Time to Forgive!

“A change of heart on the inside, a change of life on the outside.”

If we live long enough, and my guess is that most of us have, we will have found ourselves having experienced the curveballs of loss, grief, disappointment, betrayal and hurt tossed our way, at some of the most unexpected and inconvenient times in our lives, experiences which if not stewarded well, have the potential to harden our once soft hearts and thwart the full realization of what was God’s original intention and design for our lives.

We live in a fallen world, and hurt just seems to be inevitable reality, something we certainly don’t volunteer to experience, but something we cannot dodge nonetheless. A parent says something, a spouse does not keep his/her word, a boss yells in an outburst of anger, a neighbor gives the cold shoulder, and the list of such incidents that can cause us to make promises like, “I will NEVER let that happen to me again!” seems endless. In our vehement quest to self-protect, we actually self-sabotage. We fasten padlocks on our hearts and refuse to ever trust again. I mean really trust. I can vouch for it, because I’ve been there.

But the good news is that we don’t have to stay there. In and through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we can move on. Instead of staying bitter, angry and resentful; we can choose to forgive simply because WE have been forgiven first. As I write, the part where Peter questions Jesus comes to mind,

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord,how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you not seven times, but seventy seven times.'”

I believe Jesus said so because no matter how many times we forgive, He has forgiven us even more. He bore our sins on Himself so that we may be set free. Scripture says that He whom the Son of Man has set free, is free indeed. Then, tell me, why must we allow ourselves to be bound by unforgiveness?

As believers in Christ, we have the power to choose. We can choose to let our hearts remain hardened by the poison of unforgiveness, or we can choose to release forgiveness to our offenders, trusting God to vindicate us. The latter is definitely what would please The Father, because it not only demonstrates our trust in Him to avenge us, but also allows us to keep our hearts soft, supple and tender for the work of God to continue in and through our lives.

A powerful yet not too popular tool to release forgiveness is to pray for those that have caused us harm. The Bible tells us to. In my experience, this is one of the most potent tools that God uses to shape our hearts, leaving us forever changed. Not only does this allow us to release our toxic emotions to God in a sacred, secret, sanctified space;but also trust Him to work in our lives in a way that brings about true and authentic restoration. It is often said that hurting people hurt others. The same people, when trusted in the Hands of God, can have the opportunity to not only heal and become whole; but also be transformed to an extent that they themselves morph into instruments of healing and wholeness in the world that is around and about them.

Friends, this picture of true restoration revives my soul. It makes me acutely aware of the fact that we not only have the privilege to forgive, but also owe it to the world because our prayers carry weight. As they ascend to the Throne room of Grace, Our Father goes to work in ALL of our hearts to make them His.

Isn’t that what we are after, to begin with?

Suffice to say, a change of heart on the inside is something that may seem subtle, but in fact, is so potent that it can literally spark off a movement of the Love and Light of Christ to shine forth so bright that our very lives would be a threat to the kingdom of darkness. So, as I close, let us say in unison,

“Father, let Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Amen.


True Liberty

“When a soul learns to be completely dependent on You, it is truly set free.”

Control is what is plaguing the world today. The need to control everything, from the outcome of circumstances and relationships to that of dreams and visions, we seem to want to control everything. The truth however, is a sheer contrast. What we feel when we are seemingly “in control” is the very thing that actually has us in bondage. In my walk with The Lord recently, I have had to let Him deal with me on this.

I too have control issues. I think all of us do. I believe it is a defense mechanism that we have constructed to create a false sense of security, a sense of security that is in fact, quite limiting and confining, a sense of security that betrays the truth that we fear hurt and disappointment, and we still haven’t quite learned to trust.

However, what I’m learning is that in order to grow in our walk with The Lord, it is vital that we learn to let him work with us as we slowly but steadily learn to let go and let Him. Surrender and control are antonyms. If I have my basics right, Jesus wants us to surrender. I believe this is because He wants us to experience true liberty of the soul.

The firmer our clasp on the things of this world, the more we are enslaved by them. The Bible clearly says,

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

This is not to say that we don’t enjoy the things of this world. In fact, I believe we honor our Father as we take delight in what He has created for us to enjoy. But at the same time, I also believe that our love for the things of this world cannot supersede our love for Our Father. He doesn’t mind us having things, He minds things having us. The words of Jesus come to mind,

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

A revelation of the all consuming Love of The Father is what gives us the courage to relinquish control and surrender. We surrender because we trust and know The One we are surrendering to. We surrender because we understand that our human strength is but frail, but that of The Father is infinite. We surrender because we know that our own resources are limited, but those of Heaven are inexhaustible. We surrender because we are Sons and Daughters who have supreme confidence in the nature and character of our Heavenly Father. We surrender because we have been chosen to.

As I write, Matthew 7:11 continues to reverberate in my spirit,

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

We are Children of a Father who gives good and perfect gifts. He never withholds a single, good thing from us. He may have to painstakingly work through our stubborn hearts till they are strong yet soft enough to hold the weight of the blessings He wants to unleash in our lives. But for all of this to manifest, a prerequisite is our willingness to release control and simply surrender.

I write all this because it is only when we yield to the power of surrender that we allow our souls to be completely dependent on Him. This can initially be both, terrifying and liberating. However, through each stage and season, it only keeps getting easier and better, simply because He will never ask us to do that which He doesn’t empower us to. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals the Goodness and the Perfect Love of Our Father, thereby creating in us a new found capacity to believe, and surrender all control to The One in whom all things hold together, in the first place.

The degree to which we surrender control is the degree to which we allow our souls to be dependent on Him, and the degree to which our souls learn to depend on Him is the degree to which we experience true spiritual freedom, which, on this side of Eternity, is our Promised Land.

Friends, we were never designed to be enslaved and ensnared by the things of this world, rather, we were called to have dominion over them. God says so in Genesis. The Fall through the first man, Adam, may have happened, but Redemption through Our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, has too. The only possible response to this would be as The Passion Translation puts it,

“Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free – not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”

Our past may have been a track record of bondage to habits, behavior patterns, addictions, and relationships that were damaging our souls, but NOW that The Lover of our souls has bought us over from the dominion of darkness and brought us into His Marvelous Light, we have been set free forever. At this juncture, let me also be very clear that Jesus may have bought our freedom for us, but it is up to us to choose to walk in the fullness of that freedom. This is a choice we get to make every single day, in His Strength and by His Grace. The decision to choose to walk in the freedom purchased for us at Calvary is a decision that requires us to trust in His Will and Ways, as He gently works through those issues of our hearts, minds and souls that we had no hope for, but God. It is a brave decision that conveys to The Father that we trust Him to make whole that which was broken, to bind that which was wounded, to restore that which was plundered, to establish that which was shaky.

Friends, my own journey has required me to make this decision time and time again, and each time, He has come through. I am still learning to trust and surrender, but gain strength from reminding myself of all those times in my life where flesh and blood could have never saved me, but God. I’m sure you have had experiences of your own and can testify to His Faithfulness. So, together let us make a whole hearted decision today to not tackle things on our own, when we have both, the privilege and the obligation of learning to lean on Him, not because He needs us to, but because WE need to. For when a soul learns to be completely dependent on Him, it is truly set free.

Amen.


Seasons change

“We cannot get stuck in what was meant to only be a season.”

I truly meant to write on something completely different, but when you know it is The Lord, you allow yourself to be pliable.

I don’t know about you, friend, but the past season has been a mixed bag of emotions. I felt crushed, liberated, blessed, redeemed, guided and held through it all. I felt that through the demolition of the plans I had for myself, The Lord catapulted me straight into His. I realized that what I thought was good for me was really killing me. There is a big difference in killing yourself and dying to yourself, I recently found myself voicing. Being adamant about that which I, in my limited understanding, thought was best for me was slowly killing me. It was making me complacent, confining me to the comfort zone I had made for myself, and was compromising my potential. By the Spirit that is alive within us, I was sensitive enough to discern that something didn’t quite line up. What felt right for a season of my life, didn’t feel right anymore. What ignited my passion once now became a source of apathy, dormancy and discontent. I knew right then that this was something I had to lay on the altar. Friends, it wasn’t easy, in fact, quite devastating, but it was one of the most liberating and humbling experiences of my life.

It taught me many things, foremost among them being this simple Truth: the end of one thing is merely the beginning of another. It is always something better and perhaps, even more challenging as deep calls out to deep. It is something that will give our anointing an equal to work with. God promises us that we only go from glory to glory. From my recent experience, I certainly have grown to understand that as we make our way from the end of one opportunity, relationship or circumstance to the beginning of what The Lord has in store for us next, He will walk us through a process of healing and restoration, because what we have experienced can be best described as a circumcision of the heart and a season of pruning. Talking of pruning, what is most encouraging to hear is that God prunes the fruitful branches so that they will bear more fruit. It is NEVER that we have done something wrong which has caused the demise of that which we thought would flourish, because His Grace is always greater and all sufficient. The Truth is that we are actually fruitful, but in order for us to bear more fruit and play an even more pivotal role in the Divine Design that He has for us, we will have to endure the season of pruning.

I didn’t totally comprehend what was happening and was caught up in a whirlwind of emotions during my transition. But on the other side, I can truly testify that The God we serve is a Father who knows what He has deposited on the inside of His Children: seeds of greatness. These seeds germinate and grow in the fertile soil of humility, surrender, trust and child-like faith. By yielding to Him day by day, I have begun to savor the taste of what Jesus came to give us: Life more abundant.

Friends, it is easy to get caught up in the anxiety of future concerns, and I completely understand. So, let me share something from one of the resources God sent my way to anchor me in the storm, to sustain me through the tempest, to strengthen me through the season;

“You need not fear the future, for I am already there. When you make that quantum leap into Eternity, you will find Me awaiting you in Heaven. Your future is in my hands; I release it to you day by day, moment by moment. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. I want you to live this day abundantly, seeing all that there is to see, doing all there is to do. Don’t be distracted by future concerns. Leave them to Me!”

I did just that. I still don’t know what the future holds, and my guess is neither do you, but through our deepening intimacy with Him during times that seem to have pulled the rug from under our feet, we will realize that we were standing on the solid Rock called Christ Jesus all along! The Bible puts it ever so succinctly,

“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,  for our “God is a consuming fire.””

As I reflect on this, it becomes abundantly clear that we can’t put our confidence in the temporal things of this world. We must grow to the point where we put ALL confidence in The One who is The Highest Source of all things. This will not only set us free to enjoy that which with His help we have created and leveraged to add value to the world that is around and about us, but also be flexible enough to allow Him to transition us into whatever He wants to do next in our lives, whenever He chooses to. This keeps our journey fluid, and our walk with The Lord, organic. As we witness ourselves move from one season of our lives to the next, we will have grown in wisdom and stature enough to know that the lessons we gleaned from the previous season were not only necessary, but inevitable in the unveiling of our God-ordained Destiny.

Needless to say, seasons in our lives will change, and the strength of each season lies in our ability to trust Him with what He is doing, knowing fully well that pruning and preparation are but a season that will undoubtedly take us into expansion beyond our wildest expectations and dreams.

As I conclude friends, it is my hope and prayer that if you find yourself in a season that seems to have caught you unawares, rest in the knowledge that The Lord is simply extending an invitation to seek Him, go deeper and say, “Yes” to a season that though seems beyond understanding, is saturated with Purpose and Destiny. To move from the season you currently find yourself in into the next, it is imperative to know that this is just a stage in your life, a passage He needs you to walk through so that you can grow in the deep truths of God which are but essential to sustain that which He has already predestined to bless you with.

Engraved in the palm of His Hands, you may have encountered the unexpected, but when you know the expected end , Victory through Christ Jesus, you can rest. You can yield. You can surrender. You can grow. You can mature. You can honor the process of becoming a higher and better version of who you are called to be, simply because you were never meant to stay stuck in what was ordained to only be a season.

Blessings.

Are we Alive?

“The question is not if Jesus is alive in us, the question is are we alive to Jesus alive in us?”

Love, truth, grace, mercy, forgiveness and compassion are not just what we receive from God in and through our relationship with Christ Jesus, but also what we carry as a result of it. The moment we are born again, we are are quickened by The Spirit of God to the things of God. We become pregnant with Promise and co-heirs with Christ. We are seated at the right hand of The Father in Heavenly places with Christ Jesus as Sons and Daughters of The Most High God. In short, by “coming to” ourselves we embark upon a journey of “becoming” ourselves.

When we receive Jesus, we not only receive salvation for our souls for all Eternity, but also the privilege of outworking that salvation through the power of The Holy Spirit ALIVE on the inside of us. The same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead now dwells within us. So, the question is not if Jesus is alive in us, because He is; the question is are WE alive to Jesus alive in us?

What do I mean by that? Let’s try and unpack this together.

Jesus is the very embodiment of Agape Love, unceasing Grace, unreasonable Forgiveness, unfathomable Joy, unrelenting Mercy. As His chosen vessels, we thus become instruments in the Hands of God to extend the same that we have received extravagantly to the world we find ourselves positioned in, whether it is family, marriage, business, workplace, community or neighborhood. The degree to which we allow ourselves to be schooled by the Holy Spirit, thereby birthing the fruits of the Holy Spirit ( love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control) is the degree to which we will be able to extend the same to our neighbors and become increasingly transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. This is both, the strength and the supreme delight of our walk with The Lord: the process of transformation.

Where we once succumbed to the lusts and passions of this world at the expense of how it was damaging our souls, we are now convicted by the Holy Spirit; but it is entirely upto us to obey or override. The more we learn to obey when God is dealing with the issues of our heart, the quicker we pass the test and graduate to the next level. Where we once would have easily lost our temper, now the Spirit of The Living God intervenes and gives us both, the strength and the willingness to choose better. As we slowly yield and surrender, we will find ourselves in the midst of a journey that only goes from glory to glory.

The Bible puts it like this,

” The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.”

This verse clearly talks of “the way” of the righteous. I believe that if we are to truly experience the fullness of the life that God has in store for us, then we will have made a truly smart decision to yield to “the way” of The Holy Spirit, honoring and co-partnering with what God is doing IN us and then THROUGH us. The more Christ-like we allow Him to make us, the more He will be able to use us as hands and feet of Jesus in the Earth, needless to say that opportunities, resources and relationships will inevitably follow and find us. We are all familiar with what I will quote once again because this Truth etched out in our inmost being is able to unleash EVERYTHING that God has put on our hearts,

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

I believe the deeper we allow the Holy Spirit to go in us, the more The Father is able to trust us; trust us with greater blessings, favor and finances. To be a good steward on the level we are on is a prerequisite before He elevates us to the next. And the only way to be a good steward of time, talent and treasure is to have allowed ourselves to be humble enough to learn from who I consider the greatest Teacher on planet Earth – The Holy Spirit of God.

It is The Holy Spirit that we are sealed with who teaches us to reach out or hold back, to to speak up or exercise restraint, to go forth with marching orders or stand still and watch the salvation of The Lord. He is our Friend, Comforter and Counselor- things that we too ought to feel like to the world around and about us. He is Jesus ALIVE in us. But the question that persists is simply this: are we alive to Him?

Because if we are, then we would know what it is to forgive that person we have held a grudge against for far too long, to love that person who seems a tad bit too difficult to handle, to show genuine empathy to that friend who has had to endure an illness that was both, unexpected and too long extended, to reach out with compassion to that co-worker whose marriage that seemed to possess much promise for the future simply fell apart without caution; in short, to be salt and light in a lost and broken world.

Bill Johnson puts it like this,

“The Holy Spirit is in you and He wants out. He is in you as a river, not a lake.”

Rivers flow, lakes are rather still. Rivers merge with one another, lakes are rather self-contained. Rivers symbolize movement, lakes exemplify placidity. And Jesus promised us that out of our innermost being will flow continually RIVERS of living water.

Friends, let us not restrict the flow that God has begun in and through our lives. The more alive we are to the Truth that Jesus is alive within us , and the more we allow Him to work through us, guess what the inevitable outcome will be?

We will see more of Jesus AROUND us.

Selah.

Set Free

“Let the Voice of God, and not the validation of man be your seat of motivation.”

I believe in digging deep, deep into the Father Heart of God and allowing His Spirit, to in turn, dig deep within the crevices of my own mind, soul and spirit. More often than not, each time I yield and allow Him to gain access to these spaces on the inside of me, He not only heals and restores, strengthens and makes whole; but also burns a desire in my heart to want to extend the same invitation to those that are around and about me. The Word puts it like this,

“When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

The world today is submerged in grave issues like human trafficking, poverty, famine, environmental degradation, racial discrimination, bullying, violence and the list seems endless. The situation may seem hopeless, but for a people who have been entrusted with The Spirit of God, it is the right hour to wake up from our slumber and get going so we can redirect traffic and set people on a street called straight. It is for such a time as this that God has raised up His Sons and Daughters: to shine as lights in dark spaces, illuminating everything around and warming everything within.

However, responding to the call of God on our lives at such a critical time in history will require something of us. It will require us to put selfish ambition on the altar, and instead, devote our time and resources to fulfilling Godly ambition, an ambition that is rooted in what His heart beats for: love, kindness, mercy, compassion, understanding , justice and restoration. I understand that when we look at the magnitude of the problems confronting us, it is easy to get discouraged or even complacent. It is easy to entertain thoughts like, “what difference can I possibly make?” But the truth is that we are all a part of The Body Of Christ for a reason. I love the analogy The Bible gives us. The foot cannot be a hand, and the ear cannot be an eye. As each organ in the human body has a specific role, so it is with us. The unique contribution YOU can make, whether it is praying for your nation, contributing to abolishing slavery, having conversations with your children to create awareness, speaking words of Truth and affirmation over a struggling teen, volunteering some time at a nearby NGO, reading The Bible to a prison inmate, or simply hi-fiving that kid you just crossed paths with for no rhyme or reason; are contributions that ONLY you can make in the way you can make them. And when you really set your heart to it, the opportunities will present themselves. All that you need to do is say, “Yes!”

At times, obedience to God can look like rebellion to man. But if you know deep down that it is the Voice of The Father that is beckoning you to step outside your comfort zone and take baby steps or make gigantic strides to advance the cause of The Kingdom, then my encouragement to you is simple. Say yes.

And as you do, hold this truth close to your heart. Your efforts may be unapplauded, but they aren’t insignificant. You may seem obscure, but you’re fully known by The One who doesn’t miss a thing. You may not be affirmed or validated by man, but you can be rest assured that Heaven is cheering you on.

Pursuing the purposes of God in our generation is made possible when we have really done the work of going deeper within ourselves and identifying answers to questions like, “what draws me,” “what defines me,” “what inspires me,” “what motivates me?” If the motivation is authentic, the fruit is glorious. The applause of man remains inconsequential as our soul is set free to soar in the direction we know God is calling us to.

I also believe that when we truly follow His Voice and allow Him to be the sole reason behind doing whatever it is that we do, rewards follow. The Word assures us that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He is a Father who honors the obedience of His Children. But He is also a Father who tests the motivations of the heart. He does this because He wants our souls to continue to prosper in the freedom that Jesus purchased for us at Calvary. Our corresponding responsibility also rests in allowing Him to prune and heal those areas of our soul that still seek the validation of man in order to feel inspired to do that thing He has called us to. Because the ONLY thing that ought to ever inspire us towards something is The Spirit of the Living God. Earth needs to align with Heaven, and not the other way round.

Friend, I believe God has you reading this for a reason. You were born for greatness, but not necessarily in the way the world would define it. Greatness is often birthed in a manger. Jesus exemplified this truth. Wrapped in humility, nearly three decades of His Life were in absolute obscurity and hiddenness. The accounts we have of His impact are from the three years of public ministry that have forever changed the course of history. I can’t help but wonder had He succumbed to the various temptations that came His way, we would have had a very different story. He was neither swayed by the fleeting praises of man nor moved by their rejection. He knew who He was and whose He was, and I believe that’s what led Him to do all that He did. And as we are His, let us too follow the model He has set for us. It is for our good and His Glory that we allow Him to work within us in a way that sets us free to be who we were designed to be in order that we may do all that we are called to in our lifetime, a work so expansive in its scope that the only way to do it is bit-by-bit and step-by-step, led not by external validation which is here today and gone tomorrow, but by the still, small voice on the inside of us that promises to never leave us nor forsake us.

Because when we are moved by the Voice of God and not the validation of man, we will have tapped into another dimension of our being, a version of ourselves that refuses to be defined by the world, rather letting what defines us define that which is around and about us. This is a journey which will see us lose shackles of wanting to gain acceptance and approval, rather letting the acceptance and approval of Jesus lead us into all that He has called us to touch and transform, a call that I hope and pray each one of us will honor in our lifetime, starting this moment on with a sonorous echo of a truth that continues to reverberate in my spirit,

“Let the Voice of God and not the validation of man be our seat of motivation.”

Selah.

The Joy set before us

“It’s the Process that makes me who I am, not the Promise.”

The Bible is a book full of the Promises of God which are in Christ, “Yes” and “Amen.” I find this very fascinating and will try my best to unravel that which is on my heart today.

I believe God gives us promises not only to ensure that we will, as His Children, have legit access to a life that is abundant, prosperous, purposeful and successful; but to simultaneously embark us upon a journey where He will transform us from strength to strength and glory to glory. The verse from Genesis comes to mind,

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.”

Our Destiny demands that we become a blessing in order that God may use our lives to, in turn, bless others. That is the purpose, a purpose that is realized only to the extent that we allow God to do a deep work IN us before He can birth a great work THROUGH us. This Purpose is intimately connected to our alignment with a series of Promises that God gives us personally in and through a relationship with Jesus Christ, a series of Promises the fulfillment of which depends upon our willingness to surrender to a Process that Our Maker and Molder will have to take us through in order to make us a vessel fit for The Master’s use.

In my experience, if we wait upon God to bring about the manifestation of a Promise in our lives without yielding to His Process, we will find ourselves frustrated. Conversely, if we readjust our perspective and bring it in alignment with that of Heaven’s; we will be able to recognize, that what The Father really wants to do, is to transform and conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus. The degree to which we allow God to do this work WITHIN us will determine the fruit that comes forth FROM us and flows into the world AROUND us.

The Promise, I believe, only acts as a catalyst to initiate these changes on the inside of us, which otherwise, we would have resisted. The Promise serves as the motivation to tap into the courage required to undertake a journey which will require us to walk on water and tread the territory of the unknown. The Promise inspires us to believe that God wants something better for us, and if He does, why can’t we? The Promise cultivates within us a holy confidence that recognizes that if we abide in Him and He abides in us, anything is possible. The Promise gets us to our knees which is the very place we get to taste of the beautiful divine exchange that can happen between Heaven and Earth only through a personal relationship with God. The Promise is what makes us pregnant with God-given Destiny. It is the conception of the new, but it’s in the Process, that the birthing of the new creation we are called to be takes place.

It took me quite a while to grasp this Truth, but once I did, I have learned to place more value on the Process than anything else. Breakthroughs are inevitable, but it is the Process where we transform and evolve into a higher and better version of ourselves, a version of ourselves that is strong enough in its foundation to bear the weight of the Promise, once it manifests. Often marked with highs and lows, valleys and mountaintops, uprisings and down settings; The Process is a tool in the Hands of The Potter to test us, prune us and forge the character of Christ in us. At times disappointed and at times, exhilarated; we will discover that The Process is the grand adventure that Jesus promised to take us on. In a way, The Process is a promise towards The Promise.

Clearly, The Process is demanding, but we are encouraged by the Truth that along every single step of the journey, He is with us. Whether we fail, falter or fall; He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will keep us and keep working within us what is in accordance to His Will. Perhaps, it is safe to say, that of all The Promises we have or will ever receive in our lifetime, The Promise of His Presence is the most reassuring.

In my own walk with Him, I have come to realize that the encounters with His Presence in the process is what changes me, matures me, transforms me, marks me and positions me to lay hold of all the promises that He has for me. His Presence reveals to me the essence of His Character, that which He is interested in shaping within me so that I can perhaps be a good steward of the blessings that He has in store for me.

If this Truth goes for me, then friends, my guess is that it goes for you too. Romans 8:29 is an exquisite revelation indeed;

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

The more we yearn to encounter His Presence, the more like Jesus we will become and THAT is the purpose of The Process which is a destined prerequisite to the manifestation of The Promise. It isn’t always a comfortable place, but if we learn to trust Him enough, we will realize that this is the believer’s norm. We weren’t called to be comfortable but effective, and The Process does a mighty good job of teaching us that. Once we yield and surrender to whatever it is that God wants to work within us through The Process, the closer our breakthroughs and the culmination of the eagerly awaited Promise, the birthing of which is sure to catapult us into believing for another.

To me, this mystery unraveled reveals the glory of a life in Christ. A revelation of our true Purpose in life inevitably draws us into The Promises of God to receive the fullness of which demands that we unconditionally yield and surrender not just the reigns of our future into His Hands, but also The Process that it entails. I’m reminded that even Jesus took The Cross because of the joy that was set before Him. If Jesus needed joy to motivate Him to take that Cross, and found you and me as the source of that joy; then surely we too can take our cross for the joy that is set before us, a joy too great to be contained in things like process and promise when it is firmly tethered to the Person and the Presence of Christ Jesus.

Who is ultimately our everything: the unveiling of our Purpose, the reason for our Process, the manifestation of our Promise.

As I hasten to a close, I would like to urge you friends, that wherever you are in your walk with Him, let the joy of The Lord be your strength as He takes you deeper and leads you on. I’m believing for your promises with you because our real Promise is not even of this world.

If He bankrupted Heaven for us and secured Eternity, then as The Word assures us, how will He not also give us all things?

I’ll leave you with these thoughts as you continue to embrace The Process towards not just The Promise, but The Promised Land which is saturated with The Presence, the joy set before us.

Selah.




The Last Word

“Let Love have the last word, because love never has to have the last word.”

Agape Love is usually defined as the unconditional Love of God that comes with no strings attached. It finds us just the way we are, joyfully accepts us and gently molds us. We have all tasted of it and it has undoubtedly bought our hearts over. But to me personally, an expression of The Father’s Love is also the truth that He fights for us. He goes to war for us. He works behind the scenes all things together for our good and His Glory. He never quits. He never gives up. He is a Fighter.

As His chosen ones, we have the unique privilege of being vessels that get to carry and extend this love in our spheres of influence. Ours is a message of Love, Grace, Hope, Mercy and Eternity. We may share this message with the best of intentions, but may not always receive the desired response. In fact, in the beginning, we may just be met with sheer indifference or perhaps even rejection. However, will we let such responses that are subject to change whenever He so desires deter us from continuing to love?

The Bible says,

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

I love the fact that love never fails. When we look up the fruits of The Holy Spirit, the first to be mentioned is love, and the kind of love that really reaches the hearts of our near and dear ones is the kind of love that simply loves without ANY agenda. It is the kind of love that meets people where they are and helps them at their point of need. It is the kind of love that fosters trust and creates an atmosphere of safety that inspires vulnerability from both sides. It is the kind of love that never forces its way into another’s life, rather presents itself as an open invitation to a greater encounter. It is the kind of love with which Jesus loves us.

Safe. Secure. Stable. Sound. Steadfast.

A natural expression of this love would be to share The Good News and point our people to the Truth which is able to set them free. But in our haste to get across, let us not lose ourselves. Let us simply accept we are only instruments in the Hands of God, who loves His People more than we can fathom. The Word says we were all formed and created for His Glory. He desires them and is well able to draw them close. As I write, I’m reminded of what the very well known worship leader, Steffany Gretzinger shared in one of her podcasts. Speaking of her anxiety to usher in the Presence of God in a room flooded with His flock, she heard Jesus’s gentle whisper calm her distraught soul,

“I’m so much better at being found than you are at introducing me.”

To carry out our mandate in the Earth, we will have to take to heart both, the simplicity and the profundity of this simple revelation from The Lord. Seekers will always find, and those who don’t, we will love nonetheless because, as I often say, love is not what we do. It is who we are.

In our interactions with our loved ones, let us make use of every opportunity to point to The One that has sent us in the first place. He is Immanuel – God WITH us. So, no matter what the outcome of our exchange looks like in the natural, we can trust that the supernatural is already at work. Jesus promises us,

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

It is not just us going in the strength of our human wisdom, but it is us going in the power of His Anointing that counts. As His Children, we are backed by Heaven’s resources, Heaven’s Protection and Heaven’s Favor. Our part is to love our people enough to point them to The Truth, and trust God to do what ONLY He can do. The Bible tells us that He is constantly at work. Hence, we can rest.

Rest in the assurance that as the hands and feet of The One who saved us, we can love our people enough to hear them out, give them their time and space, but continue to pray and believe for them, even when they can’t believe for themselves yet. Tracing back my own journey, Jesus never gave up on me. And He will never give up on you, nor on the ones you’re believing for. They are first, HIS and then ours. Let us always let that truth keep us sober.

I call you and me, “love” with a small L. Our love, at its best, is just that. But what gives us confidence is that Our Father honors whatever it is that we have and backs it up. He sees you and me make strides for His Glory, and He is well pleased. He sees how we reach out to point the prodigals back Home, and He goes to war. I write this because in our various interactions with the people God has brought into our lives, there will be plenty of opportunity to argue, debate or contest. But friends, our world is not a courtroom, but a giant neighborhood full of people that are delightfully different and will inevitably test our patience, needless to say, our love. If we truly trust the nature and character, the power and might, the splendor and majesty, and to put it in a word, the “invincibility” of Our King, we would not be shaken. We would be content in doing our part, and letting Him know that we trust Him enough to let go of that which is beyond us but well within The Father’s Sovereign Reign. We do not have to let our delicate love handle that which only a revelation of His Gigantic Love can do. We get to participate for sure, but that is also where we learn to let go and let God.

A thought which brings me back to what I first began with,

“Let Love have the last word, because love never has to have the last word,”

Selah.

Grace

“But because we have done nothing, we have everything to do.”

The gift of Salvation in and through the blood of Christ Jesus is just that: a gift. It is something we have done nothing to earn or deserve, but have received as pure Grace. A Grace that found us dead in our transgressions, wrapped up in our brokenness, and desperate for a way out. A Grace that found us looking for solutions to temporal problems, but was lavish enough to bestow upon us Eternal answers. A Grace that rescued us from the dominion of darkness and translated us into His Marvelous Light. A Grace that showed us who we are and more importantly, WHOSE we are. A Grace that gave us promises of a new life, dripping with God’s favor and abundance. A Grace that wiped our slate of sin clean, creating a blank canvass for Our Creator to paint on with the vivid colors that was always His Original Design. A Grace that gives us the courage to open up our wings and soar into the clear, blue unknown. A Grace that gives us access to spiritual blessings we would never even had the wisdom to pray for. A Grace that gives us a new Identity synonymous with “Beloved,” a Purpose in accordance with the heartbeat of Heaven , and a Destiny to belong to that which in the feeble strength of our own good works, we would NEVER have had access to.

But Grace.

Grace that came disguised in the Person of Jesus Christ, as He descended from Eternity to Earth, fully God and fully man, to die a gruesome death on The Cross in order that we may be healed, redeemed, set free and on our way back Home. The Word testifies,

“But He was wounded for our trangressions , He was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes, we are healed.”

Grace has bought our freedom for us, and we are no longer in debt because Someone chose to pay it in full.

Clearly, Grace points to the unconditional, uncompromising and unadulterated Love of Our Father. The question then remains is this : what is our response?

Our responses may invariably vary, but I personally believe that the only reasonable response to such Love is to become subtle yet potent extensions of it, extensions which have the potential to touch and transform a lost and hurting world, a world we find ourselves in the midst of, a world that is exhausted by striving in its own strength to make happen that which Grace effortlessly does, a world that is unwittingly looking for answers Grace has already deposited on the inside of us, a world whose Destiny is intertwined with our decision to come into our own. As The Bible clearly states,

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”

It seems to me that the inference here is to implore each of us to begin to manifest our God-ordained Identity as Sons and Daughters that can be trusted to represent the heart of a Loving Father to a world that perhaps has ideas to the contrary, individuals who know what it is to answer the call of being agents of change and transformation in a mundane and stagnant world, people who know how to love well and live lives that point to The Truth which has enabled them to come thus far, in the first place.

Our decision to manifest our true Identity can find expression in different ways, from something as subtle as praying for a loved one to something as dynamic as proclaiming The Good News on a street corner, something as seemingly insignificant as finding significance in cleaning your baby’s diaper to something as formidable as launching a business that can revolutionize an entire industry, something as heartfelt as reaching out to your widowed neighbor to something as tenacious as daring to tread into the uncharted territory you know you were born to conquer.

It could be something tiny or something huge, but it will always be something of great impact, simply because it is revealing the heart of The One who made you to the ones around and about you, thereby allowing you to manifest your Identity as a Son or Daughter. It is my firm conviction that if every soul does it’s part, what we are talking about here has the potential to evolve into a radical movement till the Earth is restored to its promise of being an oasis of peace, a haven of safety and a spring of love.

Tracing our steps back, it won’t take much for us to realize that even the hope of all this to manifest is made possible ONLY because Grace first pursued us, set us free and and made our hearts so whole that the only possible response remains an echo of what God already says in His Word,

“Freely you have received, freely give.”

Suffice to say that a life that Grace has chosen to set free is simultaneously positioned to make great exploits for The Kingdom Of God, exploits that find both origin and definition in the intangibles we call love, grace, truth, mercy and compassion, exploits that can begin anywhere that God has us and eventually be extended to wherever God takes us, exploits that are of Eternal significance because they create and shift things in a realm Our Father cares deeply about, so much so that He sent His Only Son to die a painful death on The Cross, and by His Spirit, rise again, only so that things would never be the same again, but instead be readjusted to the mandate;

“On Earth as it is in Heaven.”

All because Grace first found us, a true revelation and a rich experience of which will leave us all reverberating with the truth encapsulated in the simple phrase He has led me to share,

“But because we have done nothing, we have EVERYTHING to do.”

Grace be with you.

It’s been a month🎂

For everyone who has ever taken out the time to read my blog posts, leave a message of encouragement and shared with me how it’s speaking to you; let’s just take a moment to celebrate the fact that it’s been a month since the conception of this baby 🎂 Thank you for leaving comments that warm my heart and light up my soul. Praise God 🙌🏻 for the intricate work He has begun in each and every one of our lives, and is Faithful to bring to completion, in Jesus’ Name, Amen👑

Milestone

“I need You, but You want me.”

When we first come to Christ, it is because of one sole reason. We recognize our need for Him. With colossal masses of brokenness and despair threatening to take us out, it is only natural to respond to an invitation of Love that’s unconditional, Hope that extends all the way into Eternity and Mercy that triumphs over judgement. Surrender doesn’t just remain an option anymore. It guises itself as the beginning of a story of redemption that is going to be written by the hands that created the Heavens and the Earth, yet were pierced to give me the promise of a life beyond my past and a Grace-filled future that finds its way into life everlasting with Our Father in Heaven.

This is a faint glimmer of the divine exchange that happened at Calvary, and can be appropriated by literally anyone who finds themselves lost, hurting, empty or in pain. I’m guessing that sounds like each and every one of our stories. I definitely vouch for mine!

Broken cisterns are what we are, but not what we remain because the divine exchange that we have appropriated finds its way into a life of wholeness in and through a relationship with Jesus. That is why we NEED Him. His Grace that manifests as strength in our weakness, His Love that heals our hearts and binds up our wounds, His Mercy that keeps no record of wrongs, His Presence that is our forever-promise.

Clearly, for a life marred with the pain of rejection, abandonment, abuse, addiction, disease, or any other affliction that life has a propensity to through our way; Jesus is the ONLY ONE who is not only willing, but delights in getting His Hands dirty to sort through our messes and mistakes. He accepts us for just who we are and slowly but surely, begins a work marked by Grace. We come to Him with issues of the heart, mind, body and soul that at times, neither man nor medicine have answers for. If you have walked with Him for any length of time, you can join me in praising Him for the way He takes lost and broken souls and makes them salt and light in a lost and broken world.

Who can do this but God?

Clearly, we NEED Him.

But the best part of this dynamic is that we may need Him, but He? WANTS us.

Heaven is His Throne and the Earth is His footstool. So, I asked Him;

“Why do You want us?”

I believe He said because He recognizes our need for Him. He knows we can’t do this thing called life alone, neither were we designed to. We were always meant to walk with Him in “the cool of the day,” and even when we faltered, He already had a plan of redemption in place to restore us back into a healthy, organic and vibrant relationship with Him. He created us, and loves us enough to woo us back into His Presence which is the only thing where we truly come alive, and begin to manifest who we were originally designed to be.

In my own life experience, the more I have journeyed with Him, the more I have experienced His love heal my broken heart and bring it back to wholeness, the more I have witnessed His Spirit touch and transform me in places that I once had no hope for, the more I have seen His Power and Might make a way where there seemed to be none.

Suffice to say, the more I have sought Him, the more He has revealed Himself. The more He has revealed Himself, the more I have realized the relentless passion with which He loves us, a passion that some crazy kind of way has found its way into my heart. The net result is simple. Where I once needed Him, I still do; except that with every passing day, I find that “need” now begin to become a “want.”

To me, that’s a milestone!

So friends, if this narrative even remotely resonates with you, then together let us lift our voices to Him with one heart and say,

“I don’t just need You, I want You.”