Equipping your Space

That time of the year when we see students preparing to leave home headed to college or returning back to college has come and passed. Parents and students were seen crowding the stores buying items that their sons and daughters would need as they left the nest.

Now you know the routine. Students are assigned to dorm rooms. Sometimes with a roommate and sometimes without. So it is natural that students want to fix up their room and give it personality that makes them feel comfortable in the new enviornment. I remember my days in college in my very first dorm room. I remember my parents driving away as I watched from the steps of my dorm....crying harder the further they were out of sight. Then I turned slowly to head to my new hom.....my dorm room.

My new roommate had arrived so I sat watching her put her things away......all happy. But then again......her mom lived in the dame town all of 10 minutes away! So she could get her home "fix" on at any time. We began to talk and she was telling me how we were going to have so much fun and become the best of buddies. She finally convinced me that I was there to STAY and my parents were NOT coming back to pick me up and take me back home! It was time to unpack and settle in. I put my clothes and my tolietries away and began to "personalize" my side of the room with my posters and my stuffed animals.......YES......I brought my stuffed animals with me to school......and a lot of ya'll did too....so don't trip! My father had bought me my own TV so I could relax and watch my favorite shows during time away from my studies. I had a refrigerator and a hot plate (which was illegal to have by the way!) I put my new bedspread on my bed with my new sheets. And lastly, I accesorized my desk with a lamp and little trinkets and pictures that I brought from home. I could now say, this was my room and my personalized space.

My experience of going away to school and leaving the comforts of home behind is so much like our lives as believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

At some point in our lives, we were new students in the world. We found our space and labeled it as ours. As we submit our lives to Christ, we have to do the same. The only difference is this. We sometimes have to leave some things and sometimes some people behind and get new "stuff" as we join the body of Christ. We have to essentially "Equip" our own private space through prayer and the reading of God's Word.

It is time to put up some new things in order to advance in our spiritual walk. First, we will need a spot for "faith". As the Word of God tells us, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen." Faith is critical as we equip our space in the body of Christ. Next, we will need to display perserverance and endurance somewhere in our space. "Be patient and wait on the Lord." Life is not easy and we were never promised it would be. When things look hopeless and we feel defeated....we absolutely must perservere and weather the storm and yes it will be rough at times. Lastly, our walls must be painted with praise! We were created to worship......through the good times and the bad. God wants our praise. Now.....our space is ready and we have equipped and personalized our space, we can count on God to hold true to His word showering those that seek Him with deliverance, healing and breaking chains of burden. Hallelujah.

Be encouraged to equip your space in Christ today my brothers and sisters!

Blessings to all!

Free your Mind..............

It was an ordinary Friday at work....dress down and waiting for for 5 o'clock to come! I like to listen to the radio at work and sing as I do my job when I have the chance. In other words...I like to whistle while I work! Amen! But this particular Friday, I was excited because of what was to come later that evening. So I was singing and had a little extra pep in my step. You see, we recently began a Youth Service for the youth of Greater Danbury area. And I was excited to see the young people come out and worship on a Friday night when they could have chosen to be any other place rather than the house of the Lord. Envogue's song had been placed in my spirit and had been ministering to me in its own way. Anyway, later that evening, I had the pleasure of welcoming the youth to Freedom Friday. During that time, this song just rolled off my tongue in the greeting as I was speaking from the heart without having anything prepared. With that, I began to seek God's direction on what exactly He needed for me to say in this message. I understood there was a message for me in there that God wanted me to bring to His people. You see, I had begun researching another topic that I thought was the message. And you know what, I could not get that message together to save my life! Then I knew, it was because it was my message and not God's message. The message was one thing and the research showed something entirely different...so needless to say....I had to leave that alone because that was not God's direction for me. In my heart, I believe Satan had planted a topic in my mind that I wanted to speak on and he wanted to confuse me and make me frustrated. So my mind had began to focus on that topic without the involvement of the spirit of the Lord. My mind had been affected and was cloudy because I thought that I was saying what people wanted to hear. Satan is good for that at causing confusing and doubt in our minds as he is a mastermind with getting in our minds. But God moved and spoke and said..."No, my love....I need you to speak only on what I give you and you will know that it is of me because it will flow from me through you." So that is how I ended up here. There is a word from the Lord today...not from Shirley. So hear me on this....There is a word from the Lord today and not from Shirley. So I ask you to look beyond Shirley and see only the message of the Lord.

The mind is a wondrous thing and as the expression goes...."a terrible thing to waste."

The mind according to Wikipedia.org is the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination, including all unconscious cognitive processes. The term is often used to refer, by implication, to the thought processes of reason. It goes on to say that "in popular usage mind is frequently synonymous with thought: the private conversation with ourselves that we carry on "inside our heads." Furthermore according to Wikipedia, thus we "make up our minds," "change our minds" or are "of tow minds" about something. One of the key attributes of the mind in this sense is that it is a private sphere to which no one but the owner has access. No one else can "know our mind." They can interpret only what we consciously or unconsciously communicate." (Wikipedia.org)


There are times when the mind is clear and your thoughts are pleasant and your good judgment is not questionable and you are able to make sound decisions. Then there are other times when the mind is cloudy and your thoughts are corrupted blocking your sound judgement. For example, your circumstances and situations are staying on your mind both day and night and they are weighing you down. You keep thinking and wondering "What on earth am I going to do and how am I going to fix this mess?" You are worried, you are scared, you are angry and you are an emotional wreck. Satan has seen your weakness and found a way into your mind and so now you are feeling, hopeless and helpless and you feel that your situation is less that hopeless. The mind is racing....going from one thought to another. The problem here is that the mind is so succumbed by all these negative thoughts that you cannot hear the Lord speaking because your negative thoughts are much too loud. Stop right there. Take a moment and free your mind. Well...you say...that is much easier said than done. And that's a song anyway by EnVogue, you say. Why yes it is, but let me just say that when you focus your time and your energy on God and ask God to help you, your mind can experience that peace and joy. Because the rest of the song goes....."Free your mind.....and the rest will follow. Free your mind....and the rest will follow. Let me say it one more time....."Free your mind........and the rest will follow. You see when you begin to pray and meditate on the Word of God and put your trust and your faith and your focus solely on Him, the fog begins to lift and clear and you are able to get back to the path that God has routed out for you and directed you to follow. Thus the Word of God says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and He will direct your path." All of your mind should be focused on God, not just a part, but all of your mind. Some people tend to think that if they can gain more ability to move beyond their circumstances first, then they will be able to serve God later. I too am guilty of that...we are all guilty of that. Now I am not saying that the problems will instantly disappear, but you will be able to face them with a clear mind and a sound mind with confidence because God will take over and began to lead and guide you through. The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." When you are seeking out God first, everything begins to fall into place. Your mind is free of all negativity and everything, yes everything begins to fall into place....in other words....the rest will follow. My God! That is an awesome thing. Not having to worry about anything because our Heavenly Father will supply all of our needs and not only that He has worked out a perfect plan for our lives. All of the burdens, the headaches, the worries.....I encourage to release them now in the name of Jesus. Free your mind today and let the God in you take control of all things and yes.....the rest will follow. Amen.

Crossing the Finish Line and Going for the Gold!

I can remember once in my life that I actually competed in a walk-a-thon requiring the physical activity of walking. What you have to understand about me is, I am not one for marathons, races or any competitions of any sort if I have to get all sweaty and exude physical strength. That has just never been my thing. I don't like working out even if it is for my own good because that means that I would have to condition my body and exert muscle strength. Well......I just don't like that! Last year, I set out to start exercising and changing my eating habits in order to create a healthier me. It started out rather slow and was very challenging in the beginning because I don't like that sort of thing. But I was committed to a healthier me. A friend and I began a walking regime around my apartment complex in the wee hours of the morning. Now, she is not a morning person......so that in an of itself was a challenge! But that's another story! Praise God for her! There would be days when it would be raining and we could not walk so we began to to Tae-Bo in my living room in lieu of walking. Have you ever worked out to one of Billy Blanks videos? Billy is tough and his workouts are very rigorous so until you get used to it.....Billy will kick your butt! There were mornings when we would be mumbling under our breath as we worked out with Billy or either we both would end up passed out in the floor. But we got used to it and it became somewhat easier and we began to look forward to the workouts...well....I....began to workout. I'm going to keep praying for my sister! Amen! But then something happened with my knee and I had to undergo a second knee surgery and I had to go through physical therapy and rehabilitation to strengthen and get my knee back in working order. After all of that was done, I had lost sight of a healthier me and I could not seem to get back into my workout routine. I tried a few times but I was not fully focused on the end results. You see I had lost my drive and I had lost sight of my personal goal. I had veered from my lane in the race to a healthier me. And that's how our personal lives are. We get out of the gate to a strong start but then we get distracted by something on the sidelines and we lose sight of the finish line. We have all gotten off to a strong start with full speed and determination of winning our race but somewhere along the way, we lose steam and began to fall behind the in the race. You see, it is not how strong we get out of the gate, it's how strong we finish the race. What this means, is we all set our sights high and are conditioned for a well run race, but in our race, we will come up against obstacles that were not part of our planned course. And......we just don't know what to do or how to handle the obstacles that have been placed in the lane that we were assigned. You see, those obstacles can be seem to be quite high...too high for us to jump over or either they appear to be too wide....to wide for us to go around. And because we have not been conditioned to run on an obstacle course, we fear that we will stumble and fall. I am here to tell you that it is OK to stumble and fall because God will be there to pick you up and dust you off and get you back in the race in the right lane! He has conditioned us to run a strong race and more importantly given us all the training that we need to finish strong and cross the finish line. But no need to stop there with only crossing the finish line, why not set your sight on the gold that God has waiting for you once you cross that finish line. Now somebody ought to stand on their feet right now giving God the Glory because that is Good News! In spite of the many turmoils of life, God is with us throughout the entire race! Praise God! One thing you should take away here if you get nothing else out of this message is this. It is not how fast you get out of the gate, but how consistent you are in your running and that you finish strong with your eyes focused on the gold. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes Chapter 7:8 "The end of the matter is better than its beginning and patience is better than pride." What am I saying here? Most of us are running a race to get a reward that is tangible and one that we can brag and boast about. But the real prize is a seat in the kingdom of God, being able to sit at His welcome table feasting on milk and honey and walking the streets paved with gold. You see, we get so bogged down with what is going on in our lives with obstacle after obstacle, we veer from our lane. If you have ever competed in any type of race, you know that the rule is to stay in your lane, right? We were never promised an easy race but He has assigned our own personal lane and developed it just for us. therefore, he has conditioned us for what He has planned for us. Every person that has ever competed in a race or marathon has to undergo weeks, months, even years of training. We have been given the Word of God as our training manual and if we follow its instruction, we can run our race. We may be slow and steady. We may even quaver along the way. And we may even cross lanes sometimes. Life sometimes takes us off the beaten path luring us into other lanes. But that's OK because we have all crossed lanes before. The key is to recognize from the training that has been etched in your heart through the Word of God and move back into your lane. Stay focused on your race. Finish your race strong. Keep in mind as you run your race, there are markers along the course that tell you where you are in your race and if you need to exert more speed or if you need to pull back. Sometimes we are running a little too fast and we need to slow it down. Sometimes we are running too slow and need to pick up the pace. But at any point in time when the race is difficult, always go back to your training, which is the Word of God, watch your markers along the way and pray for understanding. I encourage you all to day to run. Keep running. Gauge your pace and run steady. Finish strong. The gold is waiting! Be blessed my sisters and brothers!