forward – My Grace Untold

“Don’t Look Back!” – II

“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Genesis 19:26

I remember I would run after him frantically trying to protect him.

How ironic is it that even as young adults until old age and even death, we too have a heavenly Guide running behind, beside, and in front of us, as a shield, in the aim of protecting is from harm as we run recklessly forward but refusing to keep our eyes forward!

The story of Lot’s wife in the scriptures is evident of how sudden the terror of looking back can be. As everyone ran forward to safety and away from the destructing that was their past, she dared to look back while running forward!

And she instantly became a pillar of salt!

I recently heard a word about how rarely we note that pillar of salt or not, Lot’s wife was made a pillar nonetheless.

She was a pillar. She was solid, strong, un-moving, impenetrable. She was a pillar.

This was God’s Hand. This was God’s Word.

Friend, did you know that you are a pillar? Are you aware that the power of God in you proclaims that you have the genes of a Mighty God coursing through you? Making you unshakeable by evil? Making you stand strong and undefeated in the name of Jesus?

But what good is a pillar that cannot move through the world and show the magnificence of a Wonderful God?!

I am here to tell you, to remind you, that you too, cannot look back!

Your heart may be racing as mighty walls of man’s hands are coming down in destruction behind you. Your mind might be reeling from the trauma of watching great works of man falling to pieces and causing chaos all around you, but you still cannot look back!

Keep looking forward. Keep moving forward. Keep praying forward. Keep ‘faithing it’ forward. Keep growing forward in purpose and in God’s truth.

The enemy knows that as long as you are able to keep one foot in front of another, with your eyes looking to the Hills of the Lord where your help comes from, you are winning.

Take a moment to imagine the danger of looking back to what was and missing the path, the victory, the amazement on the way to what is to be.

I’m afraid you can no longer look back to that place you used to be, the you that used to be. You can no longer look back to stretch a hand to that ‘friend’ that keeps making you backslide on your walk with God. You can no longer look back to the evils of your childhood or youths. You can no longer look back to the ruins that was necessary to become an amazing beauty in the eyes of your Father in heaven!

Overflow is in front of you. An immeasurable anointing and favor of God is ahead of you. A glory that has not been seen nor heard before is in front of you!

“Don’t look back!”

Friend, let your past go! Let your sorrows of yesterday go! Let your disappointments of before go! Let what is behind you, remain behind you!

I urge you to get out of your own way and watch God work!

Let God move you as a pillar from glory to glory. Refuse to be the pillar that is unable to move because you keep looking back!

I pray today that your past no longer claim residence in your present. May the Lord shift your spirit today to bring your eyes to Him who alone knows your tomorrow in Jesus name. Amen!

“Don’t Look Back!” – I

“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Genesis 19:26

What or who is back there that you keep looking back to and stumbling on your way forward to Glory?!

Oh how we have a tendency to look back, to try to fix, mend, and redesign what the Lord in His infinite wisdom, broke to get us through and show Himself worthy of our praise.

Friend, The past is only as daunting as You allow the devil make it to be! But that devil is a liar in Jesus name!

See the beauty of a mercy and Love so in-explainable is that even if we don’t often understand it, God’s Love for His children, knows all that was done and will be done, and still chooses to forgive and bring us into the fulfillment of His divine plan. To God be the Glory!

When my now 3-year-old nephew first started walking two years ago, he would always walk as fast as his little legs would carry him. When he learned to run and discovered the liberation of running free, he would put as much energy into his body, running forward with a free spirit.

It was joyous to watch, but frightening at the same time!

See my little nephew ran forward with abandon but all the while he would be looking back at me! If it was not me holding his attention, he would be looking back at anything else to make sure something or someone was witnessing his ability to run!

He could have run into something or he could have stumbled and fallen violently at any given time but of course he had me running faster to keep up and make sure that I protected him against possible harm.

My little loved one did not know then that there was a great danger to looking back while running forward. FINISH READING HERE

Steps Of Fear Or Faith?

“A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.”

Proverbs 16:9

Walking with God mandates walking in faith. But because the ways and thoughts of God are so much higher than ours, we often take steps out of fear than out of faith, especially when we stumble upon situations that challenge the power of our faith.

I wonder if like me, you have become sensitive to your Spirit that lets you know when you are moved by fear and not by faith.

One statement sums up this word – If God is ordering your steps, then you ought to know that your feet are moved by faith in HIM who knows where you begun and where you will end.

So it brings me to ask you, are your steps ordered by God?

or by the plans that your own heart has devised using the gifts from God but outside the will of God?

Think about it. Right now, you are afraid of something. What is it?

What fear has cornered you to a state of uncertainty? What fear has slowly pushed you to a place of loneliness? What fear has got your tongue tied that you are not even sure if speaking life and power and truth to that thing would make it bow? What fear has been motivating your steps, ways, habits, thought-pattern, and attitudes towards the future?

Friend, I ask you again, are your steps ordered by God? Have you been taking steps of faith or steps of fear?

HAVE YOU BECOME A SLAVE TO FEAR?

See, the beauty of having the Lord as your Shepherd, is that HE is the One guiding you. His words, His rod, His staff, His truth, and His all-knowing wisdom is more than enough to get you from here to there. Don’t you know that having God means having everything you will ever need to be all that HE called you to be? So what are you really afraid of?

You are never alone.

HE who walks beside you is also the One that has gone before you to set your stage. Be not afraid.

Yes, there might be moments of confusion, weakness, and vulnerability but you must remember that a willing spirit will always triumph over a weak flesh, if you let the Spirit lead. Christ was willing to go to the cross no matter the pain of crucifixion and betrayal that he himself foresaw. We both know He rose again after death and was victorious.

Friend, you too will be victorious in Jesus name!

But not without being grounded in the faith that HE who called you did not call you into fear, but from faith to faith and glory to glory.

I pray today that your steps be ordered by the Most High God as you walk fearlessly in purpose in Jesus name. Amen.

Failing Forward

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you…?

2 Corinthians 13:5

Failure is one of the most powerful words ever concocted by us. It’s a state of being we generally try to avoid at all cost, yet it is an inevitable destination that we must all pass through at some point in our lives.

One of the coolest aspects of growing up, and actually maturing in wisdom as we grow, is that old words begin to take on new meaning.

I know for me, and a whole lot of people I personally know, failure is an heavy weight to carry. Whether you have it in you to get back up again and try again in Faith of the One who is leading you, (or who should be leading you) is what sets each person apart from the next.

Friend, the Lord says it is time to fail forward.

This past weekend was one of the two greatest celebrations known to every believer. I am referring to the Resurrection of our Savior. The birth of Christ our Lord is the other.

Before resurrection, even the disciples who were closest to Christ wallowed in what they believed was failure. They mourned the murder and crucifixion of the only Perfect One that ever walked the earth. The innocence of Christ was mocked, and assaulted.

I mean, here they were, aligned with Jesus, preaching the gospel, healing the sick, saving souls, and yet, Christ was killed.

Can you imagine the weight of failure that they each felt?!!!

And if we want to single out one particular individual who could have drowned in his state of failure, consider Peter. Christ’s beloved right hand man, who denied the Lord on three different occasions! Peter swore he would be loyal in the face of adversity, he thought he would succeed being true to Christ, he thought he would never turn his back on his Friend, but he did. Peter failed…at least so he thought.

Then Christ rose again!

The Truth was resurrected in Christ and the disciples actually failed forward. They believed in His resurrection, got back up and preached the gospel of that resurrection power in Christ our Lord!

Friend, it’s our turn to fail forward.

Whatever it looked like, whatever it still feels like, failure is not where you end. In fact, just like the resurrection of Christ was the beginning of belief for those who doubted, your failure is a beginning for you because the same power that resurrected JESUS CHRIST, is in YOU!!!

By His stripes you are healed. Christ suffered all the way to the cross. He had to die and be risen all so you can accomplish the very glory that this failure is trying to keep you from.

We must have tests during this life. Your failure is just another test of your faith! If you believe in the resurrection as I know you do, then you have got to start believing in failing forward because God is still in control. God says ‘you shall live and not die!’ Prosperity is where you will dwell, but you must keep failing forward.

Wherever you think you have fallen short, the grace of God is more than enough to restore the chance you thought you lost, the life you thought you’d never had. We know it because Christ rose again. Because of the resurrection, victory is ours. Because of the resurrection we have already won. Your failure is only a test to get you to your win.

By the power of God, you will fail forward and you will go from faith to faith and glory to glory in the Living name of Jesus Christ. Amen.