Where is your faith

Is your faith in your bank account?  In your job, your boyfriend, or girlfriend? Is your faith in the music you listen to?  There are some really powerful lyrics out there that if you listen to enough you will be faith bankrupt! 

Faith activates God ... Fear actives the enemy, where are you right now?  Are you carrying God’s burdens on your shoulders or are you trusting him to do exceeding, abundantly for you?  I know as a parent you hate to be the last one to know something your children is going thru.  They tried figuring it out themselves, then seeked their friends and family and guess who comes last… mom or dad?  How do you think God feels if the first person we seeked was ourselves and then friends and family. Go to God last?  Where is your faith?  When we get some news .the first thing we need to do is trust God and know that God has your back! Once we release our thought with doubt, the enemy has been activated and knows how to get in place doubt, disbelief and depression on you.  Then you have to fight more to dig up your faith since he has your mind all cluttered.  God says in Matthew 9:29. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.  That is a powerful scripture saying what your individual faith is what will happen.  If you think of that first, it’s easy to declare and believe knowing it will happen.   What are your feelings telling you in a troubled time?  Do you remember the story of Isaac blessing his sons when he became blind and was nearing his death?  When Jacob, the younger son wanted to steal his older brother’s birthright, his mother helped him to disguise himself as Esau.  Esau was a hairy man and Jacob had smooth skin.  So Rebekah wrapped Jacob’s hands in goat’s hair and brought Esau’s clothes for him to wear. 

Jacob went to his father, pretending to be Esau.  Isaac asked him to come near so he could feel him.  Then Isaac told him that he sounded like Jacob but he felt like Esau.  Isaac decided that he would trust what he felt instead of what he heard in the sound of Jacob’s voice.  It matters what you hear!  The bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God in Romans 10:17.  When you hear the truth, you need to believe it.  Isaac decided to trust what he felt over what he’d heard.  He made the wrong decision and gave the birthright destined for the firstborn to his second son.  He was deceived by what he felt.  If we let our feelings run your life, they will mess you up.  Stand on God’s word and not activate the enemy!  Sometimes I don’t feel God anymore, it doesn’t matter what you feel. Victory is not a feeling, it’s a fact of faith. Sometimes I feel saved and sometimes I don’t, but I am saved by faith, not by feelings. When you are in a situation, step back, remove the emotion, seek God so you can hear him clearly and you will receive an abundance of guidance.   We talked about feelings, so what about do you believe what you see?  I think that’s a great deceiver! 

Do you accept defeat by what you see?  Has a promise of God been aborted because you chose to believe what you saw instead of the promise God has given you.  In today’s economy, I believe that is becoming a huge hindrance as more and more people read the stats on unemployment and employment opportunities and give up before they start.  I have been truly blessed; I have headhunters call me weekly asking me to work with some fantastic job offers. I am no different than you, they can call you to.  I don’t believe what the media or newspapers say, I know God Almighty has what I need and it will come to pass.  Sight is a powerful “king” that rules through your senses.  When Jacob was an old man and his son brought to them the many colored coat of Joseph, he believed what his eyes told him.  The brothers had sold Joseph to get rid of him.  But they dipped Joseph’s coat in goat’s blood so that it looked like Joseph had been attacked by a wild beast. 

Jacob saw the bloody coat and declared that an evil beast had devoured his son.  That was the picture that the jealous brothers of Joseph had painted for their grief stricken father.  He said, “without a doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.”

Without a doubt, is that you?  Without a doubt means believing with perfect faith.   But it was not true, even though it was totally believable to Jacob’s eye.  Is that you today? Are your eyes deceiving you from God’s word?   Are you looking at your physical illness or injury and with the pain saying without a doubt I can’t do this anymore. Listening to the doctors report that this will be a difficulty surgery and a long recovery but we are hopeful?  God almighty is our Doctor, our surgeon and by his stripes we are healed!  Don’t let your feelings or eyesight run your race, God is running your race with you!

In your faith fight, you are also going to have to put your foot on the neck of what you hear.  You are going to hear a lot of discouraging words and accusations.  The enemy will whisper to you to quit, to give up because you can’t make it anyway.  He will speak fear to you:  “you are going bankruptcy. You need to take those pills, no one loves you, no one will marry you at your age, there are no good men or woman left out there. Does any of these come across in your head? 

2 Timothy 1:7 saying “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

With the economy the way it is, people losing their homes in foreclosure, job loss, downsizing in companies of 30 years, losing pensions, personal bankruptcy, what are you hearing?  What are you tuned into each day?  Is it waking up depressed and trying to put a smile on to face the day but screaming inside with fear and sadness?  Are you waking up trusting your faith and standing on God’s word that NO matter what it looks like, feels like or what I see around me going on, God has a bigger, bolder and more than you can imagine outcome for you.  It’s not what we can pray or believe, God always delivers something much more and much better, but is your faith at work?  You will never hear God’s word telling you doubtful words.  You will never hear God is not faithful or that he doesn’t care.  God does come on his time, not ours.  The bible teaches that in spite of what you are hearing around you, faith will believe God’s faithfulness and fight for your victory! Put your foot on the neck of what you have been listening to that is contrary to God’s word! 

When Jesus was praying for the Father to glorify his name, God the Father spoke to him from heaven.  He said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” scripture reference John 12:28.  Some people standing around heard Him and thought it was thunder. They could not recognize the voice of God; it sounded like a loud noise to their ears. Isn’t that amazing?  Someone can hear the Word of God and another standing right beside them can only hear a bunch of racket.

What you hear is important. You have to decide to put your foot on the neck of the racket you hear and listen for the word of the Lord over your life.  Don’t listen to suggestions of defeat.  I know as teens it’s important to know all the current hip hop music, however the underlying lyrics that are in there is all sex, drugs or disrespect.  Is that what you want to feed your mind while you are studying for that exam, applying for that job or hanging with your friends?  Really what positive encouragement are you getting to keep you going day to day. Praise, Praise, Praise is what you need to make it another day!  Keep those promises and dreams alive with encouraging words..   I heard for every negative thing, people will tell 10 people… for every positive thing that happens, they tell 2 people.  Which are you, passing the negative or the positive.  I know I want to be known as a warrior for God and any giant I face is under my feet and speak positive and encouraging words.

So I shall ask again… where is your faith? If you meditate on God’s word day and night, your faith will always come first, fear will have to work twice as hard to get to you.  I hope this has been a blessing to you.

Closed Doors and Open Doors

This past week has been a journey that I think a lot of people can relate to.  Walking in faith sometimes is hard so we take things into our own hands.  Why ask God for help when we got it all figured out right?  I received a call from a headhunter who was looking to fill a position.  I kindly told her I wasn’t interested, she continued to talk and increased the pay, benefits etc and of course it caught my attention.  I said oh hold on,  I’m listening now, go ahead.  She continued to tell me more and schedule an interview on Monday.  I was booked the day of the interview so I had to move things around, but I made it work.  The interview screening went well, she said she hasn’t found anyone with the experience I have and there is only one other candidate with me that will be interviewing with the actually company.  Oh, I was so excited when I left, I started figuring out who can help me with my kids, how much I can pay them, what their schedule will be etc.  So I head to the company for the final interview.   I arrive and one story was the partners  weren’t aware of me coming and they wouldn’t be in for another couple of hours.  I said no problem,  they can call me to reschedule.  I contacted the headhunter and left a message.  She calls me and tells me they had a family emergency.  Hum, ok the stories don’t match but whatever.  She asked me to go back in 2 hours.  So I wait around and do and I had to once again reschedule appointments so I can fit this in as it is a high priority now.  Isn’t that how we determine what is our priority… based on what we want to make time for!  So  I am still making plans and claiming this position as I knew it was mine.   In my industry this salary is higher than anyone else.  So I am so excited and know I am going to get it.  I head back to the appointment and met with one of the partners.  I knew for sure this was a slam dunk, interview is going well. Then the other partner came in, young, hot shot, and I said oh there it went. I didn’t care for some of his answers but I continued to smile and do my best.  I was feeling a little down as I wasn’t as confident that it was mine after meeting with him.  So they said they needed someone right away and I was planning on them making a decision really fast. So no call Tuesday so by Tuesday afternoon, I started praying and seeking what God wanted for me.  I didn’t do it before the interview since I knew I would get it, I didn’t need to call on God, I had this.  Sound familiar?  So by Wednesday morning, I wake up and I am discouraged since all the answered pointed to this isn’t a job for you to take.  Why not, it was perfect for so many answers I needed.   I really wanted to continue to push that door from closing because I wanted it.  Lord, please tell me why this isn’t for me…. No answer but I had peace in my heart about it and let it go.  Not in my head as I still was boggled as to why? No sooner, Thursday morning my phone starts going crazy.  It’s this headhunter calling me.  I figured oh, she wanted to offer me another position and so I was in no hurry to call her back.  Then she stared emailing me, etc.  So we played phone tag for a couple hours and then guess what… she says they really liked you and want to hire you.  I was like oh wow, that’s great!  However, I have to decline.  She went on with why?  I said I am sorry I accepted another position even with lower pay.  She was very upset that I wouldn’t take it.  She reminded me that this position is better than anything out there right now and I am crazy not to accept it.  I said yes I know, however I am declining. Thank you for your time.  So that didn’t stop her, she continued to call and email me to contact her. She said they don’t want anyone else, they have bonuses on top of the salary and she just found out. I said wow, if you would have called me yesterday, I was in a place to say yes, but today the answer is still no.  Isn’t that true, I would have accepted it on Tuesday before I seeked God cuz I was doing it on my own… I didn’t need any help with this door… but no, I get a call AFTER I seeked God’s answer.  Humm!    She continued to ask me what is keeping me from taking it, I said I already committed to someone else and I have to keep my word.    She continued to point out how this one is better than the one I accepted.  She said she would give me til the next morning before she made the call of my denial for me to reconsider one more time. I said ok.  I am still thinking about it, but in my heart I knew this was a NO.  So by morning she is blowing up my phone for an answer. Once again I declined.    I knew that job in my mind would solve so many issues for me, however God didn’t have the same plan. Of course we don’t know what he is going to bring our way next.  Right?  So I let that door close, there was no reason to continue to hold it up and missing my next blessing.   My next blessing you ask?  … well it came within days of that door closing!

Looking back throughout circumstances that have come your way, running into closed doors is really hurtful and doesn’t make any sense.  This verse Psalm 43:10 answered so much for me, but he said be still and know I am God.  When I first got saved, I heard the Rev. 3:20 I stand at the door knocking, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will eat and he with me.   I can remember standing at the alter feeling my heart pumping fast, head has no thoughts, just tears running down my face. I had no vision to see anything, I was just standing there sobbing with my heart racing.  Do you remember having a similar feeling when you first encountered that experience with God?  God is standing there knocking at our heart and we have the choice to except him or not.  Do you remember the feeling when you excepted him, the peace that came over you no matter what circustances surround you in your life?  The hope, peace and joy you had at that very moment, nothing else mattered.  I can speak for me, I felt like I was in a whole different place, I felt like I was walking on a cloud. How many times do we forget that same hope, peace and joy that is on the inside and we don’t keep that freshness alive.    Or did you decide not to accept God and you lack joy, peace and happiness and have been battling with it every day since.   You wish you don’t have to carry lifes burdens on your back being depressed, wounded, sick ?  Don’t feel you are worth God’s  love and mercy?  How many times do you have friends that say, If this… then I it would make me happy?  If he or she would just…. Then we will be ok?  Those things happen and guess what, there is still no peace, joy or happiness.  Sometimes these closed doors or the doors you see and feel closing on you seem devastating, yet  they are really helping you have a better life, be a better person,  and be a testimony for you to share.

Having conversations with friends and you can say, I remember going thru that and you can testify what God has done for you and give them comfort that it will be ok.  If that door didn’t close for you, you wouldn’t have this opportunity to help your friend.   God has much more in store for you. Once you have come to accept the closed door, now God can open the right one for you.   Have you ever looked back at those closed doors and realized how they actually helped you and elevated you to a better place?    I can talk about a boyfriend I just let him walk all over me, because I loved him.  Deep down in my stomach I knew he wasn’t good for me, however I was willing to live with that pain in my stomach than to emotionally close that door as that seemed to painful.  Maybe that’s someone on the line today….  Do you have a girlfriend that has turned her back on you?  Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend you know is treating you bad and you deserve better.  I encourage you not to live with that anymore and know once the tears dry and the heart is healed, you too will be blessed with something better.  You will look back in a year and say God, thank you… what took you so long.. right?  It actually was you holding up your blessing.

Talking about doors, the other day I was watching Steve Harvey and for any of you that don’t know he is now hosting TBN and left his secular comedy industry to serve God.  He had an awesome analogy I would love to share.  Picture with me you in heaven walking down a hall with Peter , going to see God.  You see all these doors with names on it.  You ask Peter, Peter why do all these doors have names on it?  Peter said, oh don’t worry about that, keep on walking.  They continue to walk down the hall and you see your name on the door and you stop! Do you see the door you asked Peter, it has my name on it?  He said, yes but don’t’ worry about it keep going. You said no, I have to know what’s inside.  You open the door, picture a warehouse full of boxes on shelves.  Do you see it, it’s a big warehouse?  You ask Peter, what are all these boxes… Peter replied… these are all your blessings.  You say well why are they in here…. Peter said well that row of boxes is when you were on pitty me street, so God’s blessing couldn’t get delivered to you.. so it was returned… that row is when you were on faithless street so it couldn’t be delivered and it was returned… that row is when you were on doubtful street so those blessings were returned.   If we aren’t standing on God’s word, believing, trusting and being all he has made us to be every minute, we are missing our blessings.   Don’t let closed doors bring you down, welcome them as it means that blessing is being delivered to you.. don’t let you next blessing go to the warehouse. 

I pray this word has been a blessing to you.  Keep your  head held high as we are representing our heavenly father in all that we do!