The Greatest Gift

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of hearing an anointed young minister by the name of Christopher J. Harris from Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church under the leadership of Bishop Paul S. Morton. He was a guest speaker at our youth conference (New Faith MBC Int'l), and he ministered to us from Mark 10:46-52. These scriptures cover the story of a beggar named blind Bartimaeus.

As he explained to us how Jesus restored Bartimaeus' sight, he made a profound statement that confirmed what I'd always felt in my heart, but had never heard expressed in words. He said, "The greatest gift you can receive from God, is the ability to see." The ability to see Him. To see the hand of God moving and working in our lives. It's important that we see through the eyes of faith; that which is not always obvious to the natural eye.

Through the eyes of faith we can see the door God closed to keep us from dangers unseen.

Through the eyes of faith we can see the door God opens to opportunities we didn't even know existed. Through the eyes of faith we can see God's unmerited favor when people are loosing their jobs all around us yet our job is spared. Through the eyes of faith we can see God's mercy when the doctor's report shows cancer, but God's report shows none. Through the eyes of faith we can see God's covering and protection when we walked away from that crash, that should have killed us.

It's important that we see the hand of God moving and working in our lives. When we can't see God our problems will overwhelm us, the enemy will over take us, our faith will fail us, and hope will elude us. When that happens some of us give up...and when that happens...satan wins. It's so very important that we see the hand of God moving and working in our lives, because we can't allow satan to win!

It is only through the eyes of faith that we can see and recognize that it's not of our own doing but only through the Grace of God that we live and breath. It's God who saved us, it's God who covers us and guides us. It's God who heals us. It's God who loves us and forgives us, even when we don't deserve it. The gift of spiritual, supernatural sight is God's greatest gift. We should not be afraid to ask for it, and we should let nothing and no one get in the way of our receiving it! Can you see the hand of God in your life?

For by Grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:8-10)

Real Faith Don't Crack Under Pressure

There are people in the world who claim to be Christians. They express their deep faith, they shout, they praise and they give God the Glory with the best of em. If you ask them how their doing, they'll quickly tell you "I'm blessed and highly favored!"

Oh, but let a little adversity roll up on their doorstep and their faith cracks like a windshield that's been hit by a rock on the expressway at 75 miles an hour. They walk around with their heads hanging down looking like they lost their best friend. In reality what happened is, at the first sign of trouble THEY turned their back on their best friend; the one and only person they could always count on to have their back.

If you ask any real Christian, any real believer they'll tell you God is Good! Then they'll confidently follow that up with "All The Time!" They know that they know our God is not just a "good time" God. Even in the midst of your darkest hour, He's still good; and real faith don't crack under pressure!

Real faith don't' crack when those closest to you; family and friends literally break your heart. Real faith don't crack when the doctor gives you a bad report. Real faith don't crack when you have more bills than bank, and the enemy is threatening to take everything you own. Real faith don't crack when the devil has hold of your child and all you can do is stand by helplessly and wonder where you went wrong. Real faith don't crack when your spouse threatens to walk out, or you just want them to leave and they refuse to go. Real faith don't crack when you feel you are at the very end of your rope and you're so low you can't look up. Real faith don't crack under pressure because real faith works best when you truly believe the word of God and not what you see with your eyes.

The word of God says, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow if the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, My God, in Him I will trust." (Psalm 91:1-2)

Real faith don't crack under pressure! The word of God says, You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor the arrow that flies by day, Nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
(Psalm 91:5-6)

Real faith don't crack under pressure! The word of God says, Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling, For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
(Psalm 91:9-11)

God never promised us a life without some pain and strife, in fact he warned us in (John 17:33) that we could count on trials and tribulations. He did promise never to leave us or forsake us. He did promise to stand with us in the midst of the storm...to cover and protect us...to love and comfort us and keep us in perfect peace. But we have to do our part. We must BELIEVE! We must have supernatural faith that stands up to pressure. Let me be clear, real faith don't come from religion it's developed through real relationship with Christ. Real Christians know it's impossible to please God without faith. (Heb. 11:6) Real Christians know that God is our strength and power: and he maketh our way perfect. (2Sam:22) When we do what we're suppose to, God will keep ALL his promises. Real faith don't crack under pressure!
So tell me, how strong is your faith?

Don't Make Your Move Too Soon

PATIENCE and PRIDE, too little of one and too much of the other can cause you to move too soon, to loose your place, and get out of position. Getting out of position can cause you to miss out on your blessing.

How many of you have stood in a long line at the grocery/department store? Stood and waited and waited only to let impatience overrule your better judgement and provoke you to angrily step out of line a mere second before a new cashier comes on the scene and shouts "I can take the next customer over here!" The NEXT customer would have been YOU had you not stepped out of line; out of position. Now you have to wrestle with that other demon PRIDE. You're holding your purchases in your hand, you've already invested a good amount of time waiting...do you storm out of the store leaving your purchases? Or, do you suck it up and get back in line? My gut is telling me that more times than we would like to admit we have stormed out of that store leaving behind the very thing we came for.

The word of God says that we should count it all joy for our various trials, knowing that they are a test of our faith, and that testing produces patience. It goes on to say that we should let patience have its perfect work, so that we might be made perfect and complete, and lack nothing. (James 1:2-4) (Proverbs 16:18) says that Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

What have you been waiting in line for? Maybe you need a financial blessing, maybe you've been praying and asking God to fix your marriage or straighten out that wayward child you don't recognize anymore. Maybe you need a new home, a new job or you're waiting for that perfect mate. God doesn't wear a Rolex and he doesn't use our calendar. He knows what you need and He will provide it when He knows you're ready to receive it. He wants you to be complete and lack for nothing. During your time of trial there are some things he wants to reveal to you about yourself and more importantly about him, but you're so busy complaining about having to "wait" you can't see or hear his message. You get tired of waiting and decide you can fix it yourself, and guess what? As soon as you make that decision...as soon as you let impatience distract you, and pride overtakes you...you get out of position. God was just getting ready to bless you, but you moved too soon! God was just about to open a door, and YOU... stepped out of line!

We must learn to trust God and believe the promises of God. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7) Be careful, when you get in line you must have the patience to wait on the Lord. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Phil. 4:12) Don't let your pride convince you that you can do anything without the Lord. God sends people in our lives to assist us, to help us along our journey but if you allow your pride to reject their help you will find yourself out of position and miss out on your blessing!

Have you not Known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 41:28-31) Pray and ask the Lord to perfect your patience and give you wisdom and the strength to stand and wait no matter how long it takes. Listen to the voice of God and do what he instructs you to do. Take your burdens to the Lord, AND LEAVE THEM THERE! Don't look back, don't pick them back up, don't try and fix it yourself...trust God! Please don't let a lack of patience and an over abundance of pride cause you to move too soon. When the Lord says "Next", don't be out of position and miss your blessing!

Is It Them or Is It Me?

In every relationship be it between a spouse, a co-worker, a family member or friend; there are bound to be occasional conflicts. When you find yourself faced with the seemingly unresolvable conflict, you need to honestly ask yourself, "Is it them or is it me?" We fallible human beings have a natural propensity whenever there's a problem to lay blame everywhere but at our own doorstep. It's always the other person who's being unreasonable, unyielding, insensitive, stubborn etc. etc.

Let me caution you today, before you point a finger at the other person, remember the word of the Lord. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone." (John 8:7) Examine your own heart, your own emotions and ask yourself..."Is it them or is it me?" The key to any good relationship is communication. Everyone always assumes communication means talking to (or more often than not) talking at the other person. In reality communication is more about "listening". We must learn to seek God's wisdom and ask him for divine discernment, so that we might be able to really hear not just with our ears but with our hearts; what the other person is really trying to say. We must ask God to give us the patience to first be silent so that we can hear, and then enable us to respond not with passion (in the heat of an argument passion is usually more about anger than love) but with compassion.

I believe if we strive to respond with compassion we will find it easier to have empathy for the other person's point of view. I believe when we start to do less talking and more listening we'll begin to hear and really understand the real reason for the conflict, and then and only then can we can began to work on a resolution.

I know what you're thinking, what about the other person? If the relationship really means anything to you while you're praying and asking God to give YOU wisdom and patience, you'll ask Him to do the same for THEM. But you have to start somewhere, why not start with yourself?

To borrow a very profound statement and lyric from the late great Micheal Jackson (God rest his soul) start with the man/woman in the mirror. If you want to make YOUR world a better place, take a look at YOURSELF....and make a CHANGE!

How Long Will You Trust Him? How Long Will You Wait On the Lord?

Good morning everyone,

The best way we can share our Lord with one another is through our testimony. Telling each other and those outside of this group how we made it through our trials, and who was responsible for getting us through can give hope to the hopeless. Witnessing to God's Grace and Mercy could mean the difference between someone giving up or holding on.

I would have lost heart, unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27:13-14

My husband and I renewed our wedding vows on our 30Th wedding anniversary. As we stood before God family and friends for the second time, I told him this time I had a deeper understanding and a better appreciation for the vows we made to each other in our youth. I told him with regards to the "for better or worse" part I didn't know if we had seen the last of the "worst" this world had to offer, but I was certain the "best" God had in store for us was yet to come. Little did I know I was speaking a prophetic word over our lives.

Four months after we returned from our second honeymoon, my husband was laid off. We were no strangers to lay offs we'd both been there and done that before, but somehow we both sensed this was different. We had no idea we were about to embark upon a spiritual journey that would teach us the value of waiting on and trusting in the Lord.

What you need to understand is not every trial comes from the devil. Sometimes God is trying to shift your focus. Sometimes He just wants to teach you to trust your Source (GOD) and not your resources (Job). What we initially thought was an attack from the enemy on our finances and our peace we later came to understand was really a God orchestrated set back; setting us up for a comeback. By the time our journey was over we recognized it as an answered prayer.

The one thing I desired of the Lord the one thing I had prayed for constantly was more time with my husband. I wanted him home in the evenings and on holidays. More than anything I wanted him home on the weekends so we could attend church together. I wanted us to worship, praise and serve the Lord together side by side. While I acknowledged it was difficult because of his work schedule I also suspected he used the job as a convenient excuse not to do what he knew he should be doing and to be where he knew he should be. When he was off I felt like I had to choose between my husband and my God.

As bitter resentment built up I turned into a nagging shrew, and instead of drawing him closer to me and God I pushed him further and further away. My beautiful niece wise beyond her years, advised me to turn it over to the Lord. She told me to stop asking God to change my husband and ask him to change me. I did just that. I began to pray for God to change me and our situation. I trusted the Lord and I waited. Our God is a patient God, but when we consistently operate contrary to his plans for us, He will remove all obstacles and strip away all our excuses. He will remove anything that separates us from Him. Sometimes He has to take something out of our hands in order to replace it with something better.

I didn't see it at first, when my husband lost his job I saw it only as a negative. After a month of having him home my attitude began to change. There was no job in the way to keep us from doing things together as a family. We not only went back to church, we rejoined our former church and faithfully completed seven months of new members classes. By the time we graduated we were no longer the same couple we were when we began. God showed up and showed out in our lives. My husband was out of work for eighteen months. Toward the end of that time we both acknowledged God's favor; we never missed a beat. All our bills were paid, and all our needs were met, in fact God even blessed us to be a blessing to family members who were also out of work.

In every trial the Lord allows, there are lessons to be learned. We learned that our wealth had nothing to do with the balance in our bank account. We learned we couldn't put a price tag on the time we had together. We learned we could do a lot with a little, if we put the little we had in God's hands. We trusted God to see us through and to supply all our needs. We sought a closer relationship with Him and we were rewarded with a closer and stronger relationship with each other. My husband didn't take the first job that came along, or the job that payed the most money. We trusted God and waited for him to supply us with a job that would allow us to continue what we had started.

After eighteen months the ultimate blessing was a new job that not only provided the income we needed, but the time we had come to treasure. The Bible says you do not have because you do not ask, (James 4:2). We were very specific in our prayers and when God answered he went above and beyond our expectations.

But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not get weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

I share our testimony with you as a living witness that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we think or ask according to the power that works in us (Eph 3:20)

My questions for you today are, what do you desire from the Lord? What have you been praying for? How long will you trust Him? How long will YOU wait on the Lord?