If only...

I always feel rushed to pray and spend time with God in the morning but yet I alway find time for breakfast and to make my lunch for work (because I don't want to waste money).

Why couldn't I look at my time with God as neccessary as the food I put in my body? If only i regarded my time with God as important as my breakfast.

That will be my new resolution. I'm fasting today and it's my first fast this month. Beginning tomorrow I resolve to spend quality time in prayer each day just like I spend time eating.

It will be difficult but food for my soul is way more important than food for my body.

Stay blessed and may God bless you and yours abundantly in the new approaching month and for the rest of your life!

Never Give Up

So you've prayed, fasted, been to revivals and have even had hands laid on you but yet your miracle is not here yet.

That business that you're praying for is not here. That money you need to pay your bills is not here. The job that you've been desperately searching for has not yet come. Or has that husband/wife.

Times are starting to feel bleak. Especially when you think of all the awesome wonders that God has performed in the past (and for you).

So you want to give up. On your desire and even on God. You want to not tithe, pray or read the Word.

It happens to us all. It's called discouragement.

What usually happens is that we give up. On praying and believing that God has heard us and will provide all of our needs.

But what is the sense of that? It is far better to wait in expectation of something great from God than to sink in despair.

Get up and read the word and keep on believing and thanking God for his goodness.

Beware of False Prophets

I find myself putting certain people on a pedistal. People who are clearly lost. I say that without judging but with reference to the word. How can one say they are a Christian and prefer living in sin rather than getting married. Who picks and choose which things from the bible they are going to follow and not follow and then say they fear God?

I'm bringing this up because someone who I thought was an outstanding follower of Christ is proving to be a false prophet. The person I am refering to is Oprah.

She speaks to a wide variety of people, all races and society statuses, but I have begun to notice that she is not promoting a good image of a follower. While her not getting married to Steadman is an obvious flaw, she has also promoted some questionable new age philosophies.

I love Oprah and what she has accomplished but I just pray that we can dicern true prophets from the false prophets out there and not get caught up in their lives.

Take heed,

1 John 1

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

Testimony Time

I prayed and He delivered

I did a week long fast in January and since then I have done about half a dozen fasts. After the first week I was upset. Surely, I thought, during my one week of fasting God's great blessings would come down on me. I finished fasting the Saturday at sunset, went to church the next day and woke up on Monday depressed as anything. No miracle.

But then, at around 10am I received an email. I got a writing assignment from a magazine I applied to write for.

Since then the blessings have come in slowly but surely. Obviously there are the big ones like health and live, no accident etc. but the ones that I have prayed for are coming.

The best thing since I became more dedicated with Him, through prayer, devotion (bible reading), fasting and fellowship, He has smiled on me in great ways and I know more blessings are to come.

"He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" - Hebrew 11.6

stay blessed,

m

You Ask and HE Gives

"Life and Death are in the power of the tongue; those who love it shall eat its fruit." Prov 18.21

You pray for a job and you get an offer for a minimum wage one. It's totally not what you want but its a job right? Sometimes it feels like God has a serious sense of humour when you get what you technically asked for.

In situations like that it is imperative that you use discernment. Is God sending this to you because He knows it's better for you or is He testing you to see if you know what you really want?

Either way, His answers to prayer are always from love, lesson or not. Like the old saying and proverbs say, be careful what you ask for.

This is Why You Pray

We know nothing. Nothing about life, our life and especially about God's plan. He runs this universe and we are in it.

There are times when you think that He is distant from you but that shouldn't stop you from praying. Why? Because you never know what He is up to.

When the spirit comes over you, praise Him, worship Him, speak in tongues and just keep doing it until you are filled. Thank God for the time that you spend with Him. Your communing with Him is what protect you from evil, He blesses your going out and coming in, saves you when everyone else isn't. Your relationship with Him is what keeps you in His hand.

Think about it and remember that everything happens for a reason but God's love is for all seasons.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Lord! You are Good.

What to Do in the Meanwhile

Best-selling author Iyanla Vanzant has written a book on the meanwhile. It's the period when you go through a change and are waiting to receive all the good things that life has to offer. What do you do in this moment though. When you have made realizations and have taken the action necessary to bring you closer to fulfillment but you are still not there yet.

This period can also be described as the period of waiting for God to answer your prayers.

You have prayed so much that you might think that He is avoiding you. Everyday you bring your supplications to Him, you go on your knees and cry out to Him and nothing. You fast and you fellowship and still time goes by and God's answer has not been made clear to you.

When you're praying about something specific like getting a job it's easy to see how long your prayer has been unanswered and it is just as easy to lose heart.

So what do you do in these moments? This might seem redundant but you pray. You keep praying and talking to Him. Present all your feelings and thoughts to Him and believe that He has a reason for the apparent delay. A reason which may or may not be reviled to you but regardless His love will continue to be present.

Sometimes God's delay is not for you but for your testimony. Think about it.

Even as the days become weeks and then months and maybe even years (God-forbid if your prayer is regarding a job), just encourage yourself because it is God's will. Every closed door doesn't mean God is denying you your blessing. No, never. God's will, love and plan for your life will always work together for good (romans 8.28).

So smile and sing Hezekiah Walker's Faithful is Our God and Marvin Sapp's Not the Time, Not the Place and remembered you are blessed.