In Genesis Chapter 2, we read how the Lord God planted a garden called Eden.  In that garden there were many trees that were pleasant to eat, such as the  The Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was also in the garden that God planted.  Later,  God took man and placed him  in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it.  There was only one directive the Lord gave him. He was to  eat of every tree including the Tree of Life, but to abstain from eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

We all  know how the story went.  Adam and Eve sinned by eating  the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Their eyes were opened  and they realized that they were naked.  Because of their sin, God took them out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.  Genesis 3:23

You may ask yourself, why did God ask Adam where he was?  Doesn’t God know everything? Of course God knows everything, but sometimes it’s those moments that we need to hear for ourselves and answer the question, where am I? 

Where Are You?

I have had to ask myself that question.  Where am I, what is it that I am to do next?  I have accomplished certain thing in my life, so where do I go from here? What areas in my life need improving?  What are my weak areas? Where am I with my goals and aspirations?  Where am I in hearing His voice clearly for guidance, and  am I  listening?

While Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we still have the Tree of Life at our disposal, and that tree being  Jesus.

Perhaps we have failed with our goals, aspirations, and maybe life just got the better of us and we let some people down.  But guess what, we are no longer under the law, for the letter kills but the spirit brings life.

While we may not know exactly where we are, God does know.  He knows that you have a hope and a future, and that He loves you so much that He sent His Son to be a ransom for our sin, and we can continue to partake of the Tree of Life fully, to establish and prosper us.  

Now that  you know where you are, walk forward with the confidence in the Lord to your next goal or aspiration.

May you be richly blessed this day.

As a believer, I have learned that trying something on my own strength does not work for me.    Instead, I have to trust the Holy Spirit to help me with what  I want to accomplish.

As I was making a mental list of goals and what I want to fulfill this year, I was surprised to see that I had already begun.  

Here is a partial list:

Pray more.     I have two journals for my prayer time.   One is my regular journal where I write out my prayers, petitions for myself and others, and write what I hear the Lord say. My second journal is my dream journal.  Since I  dream often, I found that I needed a separate notebook for my dreams.   At one point I had both prayer and dream journal in one notebook, but that did not work out.    Having them separate makes it easier when I need to look something up.

I enjoy  praying for people. I find great joy in hearing that their requests  have been answered, the ministries are growing, lives are being touched, and healings are taking place.   

Bible reading.   I read from the Old and New Testament, and  I also read a chapter of Proverbs a day. While reading, I ask for wisdom, insight and revelation.   

Write – A few years ago I began strong with the desire to write, during the course of life it was lost, and now the Lord has given it back to me.  I plan to write what He has called me to write. 

The believer wants to read the Bible more, pray more, hear the voice of the Lord, fellowship, be involved in church, but  these  are not possible on our own effort.   It takes the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us.  We know we need to do these things, and I have learned that to accomplish these tasks I had to ask for one thing.  Desire.

When we feel obligated to do something, then the passion is no longer there.  If I feel obligated to read my Bible, then what I read is not helping me much.  But if I have a desire to read, then the words become alive. 

Ask the Lord to give you a desire to fulfill your dreams, goals and to give you passion.  Doing it on your own strength may lead to failure, but with the help of the Holy Spirit you are destined to be fruitful.

May you have a blessed and wonderful New Year, and may this coming year draw you closer to the Lord.

The verse above is one of the most common verses used when one is going through financial hardship.  It’s a wonderful promise found in the Bible, and one that I have prayed often.

December for us has always been a slow month in regards to work.  My husband’s consulting work comes to a low, and since my work is seasonal I don’t always have clients in December.

As I was getting ready to pray  my usual  for the Lord to supply this Christmas season, I had a different revelation of what Christmas is about.

Jesus has supplied our need upon His birth, death and resurrection.   He emptied himself on the cross, and we beheld His Glory.  That was all I needed to know, He took care of everything! 

I then began to thank the Lord for what we do have,  and not worry about sending out my banana bread again as gifts!  I began to praise Him for what He has accomplished on the cross, why we celebrate Christmas and joy just filled my heart.  

Wise men came from the East to worship Jesus, they traveled far and brought him gifts of gold, Frankincense and Myrh.

• Gold  is symbolic of His divinity God in the flesh.
• Frankincense is a symbol of holiness and righteousness. The gift of frankincense to the Jesus  was symbolic of His willingness to become a sacrifice, wholly giving Himself up.  
• Myrrh symbolizes bitterness, suffering, and affliction. The baby Jesus would grow to suffer greatly as a man and would pay the ultimate price when He gave His life on the cross for all who would believe in Him.

Jesus provided everything for us starting with His birth, His voluntary death and more importantly, His divine resurrection.  May we truly reflect what Christ has accomplished for us this Christmas season, and not worry about what we don’t have, but come to realize that we have already received the greatest gift of all, Jesus.

May you be richly blessed and abide in His presence.

In times of famine, you will have an abundance.

The Lord woke me up with those words a few days ago, it was about 4:30 a.m.  As I jumped out of bed, at first I was happy that I would have an abundance and began praying and praising the Lord.  But the more I thought about what I heard,  I realized that perhaps we are nearing  a time of famine, and maybe we are to do something about it.

I was then reminded about the story of Joseph, how the Lord gave him the interpretation of the dream Pharaoh had regarding the seven fine looking and fat cows, and another seven  ugly looking and gaunt cows.  Pharoah then  had a second dream  with seven heads of grain, plump and good,  and seven thin heads of grain that devoured the seven plump and good grains.  See Genesis 41.

The interpretation the Lord gave Joseph was that there would be seven years of abundance,  and seven years of famine.

In those first seven years, Joseph,  now appointed as Pharaohs right hand man, stored up enough grain in preparation for the famine that lied ahead.  When the famine hit, Egypt had enough grain stored for the people.

The end result:  Egypt did not suffer the consequence  which affected the other lands,  because they heeded the warning the Lord had given them through Joseph.

In all of this, are we to prepare for  a time of famine, or is the Lord giving me another message?  I believe we are to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. It’s no secret that the economy worldwide is in shambles, held up artificially and could collapse at any time.  If  and when that happens, what comes next?   For me it would be hard to imagine since I have never experienced a depression, war or famine in my lifetime.

What I do know is that there will be famine, and it’s supported Biblically.  Like Joseph, we can prepare and store, seek His wisdom and guidance, and trust in Jesus.

May you be richly blessed this day.

How many times have you received a prophetic word from the Lord, are filled with excitement and hope, and yet the years go by and nothing happens?  I know how it is, I have been there, and many of you as well.

It’s said that all we need is a word from God to get going, but is that true? We hesitate, we wait, the word grows stale and moldy.  Maybe your mind begins getting filled with excuses such as: I’m too old, I don’t have enough money, I have no ministerial credentials. Maybe your gender is an excuse, or you feel insecure. Whatever the excuse , those are lies from the enemy.

If the Lord has given you a word, that means He trust you and feels confident that you can carry out His work.  But are you willing, do you make yourself available?  Do you have that desire, passion and drive to fulfill your calling?

When the Lord called Gideon a mighty man of valor, he did not see himself that way. He felt insecure,  he was in fact  hiding from Midianites when the Angel showed up.

So what happened? 

• Gideon knew he had favor - we have favor with God
• Gideon offered a sacrifice  – God offered Jesus as our sacrifice
• Gideon obeyed his first assignment - through the Spirit we can obey

After Gideon tore down the altar of Baal, it was then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon him, not before!

Often times we have it backwards.  We wait for the Spirit to move upon our lives first for us to move and act, when in fact God is waiting for our obedience so that He can pour more of His Spirit on our lives and empower us to do more.

My encouragement to you this day, rise up you mighty man or woman of valor.  God has a purpose for your life, and he is waiting for you to fulfill your calling.

May you be richly blessed this day.

When I would volunteer to pull weeds in the garden, my husband would get that worried look on his face,  would then ask me if there was something else I would rather do.  That was Fernando’s  gentle way of telling me not to pull weeds, because I would always pull the new plants coming in.  I did not know the difference between a new plant and a weed.

Today that is a different story.  I have since learned to distinguish between a weed and new plant, most of the time.  And if I am unsure, I then ask.

I have found that it’s pretty much the same in the spiritual realm.   When one is learning to walk in his or her new found faith, there will be times where you will discard a plant, thinking it’s a weed.  It does take time and practice to tell the difference between the two.

I had to continue working in the garden pulling weeds so that I could familiarize myself with the new plants coming in, and pull the weeds around it so that the new plant can grow properly and receive plenty of sun.

It’s the same in the spiritual realm.  When you are learning to walk in your new found faith, there will be things that you will not know if they are true or false, and it may take some time and practice until you are able to tell the difference between the two.

Praise God we have Pastors and church family to help guide us, but most of all we have something greater than those two, the Holy Spirit.

The word says that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and once we accept Christ into our lives the Holy Spirit then resides within us.   While we may not know all the answers, the Holy Spirit will give us what is called that gut feel, our yes and no answer.

The Lord has equipped us with everything we need:  The Holy Spirit, the word and our church family to encourage us and guide us along the way.   In no time, we will be able to distinguish what is real and what is false.

May you be richly blessed this day

Luke 6:43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

While on our summer trip to California, my sister mentioned that she wanted me to cook a plantain. Plantains are from the banana family, sweet and a common staple here in Costa Rica.

I found the plantain in the grocery store and  fried it the same way as I do in  butter.  Once it was cooked, we could not wait to eat it. We took one bite and  quickly realized that  it did not taste the same and both of us were disappointed.

A Pastor was invited over to dinner from one of his faithful church members of several years. The husband asked the pastor to bless the meal, and their three year old was sitting in his high chair.  After the blessing of the meal,  the child asked what he just did. It was obvious that the family never prayed before a meal, but yet wanted to appear the part of strong Christians on the outside.

We will come across people who profess the know Christ, profess to know his word, and say all the right “buzz words” in the Christian lingo, but it all boils down to their fruit.

The word says that you will know them by their fruit, and even though the outside appearance will be the same, you will notice how they really are once you taste what they are serving.

How do you know if they are bearing the right fruit? The word tell us how.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

What do we do when we see poor quality of fruit in a believer?  In my personal opinion, I would like to challenge and encourage the person to step out in faith and surrender those areas of weaknesses to the Lord.  In our weakness He is made strong.

We can encourage them and point out the good qualities of their Christian life instead of condemning them.  An encouraging word goes a long way and does more good.  A condemning word can only cause more damage to the person. It’s best to leave that area to the Lord.

Let’s flow out of grace, love and mercy, and show them our fruit in encouraging others.

May you be richly blessed this day.

In reading my daily Proverb, I came across this verse as I have done so many times before.

As I read this over several times, I began seeing this verse differently.  I had always  associated this Proverb with financial blessings.  I then began  asking myself,  in what way has the Lord made me rich?

I came up with so many answers, some of which I would like to share with you here.

The Lord has made me rich by:

• Blessing me with a good home
• Celebrating 29 years of marriage
• I have never missed a meal
• A wonderful son whom we are very proud of (doctors had told me I would never become pregnant)
• Good health
• A roof over my head
• Shoes and clothing
• The Lord is fulfilling my desire to serve Him in ministry

While some things on this list may seem trivial, we must not despise the small things.  On my mission trips to Nicaragua, I see very the very poor,  some living in terrible conditions,  yet hungry for more of the Lord! 

To me, the greatest blessing is having Jesus in my heart and life.  Jesus, who cleansed us from all unrighteousness, taking our sin upon His shoulders and paying the price to ransom us from the evil one.

How has the Lord blessed you?  If you sit and meditate, I am sure you can come up with a pretty long list, just as I did.

May you be richly blessed this day.