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.

2 Corinthians 4:18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

There have been times in my life where I just cry out to the Lord and ask Him, “What about all the promises you gave us?  Why did it not  happen  yesterday!”  At times I grow weary of the battle, then something rises up in me and reminds me of His word spoken over us.

Focus

The invisible realm is superior to the natural realm.  The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

My present situation is temporary, as is yours.  What we don’t see with the natural eye is eternal.  For that we need to look with our spiritual eyes.  It is with our spiritual eyes we gain insight, hope, a future, and we see the plan to prosper us.

When we look with our spiritual eyes, we gain faith. Faith is anchored in the unseen.

It was mentioned to me once  to remind the Lord the promises spoken over us, to declare them out loud.  Why?  Because faith comes by hearing, and in declaring out loud I am hearing His word spoken afresh.   It is to build up our faith, as God does not need reminding.

It also helps me to clear my mind of the lies of the enemy.  When we submit the mind of man to the things of God, we end up with faith and a renewed mind.

So what am I seeing?  A prosperous future, filled with the blessings of the Lord, walking in victory and freedom. 

What do you see?

May you be richly blessed.

Isaiah 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:“ Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

How many of you have been guilty of procrastination?   I know that I have, and at times find myself falling into it.  Webster’s defines procrastination as  putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention.

If I procrastinate in certain areas of my life, how many times do I make the Lord wait?  How many times has the Holy Spirit  nudged me to do something, but excuses abound. 

• There’s no hurry
• I can do that later
• There’s time
• I don’t have the right materials

Yet I procrastinate. 

Wait, I have  better excuses.

• God does not want me to do or say that
• I’m not qualified
• I’m not ready
• I need confirmation by at least ten people
• I don’t have room to hold meetings

Can you imagine God’s frustration with me?  I can.

Guess what.  God want’s you, yes you to carry out His work upon the earth.  He is calling His bride, and it is He that has placed that burning desire in your heart.

Jesus is coming back soon, very soon, and God needs us to do the work before His return.

So what set’s us apart from the rest?

We are mature Christians

We don’t drink milk any longer, but eat  meat.  God is the one that qualifies, and not man.  God knows you are ready, willing and able.  God gives us the courage to go forward, and it is He we put our trust in.  God has put our faith and trust in us, and we can go ahead and do what we have always wanted to do, for Him, and for us.  

Yes, there is personal satisfaction that comes with accomplishing something, and that encourages us and motivates us to go forward and do more.

Shake off that procrastination, and gear up and roar like that mighty lion and let His voice be heard throughout the earth.

May you be richly blessed!

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.

James 5:8   You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

With the coming Christmas season at hand, one can become extremely busy with shopping, choosing the right gift, baking, family gatherings and many more things on one’s agenda.

We all know that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because we are really celebrating the birth of Christ.   I believe that Jesus gave us the first Christmas present; himself crucified so that we may live an abundant life.   What can we give Him in return?  I know there are many things like our praise, our time, adoration, prayer, but one thing He really wants is our heart.

A while back the Lord showed me that He only had part of my heart, he did not have it in its entirety.   I had given away “pieces” of my heart through hurts, unforgiveness, and pain.

Luke 10:27 says  “he answered and said,” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your strength, and will all your mind, and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’

My heart was not established, which means firm, solid.  Some of it’s pieces belonged elsewhere, and not to the Lord.  When  I decided to give the Lord my  hurt and pain, the miraculous happened.  Jesus  healed it and made it whole, and now it truly belongs to Jesus, all of it!

You see, I could not love the Lord will all my heart if pieces of it belonged to hurt and pain.  I confessed to the Lord that those areas did not belong to Him, and I wanted Him to have it.  He accepted, I don’t think anyone else would have.

My heart is now established, no more are pieces missing and off balance, but it was made whole and  healed.  Serving Him became much more joyful and easy!

Jesus gave us His heart, His life, His everything.  Let us give Him our heart, and all we can as our gift to Him.

May you be richly blessed!

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.