God, Get Me Out of Here!

During the first Jewish diaspora, the people of God were carried away to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.  They were torn away from their beloved homeland and separated from their loved ones. The people of God found themselves in a strange land where there was no fear of God.   This was a place in which they didn't want to be.  They cried out to God to bring them back to their homeland and lift this burden that seemed  too hard to handle.  In the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, God sends a word through the prophet Jeremiah to those Jews that had been carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
  

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace" (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

We must first note that it was God who caused the Jewish people to be carried away to Babylon into captivity.  It is often God that takes us to those places in our lives where we don't want to be. Gasp!  April, God wouldn't do such a thing!  Yes, God would do such a thing.   He is using this uncomfortable place to make you more like Him.  The good news is that if he takes you to such a place in you life, He will be the one to take you out of it when it is time. 

Next, notice how God told the people to build houses in Babylon, live in them, plant gardens, eat the fruit thereof, takes wives and husbands, and have children and great-grandchildren.  In essence, God was letting them know that they were going to be here for a while so they needed to live their lives and find peace in this particular place.  This is not what the people wanted. They wanted  God to rescue them immediately,  but this was not God's will yet. We see a couple of scriptures later that it would be 70 years before God would take them back to Jerusalem (and He eventually did, true to His word).  So often, we ask God to rescue us from particular seasons or places in our lives.  We cry to God to make a way out when He is the one that made a way in to this place. We throw spiritual tantrums (can I get a witness?) and resist what He is doing.  What we must realize is that God may relieve us of our burden in a short period of time, or He might keep us in a this place for a longer period.   I know the pain seems so unbearable at the moment that we can't imagine months or even years of feeling like this, but just like God told  the people to seek the peace of the city where they were carried away to, he is telling us to do the same.  He instructed them to embrace this place for it was where God had placed them.  Some of you may be living with cancer or some other disease while some of you might be dealing with heavy marriage problems or you're seeing your spouse go through something very hard. Others might be experiencing unemployment or homelessness, bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, a divorce, or even just loneliness.  Maybe you are experiencing obstacles in your ministry.   I don't know the place where God has you right now, but God does. He wants you to know that He has you in this place and everything is going to be alright. Don't fight it, but get on your knees and ask Him to give you peace in this place and grace to make it through. God will not rescue you, but He will renew you.  He will not allow for a place of escape, but He will allow you the grace to endure until it is time to bring you out and mark my words. HE WILL BRING YOU OUT in His time. In verses 10-14, we read God's word to His people,

"For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place...Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive." 

 When all is said and done, you will know God in such a wonderful way. You will look back and see how God transformed you and your family. You will see how God changed and perfected you.  You will see how God is faithful to answer you and accomplish that which He promised.  Why should we trust God to fulfill His promises in us and answer our prayers?  The answer can be found in verse 11 of the same chapter,  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).  Know that you serve a loving God who has a wonderful plan for your life. Know that He finishes what He started.  Know that He hears your prayers even when you don't feel Him.  He will not just leave you in the place to die there, but will be with you through it all.  That's the kind of God that we serve.

Thoughts from a Woman Who Never Stops Thinking

 "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

I have always tried to respect all people regardless if I agree with them or not.  I hold very strong religious views because I hold the Bible as my standard for living and I am zealous for the things of God, but I do not believe that the Bible gives me the license to hate on people and treat them as inferior.  Further, hate and violence are not supported Biblically, even if its the side with opposing views/beliefs that initiated.  On the contrary, we are told to bless and pray for those that curse us and spitefully use us (Luke 6:28) and to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).  Christians have a long history of using violence and hate as a means of controlling others (ie. Crusades etc), but I truly believe that we do not have to continue that pattern. The truth is that we don't have much time left in this world to continue the pattern with the return of Christ coming so soon.  I do not believe in backing down in one's beliefs, but if people disagree or even hate you for your beliefs, we should let them do so without reciprocating anger. We will accomplish nothing by getting angry and name-calling or by holding signs on the corners and telling people they are going to hell.  I simply cannot imagine Jesus doing this.  When Christ went to the cross, he was ridiculed and taunted, spit on, and whipped, yet He held his peace and I believe that He calls us to do the same thing while carrying our cross.  He was sent like a "lamb to the slaughter" yet "opened not his mouth" the Bible says which means He took a passive approach.   He didn't take a passive approach to preaching the Gospel and loving others, but he took a passive approach to dealing with the hate and the persecution.   I'm tired of focusing on all the negative in the world and am making the conscious decision to be a vessel through which God can demonstrate His love to others no matter where they come from, their status, their sins etc. I will focus more on my own imperfections and allowing God fix mine so that I can be a better vessel of His love. When I get to heaven, God is not going to say, I wish you would have protested more on the corner on my behalf, but He will tell me, What did you do to allow people to experience my love?  I'm going to make myself ready so that I can usher in thousands of people and say Lord, here's what I did to show your love and these are the people that came to know you as a result of it.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" ~ Hebrews 12:14

Are You Experiencing True Salvation?

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."  Romans 1:16

So many times when we think of salvation, we think of being saved from Hell and going to Heaven. To us, a  person who is "saved" will go with Jesus in the rapture.  Although these ideas are definitely part of salvation, there is more to it than just that. In my recent studies, I found that the Hebrew and Greek words for salvation also imply the ideas of deliverance, forgiveness, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness of mind. I was amazed.  I realized that so many believers, including myself, have not fully tapped into the salvation experience.  We see salvation as a future experience when salvation is really a way of life in which we experience the fullness of God on a day to day basis.  It reminds of a story that I once heard where a man saved up all the money he had in order to to take his family on a three-day cruise, but he didn't have enough money to purchase food on the cruise.  The family took their own bread, crackers, and cheese to sustain them and drank water for the entire cruise. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner time,  the family would sneak back to their rooms to eat what they brought, wishing that they could partake of the luxurious and delicious foods that the cruise line had to offer. At the end of the cruise, as this man and his family were exiting the boat, the captain approached the family to see how they enjoyed the three day excursion.  The man replied that he and his family enjoyed it tremendously, however, were sorry that they didn't have enough money to partake of the meals that the cruise line offered and hoped that next time, he could bring enough money so his kids wouldn't have to eat only cheese, crackers, and water. The captain stared at him in shock as he replied,"Why sir, the meals for this three day cruise were included in the initial price." The man and his family were shocked and felt horrible as they realized that they did not get the full experience of what they paid for. The same goes for us.  Christ has paid for our salvation in full, yet many of us are not fully partaking of all the benefits that He provided.  Although deliverance is offered freely, we still hold on to our drug, sexual, and food addictions.  Although we have forgiveness, we still hold on to condemnation.  Christ has provided us with safety (for us and our families) and yet we still live in fear of danger, in fear of how we are going to make it through a trial, or how we are going to provide for ourselves and our families in a bad economic time. God provides healing, but we still hold on to past hurts and pains.  Lastly, God provides soundness of mind, yet most of us still allow the enemy to confuse us and put doubtful thoughts into our head.  It is not His will that you live below the standard that He has for you.  You are a child of the King and therefore, have access to a wealth of blessings that God has for you.  Today, take hold of your salvation and experience the fullness of it today.

The Gift of Today

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:13-14

I recently came across an article written by Marianne Williamson entitled, "The Time That Matters Most," which got me thinking about the way most of us view time.  Although I don't support most of the views of this particular author, I really enjoyed reading her thoughts on perceptions of time.  This is what she had to say,

"The present moment, if you think about it, is the only time there is. No matter what time it is, it is always now. Yet often we live somewhere else. With thoughts of the past and concerns about the future, we rob ourselves of a full experience of the present. Although the past is over and the future is never quite here, our minds are usually so involved with one or both of them that the present serves very little function except to form a bridge between the two."

I started thinking about how sometimes we can get so caught up in what previously was and what will be in the future, yet the only thing we truly have control over is the present moment. The Apostle Paul models the right attitude when he says, "forgetting those things which are behind."  The key word here is "forgetting,"  but often that is incredibly hard for us.  We hold on to regrets, past hurts, old negative ways of thinking, and relationships that God allowed to be destroyed for a reason. Also, we live in the future, thinking if I just had this much money, I could or would do this or if God would do this in my life, then I would be able to do this or If I were married, I would do this for God.  The list goes on. Now, I am in no way saying that one should dismiss their dreams and goals because even the Apostle Paul said that we should "press towards the mark," which suggests that we have a future hope.  The problem occurs when we allow the past or the future to rob us of today and what God can do through us today.   My encouragement to you is to focus on what you can do today.  Ask God to use your life today.  Maybe God has given you a future vision of preaching in front of the masses, but today, ask God to put someone in your path with whom you can share the Gospel.  Maybe you have a vision of a singing ministry that will impact thousands, but ask God to use your voice today so that you can share God's love.  Maybe you have a dream of doing missions work, but ask God to use your hands today to reach out to someone who is in need in your local community. Maybe visions of pastoring a church fill your mind, but allow God use your life to mentor and feed the lamb he puts in your path today.  What we fail to see is that our actions today will determine the future.  That actions of many days like this one will determine our future.  They are steps that will bridge the gap between what we are and what we will be.  Let's ask God to give us a mindset for the present.  Keep in mind, as we allow God to use us today, we're going to see the glory of God on a daily basis.  What a powerful way to live.  God bless.

Jesus our Advocate

 Preface: God gave me this thought a couple of weeks ago and it has been strong on my heart for many reasons. Currently, on a short missions trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, this thought has come to mean more to me. Not only is God an advocate for all believers, but especially, He is an advocate for the poor and needy.  I don't quite have the words to describe all that I have seen so far, but I know one thing for sure- God has called us to be help those are in need.  I will be writing a post in the upcoming weeks about my trip, but I know that with knowledge comes responsibility as well. Its easy to get emotionally moved by an experiences, but it takes a lot more to make a true difference, not just in the foreign field, but in my local community and with the people I meet on a day to day basis. God bless.




  I used to have a teacher who always told me that one day I would be a lawyer.  For one, I was always running around with a huge backpack over my shoulder as I was rushing late to class (some things never change). Also, I loved to passionately argue my point of view (again, some things never change lol). Although I grew up and became a teacher, I have always been intrigued with the job of a lawyer.  They have such an awesome responsibility as they fight on behalf of their clients to ensure justice is served. In a dream world, it would be awesome to always have someone that we can go to when we feel like we have been accused wrongfully or when we have been mistreated without the hefty bill that comes with such a service.  Yet, if we really think about it, we do have access to this type of service through Jesus Christ our Lord. John penned these words, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.  And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous (I John 2:1).  Isaiah describes our God as the one that “pleads the cause of His people” (Isaiah 51:22).   In both of these verses, we get a mental picture of the wonderful God that we serve.   First of all, he is our advocate or one that fights on our behalf much like a lawyer. When the enemy tries to say that we don’t deserve forgiveness, we have an advocate that argues otherwise.   When we mess up or fall short, our advocate or lawyer is there telling the enemy that the blood of the lamb is over our lives therefore the charges of sin cannot be held against us. He pleads our cause. He pleads mercy and grace upon our lives even when we don’t deserve it.  He never gives up or gets tired of defending us from the accusations of the enemy.  Our advocate doesn’t care if we have anything to offer Him.  He doesn’t care about our background.  He doesn’t care about our marital status or our perceived bleakness the situation.  He is willing to take on our case. The moment that we accept God’s plan of salvation, we have access to this kind of defense.  Basically, we have the best lawyer by our side 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.  

   God is for you not only when it comes to the accusations of sin, but also when the enemy tries to condemn you and mock your faith. The enemy will often try to put snippets of doubt in your mind. He will try to make you feel like your situation is impossible.  He will try to make you feel overwhelmed by the future and make you question whether God is really with you or if you heard God correctly, but you have an advocate. The enemy will use people to gossip about you, lie about you, and come against your dream and vision.  Your advocate is still there. You may feel God leading you into another place in your life, but the circumstances say otherwise. You advocate is there again. You may feel God is asking you to walk through a new door, but your finances or resources say otherwise.  Yup, your advocate is still with you.  Stop fretting and feeling like you’re all alone in your situation. Your advocate has promised to never leave or forsake you.  Stop worrying about how you will pay the bills, find a new job, open that business, have a successful marriage, and be healed of that sickness or disease.  You have an advocate who already won your case at Calvary.  I guess you can say you have pre-paid legal services paid up-front at Calvary.

   In conclusion, Jesus had much to fear before going to the cross and there were times where fear gripped his heart (Psalm 22, Psalm 69), but He didn’t let that stop Him from doing the will of God.  When fear came in like a flood, a holy boldness came over him as he responded with these words,

“He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to bring charges against me now? Where are my accusers? Let them appear! See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side! Who will declare me guilty?All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths.  Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God” (Isaiah 50:8-10).

My friend, Christ our God has come to bring you justice.  No enemy can bring charges against you.   You have already been declared “Not guilty” by the blood of Christ.  You have been made clean by His righteousness.  If you are a child of the King, trust in Him as you see His salvation come to you in your situation or trial.  Your advocate is there for you and He has a 100% success rate. He is there to dispel all the lies, accusations, and darts of the enemy.  Trust in Him.

Faith Fulfilled

Sitting here with my cup of coffee with French vanilla creamer enjoying a quiet morning.  My apartment is a mess.  There are boxes everywhere (I'm in the process of moving) and in the midst of it all, He is still speaking. I really love mornings like this- where lots of things are in chaos, but that constant peace in your life is God.  I was reading the story of Jacob this morning and how God gave him a dream.  In the dream, Jacob sees a ladder from earth all the way into the Heavens.  Angels were ascending and descending from the ladder.  At the top of the ladder, there was God who began to speak promises into Jacob's life.  Here's what He told him,

"...I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  And behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thous goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. "  Genesis 28:13-15

When I read this portion, I was reminded of a couple of things. This promise to Jacob was the same promise that God gave to his grandfather Abraham and his son Isaac.   The promise was not fulfilled in either of their lifetimes and neither would it be in Jacob's, but that didn't stop them from believing God.  God began the work in each of them and they were certain He would finish it.  Now that's faith!  I thought back to how my grandma prayed for my grandpa to be saved for more than 25 years and then she developed Alzheimer's disease.  Although mentally, she was no longer here with us and had to be placed in a home, her precious prayers that she had prayed all those years continued to come before God as a sweet fragrance.  My grandfather, in his late eighties finally surrendered to God and was baptized in Jesus Name. Although my grandmother did not get to see God answer this prayer in her lifetime, she saw it by faith and knew that even if she weren't here to see it, God would still fulfill his promise to her.  She joined the faith ranks with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as many others since then. Remember, God cannot lie.  Every promise He has given to you will be answered.  I love it how God told Jacob, "I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (verse 15).  God was essentially saying that he would always be with the seed of Jacob who is now known as the Jewish nation or Israel. God has never left the Jewish people through everything they have gone through. He is not done with them yet. We see that although not all the promises are yet fulfilled, much of what God told them and their forefathers has already taken place.  The Jewish nation has spread from the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west. Not only that, but all the families of the earth have been blessed not only by all the amazing inventions and people who have come out of the Jewish nation, but also through Jesus Christ who was a Jew and became the Savior of the world. I can't wait until the day when God completes what He started in them and in us a church. He finishes what He started. That's the kind of God that we serve!  He did it for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Jewish nation, and my family. He'll do it for you!

Robbers of Stillness...

 "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...He Leads me beside the still waters. " Psalm 23:1-2

There are many times God asks us to be still when He is trying to usher us into a new season of our lives.  Stillness is a time of inner preparation and God-given peace.  Queen Esther, before becoming the Queen of Persia, had to go through 12 months of preparation before she could appear before the king.  During this time, she learned all about the king, mannerisms of palace life, and lastly, how to look beautiful for the king.  It might have seemed like a long year for Esther, but in reality, this was the time for her to sit back and enjoy getting ready for her big moment.  If she had not used this time wisely, she would have found herself unprepared for her moment of destiny which could have ended in disaster. Lack of preparation and stillness on her part could have caused the king to overlook her, marry another, and with that, the Jewish people living in the Persian kingdom would have been annihilated.  Stillness is a time for God to prepare and polish us, a time to listen to that sweet and familiar voice speaking to us and ministering to us on a daily basis. It's a time to minister before Him, taking every part of Him into our spirits.  At times, in this stillness, moments can seem long and mundane in the natural world, but in the spirit, God is preparing us for something new.  We are not accustomed to being still, especially in the busy, fast-paced world in which we live.  We are used to making things happen.  Yet, stillness in God requires us to wait even more than ever as He begins to move mountains on our behalf.  The enemy of our soul does not want us to experience stillness, but wants to fill us with worry, anxiety and desperation.  He doesn't want God's peace to fill our life, but wants to plant confusion in us among many other things.  I have found two things in my own life that can easily rob me of stillness if I'm not careful, but I've also learned how to combat them. They are as follows:

1. Worry/Anxiety
Nothing pleases the enemy more than to plant seeds of worry and anxiety in our minds.  He knows that if he can make us doubt God's provision and God's plans for us, he can trap us within the confines of your own mind.  Thoughts such as Is God really with me?  Am I forgiven?  How am I going to accomplish that on my own?  What if I'm doing the wrong thing? What if this doesn't happen?  What if this really happens?  are just some of the thoughts that try to take us captive. The way to overcome worry and anxiety is found in Philippians 4:6-7:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

We see that prayer and thanksgiving are extremely important in destroying seeds of worry and anxiety. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Prayer not only changes things, but it changes us as a person. When we are worried and anxious, we cannot focus on what God is doing in our life, but we end up focusing on what God is not doing in our life. Prayer shifts us back into the right gear. God takes control of our thoughts and destroys the negative seeds that the enemy is trying to plant. He replaces them with seeds of faith.  Also, thanksgiving is key.  We must thank God for what we already have and thank Him for prayers that are not yet answered.  I have found that thanking God in advance for unanswered prayers gives me such a peace that I can't explain.  When I thank God for a job that I don't yet have or a miracle that I can't yet see, I get an overwhelming sense that its done already. I feel like it's already happened.  That's what a spirit of thanksgiving can do!

2.  Distractions
When I visited Italy for the first time, I was warned by many to be cautious of pick-pockets.  I heard that one strategy of these thieves is to create a diversion to distract a tourist so that someone else can come behind them and take their money.  Often times, it is the same for us.  The enemy sends distractions our way so that He can swoop in and rob us of our inner peace. Sometimes we don't even realize it has happened until afterwards.  We are left wondering, How could that happen?  Distractions come in the form of people, problems, and non God-given dreams and ideas.  Often times, we are so desperate to escape the quietness of life, we cling to anything to give us excitement and purpose.  I remember so often clinging to higher education to distract me from having to wait on God.  Now, there's nothing wrong with getting a higher education, but when we use that as source of dependency and to give our lives meaning, it then becomes and idol.  The main way to avoid distractions is to stay focused on God. We do this through prayer and feasting on God's Word. Its His Word that helps us to identify the snares of the enemy. Its the Word that gives us faith to protect us from his fiery darts.

In conclusion, embrace the stillness that God has given you.  It is in the stillness where we are able to see God move on our behalf.  Let go of anxiousness and worry as well as distractions. Let God complete the work that he has started for you. Allow Him to usher you into a new time in your life.