The Year of Spiritual Maturity-"2014"

Every year the Lord gives me my focus for the upcoming new year. In 2013, the Lord gave me the following slogan:               Shift, Come into Alignment, Stretch and Go Forth!

I can say without any doubt, I have indeed experienced each element of that slogan in some way throughout this year. Today, I accept the summons of the Lord to "Spiritual Maturity". Maturity in a sense means to come into full development. In essence, the Lord calls me to spiritual development in 2014. 2 Timothy 3:17, "Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us." MSG  This process of maturity is in preparation for something prepared for us in a time to come.

What does this entail? How is this achieved? It will vary based on where you are in your personal walk with God. For me, He has already identified measurable objectives that I must master more effectively in 2014. For your benefit and my reminder, I will share a few of those objectives today:

1. Develop a risk-taker's attitude. My objective is to immediately embrace whatever God says without the most subtle sign of resistance. To resist even subtly is an insult to the soverignty of God. A risk-taker is consumed by the directive, message, and task and not the outcome. The task or directive is my responsibility, the outcome is God's. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

2. Pray with a greater level of trust. Trust must trump expectation. Where as I have embraced expecting more from God, I must embrace the discipline of trust so that when my expectation is not met the way I want, I can fully understand and embrace the fact that God can be trusted to make adjustments to the answers to my prayers. (Proverbs 3:5, Romans 8:28)

3. Embrace teachable moments during difficult circumstances. Often times the moment overwhelms us to the point that we miss the lesson God is trying to teach us through the situation. If God allows a situation to develop and thrive, then He has some teachable moment tucked away in the situation. We must look for it and embrace it. (Psalms 86:11)

more to come......

Work or Worship?

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10: 38-42
Is it more important to breathe or to live? Right! In order to live we must breathe. In essence, breathing and living work hand-in-hand. It is a synergistic combination. You cannot have one without the other.That is the vantage point from which I view the account of Mary and Martha as they sought to prepare for the arrival of Jesus Christ to their home.

Which posture was best? Was it more important for Martha to work or for Mary to worship Him while Jesus was in their home? Yes! Both postures were good. We must do the work of the Kingdom. We must operate in the calling of God upon our lives; but, do we work so much that we never take the time to worship?

I do not look at worship as just singing a slow song that requires you and me to lift our hands. Rather, when I say worship, I am referring to praying, meditating on the word of God, singing, dancing before the Lord, glorifying Christ, and praising the Lord for who He is.

Now let’s make a clear observation about Martha and her work. What is disturbing about Martha is she did not know when to stop working and when to begin to worship. Do you know when it is time for you to pause from the work and begin to worship? Well, allow me to share some sure signs that it is time for a moment of worship in the midst of your doing the work of the Lord. If you find yourself slipping in the areas that you once had victory, then it’s time for you to pause and worship. If your attitude about the work becomes taxing rather than service to the Lord, then it is time for you to worship. When you are too busy to take the time to worship, then it is time for you to pause and really worship.

The fact is, unless we worship Christ we will ultimately become ineffective in working for Christ. We cannot have one without the other. Martha undoubtedly thought her work was more important. However, upon inquiring of Jesus He sets the record straight once and for all. Jesus gives Martha and so many of us the diagnoses of our lives. “Martha you are worried and distracted by many things.” That is really the issue! We are distracted by things, people, and situations and the thought of worshiping Christ barely crosses our minds.

Don’t get me wrong saints! We must do the work of the Lord, but we must also learn when to pause and worship. We cannot do one without the other. Will you join me in asking the Lord to help us all to learn when to pause from the work and enter into worship?

Father, we adore you with all of our hearts. We seek to do the work of the kingdom with excellence and dedication - all for your glory. Lord, help us to discern when it is time to pause from the work and begin to worship you with everything that is in us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Noise vs Praise

There is a clanging taking place in the body of Christ. This clanging is so....loud that it diffuses the words that are necessary for life everlasting. The noise stems from the dissatisfaction of those who do not respect God's way of functioning in the Kingdom. Therefore, they create noise to distract and overshadow sound doctrine and teaching, legitimate moves of God and the praise and adoration meant for the living God. They are disgruntled believers who would rather dwell on social traditions and the spiritual games of the times. They are believers who seek to say words to God but their hearts are far from Him. They are people who have turned the church into a musical phenomenon with no depth, spirit or anointing. It has become a place of entertainment and fun. All of the time they are spiritually insulting God through their behavior. Pretty soon all they become are clanging cymbals and clashing metal; noise.

This type of mentality does not give way to righteousness, ministry, evangelism and worship to God. It is a Hollywood salvation that waits on the next great attraction, buzz words and fleshly doctrine.The results are people can literally dance, shout, and make a great deal of noise, but their lifestyle and devotion to God is seriously lacking. It has literally turned many church gatherings in to a religious social club.

I am reminded of a passage in Ezra, whereby the Jews were released from captivity by King Darius to return back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Upon building the foundation and the altar-a place of worship, there were persons in the crowd who could not get past the new thing that God was doing because they were so..... set on the former temple and altar. They were so disappointed that they began to create a great noise in the midst of the people. They were wailing and screaming because they remembered and only desired what they had and not what God was providing for them at that time.  They were only satisfied when God was doing what they wanted. They were bent on having their way without any regard to what God wanted or desired for them. However, there arose another sound. It was not just noise, it was praise and adoration for what God had done.

 The scripture text said that their praise drowned out the noise of dissatisfaction. This sound stemmed from gratitude that after 70 years of bondage and not being able to come to the place of worship. God had allowed them to rebuild their symbol of communion and intimacy with Him; the altar. These people rejoiced because they understood that if it had not been for God on their side, they could have died in captivity. They did not regard their own desires as more important, rather, they regarded the plan of God, His ways, His precepts, His will as the foundation for rebuilding their lives. Yes, they were imperfect, but they were committed to living and functioning in the Kingdom according to the will of God. They were receptive of Kingdom lifestyle and behavior. Whatever God said and wanted to do was fine with them.

No, God is not looking for perfect people to praise and worship Him, however, He is looking for people who's heart is perfect (mature) towards Him. Noise and Praise is really a matter of the heart. Noise focuses on emotions and whatever feelings people want to be expressed from the fleshly realm. However, praise has nothing to do with the individual's feelings. It has nothing to do with what the individual has done. Praise is totally focused on what God has done. He has done great things! He has delivered me! He brought me out of a bad situation. It is the acknowledgment of the wondrous workings of the Lord. God desires praise not noise that is self-centered and fleshly. Yes, make a joyful noise. Yes, this may lead to an audience with the King, but after you get an audience, you must come right before Him with intentional and deliberate praise.

My prayer for the body of Christ is that we will not major any longer in just noise and certainly not noise of dissatisfaction, but that we will rather make deliberate effort to raise up a sound of praise and adoration to our God who has and continues to do great things in our lives. Let's not just make some kind of noise, let's make intentional praise flow from our hearts to the ears of God.

The God Who Speaks

What is the voice of the Lord? Does He always speak in an audible voice? How do you discern the voice of the Lord from your own voice?

These questions have and continue to confound the minds of believers and non-believers alike. The what about God's voice. Many believe that God has lost His voice and He does not speak to His people anymore. I beg to differ. Who can tell God to be quiet? Who determines that He speaks no more? Who has that much knowledge of God that they can say emphatically that He is now silent? No one!

God speaks and we should anticipate Him to speak to us for He promises that He will be with us even until the end of the ages. Certainly God is not just going to be with us and not communicate with us right? Jesus said, I will send you a comforter who will teach you and remind you of all of the things that I have taught you. Surely, the holy ghost does not speak in sign language. It must communicate in some manner in which we, the limited beings, can understand.

 Yes! God speaks today and forever more. He speaks through His spirit, He speaks through His word, He speaks through His prophets, He speaks through dreams and visions, He speaks through situations and circumstances. God still speaks!

You can always discern the voice of God from another voice if what is said conflicts with the word of God and the will of God that has already been revealed to you. God is not the author of confusion. He will never contradict Himself. Be careful of voices that are close or similar to something that God would say. Those similarities are just as dangerous.If in doubt, seek the counsel of a godly man or woman of God who has walked with the Lord and has impeccable spiritual integrity.

Whenever God speaks and it is actually God, whatever you do, do not ignore what He says. It is a privilege to have the creator of the universe to take the time to speak to his most imperfect creation. Rejoice in the fact, that our God still speaks and shall continue throughout eternity.

Foolishness

After studying 1 Corinthians 1:21-31, I began to understand the greatness of our God even the more. It is a powerful revelation that the creator,who has the option to create from pure raw materials would rather take an already blemished creation and mold it into something usable for the Kingdom of God. The world with all of its knowledge and wisdom would deemed that to be simply "foolishness".Yet God majors in what the world calls "foolishness".

The world's perspective is it is "foolishness" to take one man to die and shed his blood for the redemption of all mankind. To the world, it is "foolishness" to believe that an invisible God is interested in the well being of a people who have a choice to choose him or not. The world's wisdom cannot accept the "foolishness" that God would give up his only son just so mankind could be in right relationship with him.

I am so glad that God can take what seemingly looks like "foolishness" by the world's standards and raise a person up to have dominion and power in the holy ghost. See only God can take a person from drugs, violence, abuse, neglect, poverty, suicide, depression and puts His loving arms around them and redeem them unto himself. It may seem like "foolishness", but I along with millions of other believers rejoice in the God of our salvation over the fact that he chooses "foolishness". He chooses people who have so many flaws, people who are unfaithful, people who are unreliable to invest his valuable anointing into.

Oh, we celebrate the ability of God to take the "foolishness" of a person and transform it to loyalty, integrity, holiness, character, reliability and most of all redeemed and righteous in Jesus Christ. I don't know a great deal, but I do know that our "foolishness" is not match for our great God.

Ways to Honor Your Father on Father's Day

Father's Day can be a difficult day for many people. However, I want to encourage you to celebrate the men in your life who have impacted your life in a positive way. Celebrate the kind words spoken. Celebrate the firm training and discipline. Celebrate the love displayed even in your unlovable state.

Father's long to be appreciated. Society has made if more difficult to place emphasis on the great fathers, mentors and role models because of all of the negativity displayed by men who do not understand their role as a father. Nevertheless, I am certain that you have several great men in your life who you can celebrate for being an "Awesome" father or mentor.

Here are a few things that you can do to demonstrate your appreciation for the positive male in your life:

1. Spend quality time doing what your father likes to do. Just do it even it is the most simple and practical thing in the world to do. Guess what? It will make your dad so.....happy.

2. Don't buy him a tie or house slippers unless he has expressed that he needs them. Instead, give him a gift card so that he can purchase whatever he wants.

3. Take him out to his favorite restaurant. Let him order whatever he desires to eat.

4. Always give him a card that represents who he is.

5. Do something out-of-the-box. Make a video and send him a video greeting for Father's Day.

6. Call him on Father's Day. After that, try to check on your father, pops, dad, etc.. at least once a week.

7. Go watch a movie with your dad on or on another day after Father's Day.

8. Go out for breakfast or a cup of coffee.

9. Post a wonderful post on Facebook/Twitter about your dad. Tell him about it and all of the likes, comments, retweets the posts received.

10. Tell your dad just how much your appreciate him in plain and simple words.


Men generally are satisfied with the simple and practical things during Father's Day. Whatever you do, do not neglect to be a blessing to your father during this time of celebrating the men in your life. Happy Father's Day to all of the men who may read this post.

Poor in Spirit

It may seem strange, but if you are depleted of joy, peace, happiness, passion, and the spirit of God, you are a prime candidate to benefit from all that the Kingdom of God has for you. In fact, Jesus said, "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God."

Poor in spirit literally identifies the mental and spiritual state of being in need due to an emptiness that exists in a person. This life is replete with situations that drain us of all that we have in our spirit. Sometimes it is a relationship. Other times it is the stress of the job or a personal flaw in ones character. Whatever the source of our depletion, it has the ability to slow us down, leave us impotent, and cause us to fall on the wayside and even loose faith.

The good news is Jesus has the answer for poor spirits. He has the ability to refill, revive, renew, deliver, encourage, restore joy and confidence in the life of a person who is at his/her lowest spiritual level. What must you do if you are poor in spirit? Reach out to Christ by simply saying, " I need You".

I guarantee that Christ is all you need. After you have extended the invitation for Him to come in and take residence, you will experience the joy of His grace and unconditional love. You will feel the reviving of your spirit to a place of peace and comfort.

The blessing is you are in a position to receive. You are blessed because Christ has been waiting for you to invite Him to get involved in your life. You are blessed because He not only wants to revive your spirit, but literally give you the Kingdom of God.

Will you accept His grace, mercy and love today? You do not have to be poor in spirit any longer. Regardless of what depleted your spirit, Christ can bring you back to a level of fulfillment in Him.

Kingdom Agenda

Matthew 28:19-20

"Go therefore into all of the world making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always, even until the end of the age."

God has always been focused on His agenda since the beginning of time. In fact, the first man, Adam, was charged with taking dominion over God's creation along with his wife;however, Adam was not focused and allowed the enemy to come in and delay the call upon his life to demonstrate dominion.

No problem. God always knows what needs to be done. God sent His Son, the second Adam, to come into the world and once again demonstrate for man the Agenda of God and His Kingdom.

This agenda is found clearly in Matthew 28:19-20. The first item on the agenda is go and make disciples of all nations. God desires that all persons come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This commission can be completed in a number of ways. Those ways include through missionary trips, outreach in the community, evangelistic events, use of technological tools and good ole fashion one on one ministry.

The second item on the agenda is to lead the person to make a public declaration of their faith after receiving Christ. This public declaration is baptism. Declaring publicly that one is dying to sin and arising alive to Christ as demonstrated in the sacrament of baptism.

The third item on the agenda is to teach the new disciples how to be a man or woman of the Kingdom of God. How to be saved and live a life according to Kingdom standards. Notice, this requires a deliberate and spirit directed effort to help the new believers grow and develop into men and women of God. Teach them what? All that I have commanded you. Jesus directed the disciples to teach the principles of the Kingdom to every new convert to ensure the perpetuation of Kingdom principles.

It is safe to say that if we are not reaching out through evangelistic efforts, demonstrating and leading new converts in the sacraments of the church and using the gift of teaching to inform the new converts of the principles of the Kingdom, then we may not be implementing the Kingdom's agenda.

Reflect on what you are currently doing for God. Are you implementing His agenda or your own agenda?

God, Get the Glory!

• Take some time and enjoy this audio message excerpt entitled, "God, Get the Glory" focusing on John 11:1-45. 

Shift-Come into Alignment-Stretch-Go Forth!

This new year will bring many challenges. However, challenges do not have any authority over the power of God. It is imperative that you rest in the assurance that God has everything in control.

Many have made resolutions about things that do not profit them spiritually, but for you, I want you to Shift. Shift! Make the necessary adjustments in your life that will sustain your walk with me. Move away from things and people who are not focused on Kingdom business. Time is of the essence! Don't miss what I am doing in the earth during this season.

Not only must you shift. You must then Come into Alignment. This is necessary because in your shifting, you have the ability to still be off course and not totally in sync with my will. There is a specific line that I have drawn in the spirit for you to begin your journey from. It is the starting place of my will for your life. The Holy Spirit will guide you through each step that you must make to align. Don't fight the process! It could prove to be harmful and discouraging for you. Time is of the essence! Come into alignment quickly.

I know that you are struggling with this new alignment. That is why I have directed you to Stretch. Stretch beyond your own expectations and see the expectations that I have for you in the spirit through prayer, fasting and studying my word. Stretch! Reach for the impossible even when it strains your spiritual muscles. Stretch! Venture into those vocations that you thought you were not qualified to do. I have made a way for you. Stretch! I require more of you than I require of those who are around you. I will not place more upon you than you can bear.

Finally, Go Forth! No need to second guess. I have spoken. Why wait? Why contemplate? Move into the things that I have already spoken in your spirit. I have already gone before you. Go Forth! The work of the Kingdom cannot wait. Don't miss your time and your season. Go Forth!

The Higher Calling in Christ!

¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.- Philippians 3:13-14

The New Year brings with it an array of emotions for many people. There are some who continue to replay the painful and disappointing events of 2012. There are also those who had an awesome year and they have resolved to take a slack posture this year because everything seems to be going so...smooth.

Well, I like the Apostle Paul, who wrote this letter to the church of Philippi from a physical posture of discomfort, but with a powerful spiritual posture of great faith and hope. Paul offers us in this dispensation a hope as well as we enter a seemingly uncertain place in the new year.

There are four things that God would say to all of us who desire to receive directions for entering the year of 2013. Well, I believe that He has already embedded those directions within the scripture text referenced above.

Point 1: You must shift your focus. This is why the Apostle Paul encouraged the saints of Philippi to forget what is behind. The things that took place in 2012 cannot be erased. You may have the opportunity to improve some of the situations, but you cannot dwell on past failures and disappointments too long. In 2013, you must move on and begin to shift your mind to those things that are ahead. It is difficult to focus on the past and embrace the future at the same time. You must let go of one of the two.


Point 2: You must come into alignment. This simply means begin to believe what God has already ordained for your life. Accept the will of God for you as a member of the Body of Christ and as an individual believer. Look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had to shift His focus off of the horrible method of death on the cross. Instead, He came into alignment with God's will because He saw your future and my future at stake. Nevertheless, Thy will be done (Luke 22:42).

Point 3: You must stretch out. In the text, the Apostle Paul directed the saints to strain forward. Stretch out. This is significant! The posture you had in 2012, it just will not work. God wants to stretch you beyond the point that you have already determined you cannot go any further. Therefore, He is going to stretch you and stretch you. He is going to stretch your faith, commitment, trust and your ability. Stretch out! Reach for it knowing God has already planned everything ahead of you. Stretch even if it hurts. Get uncomfortable! You will not regret stretching when God gets finish using you.

Point 4: You must go forth. There is no more time to contemplate. You must move and move now in that which God has called you to do. Take the first step. Walk in your calling with the assurance that you have been anointed to do the job, to preach, to teach, to witness, to sing, to serve, to lead. Go Forth!


It is simple my brother and my sister. You have only to shift-align-stretch-go forth.  The Higher Calling in Christ is waiting for you!