I just want to share a thought with you about how important and powerful your decisions are. The thing about a decision is that emotions and signs don’t often follow but that doesn’t make that decision any less powerful. For instance, if you decide to start working out three to four times a week, you probably won’t feel wind outside or see a rainbow as a sign that you should go forward with this decision. As a matter of fact, most of us, when we received Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives, didn’t see any sign. We just followed through with our decision. But just because we didn’t see any sign following our decision doesn’t mean our decision was any less powerful.
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God gave us the gift of choice. Because He is love (1 John 4:8) He gives us the opportunity to choose. And even more, He wants us to not only choose but to confident in the decision we are making even without a sign. Deciding to walk in deliverance and healing daily is not an easy feat. We must know it by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). 

Another word for “herd” is “crowd.” Society has a way of trying to influence us to be like itself, to sound and dress like it, and to even think that success is defined by it. Honestly, success for the Christ follower, is seeing Jesus. It’s hearing Him say, “well done, good and faithful servant.”

The natural part of us likes to follow crowds because it feels better to us. We don’t like sticking out and causing a riff, so we go with the flow. But sometimes the flow leads to destruction. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 KJV).

This is a very sobering and strong Scripture. Let’s not live anesthetized and sedated by the culture of this world that we become loose in morals, values and beliefs that glorify Jesus Christ. Just because many are doing things that are against God’s Word doesn’t give us permission to do so. We are to be salt and light in the world.
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And no, this doesn’t give us permission to bash, belittle, or scare people into doing God’s will. Our life must be a witness. Let us live lives that are led by the Holy Spirit. 

The healthier we are, the healthier our ministry will be. People get a better us when we are whole. Our relationships thrive when we understand and walk in who we are called to be.

I just wanted to encourage you today to let you know that you are enough. If you removed your gifts and everything you believe makes you special, God already saw you as priceless. He deemed you worthy of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The challenge comes when we don’t feel like we measure up, when we don’t feel like we’re good enough. Many times we feel like we have to prove to people because we don’t think they take us seriously. But God will not supply us with what will not be needed by someone else. We have been given something that someone else needs. Let’s receive that by faith.
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We don’t have to prove; just be. Remember, we’re not human doings; we’re human beings.
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” Acts 17:28a

You know, when some of you see the title, you may be tempted to click off of it because God loving you may seem either too elementary or just simply unbelievable. But I want to share Truth with you today in hopes that you will not only hear it but believe and digest it. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” This is such great news! God loved us when sin made us unlovable!

After some time in prayer, God revealed to me that sin is not just a behavior, it’s a location and an identity. We trespass when we sin against God. So when we take that thought into this verse, it reads, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were trespassing and not in our God-given identity yet, Christ died for us.”

Just as sin is being who we’re not supposed to be (which causes us to do what we’re not supposed to do), righteousness is choosing to step into being sons and daughters of Him which ultimately changes our behavior as well. Oftentimes, we focus so much on doing right things that we forget to “be” righteous. This is the difference between religion and relationship. Religion looks at righteousness as a “what” when relationship looks at it as a “who.”

​Don’t do righteousness; be righteous. Receive His love and be filled with His Spirit to be who He says you are. He loves you with an unfailing love. 

The Lord designed our bodies in a powerful way! He is a purposeful God, and He didn’t make any mistakes when He created us. Every cell, organ, bone, muscle, and nerve are all working together to give us the energy and vitality we need to function in this life.

The Scripture says in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” In our body’s control center, the brain, there is a process called Neuroplasticity. In a nutshell, pathways are created in the brain based on our habits. When new habits are formed, new pathways are created in the brain.
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When we meditate on our issues and worry about them, pathways are formed that can create anxiety, a negative outlook and perspective about life, and so on. But when we meditate and operate in the Word of God, our brains create paths that emulate His ways, His habits, His nature, and His thoughts. We have access to the mind of Christ! Let’s allow the Word of God to create new paths in our minds! 

I was having a great conversation with someone earlier this week, and the Lord dropped a thought in my heart. He said, “there’s a difference between an opportunity and a distraction.” That difference is based on knowing who you are.

Distractions look alike like opportunities. They can even keep us occupied tending to them which can give off the appearance that we are busy, and our calendar is booked, but we are distracted. Distractions throw us off course from our original purpose and assignment from God. They feel and sound good but don’t agree with God’s identity for our lives.
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The first place to identify whether it’s an opportunity or a distraction is to be solid in our God-given identity. We must know our lane. From there, we can allow Holy Spirit to navigate us. This is not to say that every invitation we don’t agree with is evil. It just simply means that it’s not always our grace to operate in. We must be humble enough to admit when someone else is a better fit for the invitation instead of operating in pride, making something be what it is not.  

We love answering people’s problems. We love having right words to say. We love helping people figure things out. We don’t know how to handle moments when we don’t have the answers.

There will be a time, if you haven’t already experienced it, that you will not have the right words to say or any at all. You won’t know how to help. You won’t know what to do.

When you experience this, that is not the time to conjure anything up or try to make something happen. That is not the moment you try to give an answer to prove you know something. That is the time to remain still, to simply listen, to just be present, to simply not do anything not led by Holy Spirit.

Honestly, when things happen, we can say and do some irrational things when our ego leads us. Our ego can even lead us to think that we’re not doing anything just because we can’t help solve the issue the way WE want to.
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A sobering truth is though sometimes we act like we are, we’re not God. We don’t have all the answers, and we never will. We can’t solve every problem. There would be no need for faith if we could. Lean on the One who knows everything and knows how to solve everything. 

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. 23 But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!” This is Matthew 6:22-23 in the AMP version of the Bible.

I’m reminded of a very sobering statement my husband made a few days ago. “You will eventually find what you’re focusing on.” The question now is do you want to find what you’re looking for? How is your vision? How is your ability to see God in challenge, in adversity, in trials and tests?

The Scripture talks about being spiritually blind. There’s the obvious definition of being blind, but the one I want to share is, “unable or unwilling to discern or judge.” This speaks volumes!

Here’s a potent and sobering thought. The reason why the enemy keeps sending the same lies to us is because we don’t discern or judge them as lies. We just continue to allow them to be suggested to us and they eventually live in our minds with the intent of forming a mentality! This is the gateway to spiritual blindness! As long as we won’t challenge those lies or thoughts and lead them away captive to the knowledge of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5), they will continue to come with the hopes of anesthetizing us (putting us to sleep) until we start to get comfortable with them! Then we settle in them until we build our lives around them. This is not the will of God!
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It’s time to get our focus back! Stop believing every lie the enemy brings to you! Open your eyes. God has a great plan for your life. The best is ahead of you. Stop grieving over the past and believe that God has better for you. You are loved by God! 

One of my favorite Scriptures is Ephesians 5:15-17. “Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people], 16 making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish and thoughtless, but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is.”

Living this life is not some walk in the park. It takes courage to find your identity and purpose in God. The Scripture tells us to not live vague and thoughtless lives. Vague simply means, “to not have a precise meaning.” In other words, living a vague life is living without an aim, without a reason and cause that is greater than yourself. How are you spending your time? Are you living according to your God-intended purpose?

It’s a dangerous thing to live a vague life. It’s dangerous to follow trends and not God’s will for our lives. Trends are catchy, but they’re also distracting. Of course, not all trends are bad, but good doesn’t always mean God.
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Do you know that God has a plan for your life? He wants you to be confident in being who He has called you to be so you will be able to handle what He’s called you to do with His motive. People are waiting on you to access the real you. 

Say there’s a computer with at least ten tabs open. The more frequent the computer has this many tabs open can eventually slow down the memory and speed of the computer. I liken the tabs on the computer to the tabs of the mind.

Like a computer, the tabs represent tasks performed. The more tabs we have open in our minds can eventually slow down our ability to hear the Holy Spirit and open ourselves up to anxiety. Multi-tasking is ok, but it’s much better to perform a task one at a time.
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Are you stretched doing too many things at once? Step back, look at what tabs you have open, and assess them. Will it mean anything five years from now? Does it sow into your purpose? The Holy Spirit will give instructions on how to not only balance but prioritize your life.