destiny – My Grace Untold

Why Not Expect Prosperity?

“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

I wrote my last post exactly six months ago today and I am grateful to return to it.

God is faithful.

It is now February and the year is flying as quick as I expected but recently, I had to sit with God to remind me what His vision for me was. It is often too easy to forget the amazing image of prosperity that faith gives us as we hope in the Lord.

I must admit, I have forgotten. Even now as I blog, I am waiting on God to put the pieces of that prosperous future image back in my mind.

Indeed, you must see it to believe it.

What is faith if we have nothing in mind of the evidence to be seen? Seeing in the spiritual must happen in order for hope to take root in our hearts as we wait on the Lord on His promise.

So I sat with God for a while today.

I asked Him to remind me again, what I am supposed to envision when I think of my future. In this exercise, it occurred to me that I had become accustomed to the rigid idea of numbering my days so much so that I stopped seeing what was ahead.

I think sometimes we are subconsciously easily crippled by the idea of unexpected disappointment or even tragedy that we relent on the vision of a future not too far from now. I recognized that misplacement of faith today. I wonder if you have been setting aside a hope for the future because you are afraid it may not happen or that it seems too far away.

Faith tells us to wait expectantly. Faith decrees that we pray without ceasing. Faith says to hope in the Lord. But enduring the present times and a heart of perseverance is no easy feat.

That is why we cannot shy away from coming to God as much times as it takes, conversing with God, and pleading that His Spirit continues to fill us up with the hope and expectancy that our faith deserves and that our future needs.

So why not expect prosperity tomorrow? And the day after that? and the day after that?

Why not seek God to reconstruct the future that He promised so we may yet hope for it as we walk toward it?

I pray for you as I pray for myself today. May the Lord of hope continue to fill your mind with the prosperous visions and words of goodness that you need to keep faith alive. I speak life onto the dead bones of our hope and joy in expectancy in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Confidence In God – part 2

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

Hebrews 10:35

Friend, Christ is our CONFIDENCE!

We can have CONFIDENCE in God because He gave us Christ! If we believe in Christ, if we believe that He is in us, then we believe that He that resurrected after death, that defied EVERY odds, that conquered every impossibility, that defied ALL limitations, HE, THAT CHRIST is in me and you!

This is our CONFIDENCE.

Our CONFIDENCE in God is the CONFIDENCE in us as believers.

That is why man cannot take it away from us. That is why the situation cannot take it away from you. Your confidence is yours to give away or throw away. So what have you done with yours?

Better yet, how do we keep or take back our confidence if we have lost it?

The Word says to look back for a moment. Look back and remember where you were. Look back and recollect what God has brought you out of time and time again. Look back on the you that was when you did not know Christ. Look back and remember what grace and God’s power has enabled you to do to push through to this place you are in now.

Now ask yourself, do you not serve a faithful God who has been mighty to save over and over and over and over again?

Ask yourself, is HE not worthy to be praised even in your current predicament?

Friend, your CONFIDENCE in God is your reminder that HE that did it back then can and will do it again. He that got you out of that one will get you out of this one. HE that did this, can do that. HE that created the world can create a new opportunity, a new perspective, a new heart of worship, a new way!

Take the limits off of God! HE can do anything! We know that HE can because HE already did! Christ already came down! Heaven already appointed you for your calling and you need your CONFIDENCE in God to reach it.

I pray for you as I pray for me.

May your confidence begin to come back to you now! May your CONFIDENCE in God cause you to trample upon doubts and the enemy’s lies. And may your conscience be renewed in righteousness again in Jesus name. Amen.

Confidence In God – part 1

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

Hebrews 10:35

As a child, many of us were told to be confident in ourselves, to believe in ourselves and our ability to do anything we put our minds to.

Childhood naivete does not yet receive the fullness of those messages. Then we learn what faith is. We learn who Christ Is. We grow and learn who God Is. We become familiar with the Holy Spirit of God. We become confident in the knowing of our Father, the Creator.

Then life happens, so we lose confidence.

Friend, God said to get your confidence back! Not the confidence that relies on your abilities, your flesh, and your capacity, but the confidence in HIM!

Are you confident in God?

I know many of us believe in God and we believe that He can do anything, but are you CONFIDENT in God?

When the situation looks as bad as it does, and your heart is as broken as it is, and you are as confused as you are, are you CONFIDENT in God?

When the bills are more than the money, and the foes are more than friends, or the friends turn out to be the foes, are you CONFIDENT in God?

When the deal does not go through, and the relationship ends, and the lying voices come against you to tell you that you were never good enough, are you CONFIDENT in God?

I know all too well how easy it is to lose confidence in the gap between who you are and who you are called to be. I am in that gap now. That gap that separates what God promised and when the promise is in your hands.

But as the scripture above reads, we are not to throw away our confidence. We are not to give control of it to the current dilemma or even the past. Friend, do you know that your confidence is not in the hands of man, but inside of you???

FINISH READING HERE

Your Life Is An Heavenly Investment

“You guided my conception and formed me in the womb.”

Job 10:10

I woke up today with a song in my Spirit. I woke up today with a heart opening to the mercy of a faithful God. I wish I could claim that this happens every day, but it does not.

I wish I could say this purpose-driven, grace-given, mercy-receiving heart of mine wakes up abandoned and surrendered to God’s will all the time, but it doesn’t. Yet, I strive.

It dawned on me this morning on the drive to work, that my life is heaven’s investment.

As I thought deeper on why some of us wake up feeling unfulfilled and unexpecting of greatness, I was reminded by the Spirit of God that it was due to the failure to remember that heaven deposited something in us when the Lord formed us in the womb.

I, much like you, am a living investment of heaven.

Often, we forget. We forget Whose we are, we forget that we are not our own, we forget that Christ was ransomed for us, to live a life of purpose, God’s purpose, a life of intentionality as purposed by the Creator. So we drift.

I wonder if like me, you too wake up with your own thoughts of how to invest time, effort, heart, and love, into everything and everyone, but God.

I wonder if like me, you forget that the grace to wake up each new day to behold new mercy, has nothing to do with luck, but everything to do with the investment of heaven inside you.

Friend, God deposited something greater than you inside you to manifest for His purpose. When He formed you in the darkness of the womb, in the seclusion from any other living being, when He alone breathe life inside you, a heavenly deposit was made in you.

Your life is not a random map of random places with random people because we serve an intentional God.

So you and I can no longer permit a random way of thinking or doing.

Destiny awaits you. Purpose awaits you. Manifestation awaits you. And this is the season to catch up to, to meet up with, and to deliver on Heaven’s investment.

For some of us, this is the season to catch up to destiny. For some, it is the time to meet up with purpose. And for the rest of us, it is the season to deliver on Heaven’s investment.

Now that you and I have been reminded, now that we are sure Whose investment gives us life, how about we begin living this life knowing that heaven is invested in us? How about we begin living life knowing that our life was given to bring forth that which God has deposited?

I pray for the both of us. I pray that our eyes are open to see the Heavenly hosts encamped about us, to begin to see according to heaven’s perspective. I pray that we begin to think with divine wisdom. I pray that we begin to walk and talk and BE that which HEAVEN declare that we are in Jesus name. Amen.

The Work Of Your Hands – part II

“I will destroy all your idols and sacred pillars, so you will never again worship the work of your own hands.”

Micah 5:13

How often do we consider that the work that we do, the job we commit all your time to, and the creative expressions of our God-given visions, all belong to God?

It is easier to say that God is ruler over our lives than it is for us to give God rule over our lives. So again I ask, do all your works reflect God?

If you are a Christian actor, do you commit to acting in movies that edify other Christians or non-believers with messages about God’s truth?

Or like many God-fearing artists of today, do you wait to receive an award for your dramatic role in a violent or vulgar masterpiece that connotes nothing about God’s word or His kingdom, to ‘thank God’ for His mighty hand over your blossoming career.

Yes indeed, we are favored. We are graced time and time again with God’s favor and goodness when we gain opportunities to prosper. And I thank God for that. But when I see the number of Christians who acclaim their fame and success to God but do not speak words of God, sing words of God, project the image of God or perpetuate messages of God through the work of their own hands, I am paused.

Friend, can you see the work of your own hands? Because if you cannot see it, how then do you expect others to see it?

Are your endeavors led by the purpose of God inside of you?

That thing that you have your hand on, that project you are building your career on, that platform you are boldly claiming as your own, does it reflect Christ and His purpose in our life, in your heart?

Now more than ever, in this season of intentionality, in this realm of manifestation, in this year of breaking forth, we must pause and consider ALL the works of our hands because destiny cannot be formed by hands that lie.

I pray for you as I pray for me. May the Lord of Hosts renew our minds today. May God take over ALL things in our lives as we surrender yet again to His almighty hand. And may we again be re-aligned in all our ways for the sake of God’s purpose in Jesus name. Amen.

The Work Of Your Hands – part I

“I will destroy all your idols and sacred pillars, so you will never again worship the work of your own hands.”

Micah 5:13

When people ask you, “what do you do?” …”who are you?”… “what are you about?”… “what kind of work do you do?”

What is your response? Are you able to answer all these questions with one response? If not, where is the separation? In other words, do you separate how you use God’s gifts from the ‘you’ that receives the gift?

Better yet, are you able to answer all these questions with just one response? If not, where is the separation?

How do you separate how you use God’s gifts from the ‘you’ that receives the gift? How do you put a distance between who you are in God and what you do in the name of God?

Are you the Christian who uses Heaven’s gifts to gain worldly treasures?

A while ago, my pastor commented on the wealth that he believed was in the church. He stated that it is almost unimaginable how rich the House of God would be if we all brought our wealth into the church. Surely, he was not merely referring tithes and offerings, but rather the wealthy gifts that God has given to us. My pastor was calling out the wealth that was in us, the wealth that was us.

Friend, how much of your ‘wealth’ do you give to the world but not to God? Your gift, your heart, your creativity, and your time, how much of it do you give to God? And why have you not given it all?

Often times, we don’t want to consider the many ways that we dishonor God when we use our gifts for our own desires. We try to ignore our misalignment when the work of our hands don’t reflect the Father. But God knows and you know.

Consider that if no one ever saw your face or knew your name, if the world had to testify to who you are by all the works of your hand, would it truly reflect God?

For example, are you a Christian actor or an actor who is Christian?

Are you a Christian doctor or a doctor who is Christian?

Are you a Christian artist or an artist who is Christian?

Are you a Christian teacher or a teacher who is Christian?

Friend, do you know the difference? FINISH READING HERE

What Moves You?

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.”

Titus 3:3

Each day, we are moved by one thing or another to get up each day and be in pursuit. We are all after something, chasing after something, longing for something, reaching for something.

For some, it’s a good job, a good marriage, a great project, a love for school, an exciting career, or even motherhood.

Friend, what moves you?

What gets you riled up? what lights up the fire under your feet to get moving an keep moving towards it?

If it is not a passion to pursue God’s purpose, I’m afraid you and I have a lot of repentance to do. A change is coming and it is nearer than we think.

If you are not moved by a passion for your Father’s business, that which HE purposed you for, then what are you passionate about? What have you been chasing relentlessly after and can’t stop?

I received a great word recently that proclaimed the necessity to put passion in its place.

During the sermon, the preacher emphasized greatly on the dangers of having the right passion in the wrong place. I wonder today about the many wrong places that you and I have attempted to harbor our passion.

I lift my hands in humble adoration to God for giving me a burning passion to serve HIM with my life!

I am here to remind you that there is a limitation to the things of this world. So anything outside the word of God that currently serves as a passion, moving you aimlessly without purpose, will eventually die.

Or do you not remember that ONLY the WORD of God shall never die?

So why then is your passion without purpose? How then can your passion live forever if it is harbored on sinking sand? How will the fire burning inside of you for that thing, withstand its power if it is not invested in the all-powerful word of God?!!!

Will a flame ignited by the things of this world not perish in due time?

It is God who lives forever. It is the word of God that lives forever as it is written in Genesis,

FOR IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD.

If you are more passionate about adding fame that faith to your name, or about profit than purpose, the placement of your passion is why you are enduring the trials that you are currently facing in the season of revival.

It is my prayer for you and I, that our heavenly Father grant us a heart of repentance today. May we be enabled by the Spirit of God to change our minds about the passion of our hearts. May me surrender our passion today and seek God for re-direction, and may we be renewed with the right Spirit today to passionately heed the call to God’s glory in Jesus name. Amen.

When You Can Reach, but Can’t Touch

“All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”

2 Corinthians 4:15

I am surrounded by faithfulness.

All around me, I see the faithfulness of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, pressing forth towards that which is ahead, that which the Lord has called them to, but the reach is painful.

I see the pain, the struggle, and the burdens of God’s people and I am moved to compassion by the current atmosphere of agony in the individual stretch toward destiny.

We are all reaching for that which we cannot yet touch.

In this season, the Lord is reviving HIS children, opening our eyes, ears, and hearts, as HE calls us yet higher to another realm of glory.

Friend, this is the stretch.

Right now, our faith is being stretched. Our patience is being stretched. Our discipline is stretching. Our hope is stretching. Our zeal is expanding, and our strength too is being stretched. All are called but few are chosen because of the stretch.

I thank God for the grace that HE has given you and I to continue to keep on keeping on in this path to purpose.

It hurts. It is uncomfortable. But it is necessary.

The kingdom of God is a tribe of warriors, and in this season, in this state of vulnerability, we may feel shackled by the hope to touch destiny’s tail sooner rather than later, but I am here to remind you that what is waiting on the other side of your current trial is so much bigger than the discomfort of the moment.

There is a stretch going on inside you and all around you for the sake of purpose. God is shaking all that can be shaken so you know that only HIS WORD can stand amidst the many distractions and disruptions of the world.

Because you stand on the ETERNAL ROCK OF AGES that is the “GREAT I AM,” you will not fall in Jesus name. Your faith is being multiplied even in these moments of tiredness and groan. Even as we are crawling in faith, HE sees it all because HE ordained it all.

We are reminded in Hebrews chpt 4 vs 13 that,

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

Friend, don’t you know we are prisoners of hope?! We have to be! We have to abide in the hope that He that started a good work in us will bring it to completion. God will never give up on you, so I urge you to not give up on God, nor the purpose He has you reaching towards – the one you see in your reach, but still cannot touch.

I pray for you as I pray for me too, that we receive the clarity and direction of this season. I pray that our Father in heaven grants us brave hearts to continue in our worship even in what feels like weariness for the sake of purpose. May we be strengthened again, may we be encouraged again, and may we once again feel the fresh drops of anointing from heaven on our heads all the way down to our spirits. May our flame for God and His kingdom in us, be rekindled by the fire of heaven in Jesus name! Amen!

Purpose Or Profit?

“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Exodus 9:16

“You need money to live life,” is a saying I hear too often.

I do not disagree that money is a great tool to have in this realm of our existence, but many of us seem to often forget that money is not wealth.

Friend, what are you selling to pay for today? Do you ever consider if today’s profit will pay for Purpose? Can your profit afford the purpose that God has placed in you when HE gave you HIS breathe and HIS permission to be in this world?

I see so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ chasing after profit with that which the Lord has blessed them with. Too many of us seem to be chasing after profit with God’s gift than seeking after the purpose that the gift was created for.

I often wonder how many of us truly seek the Gift-giver, in directing us toward the purpose of the gifts HE has so graciously blessed us with before praying for the profit it brings.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be profitable in life. In fact, God wants us to bear fruits where we are planted.

But has your yearning for profit replaced that of purpose?

Too often we forget that God is not blind to every single of our circumstances. HE knows what we need and when we need it. HE has given us gifts, talents, and skills that are purposed to bring Him the glory and even grant us profit in the process.

However, if HE does not get the glory from the place of your profit, then how valuable is your profit? What is the true worth of that which is gained in a passing world?

Friend, I believe that this is a season of awakening and revival like no other, where you and I are called to humble ourselves before God and pray, seeking HIS face in all things, rather than the profit we have been distracted by.

We are called and even chosen for the sake of our purpose on earth, not profit. I mean consider this, why would a limitless God create you to work tirelessly only to gain something that death limits, profit. Profit is of this world. Purpose is an heavenly measure.

While profit is connected to earthly riches, purpose is confirmed by the wealth in heaven that await those that trust in the Lord and obey HIM.

So I urge you today to consider your ways as I too am considering mine. As you embark on the work with the gift, talent, or skill that God has blessed you with, will you be seeking profit? Or will you be chasing purpose?

Something tells me it can’t be both, for God is not a God of confusion. Have you forgotten that we cannot serve two masters.

The word says seek first the kingdom of God, so we cannot seek the kingdom and something else at the same time. One has to come first. It is time for you to decide which one.

In this season, I pray that we are humbled as we heed closer to the call of purpose and destiny. May we be given clarity over the intentions of our hearts and the wisdom to walk accordingly to that which purpose ordains. May we not stumble in confusion or frustration because we do not yet see the profit in the purpose. Rather, may we be given the grace to walk purposefully with God as HE leads us toward the fullness of His promises in Jesus name. Amen.

A Good Thing Or a God Thing – part II

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers… to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant…”

Deuteronomy 6:10-11

My job placement has to be a God thing! The finding of my husband has to be a God thing! The publication of my book has to be a God thing! The road to higher education for my counseling degree has to be a God thing! My home and peaceful settlement has to be a God thing! My friendships have to be a God thing! My ministry has to be a God thing!

It is very easy to accept good things because they are good. Who does not want a good thing? But have you ever considered waiting for, obeying for, praying for, trusting for, having faith for, the God thing?!

A God thing is a miracle! A God thing is an occurrence that you could provide no comprehensible explanation for! A God thing is what happens that you have no choice but to acclaim it to God! A God thing is what you quietly hope for but won’t see coming because God wanted to surprise you! A God thing is something so out of the ordinary, so spectacular, that it can only be through God! A God thing is the testimony you will never be quiet about! A God thing is what no man can take credit for!

Because of the majesty in a God thing, I am also admitting to the sacrificial facet of moving obediently according to the Word of God. There is indeed no compromise in the sacred place of awaiting a God thing. A God thing is what changes everything!

So friend, are you looking toward a good thing or a God thing?!

A God thing is what reminds you that although a problem, a conflict, a situation, a mishap, an issue, seems big, GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN, GOD IS, AND GOD WILL ALWAYS BE BIGGER!

Take a look at the image above. In a sum, a plant is growing out of concrete. I am afraid that as familiar as we are with this occurrence, we have failed to recognize the God thing in such an occurrence! Plants do not ordinarily grow out of concrete. No farmer plants the seeds of these plants. No gardener waters these plants. Ever so often, these plants are stepped on, but yet they grow!

Friend, that is a God thing! These plants are endowed with enough cell power to squeeze through cracks and do what their Maker intended!

So yes, I will be unemployed in about 4 days, but my God do I feel on the verge of a God thing!

This is what Purpose is all about! I thank God Almighty for the purpose in me and in you! I thank God that there is a God thing ahead of you! I thank God that you and I are not distracted enough by the good things of life that we forget that there is a God thing in the Heavens above about to come down! By faith, courage, strength, and truth, you and I shall witness the God things to come in Jesus name. Amen.