Who's Agenda is it anyway?

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done; On Earth as it is in Heaven... - Matt.6:10

In preparing for a meeting at church this evening I was getting some information together and writing down questions do that I had my agenda together and could speak intelligently.
I started praying in the car and began to speak in my Heavenly language. My heart desires to do so many things and the Holy Spirit began ministering to me about what was on my heart and I was so humbled. And I began to change my prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to let me go in with His agenda. Speak through me and use me as a vessel to use my gift to further the kingdom.
I'm sure we've all heard the saying "if you want to hear God laugh...tell him your plans." Its always made me chuckle and now I have so much more revelation in that. God gives us gifts, we all have a purpose and it's a choice that we make to use our gift to further the kingdom or solely for selfish gain.  Don't get me wrong taking care of yourself is not selfish...it's wisdom; but there must be a balance. 
So make sure you check your spirit before you enter into tasks and ask the Holy Spirit to move through you on His agenda, not your own.

HE Knows your Worth: Even when you don't

 

For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? - 1Cor.5:12

Please understand that Christianity does not equal perfection.  Don't become so religious that you are no worldly good!  If it is not your life, it is not your business to pass judgement.  Pray for one another and talk to God.  Don't gossip and then ask God to help that person.  Flick the plank out of your own eye first!  That word came on my heart the other day and I wrote it down.  In re-writing it, it has ministered and convicted my spirit.  The first time I heard it and was obedient in sharing it with some folks...this time I heard it and I'm being obedient in adhearing to it myself.  I thanks the Lord daily for continual revelation and understanding.  He knows I am no where near perfect.  He also knows my heart like no one else. I have to learn that just because He has put something on my heart and given me a gift to use to further the kingdom, doesn't mean that the path will not be bumpy nor the journey weary. 
There has to be a lot of patience put into being obedient so that you are making moves at the right time.  There has to be a lot of silence in obedience so that you can hear when the Holy Spirit is giving you further instruction.  There needs to be trust in obedience because God will require you to step out on faith in areas.  Don't worry He knows your worth even when you do not. 
So many times we (myself included) want to wait for the "right" opportunity to be used.  "When I get that million dollars, I'll sow into the kingdom."  "Once I'm where I want to be in life, I'll help in the ministry." I'm not where I want to be spiritually..." that's like getting in shape to go to the gym!  Don't harp on where you feel you may be spiritually.  98% of the time where you feel you are spiritually is based on your observations of others in the ministry and/or around you.  They may be able to flip to a bible verse faster, speak longer, articulate better, or do something that you cannot do BUT, when God wants you to do something it's because He knows your worth.  He knows that you can speak out boldly, He knows that you can manage a department, He knows that you can committ to being there.  He doesn't call people by mistake.  In all of our imperfection, God's will in us is perfection.  God does not call the qualified because we are ALL qualified and called to be kings and priests.  We are all called to further the kingdom in any way that we can. 
 Corinthinans 12:12-31 talks about unity and diversity within the body of Christ and how we all have different functions, gifts and assignments just as your physical body does.  If we all did the same thing and has the same function and purpose how would we be productive in many areas?  It's the desire for immediate recognition and praise of the flesh that becomes the demise of kingdom business.  If you entertain a vain thought for just a second it opens the door to strife, lust and carnal intentions.  People think of being concerned with looks and fashion when they hear vanity and that's why it is such a dangerous spirit.  Vanity is let in when you get a little irritated because someone didn't mention your name to the congregation.  "Pastor said thank you in private but didn't tell everyone what I did."  "Why is her name ahead of mine..." "I talk to Pastor all the time why did he help them..." Those are vain thoughts.  Romans 12:3-8 talks about not thinking too highly of yourself. 
Let God reward your works...you have to know that they are not going unseen.  Instant gratification is just that and it is gone just as quickly as it came...in an instant! You will be rewarded for every good work...your heart needs to be in the right place.  Do it because God loves you and has done so many things for you in the midst of your disobedience and beliees in the good in you...2Corinthians 9:8. 
I intended for this blog to go a completely different direction.  I have been struggling with feeling blocked and I was planning to write more or less out of frustration.  In the first few words I typed out the Holy Spirit began to minister to me and a calm came over my spirit and I thank God for it.  Continue to be obedient in what God has called you to do and keep pressing through.  He didn't promise smooth sailing, but He did say that we can walk on water!

In The Midst of it...

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust. 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6  Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, (Psalms 91:2-9)
 
We often turn to music based on our moods. If you want to set a romantic atmosphere you might find some smooth jazz or a sweet “love song”. If we’re angry we tend to want something more hardcore to amp our mood. The blues when we’re sad and so on and so forth. We always want the world to know what kind of mood we’re in and/or what we’re going through at any given time.  Thanks to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter we can tell our 500 “friends” what going on in our lives in less than 60 seconds!  They can like your status and say they’re sorry for what you’re going through, but nine times out of ten that solves absolutely nothing. We either want everyone to attend our pity parties or we want self-gratification for something we THINK we did on our own.  Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with sharing your feelings and even sharing good news.  But sometimes we need to settle down and go to God first.  Then we can commence to telling it on the mountain, if He wants us to.  There are somethings we need to learn to keep our mouths shut about.  There is a point where I recent;y started asking myself, Lord is this just for attention or is this to give you glory.  Lord am I really gaining anything by blabbing about this?  Lord am I low-key trying to make someone jealous or boast about something?  Is my heart in the right place as I tell this news?  I love to gab and talk like most women do and God really began to convict my spirit about opening my mouth so much.  I would vent out of anger, and once I was calm, I would pray about it and feel bad that I said anything but it’s not like I can take it back.  God wants us to talk to Him and be real with Him.  Yes He already knows, but He wants us to have a desire in our hearts to tell Him everything and allow him to deal with us and/or it accordingly.
Christians, we are doing nothing but selling ourselves short if we feel like we should wait until this are “okay” to go and talk and commune with God.  He will deal with us in the midst of our trials, in the midst of our sin, in the midst of whatever situations we are in.  Psalms 91 says that God is our refuge and fortress and in HIM shall we trust. He will take us under his wing and deliver us from the snare of the fowler. It says that His truth, which is His word, will be our shield and only with our eyes will we see the reward of the wicked. If we’re taking refuge and need shields that means we are in the middle of battle family.  God didn’t say He would be our shield because it sounds nice, He said it because we should constant;y be aware of the spiritual warfare going on around and within us. Satan is always at work and he will send his demons to work on your mind first because that is our arena of faith. Once he plants a seed in our mind we tend to run with it and confess it and then he can pull his demons off because we start to do satan’s dirty work and become our own worst enemy. We confess, “oh my back is killing me!” “Oh Lord I’m so broke” and so many other negative things we speak into our lives and confess them on a daily basis. When we start to feel symptoms or things seem impossible, that’s when we should hold fast our confessions! Take refuge in the Lord and know that he will carry you through. It’s okay to need the Lord, it’s okay to have trials and tribulations. Only the “perfect Christian” doesn’t have issues…I’ll let that marinate

Don’t ever feel like you did something wrong if you are going through a rough patch. God to God, lean on the word and believe it. Have faith and know that his shield will keep the fiery darts of the wicked one (Eph.6:10-20 the armor of God) away from us.  God is not a respecter of persons so don’t count yourself out.  Take joy in the midst of a trial and seek the Lord diligently because He’s got a blessing in the midst of it all.

Live like you're already there!

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

The world tells us to “Live like you’re dying” but the word tells us that we are already there!  We, as believers, are in this world, we have to abide by laws put in place and live accordingly.  However, we are not of this world and we must stop picking and choosing what biblical laws to follow.  If you’re running late for work and get stopped by a red light, are you gonna run it just this one time because you need to get to work?  I seriously doubt it because of the fear of getting pulled over and ticketed for breaking the law.  In the same manner that we have respect for the laws of man, we need to have respect and fear for God’s law and what the word says.  If there’s a red light and the Holy Spirit is saying that you shouldn’t go just yet (and maybe not at all), don’t try your luck just this one time…just don’t do it!  Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.”  That means that we need to walk in the spirit and seek God in all of our decisions, we need to be consistently obedient, and in constant prayer.

The world tells us in Romans 6:4 (above) that when we were baptized we were buried with Christ and just as Christ raised from the dead, we did as well through the baptism and we now walk in the spirit in the newness of life!  1 John 4:17 says that as He is so are we.  Christ Died, was buried and rose again!  In the same way, through being born again and baptized our old self died – That ol’ girl died, that good for nothing man is dead – was buried and we rose again in the newness of life!  God wants us to have his best.  We are heirs and joint heirs with Christ!  We don’t have to “Live like we’re dying…” Family we already died and rose again and have been walking with Christ.  We have arrived…we’re already there!  There’s no need to “Live like you’re dying” we should be Living like we are already there!  Have a blessed and highly favored day family!