is just like my cool-headed mom which didn’t make much of a difference towards my attitude. I had a lot say to God that I just felt like venting to the Lord about my days this week until I found myself asking….”What in the world am I doing here? What is the point????!!!”.
Sometimes I feel like flying off somewhere far far away and never coming back to escape the dramarama of my life when I feel like I’ve had enough, but I know intuitively that that is just me formulating ways and means of escapism from reality. Sometimes I think that when you’ve moved around as much as I have you develop a way of thinking that if you move or leave to go somewhere far away you’ll escape the problem that you left behind you when you leave the country. However, the reality is that you aren’t really escaping the problem…you’re traveling with it to the next destination which is something I have learned after living in one country for more than three years. I have never stayed in a country for more than four years until now since I’m settled in Canada for the past 11 years and I can tell you that I still feel tempted to leave and move on to the next best thing when I feel like I can’t take it anymore. That feeling occurs to me when I’m feeling uncomfortable or when I feel like I’m being tied to a place for too long…. this urgency to run away before people ground me or make me commit to things that will keep me in one place for too long makes me feel like I’m suffocating when I prefer having the freedom to do what I want when I want…but of course there comes a point where a person needs boundaries which I believe I do have…but at the same time, these boundaries become rather murky when I struggle with anxiety.
Escapism….a dangerous place to be when you have options. It’s also a dangerous place to be when you don’t have options. I probably am not making any sense right now which is ok…just keep reading 
.
Ok, to some people who have been following this blog, you may be thinking…Sherline this is soo unlike you….get your act together woman! I know!!! I know already!!!….I should! but I was very irritated this week that I myself had to call into question my own actions…Why am I being so reactionary when all this while I’ve been teaching about responding appropriately to situations? My very words were being tested by the Lord which is something that happens to me a lot, Ugh! *I’m cringing at this failed test* lol Well, all I can say is the jokes on me lol .
I’m actually laughing about this as I write because I think my behaviour has been an entire joke for the whole week. I find myself asking myself how is it possible that I managed to stay upset for an entire 5 days in a row allowing little things to get to me so easily? That’s when I decided that I needed to pray to God about this…because something was definitely wrong with me since there were areas where I know I normally would have exhibited some level of self-control were now the areas that now bothered me with incredible intensity that I just felt like blowing my top off even though I managed to restrain myself from doing so to some extent, but that’s not the point! The point is is that even if I didn’t say anything, my thoughts were not pure because angry thoughts ended up filling my mind and ended up being my meditations throughout the week even though I know that it’s ungodly to let the sun go down in your anger. My anger issue kind of took me off guard as I struggled to resolve the issue by ignoring it and by trying to minimize the things that were already irritating me. It was clear to me that this was a spiritual issue that I needed to tackle with the help of the Holy Spirit. That’s when I decided that enough is enough…I needed to pray about this and so I did in the middle of the night. As I vented my frustrations to the Lord, the Holy Spirit listened to me blah blah blahing away saying my two cents about how I reacted to so and so and what the outcome was after the incidents that occurred throughout the week, and the only thing He asked me at the end of this ranting and raving is “What is important right now?”.
What type of question is that?! I wondered. I sat there feeling puzzled and confused, feeling like the Holy Spirit was playing games with me and had obviously ignored my side of the story, oh so I thought initially. I sat silently thinking about it for a while knowing that I can’t outsmart Him…and began to contemplate the question feeling slightly apathetic. I then realized that the important thing for me right now was to seriously analyze why I was so upset in the first place. I soon came to understand that I didn’t want to admit that my reactions to everything that upset me during the week where all symptomatic to a root issue which the Holy Spirit pointed out to me was an issue of PRIDE. Yes, you read that right…I was dealing with an issue of PRIDE. The very thing I’ve tried to avoid like the plague was the very thing that I found myself caught up in and entangled myself in its very dangerous web.
The Holy Spirit began to reveal to me how very subtle it was in its approach by showing me how in my anger I was reacting towards things that would not typically bother me, for the wrong reasons. I felt entitled to preserve myself from people’s bad behaviour and reacted in offense rather than respond with peace. I then ended up fuming silently which isn’t a good thing for me to do because when I fume I find myself unsuspectingly waiting to blow my top off at someone which is something I truly need to work on right now. I find that I tend to all of a sudden remember a lot of bad memories that flood my mind like a tsunami which I realize that such things begin when I’m triggered by someones words to react all self-defensively. I’ve encountered a lot in my day that I now know I have many walls that I have placed up against people as a means of shielding myself from being hurt again. This is something that the Holy Spirit is prodding and poking at right now which is kind of annoying because I know that the Holy Spirit is able to discern what hurts me the most and never seems to let me off that easily which is something I thank God for because the Holy Spirit is my best friend. He won’t white wash the truth…He just tells it like it is and now I have homework…dealing with my anger is my homework.
I’m not one to share stuff like this publicly because I don’t like wearing my heart on my sleeve…but I figured that it’s best to do so on this blog since I’m sure that there are people out there who have things they need to deal with in regards to their emotions that the Holy Spirit wants to help heal, especially those places that hurt. The Holy Spirit wants people to focus on the areas of their emotions that they have not yet surrendered completely to the Holy Spirit in order for Him to do His work. At this moment, I pray that the Holy Spirit helps me and other people reading this message to deal with the things that trigger such negative emotions to erupt in the first place. I have a history…but going back to the Holy Spirit’s question….ask yourself this question when you are dealing with something: “What is important right now?”
Is your anger important?
Is the reason why you are being emotional that important?
Do you even know why you are upset?
Sometimes you can be depressed and may not even know the reason why you are to begin with….but for every negative emotion that you encounter in your day…. ask yourself “What is important right now?” and seriously consider that you’ll find the root cause of your emotions and will be able to deal with them better when you confront the issue in sincerity and confess it before God honestly so that you allow room for the Holy Spirit to help you deal with these issues. Right now, even confessing on a blog feels kind of painful for me to do right now even though I’m laughing, because admitting the truth is never easy…but that’s the starting point to ones deliverance. I can tell you that I feel like hyperventilating as I type this…but I also feel in my spirit that it’s like what my Grandparents used to say to me when I wouldn’t fess up to my mistakes in the past that “It’s better to tell the truth and shame the devil” otherwise all the shame will be left on you. Telling the truth exposes what was left in the dark to come to light so that you are accountable to your actions rather than remaining in the shadows of being in denial of your responsibilities to accept the repercussions of your actions.
Live the Truth out with much Fear and Trembling.
After having written this post, I truthfully feel such a release in my spirit right now from all the anger I had been harboring all this time this past week that I can honestly say that joy is actually filling my spirit at this moment as I conclude the post. I praise God for giving me the courage to be real with myself here on Wpress even when I don’t want to be. God works in mysterious ways.
Know that God wants to set you free, no matter what emotions or feelings you struggle with. I believe in my best friend the Holy Spirit.
Do you believe?
God Bless You Everybody and have an awesome WEEKEND!
The Jesus Creed
Hi Everybody!
I know that for those who are Catholic you maybe familiar with the Apostle’s Creed which says.:
I believe in God,the Father almighty,Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen
I was born Catholic and believed these words to be an awesome prayer out of all the prayers I used to do in the Catholic Church. Although I’m no longer Catholic since I now attend a non-denominational church, I still find it to be a powerful statement of faith. Today, I found a video called The Jesus Creed. As disciples of Christ it is important to see what our Lord Jesus Christ finds to be the important features of our Faith in Him. Enjoy the Video and God Bless you Everybody!
The Seven Last Words
Hi Everybody!
This is going to be rather short reflection today but what I do want to say is that we have to learn to pray for people that offend us. When we look at the times we have offended God with our own actions, you can know for sure that we all deserve God’s judgment in our lives. However, Jesus came in and INTERCEDED on our behalf on the cross as He prayed to the Father and said in His seven last words found in the book of Luke:
Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.
In the same way, that Jesus interceded for us…we must learn to do the same. Now, I feel like the Lord has been dealing with me on this issue because I am emotional at times when someone wrongs me in an offensive way, but I have to rise above that and overcome evil with God’s definition of good. To intercede effectively, we have to learn to forgive 70×7 times over (Matthew 18:21-23) and let me tell you that it is no easy task, but it can be done when we start to focus on changing how we feel, react and respond to those that offend us.
The battle here is operating with a Spirit of LOVE people.
Love covers a multitude of sin (Proverbs 10:12) as 
demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ, so as Christians, we must learn to do the same and step our game up in the Love department. Let me tell you right now that writing about this was quite difficult since there are some people that still kind of rub me the wrong way so I raise my Hand in that I need a measure of God’s love to increase in me so that bitterness and anger don’t rob me of joy. I believe that God wants to set people free from being offended if we admit that we need His help in the whole process. Repent and be Healed, be delivered and then seek the same for your brothers and sisters who need that same display of mercy, that same display of God’s love in you in action over them so that they can change and be renewed because of your intercession, because of you standing in the gap for them as Christ our Redeemer did for us as well.
Sometimes when we are offended, we don’t necessarily “Feel” like praying for the person that offended us because of how they hurt us….but intercession isn’t based on feelings…it’s based on “LOVE”. God Loved us enough to send His Son Jesus to intercede on our behalf, and now we have to step up and do the same for our brothers and sisters who are in Christ and for those who aren’t in Christ. We all know that Perfect Love casts our Fear (1 John 4:18), and if it is able to do that, then perfect love can delivers us from evil when Love is put into ACTION.
So my Challenge to you today is sit back and reflect on the people who may have offended you in your past or even recently (no matter how grievous the offense) and put into practice, prayer that forgives them for what they did to you, because they probably don’t even know how they offended you to begin with and even if they do know, seek to pray for forgiveness and also that the Lord help them to change their ways and for the Lord to help change how we think about them so that we aren’t grounded by bitterness and anger. I have found that over time when I have prayed over my enemies, and those that offended me in this way, I feel a release in the bitterness department as I re-shelf that room with jars of LOVE. The more Love you put into action in your own life, the easier it becomes to forgive others as Christ did for us when we didn’t know what we did to offend our Lord.
I have a song from Aaron Sledge called Closer. May this song bless you today everybody!
Scriptures to Meditate
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.
James 5:16
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Virtue – Fall Again
As many of you know, I love worship so this song has been in my spirit for this entire week and I want to share it with you. I’ve actually got this one running in my car at the moment. It’s by Virtue called Fall Again. The Message in this song is about the Holy Spirit being in Us again. We all have our weaknesses as we walk the road closer to God, but that is when we need the Holy Spirit even more to guide us into that close-knit intimacy with God. It is Only then that we can Hear God, when we allow the Holy Spirit to indwell in us and perform a great work in us to transform into the Image of God with a renewed mind because the Holy Spirit - The Helper is in us the HOPE of Glory. Let it minister to your Spirit today and confess your weakness before God and seek the help of the Holy Spirit to purify your Heart today. Stay Blessed in your Walk Everybody!
Scriptures to Meditate
Romans 5:2
through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Ephesians 1:18
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Colossians 1:27
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Psalm 54:4
Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life.
Psalm 72:12
For He will deliver the needy when he cries, The poor also, and him who has no helper.
John 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever
John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 15:26
[ The Coming Rejection ] “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
Hebrews 13:6
So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Blessings: Regarding what is Important with Respect and Value
Day 20 of 21 Day Daniel Fast – Well, I only have one more day until I go Tea partying hahahaha. Ok well, it’s been an amazing journey. I must say there were moments where I just wanted to end it all because on one of the days this week I felt like I was just breaking down literally, I felt like I was losing my mind because of lack of sleep. I don’t know if it’s withdrawal from not having tea but I found each day a struggle to go to work because I felt so exhausted from staying awake deep into the night. I think I was suffering from insomnia that it was just getting out of hand. Can’t explain it but all I could do was pray and write up a new post while I couldn’t sleep. It’s also been very busy for me this week but I am blessed by my readers encouragement and words of comfort. You don’t know how you fellow bloggers make me *smile* especially during this last stretch of the Fast. I could do with some sleep but I highly doubt that even after this Fast is over that it’ll happen just like that since I’m in serious meditation mode as of late. I feel like God won’t let me sleep until I have written down everything that He has shown me. So this post today is inspired by this intense experience more than anything.
My encouragement today is a continuation along the lines of what I wrote about yesterday regarding Esau and the birthright. The birthright is always handed down to the first born and in our case, we are SONS OF GOD who also have a birthright but do we know what our birthrights are? Do we recognize it? Do we value it? Do we despise it like Esau? He despised his birthright which was his rightful blessing for a morsel of food.
My Question today is: Are we like Esau who despised His birthright or are we like Jacob who knew the VALUE of the birthright? Let’s read the story shall we.
19This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram[a] and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.[b]26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[c] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. 27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[d])
31Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
What can you learn from the Jacob and Esau story?:
1. Jacob knew the value of the birthright blessing that was going to be handed to Esau by their father Issac.
2. Jacob caught Esau at his most vulnerable moment where he was neither alert nor discerning of Jacobs agenda (he was famished and only thought of food after a hard days work) .
3. Esau did not recognize that the birthright blessing was one to be valued and he didn’t think twice about His brother’s scheme to cheat Him out of it. He did not discern the plot behind Jacobs scheming behaviour. That is why it is important to increase in spiritual discernment so as to avoid being cheated out of your blessing.
4. Esau disrespected the VALUE of the birthright blessing by selling it off without a second thought for a morsel of food.
5. The repercussions of Esau’s decision weighed heavily on him as a life changing mistake that he sought after it with tears (Hebrews 12:17).
We cannot afford to be like Esau. Waiting patiently for our blessing is important but we must also remember to regard what God has for us with RESPECT and VALUE. Each blessing carries a weight of Glory and we have to be mature enough to handle its value in our lives as we await for what God has in store for us. We can be cheated out of our blessing like Esau if we don’t understand the assignment of those trying to rob us out of what is rightfully ours. So pray to increase your discernment in the coming days because there will be those (including those closest to you) who will be able to discern the value of what God has in store for you and will try to cheat you out of what God already preordained to be yours. Seek wisdom and recognize the assignment against your life over it. The enemy tries to kill, steal and destroy but God wants you to have life and life more abundantly.
My Last Word:
In your abundant seeking meditations, do not forget the enemy of your soul that wants to rob you of it so pray for God to place a hedge of protection around you and a protection over your promise so that the enemy has no room to steal what is rightfully yours. Do not be passive and be caught unaware of the agenda against your blessing like Esau, be wise and outsmart the Jacobs that try to trick you out of it. Abundance is your PORTION so protect it and regard it with RESPECT and VALUE and be alert at all times. This isn’t the time to be caught with your pants down and with the wool over your eyes. Be discerning and be alert. Don’t forget to seek wisdom as your pray for an increase of DISCERNMENT. Be VIGILANT as you maintain the Focus on God during your meditations. Remember, God has your JEREMIAH 29:11 for you, so fight for it rather than end up like Esau, seeking for it with TEARS.
Scriptures to Meditate
John 10:10
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Deuteronomy 7:12
[ Blessings of Obedience ] “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.
Deuteronomy 28:1
[ Blessings on Obedience ] “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
Deuteronomy 28:2
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God
Deuteronomy 28:8
“The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Psalm 3:8
Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah
Psalm 21:3
For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head.
Psalm 24:5
He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Proverbs 10:6
Blessings are on the head of the righteous, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.
Isaiah 44:3
For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;
Ezekiel 34:26
I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.
1
Corinthians 10:16
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
Galatians 3:14
that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Ephesians 1:3
[ Redemption in Christ ] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Hebrews 6:14
saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”
Answer to the Call in Your Life – He’s Calling You
Day 17 of 21 Day Daniel Fast - So todays meditation is also a day in advance but I think I’ll just post like this for now since I’m trying to catch up with the things that I have to do with so little time.
It is about analyzing yourself to make a complete turn around in they way you go about your daily affairs. I entitled it Answer to the Call in Your Life – He’s Calling You because that is what is required of us in order for one to fulfill their God-Given Destiny. Do you know what your calling is in this Life? Are you an engineer, a teacher, a preacher, an evangelist, a boxer, an athlete, a business man, etc; whatever it is, God gave you gifts to use in this world to make it a better place and did so with the intention to Glorify You His Son and Daughter in whom He is well pleased, to Glorify Him using our talents and our giftings to answer to the “Call” in our lives. Ask yourself, are you using your gifts right now to Glorify Him? Who is benefiting from your Gifting? Is it the Lost? Is it the World, or is it the Body of Christ? How you answer that will show you at what capacity you are fulfilling your role in this life.
I’m still on my own journey trying to figure myself out but I have a general idea that my gifting lies in helping people through positive motivational speaking and writing. God gave us the creativity to create Change; however, because He is the Potter and we are the Clay, we have to allow Him to Change us into His Image in order to fulfill His Will over our lives.
Isaiah 64:8
Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
The question is “Are you willing to Change in order to Answer to the Call in Your Life?”. Do you even believe that you need to change? What is your calling in life?If you have no idea what your calling in life should be, then this is the right time to be seeking God for answers during this Fast. You have to keep in mind though that the answer you anticipate may require you to change the habits that hinder you from reaching your full potential. You have to seek God to expose those things that are keeping you from obeying His Will over your life in order to operate in your fullness. God is a God of the Overflow and of abundance. You can reach your answers if you understand what it takes to reach your goals. Your character is the key to answering God’s calling in your life. You must purpose to walk in humility and integrity in order to satisfy the Call.
In order to develop a Character of Integrity, you must:
1) Be Teachable;
2) Be Honest with yourself – this isn’t the time to be in denial zone;
3) Respect the answers that come with further instruction;
4) Purpose to change by making a decisive decision to change what needs to be changed;
5) Act on what you have learned and desire knowledge with understanding;
6) Remain humble to correction;
7) Understand the assignment against your progress to fulfill your dreams;
8) Do not give up when the tough gets going (I personally am working on this one here)
9) Meditate on the Word to Maintain the Focus on God’s Will over your Life; and
10) Thank God for the Answers that He Gives to you as you Receive them – always have an Attitude of Gratitude. <—- That’s very very important.
Sometimes we think “we know it all” but that’s just PRIDE talking there and we must seek to humble ourselves before the great Teacher, Father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Like I said earlier, I feel like God is showing me many areas that I need to change but “why these areas?”. Sometimes when we don’t get the full picture concerning who we really are in Christ, we try to work things out by our own methods through rationalizing and justifying our bad behavior for not doing what we are supposed to do to find those answers. This behavior won’t help us in the long run if we don’t learn to cultivate a teachable spirit to listen to wise instruction/counsel.
To be a better you, you’ve got to go beyond yourself and seek to throw away your old self that doesn’t know how to move forward. Only through God will you be able to find what you seek because I believe that if we are all Sons and Daughters of the most High God, He is calling all of us to rise up and BE what we’re supposed to BE. We can only answer to the Call in our lives when we seek to be obedient and teachable so that our spiritual ears can Hear what God is telling us to do. What are you going to do when you Hear what He has to say? Are you going to turn a deaf ear or answer to His Call? God speaks to us all the time and yet we complain that He doesn’t hear us when we call out to Him. However, have you ever considered that it could be because we are not trying to hear Him when He calls Us?
John 10:27
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
If you want God to be attentive to you, You also have to be attentive to Him. This is what it means to build a relationship. Humble yourself so that you can receive and Hear what God has to say since He will never leave you nor forsake You (Deuteronomy 31:6; Deuteronomy 31:8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5).
I have yet an amazing song to fill your spirit that fits this message of encouragement. It is also by Donnie McClurkin and it is called He is Calling You. Stay blessed everyone!
Scriptures to Meditate
Psalm 23:5
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Psalm 119:171
May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees.
Psalm 65:11
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
Romans 5:15
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 9:12
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
Colossians 2:4-6
Spiritual Fullness in Christ
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
John 15:15
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
Ephesians 4:4
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
1 Peter 1:15
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Going the Distance – Building on Perserverance to Finish the Race
Day 11 of 21 Day Daniel Fast - How many are you feeling a phsyical, emotional and spiritual change at this half-way point? You know when you run a long distance marathon, there are check points for runners to grab water or a towel to pat dry their sweat. Is this where you are right now? Has this Fast made you see how much you can endure when putting pressure in the supernatural realm to evoke a change in the natural? This is the test of endurance. Endurance that is cultivated by patience and built up perseverance. This has not been an easy Fast at all for me. I have gone a full week and have started to see so many things I need to curb within myself in order to pursue the greater things that God has for me. My expectations are to grow with a heart that mirrors Christ and yet when certain things rub me the wrong way, it can be discouraging at times when God is doing a great shaking in you to purify your soul to reflect His image. How many of you are experiencing this?
Today’s meditation is about Learning as you go along the way when Seeking God’s face and stretching your ears to Hear what He has to say to you in this time of Prayer and Fasting. Ask yourself, are you ready to bear the weight and the responsibility of the answer that He wants to download to your address? Sometimes in receiving the answer, we cannot be idly satisfied of just receiving it and not anticipate that there could be more work for us to do. Look at what happened to Daniel in Chapters 10 & 11. He didn’t just receive an answer, he received further instructions to prepare for what was yet to come.
Are you even considering that the answers you receive may entail more work for YOU to do? Are you even prepared to handle that? Those are the questions that are in my mind right now. Am I ready? Am I really prepared to handle what God has in store? To be quite honest, I am afraid of what God’s plans are for me but at the same time, I want to have the courage and walk by faith into it and do it afraid anyway. You can’t afford to mill around your comfort zones because great dreams, great visions, great faith require great measures, great preparation, and great ACTION. This is what has been in my heart at the moment. “Where is God taking me?” is the question. Where is GOD taking YOU???? Think about that and circle back when you receive your answers. Consider it, Reflect on it, Pray about it and then Act on it.
Going the distance to finish the race entails that you are gathering a level of mental preparation to PERFORM whatever is required of you to get to the finish line. The thing you need to understand is that you are persevering in your Fast through prayer and meditation to achieve your goals in the Spirit so that they manifest in the Natural.
You Fast, You Pray and then there is another step that accompanies these things which you have to prepare to do and that is You ACT. When YOU know better (after receiving revelation, answers etc) YOU DO better by acting on what YOU now KNOW (James 4:17).
Another thing you should understand is, that there is indeed more work required of you after the Fast has ended. So suffer no delusions my friends and family; PREPARE to Work, PREPARE to Endure, PREPARE to Persevere, PREPARE yourself to put into action ALL the things you learned during the Daniel Fast in practical ways in your life. Faith without works is DEAD (James 2:14). Remember, what I said in my earlier Post, Don’t do this Fast in Vain. Keep expecting a Change within to manifest a Change throughout. Stay Blessed everybody.
Scriptures to Meditate
1 Thessalonians 1:3
remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,
James 2:14
[ Faith Without Works Is Dead ] What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
James 2:18
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
James 2:20
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
James 4:17
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
2 Corinthians 12:12
Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
Ephesians 6:18
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
James 5:11
Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
Increasing Your Spiritual Discernment while Engaging the Battle
Day 8 of 21 Day Daniel Fast - So I’m down to 2 weeks left of this Fast, some people have just started and some who started earlier are already experiencing differences within their Fast. I think this is worthy of Praising God for, AMEN!
I did have a rough morning today in that I went to work and my entire left eye was swollen like as if somebody had punched me in the eye also coupled with a bad dream that I had last night but the whole swelling of my eye thing caught me off guard because it was unexpected and unexplainable. My Boss is very gracious to me and I praise God for her and my colleagues who were all concerned and egging me on to visit a clinic that’s just down the street to make sure I’m OK. At my workplace I’m treated like family so the encouragement was very supportive for me.
I went to the clinic and the good news was that it wasn’t an infectious eye infection. It was diagnosed as an allergic reaction to something (i.e. makeup or food). However, the doctor kept marveling by how swollen it looked and how I didn’t have blurred vision nor experience pain which is typical for the things he’s seen. Now when I heard this, I thought to myself that I have never had so much as an allergic reaction to something in my entire life so you can imagine my surprise. Despite this, I took the Doc’s advice and prescription and prayed to God about it all because at the end of the day You have to believe in the Report of the Lord over your life. By His Stripes I am Healed in Jesus’ Name.
Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
via rivercitychurch.com
Today, I want to talk about understanding the battle and the importance of increasing your discernment during this time. Like I said before, when you Fast, your senses become sharpened/heightened. Ask yourself, do you feel the difference???? I personally feel that my discernment is increasing. It is important to increase in this area since it is a supernatural battle we’re engaged in to make the natural submit to the Holy Spirit. If you aren’t purposing to increase your discernment, then I suggest that you start pursuing it NOW and seek to do so because you aren’t battling a battle of flesh and blood.
Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
So many strange things will start to occur during this Fast and it is up to you do determine and seek from God to sharpen your discernment so that you can understand the strange things that are happening in your environment and also consider the change you are experiencing from within. When I mean sharpen your discernment I mean, purpose to increase with wisdom and knowledge with UNDERSTANDING so that you are able to take the wisest course of actions when confronted with something in any situation or circumstance.
via theresurgence.com
As man looks at the outward appearance of men, God looks at the Heart. We must discern and seek to understand a person for who they truly are rather than marveling at the outward appearance because appearances can be deceiving. You have to understand and learn to be able to point out who your friends are from your foes, who is trustworthy within your family amongst your multitude of relatives, who your allies are from your contenders in the workplace. Seek to sharpen your discernment so that you operate with DIVINE WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING that enables you to choose Godly courses of action when confronting your variety of ADVERSARIES. I recommend reading my earlier post called Sharpening your Discernment as a starting point so that you increase in your level of wisdom to God’s level that He has for you.
I have NOT 1, but 2 Awesome Videos for you to Watch today as you meditate on Sharpening your Discernment as the Inner you continues to Transform into God’s Image. He is the Final Architect of our Lives so allow the Master Builder to build you into a strong Tower for His Name Sake. Be Blessed Everyone!
Scriptures to Meditate
1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Luke 21:8
And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore do not go after them.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Titus 3:3
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
1 John 1:8
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
2 Corinthians 4:16
[ Seeing the Invisible ] Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
Ephesians 4:22-24
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Philippians 3:21
who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Exodus 31:3
And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
1 Kings 4:29
And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore.
1 Kings 10:23
So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
Spiritual Warfare – The Battle is Won in the Spirit to Manifest in the Natural – Whose Report will you Believe?
by Nyla Rossini
Day 6 of 21 Day Daniel Fast - For today, I have an excellent video to encourage you during this Daniel Fast if you are participating since it is indeed an intense battle. Believe me, I feel a little low without my Tea, but God is good. You will probably feel fatigue or discouraged by the things that maybe happening around you in your environment during this time since it is a Spiritual Battle that you are engaged in. However, I want you to believe that the Battle is already Won. God has the victory and you have to believe that HEAVEN is saying YES to your situation as you are saying HELL NO to the lies of the enemy over your life, over your family, over your workplace, over your circumstances, whatever it is, God has the final say in your situation.
Let’s not view this as some kind of weight loss program because it isn’t. You must be praying and meditating as you go along and remember you are sacrificing that which gives you pleasure in order to reap that which is Divine in provision for your breakthrough. Also understand that when you are praying as you Fast, everything is now being sharpened, your senses, your appetite, your mind, your thoughts, your body, your level of discernment, everything is coming into the subjection of the Holy Spirit. It is a battle of discipline, perseverance and don’t forget that it is a battle of FAITH. You must pray with great expectations in order to receive greater rewards for your labor. Do not do things in vain, do things in Faith.
Be patient when receiving your answers from Heaven just like Daniel. His confirmation regarding his prayers came on the 24th day after his 21 day Fast that God had heard from heaven (Daniel 10:4-14). So at every stage of this Fast, fix your eyes on the the ONE that has already got the Answers that are on the way. If you seek deliverance, deliverance is on the way, if you seek household salvation, household salvation is on the way, if you seek healing, healing is on the way, if you seek restoration in your finances, restoration is on the way. Whatever you are believing for, the whole point is BELIEVE IN THE REPORT OF THE LORD. Whose report will you believe????
Spiritual Warfare painting by Miles Teves
Be Encouraged and Trust in the Lord your God just like Caleb and Joshua who were able to enter into the promised land because they followed the Lord completely. Don’t allow discouragement to cheat you out of what God has promised You! Believe in your JEREMIAH 29:11 promise. You are a mighty warrior in the army of God and Victory is in JESUS’ Name. Be blessed by this video today.
Scriptures to Meditate
1 Chronicles 29:11
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all.
Psalm 24:8
Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:11
“Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”
1 Corinthians 6:17
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Amos 5:15
Hate evil, love good; Establish justice in the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Psalm 40:2
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.
Psalm 37:23
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.
2 Chronicles 6:23
then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Psalm 20:7
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble.40 And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct[a] your paths.
2 Chronicles 6:39
then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.
2 Chronicles 7:14
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Matthew 16:18
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
Preparing for the Answer – Blessing is Power
Day 4 of 21 Day Daniel Fast - I walked into my office building and noticed my company’s billboard ad that had a catch phrase saying “Character is Everything”. My meditation today is in regards to how blessings give us power but in order to be blessed and remain blessed we must develop our Character.
As you already know I am fasting on a lot of things and one of those things which I am feeling the effects of withdrawal is Tea. I love my tea. When I was a kid, my grandpa taught me how to brew him tea properly *for his sake mind you* lol. We didn’t have tea bags as we do now because he preferred the use of tea leaves. I would have to first boil water and put it in the ceramic/porcelain tea pot so that the tea pot was warm. After I warmed the pot, I had to empty the water that was in it and put the tea leaves in. I would then pour freshly boiled water into the pot and stir for a short time and close the lid on the tea pot. I would let the tea stand for at least 3 minutes so that it Steeps. The water had to be very hot mind you and then when I poured it for Him he would sip it in his cup and I would await one of two facial expressions:
1) a face full of joy for a “job well done”; or
2) the gagging reflex of ”I want to spew this tea and make you do it all over again until you get it right child!”.
When I was hasty at making my grandpa tea because “I had better things to do”, I would do it anyhow because I was too preoccupied with wanting to watch my cartoons or whatever and my grandpa wouldn’t have it until I made the tea right. If I didn’t do it right the first time, he’d chuck the whole pot full and make me do it all over again with him standing there. Talk about CHASTISEMENT *sheesh*! I laugh about it now when I think back on it since I had to make him tea three times a day…serious training I tell you. I figured after that chastising lesson I would always purpose to make his tea the “right way” so that he wouldn’t nag me anymore. When I did things the right way, he would be pleased and would often reward me at times or just give me a positive affirmation on a job “well done”.
The Lesson Here is: Avoid the drama and wasting of time by learning and being teachable enough to do things right.
You must be wondering “Where I’m going with this tea business?”. Humor me and keep reading.
My tea story is a reflection of how we treat the things of GOD. When we act like holiness doesn’t require an attitude adjustment and correction then we do things haphazard and the end result is futility and mediocrity which is more of a character and personality likened to lukewarm tea that is worth spiting out. We shouldn’t have a lukewarm attitude if we want to receive blessings and answers from God.
Maturity in character is developed by having a TEACHABLE spirit. We must purpose to correct and adjust our Characters in order for God’s grace to shine one us and prepare us to receive the answers that we seek from HIM. Make the tea the right way– meaning adjust your Character to do what is right so that it is pleasing toward God. You will be rewarded when you do things the “right way” with the right frame of mind with a humble and teachable spirit to form a GODLY Character.
During this 21 Day Daniel Fast we must remember that Daniel did all He was meant to do in order to grab Gods attention and receive his answer from God. He sought His face with patience, care, endurance, perseverance and with a Character that already Feared the Lord. God was pleased with him and the answer came down from heaven from an angelic host to confirm that God had heard Daniel’s prayers as you read Daniel 10: 10-12. Daniel had the character to receive the answer and be blessed (Daniel 6:3; Daniel 6:28; Daniel 2:48). He was mature enough to handle the fact that the answer came from an unlikely source (an angelic host).
My question to you is are you mature enough to handle the idea that your answer will come from an unlikely source????
Elijah and the Widow
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’”
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.
What can you learn about the Elijah and the Widow story?
1. Elijah was Gods chosen Prophet and he obeyed God’s command to go to the location where he was to be fed by a widow. He did as he was Instructed to do (a powerful display of God fearing obedience, humility and faithfulness in Character).
2. The widow was anticipating the arrival of Elijah since she was commanded by God to give him food.
3. It was a time of a drought that produced no food so the widow was prepared to make one last meal with her child and die after that.
4. God was providing the answer to the widows plight by sending Elijah the Tishbite Prophet - Who was her blessing, her answer from God from an unlikely source.
5. Elijah gave her instructions to make him a cake to eat with all that she had left (flour & oil). She obeyed and listened to instruction (a true display of a teachable & humble character that is GOD fearing) and prepared what she was instructed to do knowing full well she had nothing left to lose since she and her son were going to die anyway.
6. The Lord Blessed her obedience by blessing her with DIVINE Provision. Through Gods servant - Elijah the prophet, her supply of food and oil did not run out until the rain came. This saved her and her family (Household Salvation).
7. The Lord blessed her Household with the abundance of the OVERFLOW during a time of famine. Our God is a God of More than Enough!
via tdcdecals
When I read this scripture the first thought that came to mind is Do you know where your answer will come from? Do you have any idea who God will send to confirm your answer??? You must prepare your mind and your spirit to accept the idea that the answers that you seek for your breakthroughs can and will come from an unlikely source. Are you ready to handle that TRUTH???? Can you honestly say that you are mature enough to handle and accept your miracle from God knows where????? What have you done to shape your character to receive the blessings of the Lord? This is a question I pose to both YOU and I. Also be mindful of how you treat strangers, they may be holding the blessing or the breakthrough that you seek in your time of need. You have no idea who God will send to your address and by what means. Remember that.
Think about that as you proceed in your meditations during this 21 Day Daniel Fast.
I can’t remember which movie I heard this saying but I remember someone saying “The Truth! The Truth, You Want the TRUTH????! You can’t handle the Truth!!!”. Don’t be someone who can’t handle the truth….because the TRUTH is what sets you and your family free (John 8:32)!
Scriptures to Meditate
Isaiah 49:10
They shall neither hunger nor thirst, Neither heat nor sun shall strike them; For He who has mercy on them will lead them, Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.[a] And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
30As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
Psalm 4:5
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in the LORD.
Psalm 9:10
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 20:7
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
Psalm 37:3
Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Psalm 37:40
And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.
Psalm 37:5
Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
Psalm 91:2
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.
Jeremiah 17:7
“ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.
Nahum 1:7
The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.
Focusing on What’s Important – Clearing the Air in your Mind
via Shejus.deviantart.com
Day 1 of 21 Day Daniel Fast – So today my church and I have started the fast. I know some of you started on January 1 but I’ve officially started today January 3rd, 2012. I know my blogger friend Nadie is chronicling her food adventures of this fast which is amazing. She even has a great link to help people make food appropriate choices for the Fast at www.daniel-fast.com. I totally recommend checking that out for your own piece of FYI and just to encourage you with recipes that you can utilize and experiment with in alignment with this Fast. Thanks again Nadie for your post “Daniel Fast Day 1 pt 2″. Very imformative and encouraging to know that there are more people interested in doing the Fast right.
For today’s meditation I want to focus on what is important. It’s not so much that you are doing a spiritual exercise, but it’s what you gain from it. I have expectations of hearing God’s voice clearly. He talks all the time but are our ears inclined to hear what He has to say? You’ve got to ask yourself that question when you start or prepare for your meditations. Sometimes, He’ll give us rude awakenings on our habits, personalities and flaws in our character that need changing in order to walk in holiness. The thing here is, are you willing to embark on that journey to transform you current way of thinking and ways of doing things?
I find that when I meditate on the Word, God shows me things that I need to personally change in order to become a better person. Sometimes we don’t like being corrected by Him when He shows us a character flaw that we need to curb with intense enthusiasm because we like to be stuck in our ways, but that sort of defeats the purpose of the Fast now doesn’t it? In order to have your dreams become realized, you have to be prepared to receive the long awaited dream by changing the way you are now so that when you receive it, you will have the right character and frame of mind to manage the dream, maintain the dream and keep the dream alive.
Confusion can cause us to make mistakes so during your time of meditation, focus on seeking God for clarity for situations that you cannot make sense of with your own might and power. Seek God’s face even in the smallest of your affairs so that He becomes magnified in your mind that you will habitually seek His opinions on things that matter. The importance is to maintain the focus. I even ask God for direction when I’m shopping for something and believe it or not, He helps me find the items I need when I’m in search for something specific. This is what I mean when I say seek Him even in the smallest of your affairs because once you start doing that, He will walk with you even when the largest events happen in your life. Keep Him Sovereign.
My Encouragement today is Focus on the importance of building your RELATIONSHIP with the Lord by including Him even in the smallest of your affairs so that you walk with HIM in mind everyday and at each moment. Also remember that you must always be specific in your prayer life so that you get what you ask for instead of being vague. Target prayers require specificity.
Scriptures to Meditate on:
Deuteronomy 5:33
You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Deuteronomy 10:12
[ The Essence of the Law ] “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
1 Kings 8:23
and he said: “LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.
Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.
2 Corinthians 6:16
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “ I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”
Isaiah 50:4
“ The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.
Romans 10:17
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Revelation 2:7
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”’
Revelation 2:17
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”’
Bread of Heaven – The Living Word
For this post I remembered a song that fills me each time I think about Jesus and what He means to us on a personal basis. Since the Year 2011 is nearing a close I wanted to thank God for giving us weapons of warfare that are not carnal but are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).Remember this scripture as you start your 21 Day Daniel Fast. This Fast is quite intense in its own way and I know that I’ve started to feel like I have to prepare my mind for it. Knowing that I am not participating on my own is a big encouragement. I expect from God to Reveal to us more of Himself during the New Year and to Increase my level of Faith. What are you expecting from God in your Fast? Always remember that you must have a focus and an expectation of receiving answers from God when you Fast and Pray. If you participate in such an spiritual exercise with no expectations whatsoever, then you will do things in Vain. Never do things in vain and never do things for the sake of doing it just because everybody else is doing it because that’s foolishness. You must have resolve, purpose and drive to do the things you do. If you are planning to participate with your church during this Fast, remember that You have to build that level of expectation to increase your Faith level. Throw away your cups of doubt and skepticism and bring your cups of Faith to recharge and refuel. This Fast is intended to build you into spiritual maturity so increase your expectations in order to receive from the Lord.
Things that you can focus on during your Daniel Fast:
Pray for your Political Leaders, Law Makers, Businesses,Workplaces, Education, Health, Family & Friends, the Unsaved to find Christ this Year and don’t forget to Pray for yourself.
Seek: Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Increased Spiritual Discernment, Wisdom to carry out wise courses of action, Divine Revelation of the Word, Deliverance, Healing, Familial Salvation, direction in your destiny, increase in Faith and understanding of the Word.
Do not forget: Read the Word, Pray with the Word, Meditate on the Word and Live by the Word.
When you do all this, you will become sharp and God will increase your capacity to receive supernatural downloads of His Goodness and Mercy on your Life. Your character will be shaped by this level of discipline. Be encouraged and motivated by this Fast and see how you transform during the 21 Days.
Suggestion: Journalize each day to see how the Lord is changing you. I have never done it before but one of my favorite blogger friends called Nadie is thinking of doing it and I think it’s a great idea. I might end up doing this just to see how I’m growing during this fast. It’s only a suggestion so consider it an exercise to monitor your progression during the Fast.
This song I am posting is by Fred Hammond called You are the Living Word. May it encourage you and bless you.
“Why am I not getting my Answer???!” – Hindrances to Prayers Pt. 2
(Cont’d pt. 2) In the previous post I talked about how I needed to revamp my faith level in my prayer life and in general, enhance my spiritual walk with the Lord. FAITH IS THE KEY HERE. How do we expect to get mature with our prayer life if we don’t have faith in Jesus? It says in the Word of God in (Hebrews 11:6) :
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him
Let’s all try to revamp our prayer life together by going to that Prayer Gym to exercise on our Faith – stair master machine; our Belief- treadmill machine, Trust- bench press machine. Let us not lean to our own understanding but in all our ways, acknowledge HIM (GOD -your workout trainer), and He shall direct your path (Proverbs 3:5) - for a healthy exercise routine. Let’s build our Faith Muscles!
In this post I will now explore what I find to be the reasons as to why we don’t get some of our prayers answered. It could be any of the reasons I am about to list below. I don’t expect this list to be exhaustive because there could be more reasons for hindrances in prayer and perhaps I just haven’t thought of it yet so people are welcome to comment below to add on the reasons why they think some prayers don’t get answered. This is a learning process for me so I’m welcome to other people’s opinions and thoughts on the subject matter. Keep in mind that I’m not a pro on this topic so that’s why everything I will list is based on my perspective of the things based on experiences and things I have read. There are certain things we do in our prayers that hinder us from recieving answers when we pray to God. Let’s explore these reasons.
HINDERANCES TO PRAYER
1. Do you know how to pray? (Matthew 6:5-15)- I find that this is the number one fundamental reason as to why some prayers don’t get answered. I believe that prayer is a conversation between You and God; however, when you are a new believer and you have absolutely NO idea how to pray, I find that in the Body of Christ we have a tendency to assume that these people should know how to pray on the get go which is a grave error in our judgement that still persists to this day. I would recommend to a new believer that they can start off with Jesus’ example of the Lords prayer found in (Mathew 6:5-15).
The Structure of the Lords Prayer:
i.) Acknowledge the Father who is in Heaven.
ii.) Be Humble before the Lord and admit Honestly your weaknesses and failures. Acknowledge your weaknesses and failures before the Lord and seek God’s forgiveness in sincerity.
iii.) Seek the Lords help if you harbor any bitterness, resentment or hatred towards anyone who has wronged you in your life with the Help of the Holy Spirit. This is very important.
iv.) Understand that you can be tempted to do things that go against Biblical principles because of your weaknesses and seek God for strength help you to do right in the eyes of the Lord. Each day is a daily struggle between Flesh and Spirit so you need God’s help to increase your level of Faith in order to walk humbly under His Grace and Mercy.
v.) Praise Him, Worship Him and Thank HIM for listening to your prayers. Acknowledge that you cannot do anything without the Lords help so remember to do all these things as you end your prayer. This helps you to cultivate a character of humility because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).
Those that are more seasoned should be able to connect to those that need some direction in this area because some people don’t even know how to ask for the right things in their prayers simply because they have no idea how. You have not because you ask not.(James 4:2).I was like that once and through the help of my mother, being in a youth group (cell group) at church, and going to the christian book shop that had material on prayer books and intercession etc, I was able to equip myself to pray more effectively and saw many of the things in my life change.
Going to church and fellowshipping is a requirement if you want to grow in strength in your spiritual journey. You cannot mature on your own without the help of other people. You are not an island to yourself so don’t kid yourself into thinking you don’t need anyone when you need guidance to build your character and spirit. With a body of believers they can intercede for you when you are going through a crisis…how can you do that if you isolate yourself from the body?
I must emphasize that you can learn to pray even better when you are with a group of other Christians, in particular a small group setting such as a cell group. When you hear the way others pray, you will learn how to pray effectively at an individual level and you will be able to cultivate your own conversation with God as you listen to others. I think that this is the best way to learn how to pray on an individual level and at a small group level. You start off small and in an intimate group setting and that helps you when you move into the larger body within a larger group in a congregational setting. When individuals master prayer as a congregation, they will be able to pray more effectively at a corporate level of prayer and take down footholds and strongholds in your families, in your workplaces, in your cities, in your countries and then head into the global arena at an international level.
2. Motivation (James 4:3) – Are you asking amiss or are you hitting the target?
Some people need to understand this basic principle because it’s one of the most important and fundamental principles that people fail to understand. When you Pray, you must pray seeking that which you need and not seeking things out of selfish motivation. An example of this could be a man praying to God that he wants a particular woman that he desires to make as his wife and he sees a woman that he has “fallen in love with” but finds out later that she is married. He cannot then go ahead and seek the Lord to get her divorced from her husband just because he wants to make that woman his wife. That is UNGODLY and Evil! Such prayers will NOT be answered and anyone practicing this type of meditation for a long time will venture into the arena of demonic prayers which is a form of WITCHCRAFT. God won’t answer a prayer that contradicts His precepts. You must check your motivations when you pray. Prayers have a purpose, it can be for intercession, requests on NEEDS Not WANTS for yourself or others, it can even be a time for receiving a download of revelations in scriptures when meditating on the Word as you seek clarity for things that you don’t understand. Prayer is your relationship hotline between You and God.
Do not abuse this priviledge by requesting things based on desires derived by selfish motivations and rebellious requests that contradict the Word of God. Those prayers will go unanswered.
I must provide a word of caution in that although such crazy requests will not be answered by God…demonic forces will gravitate to such impure meditations and attach themselves to people who move by these unrestrained carnal desires and guide them to places that can give them these “so-called answers” that God refused to grant. That’s why I call them witchcraft prayers.
James 4:1-5
Pride Promotes Strife
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet[a] you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and[b] adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:“ God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”[c]
If you are guilty of this, repent right NOW and turn away from such behaviours so that you don’t latch yourself to some curses on your life that will bring you no rest and trouble will follow you and your household if you continue this activity. That is why people must learn to exercise prudence, sound judgement and self-control when pursuing things out of selfish desires. Some people don’t realize they do this but let me tell you…I have seen such crazy things happen to some people that I can honestly say I know what I’m talking about. On the subject of understanding the difference between the Needs versus Wants, I recommend checking out my earlier post called Desire: Differentiating between Needs vs Wants .
Let me clarify something here, it’s not bad to request things on an
individual basis like wanting a spouse, car, job, house, healing etc. What I am trying to say here is that you must assess the purpose, intention and motivation of your request first before putting it forward to God. I encourage you to consider that He will answer your prayer on the basis of His Will for your Life and not your own. Some people have difficulty with accepting this and that is why they end up offended with the Lord for not answering their vain prayers.
I always say to the Lord when I pray for something I want…because I don’t always know what I need I say to God “By your will and Not my own” because I believe God wants the best for me and sometimes we request things that aren’t right for us at the time and we fail to see that but He can judge the request and He will answer those things that are what we need.
Jesus practiced this example in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested and crucified as He prayed in Luke 22:41-43 (NKJV):
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. [Emphasis added].
Seriously assess your requests and repent of any selfish prayers that you have put before the Lord. Believe that the Lord wants the Best for You so seek His Will for your life above your own.
Isaiah 55:8
“ For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
I will continue my List in Part 3.
“Why am I not getting my Answer???!” – Hindrances to Prayers Pt. 1
So today I was thinking about how we go about our prayer life business. Many a time when we get to that place of prayer and meditation on God’s Word, you find that there are some reasons as to why certain prayers get answered over others. I have found that in my walk there were times when I thought that God was silent and had turned a deaf ear to my prayers…Those were the darkest moments of my life in that I almost fell away from Him completely because I was starting to get desperate and angry at the same time. Thank God I stuck it out in faith, but I will tell you that there was a time when I felt I was hanging by a thin thread that was the only line available at the time that would determine where I stood with the Lord. I considered that if it snapped, I was going to give up completely and turn away from Him. You might be thinking “How can you think that way?!…You have little faith?!…You should keep it together!” That’s all well and good….but “Have you walked a mile in my shoes?”
I find that it’s very easy for others to criticize your level of ”expected” faith when the going is good on their side of the fence…but when you experience a trial such as I have on various occassions, you will know for sure if you believe or not. I came to the conclusion after that particular trial that it’s not that I lacked Faith in God at the time, because what was actually happening to me was that my level of faith was being tested. If you seriously want to deepen your relationship in your prayer life, you have to go through many tests if you truly want to increase your faith. It’s funny because I remember as a naivette born-again Christian that I was, I was so happy in God that I forgot that I had once prayed to the Lord and asked Him to “Help me increase my Faith”. This prayer was answered, but not in the way I expected because I failed to understand that True Faith is built through Trial and Testing. Take note that I said that my prayer was answered. I thought I’d have a joyus ride to increase faith….not a roller coaster adventure into the deep end of the sea. You have to go through the Test if you want to build on Faith.
Many people love recieving the blessings of the Lord but refuse to go through the tests.
If you want to grow maturely in your discernment and faith in your spiritual walk, you have to go through the tests. This isn’t an option it’s a requisite. God will put your faith to the test and in my case, He can test you in ways that you cannot even begin to understand. I felt in my spirit that the Lord was asking me “What will it take for you to fall away from me? What will it take for you to stay with me?” I was sobbered up quickly with those questions and remembered how Peter denied Jesus 3 times (Matthew 26:34; Matthew 26:75) even though he never thought he would…
When you are put to the test of being sifted as wheat by the devil (Luke 22:31)….you will know your true level of faith. Eventually, Peter ultimately fulfilled Jesus’ prediction and was heavily distressed by it and wept bitterly over it (Mattew 26:75). When I read that, I totally understood Peter’s feelings. It’s not like he wanted to deny Jesus and neither did I when I was going through my situation. Everything just comes caving in and you are left speechless in that you feel the shock of your own actions that you didn’t know you had in you when faced with a precarious situation. Just when you think you wouldn’t deny the Lord…you are thrust in a trial that makes you confront your level of faith. Do you know your level of Faith?
How do you know your level of Faith without the test? You cannot measure your faith if you haven’t been through a test. An example could be when you go to school you learn so much about a particular subject, but how do you measure how much you’ve learned? You have to write a test to examine how much your know in the same way with your faith, you have to go through a test in order to know your level of FAITH. After going through a test you will know what to work towards as you recognize your weaknesses and failures and that is what I found out through my trials and testing. Faith is a daily walk…it’s not an instant thing you capture because you have to water it everyday for that plant to grow. The objective of Faith is to learn how to increase it through constant trials and testing. You can avoid the test but you cannot avoid the trial because in this life you will have trouble (John 16:33), so make sure you are anchored with Christ to help you walk through the test (Psalm 50:15).
Testimonies are derived from TESTS. Notice the word Test in Testimonies?
It was a scary time for me back then when I was going through what I was going through and when I think about that…I can conclude that as humans we are more fragile than we think we are when it comes to the tests of ENDURANCE (Hebrews 12:1). There were also times when I thought that I’d never reach here in my Christian walk. I thought everything would be peachy key with a few hiccups along the way but I didn’t think I’d go through barreness and wilderness. I didn’t think I’d be thrown into a storm and be tossed by the waves of emotional upheaval. I didn’t think I’d have to climb a mountain only to reach a valley of decision (Joel 3:14). I didn’t think that I’d have to experience persecution from inside the church to test my faith; I didn’t know that I’d have to lose so much to gain everything I needed from the Lord all over again; I didn’t know what true lonliness felt like until I was in that trial. It was a dark dark place and the enemy was on all sides…I couldn’t see night from day…everything was dark….but through it all, I kept crying to God and I kept doing it as I even began to consider that He may have turned a deaf ear towards me (2 Chronicles 6:42; Psalm 27:9; Psalm 132:10). It was an emotionally draining test that I even considered suicide. 
I wondered why is every thing in this season so desolate…why do I feel abandoned? Why can’t I hear anything anymore….why is everything seemingly pitch black…what have I done to deserve this…why won’t you answer ME GOD?!! In all this confusion I ended up saying to the Lord, that “I’m tired of living, I’m not going to take my life because you’re the one who gave it. Since you are the one who gave it, you should be the one to take it because if you hate me then take it! Take IT! I don’t hate you Lord, but I am angry with you for not saying anything!You can ignore my pain, you can ignore my sorrow, you can turn a blind eye to my trouble but I will NOT let go of your Hand! I didn’t choose you just to let you go so easily so I choose to believe in you until you take my life by your own Hand.” Trust me when I say that when I look back at this pleading prayer, it felt like I was a coward to this trial, but I had had enough. I was so scared of Hell so I didn’t want a one way ticket by killing myself which is what I think the devil was waiting for, so I chose to be a coward and asked God to kill me Himself. I had reached my final straw and was nearing insanity. I thought I was going to lose my mind. It was a very dire and desperate moment at this point but that was my final resolve and that’s when something started to change in me.
My trial had reached the tipping point and it had ended. I began to see God again, He began to speak to me again and I remember just crying for a long time after hearing what He had to say as He spoke to me in my spirit. He told me that “He never left me and that He was with me all this time waiting to see how far I would go until I could see His face even in the midst of my Trouble”. Upon hearing that I had received my long awaited epiphany, my light at the end of the tunnel, my answer to my trial, my rescue from my insanity. I realized that I only saw God as someone who was there for me when miracles happened and when things were going great. I had not reached that place in my walk where I had seen another side of the Lord; I didn’t see Him as someone who would go through Hell with me and back…
It was I that had failed to see Him in the midst of my troubles and that’s when I realized that Faith truly is the substance of things Hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen (Hebrews 11:1). Through this test I realized that God was with me ALL that time but I had failed to see that because of my immaturity and naive level of faith at the time. I am so blessed by what He has done to change my level of faith. I asked myself if I had a choice, would I have refused that test that I had been through? I thought long and hard before answering that question and concluded that I would not have the level of Faith I have now had I not gone through the test. I hated the trial but I am blessed by it because I have come to see a different side of God that I didn’t see before. Trials can be bitter and excrutiatingly painful but they help you see sides of God that you would not otherwise see without the Test. Ask your self, are you willing to go through the trial to see a new side of the Lord? Are you satisfied with where you are at right now?
In Part 2 of this topic, I will list some possible reasons as to why some prayers do not get answered.
Learn to be STILL – Method of Inspiration
We all have busy lives and yes mine is quite hectic at the moment but even so I always make some time to be still and sort of sift through my day and learn to take some time-out for me. I do this by reading books, listening to music, writing, and praying. The moments that we take time to block out the drama of your day and learn to be quiet in the midst of the noise is difficult if you are a workaholic, a parent, or if your just a busy person in general. I think that the reason why some people have trouble dealing with their own problems is because of the amount of distractions we have in our day that prevent us from laying back on the sofa, sipping some tea and letting our MINDS rest for a while. 
PLAN to take the TIME OUT for YOU. You know you need it.
I know for sure that I have plenty of distractions in my day but I know that I need that time to sit back and do some serious self analysis anytime that I can. Sometimes just meditating on the Word can fill you with many ideas or inspiration that can bring to you clarity on the things to consider that you didn’t consider before. I love the book of Proverbs because it really makes me laugh when I think about how I can relate some of them with everyday situations I have with people in my day. I’m just going to break down how I take my time outs as I feel there is always a need to just be at peace with yourself and block out the noise of busy-ness and create time of solitude that can birth out ideas, inspiration, and creativity for building your dreams and building your character.
Introspection is needed so that you can look in the mirror and fix up what you need to change before you head out and go about your business.
My Solitude Workout: 
Why did I call it a Solitude workout? Because you have to work to have that time of solitude. You have to make a conscious effort to take some time to be alone and just be still. Breathe in, breathe out and just be…still.
So these are the things I do in my Solitude workout:
Read - Read books to gain knowledge and to fuel your imagination in order to garner some inspiration to do something or just simply to gain some perspective from a different perspective. To avoid tunnel vision, don’t just read one type of genre only but learn to explore others. I also truly believe that self-help books and novels should be read with a balance but don’t forget your BIBLE. The Bible is the manual to spiritual growth and maturity and it has so much wisdom that can help you carry on when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Listen to Music - When I mean listen, I mean listen with the intent to hear the words that are coming out of the singers mouth. This is KEY. Some songs I find have lyrics that deal with real life issues and bring out emotions in poetic ways whereas there are some lyrics that are destructive and are counter-intuitive to what you need to hear. Listen to songs that build you, listen to songs that come straight from the heart of the singer. Some songs are raw and some songs are tranquil, mix it up a bit. I love dancing to music so I listen to many types of genres. Don’t limit your genre intake but be mindful that some songs can fuel wrong emotions such as hatred, depression, lust, if you hear and learn to listen to the lyrics… that’s why I say listen with the intent to hear the words that are coming out of the singers mouth. Don’t feed your spirit with foul music. Feed you spirit with things that edify your mind and produce inspiration fortified with ideas.
I’m still working on throwing out some of the music I used to listen to so yeah…especially after learning about how to listen to people which I wrote in one my previous posts “Learning to Listen rather than being Heard”, I’ve shifted to throwing out some music off my itunes lists and some cds after seriously listening to what people are saying in their lyrics. You don’t have to do what I’ve started to do because I know that sounds kind of radical and crazy…However, this is just the place I have reached in my journey to spiritual and emotional fulfillment. I find that I can’t listen to certain music that I used to love before…so I’m sifting through all my stuff as I clean out my closet. You gain so much understanding about thngs we take for granted when you take the time to be quiet and sit still and contemplate about such things.
Write - I love to write and as a kid I used to write so many short stories. I’ve really got to get back into the habit once again. I’m more of a verbal story teller since I can be lazy to type things so blogging has been one way to get me back into that habit. At the moment I have a dream journal going. I wake up in the morning and write down the dreams I had when I woke up in order to not forget. You must be thinking that it’s a little weird for someone to do, but I believe that sometimes dreams tell you a lot about ourselves and I find that when I re-read dreams I had a few years ago, some of them have come to pass in reality, and some of them made sense of a future event that had yet to occur. Think of Joseph in the Bible in the book of Genesis 37:1, he had dreams when he was a kid and shared with his brothers but even though the dreams were quite far fetched to his brothers because his dreams implied he would rule over them one day, it was proven that years down the line he did in fact became a King over his brothers in the land of Egypt and those dreams came to pass (Genesis 41:37-45).
I just want to be clear and say that I’m not saying that every dream will come to pass, because I also have nonsensical dreams and nightmares; but I do record them in order to see the progression of where in the world am I going? What did that dream mean??? Do you ever ask questions about the dreams you dream? Sometimes I understand the dream and at times they are riddles, but hey it’s worth while recording anyway even for just the mere entertainment of it. Dreams have a way of pointing out future troubles that you may not be able to forsee in your waking life because of how distracted you are with the goings ons of life and business as usual. I definitely encourage people to start recording your dreams and you may see over time that some dreams make sense of the stuff going on in your current situations. Sometimes I am warned about people or events in my dreams and that helps me in the discernment arena. Remember that God can even speak to you in your dreams (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). Daniel in the Bible had the ability to interpret dreams (5:12) but it was only through the spirit of God. I’m not saying that you’ll be able to interpret your dreams on the get go… but if you start a journal, you might be able to see how your dreams coincide with the happenings of your present life. Your dream life can at times make sense with what’s going on in your waking life. Give it a shot.
Praying - I pray everyday and at any moment in time. You don’t have to be in a closed room to do this because I think we all need to develop a consciousness of constant meditation. Now, I’m not saying that its easy because I found it difficult to do this and in some ways I still struggle. I get bombarded with so many distractions that it’s not funny but even though I do, sometimes I just say something small like “Thank God I got this work done!” or something just to maintain my focus on the things of God. Even at work or at play think of things that require you to pray. Intercede for someone or family member or your boss. They need prayer too. It can’t always be about you, you’ve got to intercede too. There are times that I even pray to the extent where I fall asleep praying because of consistent meditation. I even feel refreshed after an hour of prayer that I set aside in my prayer closet. Do you have a prayer closet? It can be anywhere, in your room or at the beach…it’s my time with me, myself and I and God. I have been in life or death situations where I feel prompted to pray without fully knowing the reason why but I get understanding after the event has occured. The 
whole point is to develop your spiritual walk with the Lord. I keep thinking of the prophet Enoch who walked with God for 300 years (Genesis 5:22) and there was something about him that pleased God to the extent where he didn’t even die naturally because God took Enoch with Him (Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5). It makes me think that I have a long way to go in my walk to please God to that degree but in essence this contemplation comes from my own meditation. Thinking about that makes me want to strive harder to have such a close knit relationship. I am cool with not dying in this life and God taking me up with Him like he did Enoch but that’s just my own personal musings I have with the Lord. Who knows if I’ll ever get there lol. This is just an example of things that astound me when I meditate on the Word.
What pops into your mind when you meditate on the Word of God? You may find most of your answers in your prayer life when you take the time to meditate.That’s how you gain revelation, a deeper understanding of the Word which helps to strengthen your spirit man and your emotional man (soul) to become one with your physical man (body).
Anyway, these are the types of things I do in my solitude workout. This may inspire you to pursue that time you need to be by yourself. What do you do when you are alone? I would like to know what others do in their alone time. Feel free to comment below.
Sharpening your Discernment
A short contemplation…well, I’ll try and make it one. I think that as you mature in your relationships with people and with God, you need to understand that you can avoid many problems that arise by practicing sound judgement in your decision-making process. We all need wisdom and we also require discernment.
What is Discernment?
Discernment is a term used to describe the activity of determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event. Typically, it is used to describe the activity of going past the mere perception of something, to making detailed judgments about that thing. As a virtue, a discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be of good judgement; especially so with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others.
Why do you need discernment?
In terms of relationships, be it familial, business, friends, or acquintainces, you need to learn how to assess what type of people you have in your life. I know I wrote an earlier post regarding people you should avoid in life, however; there are also people in this world that you should learn to consider who are your key connections to your destiny as well. It’s not enough to know who to avoid because you also have to learn who else you should connect yourself with. There are people in your life that are aligned with your destiny as much as you are aligned to theirs. Look back on the post I wrote about Stepping stones and Stumbling blocks.
The success in a relationship is dependent on who you have surrounding you. Do you have wise counsellors or wicked ones? Do you have friends that build you or do you have friends that gravitate towards trouble? Do you have family members that try to pull you down or bring you up? Are your co-workers cooperating with you or conniving against you? Is the proposal for the business plan going to give you profit or increase your losses? These are the types of Questions you need to ask yourself on a daily basis.
When you have sound judgement, you will be able to make the right decisions in your life that will save you from making serious mistakes that can sometimes be life-changing. This is the nature of having what I call General discernment. This level of discernment is at a common level to which we all have whereas Spiritual discernment is a higher level of discernment.
The book I have placed at the top of this post is a book I have read in regards to building on Spiritual discernment. It makes references to the discerning of spirits…but for those that aren’t Christians I will call this type of discernment equivalent to the discerning of personalities and characters found in people.
General discernment is simply sound judgement cultivated through experience. Everyone possesses this level of judgement to some degree; however, not all people use sound judgement in their daily affairs. You can get by with a basic level of discernment in your life however, I believe that in order to have a strong level of discernment, you need to sharpen your spiritual level of discernment.
You must be asking yourself how do I do that??? You first need to know how to nurture your Spirit in order to gain and sharpen your discernment.
Spiritual discernment is cultivated by prayer and meditation of God’s Word which is the Bible. It is enhanced when you are surrounded by a group of mature Christians who are able to guide you to walk with integrity by assessing the types of personalities that draw you away from that path. You are taught basic principles of what’s right and wrong through the Bible and that is the manual that is able to help people operate in the gifts of the Spirit (Holy Spirit) [Luke 11:13; 1 Corinthians 12: 1-10; Corinthians 14:1, 12; Hebrews 2:4]. Think 
of the book of Proverbs in the Bible. It is full of principles on how to deal with people and helps you to understand what is considered foolishness. It is also really good at pointing out things that lead to us to walk in virtue and distinguishes things that lead us astray. Read Proverbs 1:20-33 concerning Wisdoms Rebuke. I’m sure that scripture will open up your eyes even by a little bit. I would suggest the book of Proverbs as a starting point in regards to building discernment because it has such sound advice about dealing with people, building personal character, and avoiding making serious mistakes in our daily lives to avoid danger and death. Having said that, don’t forget to seek mentorship from mature individuals in your life. You need to be around people that can build you. I cannot emphasize that enough.
Ask yourself, are you even able to tell who is for you and who is against you in your life? Can you tell the difference between a bad idea from a good one?
If you cannot distinguish what is right from wrong then you need to build your discernment level.
How is discernment helpful?
1.) It enables you to make the correct choices;
2.) It gives you the ability to judge people’s character whether they are good or bad connections in your life;
3.) It allows you to look at things beyond “Face Value”;
4.) It helps build your perception about things and people;
5.) Acts as a guide to foresee and avoid potential trouble that could arise in the future; and
6.) Allows you to pursue a specific course of action.
It is very important to discern people in particular because people can either make you or break you in this life. In order to walk in wisdom, you need to be surrounded by wise counselors (Proverbs 24:6) if you desire to be successful in your destiny. If you aren’t with the right people then you need to figure out who and what you have around you that’s weighing you down and preventing you from progression. Surrounding yourself with mature and wise individuals helps in that they can intercede or intervene in a situation that arises against you and they can guide you out of the troubles that you face. They have a deeper perception that you may not have at your current level which is what you need to make sound decisions when confronted with circumstances that you have never dealth with before. Seek wisdom, allow yourself to be corrected and don’t come before your wise mentors with arrogance. If you do that you will land yourself in trouble and you will not recieve the help you require during your time of need if you come off as PROUD and UNTEACHABLE. Humble yourself before them so that you can grow in knowledge, wisdom, power, and stature. Assess your peers, friends, and family on a daily basis. What fruits do they bear? Do they build you up or pull you down? Check out (Proverbs 12:14; Proverbs 13:2; Matthew 12:33; Galatians 5:22-23 & James 3:17).
Take things on a case by case basis. Seriously consider reading books on the topic if you want to grow in maturity.Don’t let yourself be seduced into the wrong path. Seek wisdom above all else and grow in Spiritual discernment by meditating on the Word of God (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; Psalm 119: 97).
My prayer is that we all learn to grow maturely in discernment and cultivate wisdom by walking in the Spirit and not in the Flesh.
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