Prayer and Fasting the Power Twins!

7 May

Today, I was thinking, pondering in my heart about life in general.  It’s not news to anyone that the things in life worth having are the things you will really work hard to get and to keep.  I was thinking about people I know who seem to struggle all of the time and still it’s like they never get to where they want to go. I use to be like them.   I am not where I want to go, but thanks to the Lord I am not where I was and have made some progress!

We all have issues in our lives that we either use as anchors to hold us back or we use them as sails to drive our boat.  I think of the scripture  that tells about a certain woman with an issue of blood.  The scripture states that she had issues for many years and that she spent all that she had by seeking help from physician after physician but was none better.  Do you feel sometimes like you’ve exhausted all of the natural strength or resource that you have trying to get somewhere and still you’re none better.  Well, my answer  to you is the same as the woman’s answer.  You can do nothing apart from Jesus!  There was an anointing that the Lord had to heal her issues and He is the same yesterday and today and forever.  He also has an anointing to heal your issues.

I have found in my own life that my issues were not necessarily something that I knew about at first.  All I knew was that when I would try to succeed, it was like I would hit this wall that I didn’t know how to get over or get through. I would then feel defeated and question Was this how it was going to be the rest of my life?  I finally found an answer that helped me to tear down the first wall and then the second and so on. The key for me was prayer and fasting.  When you do not know what your issues even are, how can you overcome them?  Or maybe you know exactly what your issues are but still you have them and can’t seem to get free. May I suggest prayer and fasting, the power twins!  Prayer and fasting is not getting GOD to move on your behalf, no, it’s moving you to a place where you can actually believe the Lord to help you deal with the issues in your life.  I must give you fair warning!!!! If you are sincerely seeking the Lord and you began praying and fasting, specifically to know the issues that are preventing you from going forward, what He might show you may not be something that you expected to see at all.  He may show you the good, bad and ugly in order to help you see all of the issues, but if you truly want to be free, you must come humbly to him and recognize that He is your source of all life and that TRUE success can only be found in him! You must realize as well that if he shows you something that is ugly in your life that He can take the ugliest of circumstances and make something beautiful out of them!

The Lord told the disciples that prayer and fasting would help their unbelief!  Sometimes, we talk a good religious conversation, and we put on our religious face but we do not really believe what we are saying.  I was always good as having faith for others, but when it came to my own issues, somehow I thought mine were beyond GOD’s answer!  How much in pride I was! After many years of having issues, spending natural resource and energy, and simply feeling like I was accomplishing nothing but spinning my wheels, I too,like the woman with the issue, had  to press in to touch Jesus.  I have since realized that everything good comes by pressing in to him!  Why must we always press?  He is not withholding it from you, but you have a real enemy that wants you to stay bound with issues and blinded so that you will never accomplish the purpose that the Lord has created you for.

The scripture says that the heavens suffer violence and that it is the violent who take it by force.  The greatest force you can use is simply humbling yourself to an Almighty GOD by prayer and fasting and coming to the realization that you can’t do this thing on your own!  I had to learn to press in, so my friend I encourage you to press as well, even though like the woman who had the issue, the crowd around  says “that you shouldn’t touch Jesus” or  “it doesn’t take all that,” press through the crowd and touch the one who can truly heal you and help you.  If you want to live successfully, the scripture says that it is HE who gives you the power to get wealth, it is He who teaches you how to prosper.  He is our answer for any issue, nothing is too great for him for he desires you to succeed more than even you do.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

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GOD is always a Good GOD!

27 Apr

GOD is always a Good GOD!.

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GOD is always a Good GOD!

27 Apr

Sometimes do you ask if the roller coaster ride will ever stop? Maybe you’re like me these past few weeks as I found myself almost begging, please make it stop. I was hesitant at first to write this particular blog, as I am being so transparent with my emotions.  I hope by me being real about myself that it will help someone to know that the Lord is with us, through the good and the bad times!

I’ve honestly had one of those months, to where one minute,  My stomach is up in my throat and I am  swallowing hard to keep everything down, and the next minute I am screaming with my hands raised and full of cheers!  So I have  had to learn how to deal with all of the ups and downs, to keep it on an even keel so to speak.  I personally know nothing else to do but to keep my eyes on the one who is gazing at me.   When I turn my eyes upward and look full into the glorious face of the one who loves me regardless if I am having a good day or bad, I know that I can truly do all things.

This month started out so blessed for me, had great opportunities with my latest book to do several book signings which were good, and then BAM! Here the enemy came parading in like he owned the place.  The enemy (Satan) dressed in an innocent looking outfit that landed my baby son down on all fours and knocked my whole family for a loop.  My son was “accidentally knocked down” and suffered a broken leg.  He is now sporting a dark blue cast from his foot to his thigh!  Stomach up in my throat!  As a Momma, nothing hurts you quiet so much as seeing your child be hurt, whether on purpose or by accident, you want to swoop down like some kind of wild, mad bird  and pluck out the very eyes of the enemy!  So, okay, we got my son all cast up and endured the first couple of nights of his pain until finally things modified a bit.  He is adjusting to crutches, a little wheelchair the whole works.

He broke his leg on a  Sunday, by Tuesday we’re breathing pretty easy working out all of the strange kinks that come with having a child broken.   I began banging away on the computer to try to catch up on some writing, when BAM !  Here come my oldest son  running into my room, screaming hysterically saying” Mom I cut my hand really bad!” Huge lump in my throat, need to breathe but just go into first aid Mom mode!  I  drag my son to the sink as his hand is bleeding profusely and I plunge his hand under the faucet to rinse off the blood so as to see if I honestly could see how bad it was cut.  The blood kept coming and by this time he is nervously shaking all over and I am trying to console him, but at the same time asking the Lord, what in the world was I going to do as I have one son in a full leg cast and another bleeding!  Do I call an ambulance or try to drag him myself to the hospital for stitches, when the most profound thing came flying out of my sons mouth!  “Lord, help me please!”

Suddenly like someone had slapped me back into reality, because truly the Lord is the most real thing I know, I got into agreement with my son. I just remember saying Lord your word says and took off on his words to me!  Immediately, my Lord performed a miracle!  My son’s hand or actually it turned out to be his finger,  immediately stopped bleeding and his finger had a thin scab instantly cover the cut!  Yes I know that this sounds incredible, but I am telling the truth.  He went from blood dripping down his arm and off his elbow, to scab on the finger instantly! Yay we came down the track with our arms raised high and screaming cheers to the one who knows how to take good care of us, especially in our times of desperation!  As a mother, I felt desperate to get my child help and  to remain calm which obviously at first I was failing miserably at,  but then Thank GOD!  Some of the training that we’ve been training our child with kicked in for him and Viola!  GOD truly is an on time GOD that heard a cry from his child!

Okay, so after all of that was over, we are clipping along pretty good as we are going into the next week!  Which is actually this week! It was a beautiful Monday morning, the sun was shining and I had just talked with a friend on the telephone and tried to encourage them as they were going through some things that only GOD could help them with.  I had no more hung up the phone, and rose up from my kitchen table when I heard something.  All of a sudden something happened that still makes me quake to think about.  A huge tree, probably about 30 ft came crashing down on the roof of our side porch, on our RV and on my truck which was parked right in front of our house.  I ran quickly to my children as they felt the entire house being shaken and heard the crash of the tree.  They of course were terrified and so was I as we did not know if this was the only tree that was going to fall. I never knew whether to get out of the house or to stay in it.   I tried to calm us all down, and ran to call my husband and told him what has just happened.  He dropped everything at his job and immediately began his trip home.  I guess I had just hang up on him so abruptly without telling him that we were okay that the enemy played with his mind on his 9 mile trip that I’m sure seemed a horrific long journey.   As he travelled, my husband kept trying to call us but his cell phone would not allow him to call.  Before he had gotten home the tree shifted and again the sounds of crashing and a terrifying vibration rattled the whole house!  It was a horrible experience that I would not wish upon anyone with the exception that we were all safe!

The tree was perfectly healthy and green, just very tall and we had been having winds for the past few days, so I suppose that just the constant twisting and turning of it was what made it fall, that and the fact that the enemy wanted to use it to try to place a spirit of fear in me and my children.  We cannot  deny the power of the Lord as we seen how the tree was practically laid down to prevent as much damage as possible.  We could keep looking at the situation and say if it had not been for the RV it would have fallen directly into the kitchen area, if it had not been for the porch roof, again it would have destroyed the rest of the house etc.  But what we know, is that if it had not been for GOD it could have been a disaster that I personally do not want to think about.

So the point of this whole blog this week, is to simply say this:  bad things happen to good people all of the time.  It is how we let them affect us and how we respond to them that counts.  The saying “what doesn’t kill you, makes you strong,” definitely applies here.  We know that what the enemy meant for evil, my GOD, My Daddy has turned for our good, so I will set my face like a flint and know that regardless of the ride I am on in life, that My Daddy is ultimately the conductor!  He knows all of the twist and turns, all the thrills and times that my stomach is going to catch in my throat, but through it all, He is with me and so I raise my arms and let out a cheer and praise Him with my whole heart tonight!  GOD is always a good GOD!

 

 

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Coffee anyone?

8 Apr

Coffee anyone?.

May you have a Resurrection Week!

7 Apr

May you have a Resurrection Week!.

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May you have a Resurrection Week!

7 Apr

In order to have a Resurrection, something or someone must die. I know that doesn’t sound like much encouragement, but wait it gets better!  As I suffered what I thought was one defeating death-blow to a huge dream  this week and felt like the wind was knocked out of my sails, my Lord, who is always triumphant came riding in and saved the day!  Jesus is my champion, my hero and my knight and shining armor.  He is the resurrection! Yes and as corny as that sounds all of it is true!

As this week progressed for me with its highs and lows and then highs again,   I thought of professional boxers  and how they will give their opponents huge blows until their challenger hits the mat.  The ref counts 1,2,3, on and on and gets to 9, but all of a sudden the challenger who has been beaten and battered gets back up.  This is Easter weekend, and this is  what had happened between Satan and Jesus 2000 years ago.  Satan threw his best at Jesus as he threw blow after blow  until Jesus hit the mat.  Satan and his hoards rallied and cheered and were certain that Jesus was down for the count, but this time the ref only counted 1, 2, and when 3 came Jesus arose and defeated death and hell, leaving Satan and his hoards cowering in the darkness.  How could I not be anything was hopeful today as this is resurrection week!

Have you ever felt your stomach go up and down in your throat as you ride a rollercoaster.  Well, this has been my kind of week.  Let me explain briefly:   I thought that I had gotten a huge door of opportunity  opened for my latest book.  My marketing person from my publishers had been helping me for some time now in securing a book signing through this particular venue which will remain nameless..A huge family event and venue in Atlanta.    Anyway, YAY!  I was in, then all of a sudden, What?  I was out, the reasons being,  well let me just say ridiculous, then this week I received word that I was back in again.Yay!  I sent the word to my Marketing guy that I was back in again and when he contacted the venue, they told him a big flat  What? “NO, WE ARE SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION, BUT THE APPROVAL WAS SENT BY MISTAKE, YOUR AUTHOR IS STILL OUT!”  So needless to say, I was happy, disappointed, happy again, and then well just when I should have been disappointed again JESUS, my Hero came riding in and saved the day.  You’re probably asking “You mean your back in again to this big huge venue?”  My answer is NO, but instead Jesus opened another door that I would have never even imagined to walk through!  This door is one of those “crazy kinda doors!”  if you know what I mean. A door that I absolutely know  that GOD himself flung open just to pick up his little girl off of the mat and encourage her that I may not have won the challenge in one area, but just as the enemy was going to triumph over me and count me out, the Lord took my hand and raised me up victorious once again off of the mat!  I’ve truly had a resurrection week!

I encourage you when the circumstances look like they are gonna take you out, and if you have been left lying on the mat, the Lord is there extending his hand to you to raise you up.   The scripture says  in Proverbs 24:16 For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.  I encourage you get back up, you’re not defeated unless you choose to stay down, get back up!

May you have a resurrection week!

Dreams are meant to be Dreamed! My Newest Book’s Book Signing

26 Mar

Dreams are meant to be Dreamed! My Newest Book’s Book Signing.

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Dreams are meant to be Dreamed! My Newest Book’s Book Signing

26 Mar

Dreams are meant to be walked out!  But how?  You might ask.  My answer to you is One step at a time…

I heard the joke, how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!

Dreams for many of us are like elephants, way too big to fit anywhere in our lives.  Our dreams are usually too big to swallow, too big to hide and shove down and way too big to fulfill on our own.   Isn’t it amazing, though, that they fit perfectly in our imagination and heart.  You can see them in everything you do and they are more real to you than anything else that you know. You desire it more than anything else, but still it seems elusive.  The most unhappy people I’ve met are those who have  decided that their dreams were  just too big and too crazy and so they just gave up on ever fulfilling them.

You know that I found that my craziest dreams, meaning dreams that were as huge as elephants and dreams that seemed to be delusional and impossible were the very dreams that the Lord himself had birthed into my life.  These are the dreams that I know I can’t fulfill on my own.  These are dreams that I know that are not possible unless God  makes provision, sets me up with divine appointments and connections and provides funds for me to do it.  But I have great news for you!  The pictures that I posted with this blog represent one such impossible dream!  I will not go into all of the details about God’s miraculous provision, or how he made divine appointments for me.  You know what I am talking about people want to call it “being at the right place at the right time” or “meeting the right person.” I know when I have holy encounters that were set up divinely.  It wasn’t fate, it was my Heavenly Father providing for me so that I can fulfill my dreams which give him glory and points to his goodness…

Being an author is one such dream that I thought was so huge and impossible for me to obtain, but here I sit with a second book just published with many more finished and ready to go.   I simply took bite at a time and now I have got a good part of an elephant dream swallowed as far as actually writing and getting published.  Going on the adventure of where the books will take me is another elephant and so on and so on, but one bite at a time, one step at a time  with the Lord’s hand leading me, I’m swallowing hard and making great strides!

Faith without works is dead!

21 Mar

Faith without works is dead!.

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Faith without works is dead!

21 Mar

Until We act on what we know, our knowledge is nothing more than a theory. Real learning comes through doing.~B.Johnson~

This blog is written in dedication of my sweet Aunt Margie Eidson, my best friend and my spiritual Momma.  Margie  went on to be with the Lord in December 2010.  She lived out loud and passionately as she pursued Jesus and taught me how to do the same! 

In my last blog I wrote about “The great grace exchange.”  The exchange was trading my inability for his grace so that I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me, however I also wanted to write about balance.   In the Kingdom of GOD there is always balance.  unfortunately more times than not we tend to go from one extreme to the other.  I feel this is one reason that the world  some times looks at a Christian in such a dim light.  We have to have grace to fulfill our destiny no doubt about it, however unless we move out or act upon what the Lord is telling us and showing us in his word,  we will never get anywhere! His grace is not given for us to sit and wait for something to happen in our lives, but it is the power that we need to step out and cause something to happen!

I was so blessed  in my life to have had spiritual Momma’s. These were  Godly women who just spent time with me and taught me about the things of God, especially about using faith! Faith is a verb, not a noun.  If you know anything about English, nouns are person, places or things, where as, verbs are action words.  Faith implies action, we act upon the word of GOD!  Faith without works or “action” is dead… 

One time my sweet Aunt Margie, who was my spiritual Momma, and I were sitting at my kitchen table.  She came over every morning and we would pray.  In this time she taught me so much. I was a baby Christian and was  really struggling to get free from a habit of smoking cigarettes.  (Please, if you smoke cigarettes this is in no way a judgment of you, this was just a habit that I personally wanted to be free from.)   Morning after morning I would ask her to agree with me in prayer that “the Lord would just take the desire for this thing away from me.”  Finally one morning, just like a Momma would do,  she looked me right in the eyes and told me that she was not going to pray over my habit anymore! You could imagine that I was shocked, but she said “Honey, when are you gonna act like God’s word is true to you?  Faith without works is  dead! You have to act like GOD’s word to you  is true and trust him!  You act and you will find out that He has already answered your hearts cry.  He has already delivered you from that thing when Jesus died.  He’s not gonna crawl back up on that cross because of your little habit, NO, He’s already done what you’re asking him to do for you!”

As I sat there just digesting all Aunt Margie had boldly said to me, I then literally stood up from the table ,walked over and took my new carton of cigarettes off of the top of my refrigerator.  I opened each pack and placed the cigarettes into the kitchen sink.  I then ran water over them to assure that they were destroyed.   I simply acted upon the truth of GOD’s word.  You have to realize that at that time I was smoking around three packs of cigarettes a day.  They consumed my life in that I always had to have them with me and allow myself time to smoke them no matter what!  They had become little gods to me that controlled how I lived in a sense.    Anyway, as I poured water over the cigarettes and made this horrible mess of my sink, everything in me was crying out “you big dummy, you just ruined a whole carton of cigarettes!”  I didn’t feel delivered!  Hello?  Your feelings and your faith are usually in opposition with each other, However I knew something was different in me.

It took about three whole weeks for me to obtain complete deliverance over that habit in my life, hey I smoked for thirty years, I thought that three weeks was pretty great! I would tease my Aunt and tell her that in those three weeks out of my life that I literally could not stand the sight of her, because every time I would desire a cigarette, I could see her face that morning and hear her say to me “Honey, faith without works is dead!”  I believe this is one of the number one keys to faith.  We must be held accountable to someone. I feel like this is why the power of agreement is indeed so powerful, because it holds us accountable to one another.

I love the quote from Bill Johnson above, because until we truly put GOD’s word to the test in our lives they are just beautiful words written on paper.  But to have to words come alive, we must act upon them.  Take the word of GOD literally to you.  The word is a will and testament written and you are its beneficiary.  A will only goes into effect after death.  Well Jesus not only died so that we could receive all that was his, he than rose again to sit beside our Father and pray that we indeed receive it all.  If you need something, I would encourage you to go to the “will” which is the word of GOD and know that He left everything to you.  All is available to you, will you act like it is true today!  “Honey, Faith without works is dead!”

 

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