Extreme Makeover

Has anyone ever watched the show "Extreme Makeover?" I love that show when I have time to watch because it focuses on helping families that are in need of assistance in some way and their home has suffered for lack of income to repair it properly because of the extenuating circumstances. So it is very moving to watch families get their lives back on track or at least get the help that will allow them to experience life in a better way. As we watch the show, you'll notice how everything is done in phase. The crew comes in and analyzes the situation to see how bad the home really is. Next step of the process is moving the family away from the home by sending them on a wonderful vacation to escape what is about to happen to their old home. While the family is away, the crew moves to the demolition phase and completely destroy the old home with all the cracks and crevices from lack of attention to its foundation. Lastly, a newly constructed home is built to serve all the needs of the family. So to review, there are 4 steps of involved.....analyze, move/protect, demolition and finally......a new construction. The family comes back to a new beautiful home with a stronger and more solid foundation equipped to serve all of the needs of the family. OK so now that you understand what is involved to get to the new construction, let's look at us. In our personal lives, there are many challenges that keep us from living up to our full potential. In some cases, some of us struggle with addictions and there are may.....not just drugs. An addiction can be anything that is bad for you with drugs and alcohol being the most common. But there are other addictions such as tobacco from smoking, overeating, overspending, obsessed with sex and the list goes on and on. With these addictions, we usually end up in a place where we don't want to be or need to be.....usually and most unfortunately.....rock bottom. Satan has convinced us that these things are good for us and Satan has convinced us that we need these things in order to live a good life. And yes.....we enjoy them at the time....but after a while the effect is long lasting and we find ourselves needing more and before we know what hit us, we have destroyed our lives. But I am here to tell you that there is a God that sits high and looks low and analyzes our situation to see how bad we have messed up and He is just waiting to make us whole again. But the Good News is there is nothing to bad or too difficult that our God cannot repair! Of course He is watching and waiting for us to get so frustrated with trying to fix our our own problems and when we get to that point, we feel complete hopelessness. We feel that God has totally forgotten about us. We need to stop trying to fix our own problems because we then turn to God as an alternative for fixing our problems. This is where so many of us go wrong........God should always be our Primary problem solver. In turning back to God, we are wanting to move away from the things that are binding us and keeping us from giving God all of our praise. We want God to move those conflicts and barriers that are blocking our view of what is most important in our life. We ask God to remove and resolve everything in our path that is preventing us from seeing the God that is faithful and true to His Word. Now that we are weak and lacking that spiritual strength and power that can only come from God. God hears our cries of pain and desperation and begins to move in our lives. He begins to demolish all that is in our way and everything that is blocking our view that keeps us from seeing Him in all of His glory. Praise God! When we begin to focus on God and not our own circumstances and situation, we can see how God brings in His wrecking ball breaking down those obstacles and those barriers that have us bound and are preventing us from seeing the Glory of God! God provides us with the tools we need as He performs the necessary demolition in our lives making us ready for the new construction! In the book of Ephesians Chapter 6:13-16, God makes mention of the tools we need to get through the demolition period in our lives because its going to be rough! "There fore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand, Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Hallelujah! Praise God! God is able to get us through weakest and the darkest moments of our lives, if we only Trust Him. So after all has been said and done and the demolition is over, out of the wreckage comes a beautiful new construction in us. Because we put our trust and faith in God we were able to move and turn away from those things that were binding us and we learned that we can cast our burdens on Him. Because we put our faith in God, He has demolished those things in us that were destroying us either physically or mentally and because of our faith in God, He has created in us a clean heart and a renewed spirit. Somebody ought to be excited about that and shouting right about now! Thank you oh Great Jehovah for making me over again! I encourage you all right now to allow God to perform that Extreme Makeover that is needed in your life to! Praise Him! Amen!

Sing a Song

From time to time, I find myself singing a familiar tune whether it is of the secular world or the spiritual world that lifts my spirit. There is a group that was founded in the late 60's that topped the charts consistently with big time hits over the next few decades. This group has a unique and distinct sound and is one of the most musically accomplished and critically acclaimed bands of all time. I am speaking of Earth, Wind and Fire, the group named after the "Elements" and known to many of us as EWF. EWF produced many albums in their peak years of which many of us used to dance to in the nightclubs. Come on now, we have not been saved all of our lives, so don't trip! EWF produced an incredible song from their album "Gratitude" that became their second number one album. More significantly, a song that has always impacted me and my outlook on things came from that album. I know you all know a little something about "Sing a Song!" It reached the pop charts Top 10 and the R&B charts Top 5. The lyrics go a little something like this: "when you feel down and out, sing a song, it'll make your day. Here's a chance to shout. Sing a Song, it'll make a way. Sometimes it's hard to care, Sing a Song, it'll make your day. A smile so hard to bear, sing a song, it'll make your way." When I hear this song, I think of happiness and it brings a smile to my face because whatever I may be going through, I can sing a song, and it'll make my day much brighter. When you think about this, music can be quite encouraging. One thing we know about our culture is that music was a driving force in survival of our ancestors of whom some were slaves. And instead of them being down and out because of their oppression and depression, they sang to get them through each day. Their songs helped them to endure the hardship of laboring long hours in the fields and being mistreated and abused by their owner. In our busy everyday lives, we face challenges and struggles with our families, with our work and just life in general. The uniqueness about music is God will give you a song at the time you need it most that will speak directly to your heart and your spirit. I love to sing and I love to listen to music.....particularly music that ministers to the soul. God has a way of soothing the pain and the hell you are going through by dropping that song into your spirit. Isn't that good news to know that God uses all kind of tools.....even music to embellish us with hope and and encouragement! Just to share with you an overview of my story without great detail.....Satan has come into my life and is trying to attack one of my children. Because I know God and what He can do.......I can adamantly say "Satan....you cannot and will not have my child that God gave to me. God gave her to me to protect and care for on this earth and she is His child.......and she is not yours to take away!" I have cried and prayed repeatedly and I can feel and see the movement of God through the entire situation. He is a faithful God, a trustworthy God, and He is an abled God! My child has been and will continue to be covered in the blood of Jesus. I have commanded those demons that inhibit her body to go and leave my child and go back to the pits of hell where they belong. I will not give up nor give in. My song and my testimony is "It ain't over until God says it's over." God has shown my family and I favor on many occasions and this is no different. My joy and peace comes from singing songs of Zion and praises to my Lord and Savior. I want to encourage you all today to sing a song. It will give you peace, hope and encourage you to forget the struggles and the challenges that have been holding you back......... so that you can 'keep pressing on towards the goal to win the prize that God has for you.' (Philippians 3:12-14). Sing a song, to give you joy and it will bring with it calmness and peace to any situation. God's Word tells us that "Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning." Hallelujah! Vickie Winans sings a song called "Ain't no need to worry........ it'll be all over in the morning." Somebody out to be shouting praises right about now and thanking God for that song that was just placed in your heart and it is starting to minister to your soul and your situation right now! Praise God! He's worthy! God is a burden bearer and a heavy load sharer! He is the Greatest problem solver of all time. Stand up saints and sing your song! Get up out of your misery and start singing now! I dare you to be bold enough to sing songs of praise to the Lord and King to bring you peace and begin the process of restoration not only for you but for your family and even..........your enemies. Let music minister to your heart and soul. God rejoices over our singing. Sing even if you cannot even carry a turn in a bucket with a lid! I want to leave you with this written Word of God from Isaiah 35:10.............."and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." Be encouraged today because God has given all of us a song to sing! Sing your song boldly for the Lord with all that you have within you! Amen!

What to do when you Lose Power

It is no surprise that storms sometimes come along and sometimes those storms can be terribly devastating. And some storms are very severe, however not severe enough to destroy the foundation of the building. These storms can produce rain, gusty winds and even hail. They can cause us to lose power. Perhaps during these storms, a tree falls on your power line bringing the line down and causing you to lose power. Sometimes we have warnings that a storm may be coming, and we simply ignore the warning, thinking the environment is not conducive for a storm. But then the storm hits, and our power line goes down creating a blackout. We scurry about looking for alternative power sources such as candles, oil lanterns or portable gas grills in some cases to tie us over until the storm is over and the power can be restored. So what to do while you are waiting for power restoration? I'm so glad you asked God's word tells us in Psalm 68:35 "You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!" So the Good news is this.....we are always connected to the "main breaker" Hallelujah! Even through the heavy rains, the strong winds and even through the hail. Through prayer and fasting, we can refuel our power supply. You see, through our problems, we tend to weaken because we worry, but God uses our weaknesses to His glory, for during this time of weakness, He is perfecting our strength. As our lives seem to fall apart, we begin to feel as though we have lost power because we are struggling with so many things. And we begin to question God....wondering "Why me Lord?" But remember this....why not you or why not me? God is listening and waiting as we try to resolve our issues all on our own. When we get tired of trying to fix our mess by ourselves and begin to look to the Lord and call upon Him, the only one who is able to keep us from falling, instantly our power will be restored. You see, God is not the one who turned off the power. We allow ourselves to get caught up in the storm with worries, stress and everyday struggles and we lose hope and our faith begins to waver because you see, we are looking for alternative power sources other than God. So the storm continues to rage in our lives, getting stronger and more fierce allowing Satan to enter our lives feeling us with lies of doubt, fear and desperation. But I'm here to tell you that God did not give us the spirit of fear but of power and love. Wow...there's that main power source again. We disconnect ourselves, but I'm here to tell you that God can reconnect us, replenish us, re-direct us, re-stock us, rejuvenate us and turn on a light so bright within our hearts that will never need to be replaced!! In fact it is an infinite bulb, an everlasting glow! When you feel like your power has gone out and you can't see your way through the darkness, let go and let God refill you power supply. Be blessed my sisters and brothers for God's incredible love is with you always.

I am so over that!

Just when you think that things are starting to turn around for you, Satan throws another monkey wrench in your plans. Anybody been there? I have been there so many times and I get so frustrated because I have my hopes up that I have turned the corner only to get smacked in the face with something else. This makes you just want to throw your hands up and just give up. You want to carry your depression and frustration with you wherever you go. But the bad thing your bad mood can be infectious and can end up affecting those around you. That's not a good thing. A bad mood begats a bad mood. So enough. Don't you want to be happy and encouraging to others? Then get over it! What I'm saying is this. Trust God. Depend on God. Lean on God through the good times and the bad. God is bigger than your circumstances and situations and He can mend the broken, He can change your circumstances, He can fill you with abounding joy. So I encourage you today to repeat after me....I am so over that! Don't allow problems to rob you of your joy or to control your emotions. Pray about everything and cling to your faith in God. So come on....say it with me now...Satan, Iam so over it! Satan, you have no power here! Satan, you have no dominion here! I have been washed in the blood of Jesus and therefore I can cast my cares on Him. I will not worry about things beyond my control. The Word reminds us in John 14:1 when Jesus was talking to the Disciples prior to His descent into heaven "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me". Simply put He has not forgotten about you nor me. He wants us to encourage one another so I say to you once again to say it with me....."I'm so over that!"

The Best is Yet to Come!

Have you ever wondered why when you get saved you continually start to run into road blocks and obstacles? I have wondered this many, many times in my life, now that I am saved and born again. My life is constantly full of trials and tribulations. And although, I am going through the valley, I know in my heart that my breakthrough is coming...because God said so and the Bible tells us that the Lord is faithful in his promise. You see the closer you get to a breakthrough, the busier Satan becomes trying to destroy you with doubt and confusion. Thankfully, we serve a God that is with us always, even through the darkest moments. So as you go through your struggles, you are being prepared for something bigger and better than what you could ever imagine. The storms in your life are strengthening your faith and are used to show God that your faith is genuine. You may have never seen God, but you have felt Him and His presence and through that you have great joy in knowing that troubles do not last always. Remain faithful, pray daily, and meditate often and know that the best is yet to come my sisters and brothers!

Reference - I Peter 1:3-12

All of my Help comes from the Lord

There is a Word from the Lord today! As I was making dinner for my family this evening, a song was placed on my heart which is actually a scripture. It goes a little something like this......."I will look to the hills from whence cometh my help. All of help cometh from the Lord...." I was reminded of how looking up creates a positive mindset which will help you get through whatever you may be going through....stressful relationships, broken hearts, grieving a loved one, finances or lack thereof finances. It doesn't matter. The point is this. God has made us a promise for whatever that you ask in His name, it shall be given. If you ask for that relationship to be put back together, He will grant that in His name, if you ask for your heart to be healed, He can mend that in His name, if you ask for comfort in your grieving, He will provide you with peace and comfort in His name, if you ask Him to provide for you and your family through rough times, He will cover you in His name. All of these things shall and can be yours by seeking Him and His Kingdom and His Righteousness first in your life. Look up my sisters and brothers, for your help comes from God. Be blessed in Jesus' name.