Are there things that you need in order to shape your life into what you want it to be? Do you have a list of items that are simply lacking or need to be replaced? Do you find yourself looking at others who seem to have all those things that are missing in your life and wonder when it will be your turn to receive?
If you are wishing and waiting for your turn to receive all these things that are “missing”, then I would like to remind you of the universal law of sowing and reaping.
Too often we get into the mindset of “lack” and begin to hoard whatever it is that we do have in order to preserve ourselves. We become stingy with everything out of fear that there will not be enough. Other people’s problems have nothing to do with us, we say we have enough to worry about. We say we cannot give to help another nation when we are starving ourselves.
While that perspective may seem perfectly logical, it simply does not work. The more one looks out for self, the more isolated you become. The more isolated you become, the list of things you lack begin to grow. When you cannot give of yourself, you cut yourself off from love, nurturing, support and countless other resources. When you feel you are entitled to receive help because of your circumstances yet are unwilling to help others, eventually your well will run dry. You will deplete your resources and be in an even worse state.
You may say, “I have nothing to give.” Too often we equate giving with finances. Every person has something to give. You can lend your time to help another person or people in need. You can donate your services when you have special talents and abilities. You can be a friend to someone who needs support. As you do this, you will become a bigger person as the seeds of love are watered in your heart.
Not only will you become bigger, you will become connected with likeminded people who want to help. Suddenly the things you need are being placed in your hands. The support you wished for is now readily available. With the help of others you have the strength to accomplish things you never dreamed of.
If you are in need, give something of value away. Test this principle in your life and see how it can change everything.
Mark 4:24-25 (The Message)
“Listen carefully to what I am saying—and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.”
Luke 6:38 (New International Version)
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
What are you willing to be in order to have the life that you want?
For years I said I wanted to be married and have a family but I was unwilling to be committed. I also wanted peace and happiness in my life yet I was not obedient to the will of God. I formed this belief that God was somehow angry with me and wondered if I would ever please Him.
Have you done this? Have you wished for your life to be different, yet failed to do what was necessary to bring forth the change?
Jesus told a wealthy young man that it was easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. I suspect that it is not the riches that prevent someone from entering the kingdom of God, but their unwillingness to give up their way of doing things.
You can be loving and have the relationships that you want. You can be creative and have the businesses that you want. You can be compassionate and make a difference in your world.
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Matthew 19:23-26 (New King James Version)
23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Restoration has taken place in almost every area of my life in the past year. Everything is so different than it was just one year ago. I believe I would have missed out had I not turned to God and submitted my will to Him.
Prior to that it was almost like I was going through the motions. I said I loved God, I knew His Word, I knew how to pray, but I did not trust Him as I should have. I continued doing things my way expecting to get the result I wanted. Can you relate?
The prophet Isaiah talks about how God’s people looked like they had it all together but their prayers were not getting any further than the ground! He said everything they did was to benefit themselves. They were cruel and hardhearted, yet went around talking about how humble they were. God said He was looking for true humility where they cared for others, took care of the homeless and clothed the needy.
God said if they did this, their lives would turn around and He would answer their prayers. Verses 9-12 of Isaiah 58 in the Message Bible sum it up well:
“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
Lord, my prayer is that we Your people would increase in humility and service so that You will be able to restore our foundations, heal our land and build us into the nation we were created to be. The stronger we are, the more effective we can be for You! Lord, thank You for making the path to restoration plain and accessible. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
Isaiah 58:8 (New International Version)
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Earlier this week, I wrote about a vision I had in which God showed me how sin infests someone’s life by slowly entering through a rip in a screen and a slightly cracked window.
The cracked window is the opportunity for temptation that we allow in our lives by meditating on impure thoughts encouraged by things we see and hear. I also wrote about how the company we keep can encourage sin. People who share our weaker tendencies come along and push the window all the way open like a floodgate for sin to abound.
To remedy this sin problem, we can be careful about what we see, hear and read. We can also spend our time with people who will edify us and encourage us in our Christian walk. Doing these things will decrease the opportunities for temptation in our lives however, they do not resolve the root of the problem – that rip in the screen.
The ripped screen represents sin that has been passed down to you through generations, other people you have spiritually bound yourself to or actions and judgments you have made that have taken root within you because of life’s circumstances.
Perhaps all the men in your family are abusive and you are too. Maybe all the women in your family are alcoholics and somehow you find yourself struggling with the same problem. Your father may have abandoned your family so you judged that men are no good and you spitefully use them. You fear rejection because of your childhood so you toy with people’s emotions then leave them before they leave you.
These scenarios indicate that you need God to come in and repair that rip in the screen so that you no longer have to worry about unwanted patterns of sin in your life. You need Him to come in and remove the negative things that have infested your life. If you want to begin the path to healing, pray this prayer and study God’s Word concerning the thing that you struggle with:
Lord I pray that You would reveal hidden areas of sin that have taken root in my life. I want my life to be pleasing to You and I repent for things I have done that hurt You. Lord, I forgive those who have hurt me in the past and I release them right now. Lord please break any emotional connections I have with people that have become windows to sin in my life. Please burn away every wicked desire in me and make me brand new. I pray these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Matthew 13:24-30 (New International Version)
The Parable of the Weeds
24Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28” ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29” ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ “
Excuse me, I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Victory. I have been through the fire and I have been through the flood. I have been abused, scorned, ridiculed and neglected. I have been foolish, careless and just plain wrong. I have been so miserable that I wondered why I was even here.
But I stand before you today a new person. Sometimes I almost forget who I used to be because everything is so different now. God came in and performed a wonder in my life. My joy runs deep, my peace is sustained and I am full of hope for tomorrow.
Life is so miserable without hope. But Christ in us IS the hope of glory. Because I can see where He brought me from, I know that He is not finished with me yet. My struggles of today will not be my struggles tomorrow for I am being changed from glory to glory.
Be encouraged today that the Lord will fight your battles and bring you through victoriously. I see God’s hand in the lives of so many people. What has He done for you? How many times has your life been threatened but you are still here? Against what odds are you still breathing today? There is a reason why you are still here. Even if it seems the whole world is against you, God is on your side and yes, He still has a plan for you.
Believe Him for your victory and give Him the glory for the things He has already done!
Romans 8:28 (Amplified Bible)
28We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
Romans 8:36-40 (Amplified Bible)
36Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.
37Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.
38For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
39Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I asked the Lord to search me and He showed me that there were some areas that I was stubbornly holding onto, not allowing Him to fully penetrate and bring the change that I desperately need.
Sometimes you can be in bondage to something for so long that it begins feels a bit normal to you. You may even find pleasure in it and not want to let it go. You may fear you will lose part of who you are if you give that thing up because you are so used to being that way. You may have even justified that thing by saying, “I have to be me.”
It is such deception to believe that anything short of God’s best is who you were created to be. Accepting brokenness as a part of your identity is a sign of someone who has given up because they have tried to rely on their own strength to change.
We must fully submit to God’s changing Power. We have to lay down our will and be truly ready for Him to come in and clean house, especially if we want to reach our destiny in Him. My prayer today is simply Lord, “Take all of me!”
Romans 6:12-14 (New King James Version)
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
The Word of God contains instructions that if followed, guarantee the outcome that it describes. That is why the Bible is so essential for victorious living and personal growth.
Even more amazing than that is how the Holy Spirit will illuminate Scripture to you that you may have no prior knowledge of. I can testify that there are times I prayed and received God’s answer and later was led to the Scripture that contained the same words I heard in answer to my prayer.
There were times I feared that God would turn His back on me because even though I told Him I wanted to serve Him, my actions told Him otherwise. He reminded me that He would never leave me nor forsake me. I could not understand that. But even as I wondered how that was possible, He told me to keep seeking and desiring His Will and I would indeed find Him.
God truly does understand the condition of a person’s heart and mind. He knows our issues, He knows all the difficult things we must overcome and He knows if a person sincerely wants to change and live their life for Him.
Be honest before God and actively seek Him. Talk with Him about the things you struggle with, about the things you feel are keeping you from serving Him. Tell Him that you want to do better but you need His help. He will be there for you and with you. He will lead you to the help and deliverance required for you to be free. He will be the change you need!
1 Chronicles 28:9 (Amplified Bible)
9And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever!
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
Just yesterday the Lord gave me that scripture and right now, I sit here overwhelmed, realizing how on time that word was. He said He wanted me to have faith not just for what the future holds, but to believe that He is making a way today. I believe God, but if I allow my mind to meddle in it for too long, I start to get back into that “comfortable” mentality that one day, it will all work together for my good.
But GOD said, not one day, NOW it springs up! He want us to understand that He has not left us in that dry place. He is right now, making a way in the desert of your situation and streams of life are bursting forth in your wasteland. I may be in what looks like a dry place but the streams have pierced through the surface tonight! Even as I said, “the Lord is opening up streams”, He said, “No, I am opening up Rivers!”
Stretch your faith with me. Witness how God transforms your life as we enter this season of harvest. What a mighty, awesome, powerful, loving God is He!
Lord we praise You and thank You for how you bring living water to our dry places. You bring us from a land of lack to a land of prosperity; from a place of mourning to a place of joy, from discouragement to hope, from loneliness to comfort. Bless Your Holy Name God! We love You!
Isaiah 41:18 (New International Version)
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
There are no words adequate to describe the worship experience I had last night at Agape Family Worship Center in Rahway, NJ where Israel and New Breed took us all the way in to the Holy Presence of God. The deeper I went, the more I wanted God to just rip out everything inside me and fill me with Himself all over again.
The presence of God is such a beautiful, powerful place. Just as the North is separated from the South, I felt the Lord separate from me all the errors and pain of my past. The things I struggled with just yesterday to forgive are no more part of me. Those things existed with Rachel. The old patterns, the usual disappointments, the emotional triggers belong to a woman who is no longer here.
This is a new day. My middle name, Renee happens to be french for “reborn.” A friend said on Facebook, “you are the best Rachel Renee ever!” I received it prophetically as, God is doing something new in me and I am becoming the best me I have ever been. The Lord confirmed it during worship last night. Indeed, I am Rachel Renee, Rachel reborn in Jesus Christ. Rachel Dead to sin, shame and bondage, Rachel Reborn in joy, freedom and righteousness.
God is bringing me to a new level of spiritual maturity. I know this is necessary because of all the things He has entrusted me with this year. It is time to fully embrace the new me. Time to stop fearing whether the old me and all of her problems will return. It is time to fly!
Fly with me! Be renewed in the presence of the Lord, be renewed in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (New King James Version)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
“Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.” Joy surely does come in the morning with the light of the sun! Sometimes we just have to encourage ourselves in the Lord.
Yesterday was one of the most emotional, miserable days I have had in a long while and not for any real reason other than it is just part of life sometimes. I had to press my way in prayer the whole day in order to keep from dwelling on negative thoughts.
I thank God for the people He sent across my path with an encouraging word yesterday. It really does help to have people in your life who hear from God and have something good to share.
So this morning I wake, still trusting the Lord to work out every situation that concerns me and my family, and I feel my joy returning. I feel my strength being renewed! I know that He never leaves me or forsakes me. Even when it seems that He is silent, I can trust that He is still there. He has shown His Love for me time after time and I have so much to be thankful for.
Thank You Lord for catching my tears, for lifting my spirit, for refreshing me in Your Presence. Thank you for lifting my chin ever so gently and telling me that I am Yours and I do not have to worry. I love You.
If you are going through a difficult situation today, I pray that you would pick up your face with me. Let us look to the Hills because that is where our helping is coming from. The Lord our God, strong and mighty will take care of it. Place it in His hands while we focus on His goodness.
Psalm 30:4-5 (New King James Version)
4 Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.[a]
5 For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 42:11 (The Message)
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my God.
Psalm 42:11 (New King James Version)
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.
