The Best Laid Plans

1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Sometimes the best laid plans, and the best intentions have no bearing on how things go. In times like these there is an opportunity to stay the course, exercise faith and trust God. Monday I made my plans to drive back to Nashville from Washington DC. I would get up early…4:30 am and be on the road by 5ish to beat any beltway traffic and get out of the city early. I needed to get back to Nashville and make some business calls on appointments I had coming up this week. This would not be an issue for me because I like to get up early and drive with sunlight.

Sooooo……I did not get in bed as early as I wanted. When my phone went off, I started my process. All of a sudden I heard what sounded like thunder! No way….  But of course I had not checked the weather. Did I mention I hate driving in the rain? Needless to say it was not just thundering it was raining, windy and thundering. As I stopped to fill up the gas tank the wind picked up. It did not matter that I was under the covered area, the wind managed to blow just in the right direction to soak me. The gas tank was full and I was on my way to the interstate at 5:30…check. As I get on the beltway I was feeling good until the blinding water started blowing up unto my windshield….I guess my car is too low. So after about an hour and a half, I decide to pull off the interstate because I am sleepy, it was dreary and I was worn out fighting the torrential rain. The good news is that I had made pretty good time in spite of the highway fun. I stop at a Starbucks, parked and slept for about 45 minutes. Then I got my dirty Chai and a breakfast sandwich, and hit the road with a new attitude. I had prayed, napped and was believing God that the rain would let up soon. I even texted some prayer warriors to pray my strength….10 hours is no joke to drive alone. Needless to say about 51/2 hours in, the sun came out and it was a beautiful drive the rest of the way! Where the five hours prior to that pretty miserable, yes, but I made it through.

See sometimes life is just like that. Even though the best plans are made, even though we do everything we can to prepare, and even when we have done nothing wrong.  Even though there are things to do when we get to our destination, the storms of life still come. As I hit the 6^th hour of the drive, the sun came out. The rain stopped and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. The same is true for life, the day and hour will come when the dark clouds will part, the rain will stop and the Son will shine on your situation. And sometimes just as you planned you will make it to your destination in time to do just what needs to be done….as long as you keep going. See it is by faith that we overcome the storms of this world. God reminded me as I saw the beautiful clouds and felt the sun shine and the wind blow, that He is faithful to get us to our destination if we just press forward trusting Him. I am so thankful not just to have made it back to Nashville, but that I serve a God who promises to ALWAYS bring me through the storms of life to victory through faith in His power! Amen.

The God Influence

@2015  A Poem from "I" Can Relate: How Not to Lose Yourself in Relationships

Who has influenced you?

God wants to…

What has defined you?

Until you read God’s word,

You won’t know the truth.

What do you think of yourself?

You were created by God himself.

His love will define you.

His love should influence you.

His love is always thinking of you.

His love is waiting on you.

WLS

RelationSHIPS....

"As in all aspects of our life in relationship we have to realize the importance of the work of God in us during the relationship.  We can become focused on what the other person should be doing or fixing, but God wants us listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in us.  This is how we can learn and know how to navigate the “SHIP” or abandon the “SHIP”."

- Relation"SHIP" p. 53 - "I" Can Relate: How Not to Lose Yourself in Relationships by Wanda L. Scott

People stay in relationships - bad relationships - dead relationships because they at least know "that" pain.  They know how "that" person will hurt them. Sometimes they are afraid to hope for something better. They are afraid to hope that there is someone who will love them, respect them, cherish them...  

It is our human nature to accept what is easier especially if we have not seen anything different or don't expect anything different. 

I see people walking together lifeless in their relationship........

I see people sitting together lifeless in their relationship..........

Communication is dead. Love is dead. Hope is gone. BUT we serve a God who restores, repairs, and does the supernatural to any heart and any relationship! Hallelujah & Amen.

Psalm 84¹¹ 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. ¹² O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

I declare and decree that anything that is dead in relationships will either come to life in the name of Jesus, or either it will be removed, released, retired, fired or thrown away for the new thing God has ordained and prepared for those that hope in Him....in the name of Jesus Amen. 

Practice for 2016

“Practice what you preach.”   “Did you go to football practice today?” 

“How many days a week do you practice?”

“I practice Medicine….”  “My practice is to read at least one book a month.”

How many of you have heard or said any of these common phrases or statements?  What do you practice? We spend our time and sincere effort doing a lot of things.  Practice is an investment of time and effort, so that typically means that if we practice something, we put value in it. The bible says some interesting things about what you practice.  I know in 2016 I will be practicing following and obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  I will be practicing using my gifts, skills and abilities that God has given me to His glory.  I will be practicing at spending time with God in His word and in prayer.  These are the things that will bring joy.  These things will bring me peace.  These habits that I will practice will help me operate in the kingdom of God so His will will be done and His kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. 

So what will you practice in 2016?

1 John 1⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 3⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

The bible is full of God’s people practicing other things that only brought them destruction and strained their relationship with God.  We even see in Psalm 141 David praying for God to help him not practice evil…

Psalm 141⁴ Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, To practice wicked works With men who work iniquity…

It is my hope for you and I that we practice love, first of all loving God by worshiping and obeying Him, and second by loving one another.

1 John 3¹⁶ By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. ²⁰ For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²² And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. ²⁴ Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Here’s to purposeful practice in 2016!

The Secret of Joy

What are you?  Are you allowing God to enable you to be a witness for Him (Acts 1:8), so that you can make disciples (Matthew 28:19)? Oswald Chambers says in The Method of Missions that “….you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself.” 

This is a powerful statement, yet it is simple.  The power of it can sometimes escape us if we have not truly evaluated to see if we are allowing ourselves to be discipled by the Lord Jesus.  So what does the word Disciple mean? Merriam-Webster defines it as: one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another: as a convinced adherent of a school or individual; a student or a pupil.  This means if you are a disciple of Jesus that you are learning about and from Jesus, and are convinced in the doctrine (teachings) of the bible.  Does that describe you?

Oswald goes on to say, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20).  I want the secret of joy…don’t you?  I am a witness to Oswald’s statement, because I can feel the peace and joy of the Lord when I am walking in the Spirit in close relationship with God. Our right relationship comes through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.

So who is for Joy?  Let’s not just do church work, let’s not just do community service, let’s be in right relationship with God as His disciples serving Him with joy. 

Burst, Torn Into Pieces & Spilled!

I don’t know about you, but when I have tried to do things before I was ready, or even before others were ready for it, it has felt like all my plans burst, my life was torn into pieces and all the ugliness of the situation spilled onto others around me.  See I was trying to do a new thing, push a new idea, or do something new and I was not new.  The bible says that God makes all things new.  The word makes is in the active tense.  It is the “act of making”.  Everything in your Spirit man is immediately made new when you truly accept Jesus in your heart.  But true conversion of ALL of your mind, will & emotions takes time.  Over time your mind & thinking becomes renewed, you learn how to keep your emotions in check, and you surrender your will to God’s will for your life.  This is an ongoing process that keeps your life growing, making things fresh and new from day to day. 

BUT, when we get ahead of God, when we become zealous for things that are not for this time, and when we are trying to prove something, we can potentially try to do a new thing with an old mindset, old intentions, and old willful emotions.  When our old tries to do the new, it can get messy.  The Word of God says it best this way:

Matthew 9¹⁷ Neither is new wine put in old wineskins; for if it is, the skins burst and are torn in pieces, and the wine is spilled and the skins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved. (AMP)

What God does in our lives, He wants to last and bear fruit.  He wants our blessing to be a blessing.  He wants how we have been comforted to allow us to comfort others.  He wants us to show that love He has shown us to others.  The Lord wants our freshness in His Spirit to be preserved so it can last…..so it can be spread. 

Wait on God to change you.  Wait on God to make you new.  Only He knows your process.  His work in you will be perfect and complete.  Messy lives can burst and spill onto others, and also tear hearts to pieces.   Don’t be messy, wait on God’s timing, it is always perfect.  His love will make all things new in your life at just the right time.  It might not feel like it, but it is what it is, you will see if you wait.

James 1⁴ But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. (AMP)

Philippians 1⁶ And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. (AMP)

So Beautiful……

Cookie Lyons on the FOX show Empire was lying in jail singing the words to a song that I think every woman should admit that they long to hear:  You’re so beautiful, I will wait for you!  

That scene just touched me….I could feel it.  How our hearts need that hope, hope that allows us to survive even when we are locked up. You might not have been physically behind bars, but we do have a way of locking our heart up because of the pains we have experienced in this world.  We shut people out, we don’t open up to know people or let them know us.  It is all the same.  We want to be safe from the pain.  We have lost hope that that there is someone who thinks we are beautiful, and will wait for us as to heal and hope again.  We might have even lost hope that anything could be beautiful, nonetheless think that about us.  Some of us have lost hope. 

So what kept Cookie Lyons while in that jail cell?  I don’t know.  Maybe hope that the words of the song that her husband sang were true, and that he thought she was so beautiful that he would wait for her. Maybe it was looking at the picture of her family and hoping that she would one day be with her kids again…to love them.  Well he did not wait, he divorced her.  BUT I know someone who we can always hope in, and hope in Him will not disappoint us.  He is a keeper and a mender of hiding locked up hearts.  His love waits and calls us to beautiful.  His name is Jesus and He thinks we are one of His most beautiful creations, perfect, fearfully and wonderfully made.  AND He will always wait for us…until the end of time.  The Lord Jesus longs for us with an incomprehensible love that can break us out of jail and give us a hope that will keep us eternally. 

Ecclesiastes 3¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts...

FORWARD!

Ok, I am just going to start typing because I have been thinking about writing this last entry for 2014 for weeks now.  There has been so much on my mind!  Everything from the holiday blues, family relationships (that’s big), work expectations in the new year, and finally to what is God going to do in the New Year!!!!  I know I am not alone.  Probably anyone who is reading this will have had at least one of these thoughts over the past several weeks.  To what degree you have them depends on many factors. Some of these thoughts deal with the past, others with what is going on today, and finally the rest with the future.  Thankfully we have choices on how to deal with these thoughts. 

I don’t know about you, but because of Love, I always look to see what God says I should be focusing on.  In one of my favorite books of the bible, Isaiah, we receive some guidance with our thoughts:

Isaiah 43¹⁸ “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. ¹⁹ For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

See what we need, what the “world” needs is hope! (1 Corinth 13:13) We find that in the hope provider, the joy bringer, the life giver, the power deliverer….Jesus.  So God says forget about all that other stuff and watch me work in your life.  Watch me work through you.  Watch as your faith pleases me to action. 

As Isaiah asks, have you not sensed that God has already begun to work?  Can you not see God moving all around you?

So as you end 2014 and by grace enter 2015, I hope you move FORWARD with hope forgetting all that is past and becoming excited about the God who makes all things NEW!  Amen. 

Walk & Not Faint

Isaiah 40²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ but those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

I love Isaiah 40, it is action packed with power, promise and truth.  “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Isaiah asks.  If you hadn’t heard before, Isaiah 40 breaks it down for us.  One of the truths in this passage of scripture that perplexed me for many years, is the end of verse 31 “they shall walk and not faint”.  This portion of the scripture came alive to me, after I had walked a few years with the Lord.  See I am a runner, and if I think about fainting, it would be because I was running too long and too hard….but that is in the physical.  One thing we learn spiritually as a child of God, is that in order to live a life of faith pleasing to the Lord, we must walk with Him.  This race of endurance is not a sprint, some say it is a marathon, but for me it has been more like a combination of a sprint, a run & a lot of walking.  We have to walk in the Spirit.  We can’t sprint, unless it is the season to do so.  Sometimes it feels like a marathon because it takes so long to get to the finish line of a promise from God.  But the hardest times for me in my Christian walk have been the steady pace of not going to fast & not going to slow.  It has been walking with my eyes focused on Christ, and not what is going on around me or even inside me.  It has been in these times that I have felt like fainting, but Christ has empowered me to just take one more step, trust Him a little further, and to hold on just a little longer.  It is the day-to-day monotony, waiting for a change that can wear us out. 

We the children of God can become weary of the troubles of this world, the failings of humans, and trying to do things in our own strength.  But I propose to you today as Isaiah did thousands of years ago, have you not known, have you not heard of the God, my God:

…The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.

As we walk together, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, let us be comforted by His love so that we will not faint, if we WAIT on the Lord.  Hallelujah and Amen.

Let Love Choose Your Friends

I was reading a devotional today that spoke about friendship and the ability to trust others for it.  That is a poor summary, because it was a very powerful devotional from Girlfriends in God.  Well of course it made me examine my life and friendships.  As I read it, the Spirit kept bringing out for me the word TRUST.  So I went to the word of God for further guidance, because like many of you, I have been hurt in my life by so-called friends.  My question to myself and to you is, “was it really just their fault that I got hurt?”  So let’s examine some scripture:

Proverbs 18:²⁴ A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (NKJV)

²⁴ There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. (NLT)

²⁴ Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. The Message

I used all three versions of the same scripture, because each breaks down how friendship can be.  Can you relate?  What stands out to me in all three is how we have to be a friend first, and then also how the friendship is brought to a familial sense….a brother (or sister). Now look at these verses:

Proverbs 12:²⁶ The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray. (NKJV)

²⁶ The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray. (NLT)

²⁶ A good person survives misfortune, but a wicked life invites disaster. The Message

Now we see how the Word says that we have to choose friends carefully.  Verse 26 also shows us that if we choose wrong, or a wicked person, we will be led astray and have disaster invited into our lives.  That is deep.  The word of God brings such clarity for every aspect of our lives.  God loves us so much that He will give us wisdom to choose the right friends.  These friends should be our brothers and sisters in Christ, in the family of God.  Even within the family of God, the body of Christ, we have to use wisdom and be guided by the Holy Spirit.  Friends give grace, encourage one another, and provide good advice from the word of God.  Are you a friend?  By the love and friendship of God, we can be a good friend and choose our friends wisely. 

Thank you Lord Jesus that you love us, know us and care even about who our friends are.  Lord help us to choose wisely those we invite into our lives.  Thank you for always being the friend we need most. Amen. 

In Position for a Miracle

We as Christians try to encourage one another when the issues of life try and bring us down.  That is what we are supposed to do.  The Lord is our comforter and His Word says that we are to comfort one another as He has comforted us.  The thought that popped into my mind this morning is that when our sisters and brothers in the Lord are in a tough situation and we say things like, “you are in the perfect position for God to show up and do a miracle”, do we really understand how difficult the position the person is really in if that is true?

If that is true, then that person is potentially in peril for their life, a Moses red sea parting moment when they would have died if God did not deliver them, or they are potentially in a situation where what they believe needs to be done is so “stupid” in the eyes of man, that they face ridicule and their faith is pushed to the limits.  Think of Joshua and the Israelites marching around the wall of Jericho and shouting, expecting the walls to fall down.  Is that sound battle strategy?

Well, I challenge you today that if you know a child of God who is really in an “only God can do it miracle moment”, that you pray for their faith to fail them not.  Pray that the Lord helps their unbelief.  Pray earnestly for them that the Word of God envelops them and girds them up so that by faith they see the salvation of the Lord.  Words of comfort and encouragement are good, but at times like these prayers of strength in faith avail much.  AMEN.

Who Holds Your Breath?

Have you ever exclaimed about someone or something that they "Just take your breath away"?  Well we have a Savior who holds our breath in His hands.  He is loving and faithful. 

Daniel 5:22 “But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. 23 And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. (NKJV)

The message version phrases verse 23 this way:

You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone—blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand. The Message (MSG)

When I read verse 23 I was like wow! How do we put all these other things….houses, cars, money, etc. before God and He is the One who gives us breath and life! Just like the King’s son Belshazzar, when life is good and everything we can ever want is at our fingertips, we can be tempted to dishonor or disgrace God. We tend to cherish things that are made out of gold (money), houses made out of wood, and cars made out of iron….that can cause us stress and keep us in debt, instead of cherishing our relationship with the Lord. Take the time to remember that it is only by the grace of God that you have these things in the first place?

Let’s make 2012 the year that we wake up every morning valuing that first breath that God gives us. We serve an awesome God that should be first in our lives, and is greater than “things”. Let us humble ourselves & accept the security and faithfulness of our Almighty God who by His love gives us the Freedom to Love. Amen.

Either Way.......

I was just watching the news and within 3 minutes I saw people standing in line at a food bank and switched to the BBC World news and saw the people of Thailand moving their belongings (or what is left of their belongings) around in a small boat – they are trying to find someplace to live since their city is flooded.  Although things are tough for me right now, I have not gone hungry or hungry enough to have to go to a food bank.  I am not homeless because my city is flooded.  See at times we need perspective on our situations.  I am not saying that what I am going through or what you are going through is not tough.  I am not saying that it is not painful and that you/we have not had to cry.  I am not even trying to down play your situation, BUT God.  See the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  These things only come to make us stronger and increase our faith.  Is your faith increasing or are you turning away right when God wants to show Himself strong in your life?

At times we are in hard situations because of our choices, sin & disobedience.  Other times we are suffering for Christ, so that He can do a work in us.  God does the work of increased faith, unwavering trust, and undeniable love.  Only you know why you are in what you are in.  Either repent or stand on God’s promises.  Either way, you cannot lose. 

Matthew 5:45……for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.