Category: Uncategorized

Good Morning, 
  
Transitioning takes acclimating to the climate or the temperature of the Spirit of God.  A great example is our temperature in Virginia this week alone.  One day our temperature was 40 degrees and two days later it was 65 degrees, that takes quick transitioning.  You can imagine what was going on in my house, I was switching the heat on one day and the air the next.  It revealed to me that sometimes as we go through transition,we may not be as quick to adapt to our changes.  Also, we may not have the time we feel is needed to acclimate to the changes.  This is why it is of the utmost importance, to learn to truly trust God, leaning our whole person over on Him.  He knows how to get us there at the right time and the right way!  This is also why God has been calling us to draw closer to Him, He knows the way.  He has already ordered the steps to get us to our divine position.  The more we trust by leaning on God, the easier it becomes to be led by Him.  Most of us go kicking, screaming, whining and complaining.  We are like children in the back seat of the car, on the way to the amusement park, constantly crying, "Are we there yet?"  Or, like when you are out grocery shopping, and you know the line we hear, "Are we through yet?"  Every thing that you are doing, usually is to make your children's life better or more enjoyable, right?  It makes you want to leave the grocery store and let them go hungry. Yes and turn the car around and go home and let them miss out on their fun-filled day.  Yet, most of the time we were not moved by our children's attitudes. Why?  Mainly, it was because we knew the steps it would take to get them food to eat, and we knew how long it would take to get to our destination.  We taught them to be patient and trusting. We, the parents would take care of them. They, the children did not understand everything that was involved in meeting their needs or giving them their desires.  Now we are in the back seat again! Daddy knows what is right for us. Psalm 37: 23,24 speaks clearly of this kind of trust, listen; "The steps of a good man are ordered {directed and established} by the Lord: He delights in every detail of their lives.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord grasps his hand in support and upholds him." Even if we miss the steps, if our heart is pure and we really want to please 'Daddy', He will hold us up. "You {God} have given plenty of room for my steps under me, that my feet would not slip." ( Psalms 18:36)
  I am trusting God to lead me to the place of rest as I transition.  Aren't you?  He really is our only real hope.  He will not let you down.  He says, "Even though you may be walking through the darkest, sunless valley of the shadow of death, do not fear.  I, even I, am there to lead and guide you.  I will not leave you.  Lean on Me and I will hold you in my hands.  You will come out into the sunshine that I have prepared you for.  I will bring you to your safe haven.  You will overcome this too, and grow stronger and be more determined than ever to trust Me.  You will come to understand and know that I really know, what the best way is for you.  I know that at times you don't believe I have your best interest in My heart.  You think I have closed My ears to your cries, because it is not the way you would choose.  You are the apple of my eye, trust Me!  I can see farther than you, I know everything concerning you.  Your future is far greater than you can imagine.  If you let Me I can make your life so sweet, you will pinch yourself to make sure that it is you living it.  Will you really trust Me?  Everyday I'm bringing you closer to the end of this place that you are in.  I hear you, I care for you.  You are not by yourself.  I am turning things around and straightening out the crooked places in you as well as in your living.  I can be trusted with every detail of your life.  I am your Father, and I am dependable.  Most of all, my beloved, I love you more, so much more than you love yourself. Stop running around to everyone and everything else, come up and rest in My arms.  Take a deep breath and rest in Me.  Fix your gaze on Me.  I truly am trustworthy.  Come on, run to Me, I will be your resting place." 
  Well, I must go and dry my eyes now.  That was personal, I hope He is speaking to you also. Change, transition, and shifting will come, but we must really learn to trust God.  I know, I will meditate on this spoken word.  I will learn to wait and see what the Lord is saying to me.  Give to me 'ears to hear', Lord.
  
   
  
                                                      Love,
                                                       Pastor D.

Good Morning, 
  
    Isaiah 61:4 deals with restoration in our lives after we are in our divine placement, or positioning. This happens as we draw closer to God and as we yield to the Holy Spirit on a consistent basis.  This year is a set time for this to happen, so we must be sensitive to hearing the voice of the Lord and He will lead us by those still and peaceful waters of change.  Change means the action of making something different; and the fact of becoming different; a departure from the norm; consists in realizing a potential that is not real yet; a deviation from established character, sequence, or condition; alteration, modification, variation or mutation; passing from one state to another marked by radically different makeup, whether by sudden or gradual development; a transformation. Well, this is where we are in the divine placement of the Spirit. 
    Do you remember your first encounter with the Lord?  I do!  I was in a state of deep depression, because I could not see any purpose for my life.  I was married and had two children and was two months pregnant with the third.  We were having a hard time financially, making it with the two children and therefore I concluded we did not need another.  Now, when I look back at my hard, callous heart I can't even believe it was me.  Well, we got the money together to go and have an abortion.  It set off a chain reaction in my life of devastation.  I begin to spiral out of control with memories that I'd tried all this time to just deal with.  I was molested by several male relatives during my childhood, a cousin, an uncle and my stepfather.  This was not a secret to anyone I knew, for I told everyone, trying to get somebody to help me.  It started from about the time I was nine years of age.  My parents dealt with my cousin, but the other situations started later.  My parents divorced and then it began again with my uncle and later after my mother remarried , my stepfather and his brother.  I grew up thinking that I had done something to cause these things, like most victims of abuse.  It traumatized me as a young married woman.  My husband was as understanding as he could be.  It is hard to understand the depth of the ugly root of these things unless you have been there yourself.  He does deserve his own medal for loving a crushed and devastated soul.  Well, after the abortion, all of these issues came flooding to the forefront of my mind.  I started praying for help. I needed to be healed for my two boys, they deserved a whole mother.  My husband deserved a woman who wasn't all broken.  I cried out,"God, if you are real, help me." I could not go on in the state I was in.  He came and delivered me.  That's a whole different story. 
    In Isaiah 61:4, it says, " And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations."  I have experienced the renewing of the devastation of many generations.  I stopped the familiar spirit of 'molestation and incest' from any future generations in my family.  When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I soon found out about my authority in Christ and that it applied to my past, present and future.  As I grew in Him I took authority over those "devastations of many generations.'  I applied and still apply the Word over my children and my children's children.  After I was born-again, I had another child, a daughter.  I received mercy and forgiveness, for aborting a baby, God is worthy of my praise!  I hate that selfish spirit of abortion.  It is a murderer, but I am so thankful for my Redeemer and my Salvation.  He restores everything that the enemy takes from us.  He renews those things that have devastated our generations and set up a new paths for future generations, if we will yield to His positioning and placement.  Desolation and devastation are similar in meaning, it means—–a place of astonishment (in the negative sense) to lay destitute, to lay waste, to ravage, to destroy improvements, to bring havoc, and to destroy the good that was intended. Well, our God has turned what the enemy meant for harm, to shame, to destroy, to devastate, and to ruin us, into our good.  He delights in taking the very things that the enemy tries to give us as, 'crooked things'; our loving Lord uses, by straightening those places out, makes us whole and then gives us His voice on it. 
     Whatever state you are in now, God is still the same Redeemer, Deliverer, Salvation, Restorer and Healer.  He is still the same, He will restore, deliver, redeem, save and heal you.  He will not let you down.  Let Him position you for the great plan of good that He has for you.  The story of your life does not end where you are today, it could be a new beginning to a  great 'love story', that does end with the famous words "and they lived happily ever after." 

Love,

Pastor D.
                                                                                           

Good Morning, 
  Isaiah 61: 4-7, were the scriptures that quickened my heart this morning.  As we look at it together, let's keep in mind our shifting is for divine placement.  Proper alignment is necessary for us to fulfill God's purpose and plan.  Isaiah says this, " And they (you) will rebuil the ancient ruins, the old waste places in your lives, and you will raise up the former desolations, and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations" {verse 4}  "Instead of your former shame, you shall have double (two-fold) recompense; instead of confusion (dishonor & reproach), you and your people shall rejoice in your portion: therefore in your land you shall possess the double (what you had forfeited); everlasting joy shall be yours." {verse 7}  Wow! This word is all about shifting and transitions taking place in our lives, for proper alignment and positioning. Earlier in this chapter Isaiah talks about exchanging, 'beauty for ashes', ' the oil of joy for mourning', and 'the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness'. I would like to highlight for us today that we will be able to rebuild the ancient ruins. The old places that we can build again, those places that have been torn down. Ancient denotes old; having had an existence of many years; various things that have had continuous existence of which for such a period that gives rise to a presumption of legal validity. Ancient ruins can be things (old familiar situations, circumstances,places etc.) that think that it has a legal right to still be in our lives.  It keeps cropping up in our new life.  We have to declare to these 'various things' that they have no more legal right to be in our lives because we have shifted.  Ruins or wastes denotes places of decay, desolation,those things that have collapsed, places that have been damaged or destroyed, wrecked or irreparable.We all have things or places in our lives that we came to Christ with that sound just like that. Still today the ancient ruins try to hinder our divine positioning. You must take the anointing and annihilate and destroy those ancient ruins.  Begin a rebuilding project with the power of God's Word, the diligence of prayer and the consistency of worship.  Refuse to allow the old and the ancient to be attracted to you any longer, keep your self oiled with fresh anointing. Whenever you see these old ruins, pray. "Beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit; Stop the boomerang now!                             
  
                                                   Love, 
                                                   Pastor D. 

Emotions; Emotions

No one speaks their emotions.  People wear them as pieces of clothing.

You wear anger and hatred like gloves on your fist.

You wear guiltiness on your back like a jacket.

You wear your past like shoes that wear year after year.

When your are in love it is like a blindfold over your eyes.

You wear sadness like a mask on your face.  

You are a very strong person if you can take those pieces of clothing off.

Only your Lord and Savior can remove your past and bad relationships.

Lovin' it.

Poem by Breanna Berry

Good Morning,

The Lord says, all this time I've heard the cries for more of My glory and My presence.  I have seen the longing of your heart for more of My heart.  To love Me first, has become your desire.  I have brought you to My banqueting table.  I have opened doors to make you feel welcome to feast from all that has been prepared for you.  All of heaven is fully available to all that seek Me afresh and anew.  Receive!  For those who have been crushed by the weights of living in this worlds system, where you feel your hope has been dashed against the times of life, I say look up.  I have not forgotten you, your help is on the way.  Your latter days will far outshine any former days of darkness.  You have endured by fighting the great fight of faith while you cried out to Me to have a refreshing of our first encounters.  I shall do even better than that!  I will awaken you with songs of love that will revive you and quicken you with new strength.  You will hear My voice in the night season, to direct you with counsel.  I will keep you tight in the palms of my hands, I will not let you go.  I will restore your light with greater burning and your life with greater zeal.  I have listened to your heart, as you silently asked Me for deeper encounters with Me.  You have said that you really want to know Me.  Well, I will give you that request and much, much more.  I will hearken to the diligent desire of your pure heart, I will answer you.  Look for Me in the days ahead.  I will make Myself known to you, My beloved.

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning,

    Every transition requires adjustments.  Adjust means to adapt, to rearrange for improving performance, to conform so as to make more effective, to correct errors for better operation and to change the position.  An example would be like changing jobs, you would have to adapt to your new employer's mode of operating.  Think about the change of the season.  Right now we are transitioning into autumn from summer, we try to adapt our clothing, our temperatures inside, even some of what we eat changes.  We are trying to improve our enviromental conditions so that we can be more effective by adapting to the change of the season.  That is why our loving heavenly Father is causing transition in our lives, to improve, to rearrange, to make more effective and to correct errors for better operation, most of all to change our position.  Isaiah 45:2 and 3 says, "I will go before you and level the mountains (those high, steep and difficult places; those things that you have spoken to) and make the crooked places straight (those places that have come by dishonesty or fradulently; things that were brought through swollen-prideful means); I will break in pieces the gates of brass (the openings and closings that affect us that are impudent and resistant to changing) and cut in sunder the bars of iron (those things that restrict, barriers or boundaries that bind, confine or restrain); And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, Who call you by name.  Treasures of darkness could mean the depository where you've had misery, destruction, ignorance, sorrow and wickedness bringing times of obscurity when you had depravity of sight or trouble from imperfect vision or understanding.  He is going to put those things in your hands now and you will have greater insight.  Hidden riches in secret places witll take care of the rest of your transition.  It means a secret, valuable storehouse or buried money.  Treasures are being brought forth, things that you could not see in you will be uncovered!

    I decree and declare that dreams that have died are now being resurrected in greater and stronger details than before.  Shifting and transitioning has brought you into the right position for this raining windows and open doors.  I decree gates that were closed are now swinging wide.  Gates and doors that were open, that should have been closed are now sealed.  Your way is like a raised highway, with clear and shining light.  I decree and declare fresh anointing to flow over every area that is being adjusted.  Targeted prophetic words, words spoken from the Father's heart with your lips; power words that you will skillfully hit what you are aiming for in your life.  I decree that this season of change will advance upon the people of God in the areana of technology, inventions and in creativity.  There will be breakthroughs in wisdom and revelations into the mysteries of heaven that will greatly benefit the earth.  There is a wave, a shift that will begin to flow like a great deluge of refreshing water.  Look for it, call for it!  Decree it over your life and your family.  Families will be supernaturally restored.  Walking on this highway will give you insight to all of your relationships.  God is now saying to decree, "I hear the sound of rain, it is the rain of change."  Let's line our words with God.  He is definitely perfecting those things that concern us.

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning,

    I read a story yesterday about a young boy who found a cocoon, and seeing how hard the insect struggled on the inside, he cut the cocoon open, thinking he would help the bug escape.  Instead, the butterfly died.  A butterfly expert told him that it is the struggle within the cocoon that gives strength to the butterfly and enables its wings to grow and develop.  Only then can it emerge and go free.

    If God cares so much for butterflies, to give to them a covering while they transition, I know He covers us as we change.  Is. 41:10 says, "Fear not, (there is nothing to fear), for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strenghten and harden you to difficutlties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My victorious right hand of rightness and justice."

    Last week we saw that Is. 41: 18 and 19 says, "Do not remember the former things; neither consider the things of old.  Behold I am doing a new thing!  We saw that we have to forget the past in order to move on to the new.  New means something fresh, existing for a short time, recently manifested, recently recognized or experienced, different or distinguised from what has previously existed, being other than the former of the old.  Are you expecting the new?  As you struggle to exit your cocoon of transition, remember you are developing wings so that you can soar higher in Christ than you have ever did before.  You are actually growing during this transition at an astounding rate.  I like what God said in Is. 41:10…"I will strengthen you and harden you to difficulties.."

    This "hardening" us to difficulty, is also where we receive strength to come forth from our God-given cocoon.  Harden means to make tough, to strengthen or confirm in disposition, feeling or a course of action, to make bold.  You see we become tougher and stronger to outer circumstances and easily pliable to inner change.  "I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord,  thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." (Jer. 29:11)  So, no matter what (if you stay in Him), you're outcome will always be better than your "start" into change.  We are getting ready to exit through transition, strong and prepared for the new.

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning,

    This week I accidently locked myself out of my house at 8:15 at night.  My daughter-in-law was leaving my house at the same time so I was able to use her cell phone.  I called around to see if I could get someone to come who had an extra house key.  I did!  Immediately I began to laugh at myself.  I was so busy trying to get a moth off of my door that I closed it barefoot and all.  There I was outside of my cozy familiar night time scene.

    After the laughter died down I sat down on the porch and looked up at the beautiful night skies.  The moon was full and there were soft puffy clouds moving across the sky.  I had been forced into a time of "change".  I actually sat down and enjoyed a moment in life.  I am usually busy all the time, even when I could be still and enjoy a quiet moment, I choose to stay revved up until exhaustion takes me down. 

    God loves to take every day living and reveal to us His Word.  Here is what was uncovered to me.  He said that in some cases in order for change or thansition to take place He literally has to "lock" us out of our familiar comfort zones to bring us into the "unfamiliar" surroundings where our change can proceed.  How will you respond when that happens?  Will you stomp, rant, rave and rage when change begins to demand you to transition?  Or will you stand and trust God to bring you out on the other side?  Phillipians 4:11 says, "..I have learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am."  State means circumstances, situations or conditions.  When you are taken outside of your "norm", do you remain calm and undisturbed?  Are you the person who "comes unglued"?  We must allow the Lord to have control, instead of feeling the need to be the one in control (or the one that regulates and directs the means and methods of operations, conditions, circumstances or situations).  I'll let you in on something; no matter how many people or things you may have controlled in your life before, you cannot control or manipulate God.

    In my mini transition, I was able to find the good in it.  I was able to look up and take delight in the beauty of God's night life.  It was a rare occurence.  The season of change is upon us, we must see the good that God is doing in our lives and appreciate the attention that He takes in detailing every aspect of the transition.  The old Debra would've cried, stomped and felt robbed of her important time that had been wasted and would have never sat down quietly and enjoyed the night.  Transition or change had been going on for awhile on the inside of me.  Romans 12:2 says "…but be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind, so that you may prove for yourselves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you."  He is requiring you to yield to the transition that He has in His plan for you.  Yielding is major!  Yield means to give your right to another, to give up possession of upon claim or demand, to surrender or relinquish to the control of another, to submit readily, to hand over as something owed, to bow, defer to, to relent willingly not by force.  Yield to transition!

    "Do not remember the former things; neither consider the things of old.  Behold I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 41:18,19).  Will you give heed to the new thing (transition/change)?  Change is springing forth, will you even know it?  Has your change started?  Have you been resisting it all along?  Don't kick against the pricks.  Rest, rest in the arms of our omniscient Father, He knows what He is doing.

Love,

Pastor D.

The Spirit says:

Intimacy is what I long for from you.  Intimacy is born from worshipping Me.  Tender moments together breeds trust.  Trust causes Me to share My secrets.  As you come closer to Me, I desire to lavish you will of Me.  Intimate relationship brings revelations.  When you worship with an intimate heart, I take the written Word that you could not understand nor live and breathe life into it and you receive fresh bread from heaven, that lives through you.  John the beloved entered into a high place because he desired more and more of Me.  I brought him up higher to see and hear things whispered from an intimate time.  He knew insights to Me, he knew Me, just as We desire you to know.  Deep is calling unto deep, come stand under My waterfall, so that I can flow over you in intimate revelations.  I am open to those who draw close to Me.  The more you love Me, the more you will want to love me more.  I am that good.  I will take you to a high place where you are able to stand in the days of evil, you will be inaccessible to the schemes of the evil one, you will be hidden in my love.  The strongest force ever known, nothing can penetrate my loves here.  Come away to Me, my love is your covering, worship is what true lovers do.          

Transition in part means to "let go" of the old in order to get to the new.  Are you ready to let go of old hurts, disappointments, regrets, mistakes, misunderstandings, lies, abuses, habits and anything that you are still carrying around in your heart or memory?"  No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead: I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us" (Phil 3:13).  All of those things in our past are hinderances, snares and obstacles.  If we don't cast them out like the garbage that it is, they will grow like cancer to form a "stronghold", a pattern of thinking, reasoning, responding and feeling that will hinder our walk with the "lover of our soul."  As He tries to get us to step up highter (where He will be able to reveal more to us) those "old things" will always prevent us.  This is demonstrated perfectly for us in the Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 15; "take for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards; for our vines have tender grapes."  As the "beloved" and the "lover" are going up higher places together, foxes try to attack her growth, which is new and tender (something that could easily be destroyed).  Foxes are burrowers, they snuggle up underground, they hide in passages underneath, tunneling in hidden places.  That is exactly what all of those things do that we keep holding on to in our minds and hearts.  They burrow down deep and pop out at the most unexpected time.  You know, like when you're trying to love, be kind, tender, forgiving, start fresh.  Any attempt to move up closer to God, up comes the flood of memories or maybe it's just that undesirable response that pops up. 

Well, we know what to do, so let's just do it!  It is for our good and our growing!  Let's toss out the trash!  Let's dig down and clear out the passageway of our hearts and minds.  Let us give the Word of God some ground to be rooted in.  2 Corinthians 10:4 and 5 says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not physical (carnal), but they are mighty through God for the overthrow (pulling down) and destruction of strongholds, casting down imaginations (arguments, theories and reasoning's in our thought life) and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God; and bring every thought (all the little foxes) captive to the obedience of Christ."  Our first weapon that we will use against the "foxes" and the "old things" will be forgetting.  Forget is to lose the remembrance of, let go from from the memory, be unable to think or recall, to lose the power of use, to disregard intentionally, to become oblivious to.  Are you ready for transition?  Then let's forget the past, so that we can press on!

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning,

Today I will share a word that was spoken to me this Wednesday in prayer.  I thought as I wrote what the Spirit was saying that I would float out of the presence of the Lord and from that moment on everything would be super easy.  You can imagine what happened;  I was cursed at by someone behind me on the road because I didn't speed up so that they could get the light that was turning red, a loved one called me to give me a red-hot piece of their mind, I had to spend money on something that I had not planned on and I had to stand and believe the word of God for my healing.  This glorious word that I received that morning began to lose it's power and meaning, I'd almost forgotten the meaning of change and transition.  Change – making or becoming different; a departure from the norm, a deviation from established character, sequence or condition, a passing from one state to another marked by radically different makeup or operation.  Transition – a passage or movement from one state, mode, condition or place to another, in which a shift is gradually effected.  We are in a season of change and transition, but remember the enemy of our soul is still trying to prevent our change.  Mark 4:15-20 reminds us how the enemy tries to steal the word that was sown in our hearts, no seed, no production.  We must give more thought and attention to every word spoken by God if we are to yield to His changes in our lives.  Mark 4:24, "…the measure of thought and study you give to the truth your hear will be the measure (of power and knowledge) that comes back to you…".  For those who have ears to hear, listen up:

The Spirit says:

It has always been My desire that My children would allow Me to lead them.  They would find that I will always bring them beside the still and peaceful waters, even though the crushing waves would try to knock them over.  I would cause them to truly know peace as they go in and through the storms of life.  Instead of expecting Me to fit into their plans and purposes, they would find out how great and elaborate My plans are for them.  If only they will let Me lead.  They would find fresh new things going on in Me at all times.  For I am the quickening, you know, the life-giving, light-giving One.  I bring a fresh new expectancy to everything I touch.  You would never tire of Me.  I am so exciting!  I bring new surprises every morning, if you would open your eyes to behold my wonders.  Look around you at the world I made for your enjoyment.  There is always something new and fresh going on around you all the time, but very few catch it.  It is never "boring" or "uneventful".  Yet in My house My people have let their love and their relationship with Me become tedious, uneventful and sometimes boring.  I am not the one who others have portrayed Me as.  There is so much more to Me than your imagination could every conceive.  I have longed for you to desire to really get to know Me better than you do, crossing over the boundaries that was set to keep you from immeasurable pleasures and limitless joys.  I have longed for you to come up higher, so that you can hear and see better.  I want you to let Me train you how to flow with Me in the days that lie ahead.  I want to teach you how to effectively flow in My gifts that I have given to you, so that you would have clearer insight into Me and My best.  Thoroughly enjoying life and all that I have lavished upon you.  Get ready, for the process has begun to awaken you to life and living it fully to Me.  My church that will allow Me to lead are up for exciting times ahead!  My glorious church is straining their necks to hear and see.  Such singing and dancing in My house has never been heard to the degrees that are coming; chains breaking, healings breaking forth and restoration flowing like a river.  The times that were spent in weeping will be multiplied into great laughter.  Great peace and great joy will be known by all who stay in My house.  You will be taught how to enjoy to the fullest, all I have for you.  Yes, I am aware of all that you face in this life, challenges, trial and tests.  You will not grow weary through these things, you will find a new perspective from Me.  As you come up higher you will see things differently and obtain greater and clearer knowledge.  You will begin to know.  Come up higher!

Love,

Pastor D.

Scripture Reference: Ps. 126, Jn. 10:10, Eph. 3:20, Ps. 23, Is. 61:7

Good Morning,

Everything that is in our lives (who we are, how we respond to others in our lives, how we think and come to conclusions, even how and why we feel the way we do and when we feel it) has its’ foundation in our hearing clearly.  Before we go on to other things we want to get our hearing straight!  Proverbs 4:20 says; "My son (child), pay attention to My words; incline (which means to bend the ear, lean in to hear the speaker more clearly) your ear unto My sayings.  Let them (the words that is being said) not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst (center of your heart, which includes your mind, will and emotions) for they are life to those who find them (those who are listening clearly), and health to all their flesh.  Keep and guard your heart (we are the gatekeepers of what we hear clearly; we can let things in or keep things out) with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (our life and our living springs from what we have let or allowed in).  See,what we hear or listen to intently will be allowed into our mind, will and emotions and that is where our thought life and our behavior life is formed.  We become what we give our attention to!

So, let’s just do it! Let’s change our ability to hear clearly.  "Understand this, my beloved brethren.  Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19).  Swift to hear, means to be prompt and more ready to hear.  It can be used to depict a runner who runs as fast as he can so he can reach the finish line before his competitors.  We could read the scripture this way; "Understand this, my beloved brethren, set your focus on becoming a good listener and do it with all your might, as if you are in a competiton to win the race of being a good listener".  James is telling us to become prize-winning listeners instead of prize-winning fighters or prize-winning talkers.  Well, we all know that this is going to take commitment and practice.  Even if we are quiet by nature that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are listening.  You know that’s right!  So let’s exercise our hearing.  1Timothy 4:7 & 8, tells us; "…exercise yourself unto godliness.  For bodily exercise profits a little; but godliness is profitable (useful and of value in everything and in everyway) for it holds promise for the present life and for the life which is to come".  Exercise in greek is the word gumnadzo and it means "radical discipline.  It is the word that ancient greeks used to portray the atheletes who exercised, trained and prepared for competing in their games, which were brutal and barbaric.  It is where we get our word gynasium.  Gumnadzo depicts a people who want to develop and change so much that they are willing to put themselves through vigorous, demanding and strenuous discipline in order to bring about that change.  Is that you and I?  Then all that is left to do, is just do it.  We can do anything we give ourselves to.  We are the gatekeepers, are we not?  Who controls what you think, who controls what you say? The answer is simple, I do.  I can strengthen myself right now.  How do I exercise myself into hearing clearly?  Well, I can answer that by asking you a question.  Do you know where you are ‘weak ‘ in listening?  Do you "check out", while others are talking?  Are you able to repeat exactly what has been spoken to you, without adding your own words?  Are you constantly being accused (by more than one person) of not understanding what has been said to you?  Do you usually interrupt while others are speaking?  If the answer to these questions are yes, then we need to start today in becoming prize-winning listeners.  Our exercise can begin by leaning in to hear when God and others speak today, stop all other thoughts and outside activity and give undivided attention to what is being said.  Practice repeating what you think you hear to the ear of the one who spoke.  We can do it!  We can do all things through Christ, which strenghtens us (Phil. 4:13).  Gumnadzo!!! Get to it!

Love,

Pastor D.