Don't be afraid of the fire.....

Yesterday a word came from God that it was time to go into the fire for a refining process...but He said "do not fear". Well that was easier said than done as God knows me, He knew this would be hard! I feared the fire meant a greater struggle and I (like many believers) am tired of struggle (who isn't)!  So, in fear I [silently] began to panic! Thankfully, God stepped in (as always) and reminded me to rely/trust in Him, and reiterated His command - "DO NOT FEAR". In obedience, I decided to seek Him for better understanding and this is what He revealed to me:

"Don't be afraid of the fire, my daughter. Not many people make it to the fire. The fire is where you will see God more clearly than ever before...." - God 

If you read Daniel 3, you'll notice they were thrown into the furnace for blending in with the world or putting themselves first. They were thrown in the furnace for being TOTALLY sold out to God...HIS will...HIS way...not their own. Even in the face of death, they stood for God proving they served God with their WHOLE HEARTS and not with their words or for what they thought they could get from Him.

It is at that point, the point in which they showed they were completely sold out for God, that they were thrown into the fire. Once inside they came face to face with the Living God, Who kept them in the fire and brought them out with His glory into a place of promotion!

O dear children of God, when He tells you the fire is coming, REJOICE for the fire is a place not many people go because they are unwilling to sacrifice themselves to get to that place.

Selah.

Why many prayers AREN'T answered.

We all have those moments, where we pray and have faith for something…sometimes we might even fast for it…and nothing happens. God doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, and doesn’t even whisper on it.  I have spent a lot of time in this place, praying for things to come to pass…listening to popular preachers talking about how the time is “now”, this is the “new season”, and the blessing is “right around the corner”. If you were to listen to them, you’d swear we had a new season every week and we should be rolling in [earthly] “blessings” right now (these blessings being things of the flesh, not spiritual blessings)….but what happens when you look up a year or two down the line, and you’re still hearing these same promises but don’t see the results? Well, one of few things could be happening:

1. The  preachers are teaching a word not led by His Holy Spirit, catering to what people want to hear, instead of what God is truly speaking, or

2. God is moving, the promise is true, but like Abraham and Sarai, you may have to wait longer than you thought, longer than expected, to receive the blessing, or

3. God is not moving, simply because there is sin in your life that needs to be dealt with, that you are refusing to deal with…. God has already made you aware of this…it’s you who refuses to acknowledge and deal.

To figure out which it is one must spend time in prayer asking God’s help to understand. Sometimes it might be that you need only to wait, just like Abraham, and trust God. If this is the case, He will tell you so, send a confirming word and give you peace in your heart about this (the kind of peace that no one can shake).

If it’s preachers, just preaching what people want to hear, if you ask God’s help in identifying true teachers from false teachers, He’ll help you identify who is teaching for Him vs. themselves. One thing that stands out about false teachers is that they tell you want you want to hear. The messages are always about prospering, favor, getting a breakthrough or blessing right around the corner. How God wants to make YOUR dreams come to pass (key word, YOUR dreams), when the reality is, we are here to serve God and make His Kingdom plans come to pass (and if God sees fit to bless us by making some of our dreams a reality (that fall in line with His plans) then praise God for that kind of favor, but that is NOT the reason we are here on this earth as ambassadors for Christ).

God is a good, forgiving and loving God; but, He is also a vengeful, just and jealous God who does NOT tolerate sin and will make all children (those who serve Him and those who turn their backs on Him) deal with the consequences of their sinful choices (though in His grace, He may not make the consequences as severe as they should be/would have been).  We would all do well to remember this.

Finally, the most common reason is that there is sin in our lives hindering our prayers (and my reason for this post). Sin that we refuse to deal with for whatever reason, some sins that we don’t even acknowledge because “it is just who we are”. I read Isaiah 58 this morning and it talked about those who fast, but their prayers don’t get heard/answered. It discussed how the people were praying and fasting to God, but He wasn’t receiving the prayers because their actions were counterproductive to the faith.  Oh, I’m sure you’re thinking about the “big sins” (all sin is sin, but we know humans rank sin as if some are worse than others) sex outside of marriage, murder, adultery, etc. and those are indeed included, but what about those sins we consider the “lesser” sins? These are the things spoken of in Isaiah, gossiping, slandering, lying, bickering with the “haters”, trying to be better than other people, arrogance, not helping those in need, talking about other people’s sin like we don’t sin, hating family members, etc…. 

Actually, let me break this down in today’s terms so we really get it: Being on Facebook blasting people you don’t like, cursing people out, putting people’s business in the streets, gossiping about folk whether you know them or not (celebrities or not), one minute we’re posting scripture and the next we posting sexual, vulgar, graphic, violent, etc. We make fun of people we don’t know without thought of how it makes them feel, and then flip out when someone makes one comment about our life, what we do, how we do it, etc. Oh and I’m NOT just talking about YOU, this is myself included, I’m guilty of many things here as well.

We share all kinds of stories and hold “discussions” about the poor, homeless, hungry….but we won’t actually help them. We walk by them on the streets every day, can see them panhandling on the corner and appease ourselves by saying “they just gone use it on drugs and/or booze anyway” instead of just giving and letting God deal with the rest. We spend thousands/millions of dollars [over our lifetime] on weaves, nails, new shoes, clothes, eating out, going out, buying snacks, getting that extra cable channel, game systems, cars, furniture, trying to keep up with the Joneses and …and make people think we have more than we have. 

Yet, when the church asks for some money, the first thing out our mouths is “the church always begging” or, “I aint got it” REALLY? Even if you don’t want to give it to a church, what’s stopping you from setting aside 10% of your income to help people in your local community who may not have as much as you do? Why not donate to some of the nonprofits you know are out here helping people. What about a family member in need? If you don’t have money, why not volunteer your time to go to the food pantries, homeless shelters, hospitals, schools, etc – go where you are needed and give what you can? We ALL have time.

We go to church and miss the word because we have to make a spectacle out of going to church these days, we must announce it as if that makes a difference. The rest of the week, we calling out people, running around with a nasty attitude, telling people “we not gone change”, what we “not gone do” and “if people don’t like it they can go to hell” cause “we not Jesus, we human” etc. etc. and at the same time, we’ll turn around and claim we’re loved and favored by God and we love Him sooooooo much.   We don’t live the word, oh no not at all….and when someone actually does TRY to live out His word, we must make fun of them, call them Jesus freaks, holier than thou, holy rollers…or we tell them they take this Jesus thang “too serious” and call them judgmental or claim they “think they better than” when they refuse to participate in old things because of their relationship with Christ. Instead of following the example of Christ and those who are trying to do this, we shun them and make them out to be deluded fools who have lost touch with reality…..

We get falling down drunk, kill ourselves with drugs, and sleep around with whoever, whenever, however without a second thought sometimes more than one person at a given time! We break up families and homes; covet other people’s success, blessings, families, careers, etc. We complain, we never have enough, we don’t appreciate stuff and are constantly looking out for “me and mine” EVEN THOUGH…EVEN THOUGH…we KNOW this is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what Christ did when on earth and what He commanded us to do. We even fight and bicker with our families, won’t talk to them, won’t practice forgiveness with them (or anyone for that matter), we hold grudges, cut them off, talk about them and judge them…and in spite of all this, we still get up in church and shout and praise like our hearts are so pure, when we know better.

The church has even become a show! We put on shows, not worship. People promote their churches more than they do the Lord! People serve, praise and worship their pastors much more than they do God. The churches are filled with cliques, slander, backbiting, lying! Pastors getting rich off their flocks, building monumental churches while people in the communities suffer in need…further teaching their flock to do the same thing by preaching all these prosperity messages and leading us away from helping those in need to stockpiling prayers for God to do for us and our families. And we wonder why people don’t readily accept and welcome our Savior into their lives? THEY CAN’T SEE HIM FOR ALL THE FOOLERY OF OUR HUMAN FLESH!

…and the worst of all, we don’t make time for God. A few of us do.  A rare few, but most of us spend our days running to and fro doing what we want to accomplish our dreams. We’re not seeking God for His plan because we’re not seeking God at all! We do fly by night devotionals in which we forget what we read as soon as we read it, because we’re rushing through it just to say we did it instead of carving out time in our day to actually give God His due.  Everyone wants church quicker, shorter. We “don’t have time” for church services or to listen to sermons, read books, study the bible or even to pray – sincerely. When we do pray, our prayers are self-centered and all about what WE want, what we [think] WE need. Not at all focused on God’s kingdom, His plans for our lives, His wants for us, or His command that we go forth and spread His word and introduce others to Christ, no! We are so consumed with what we WANT from God that we don’t even realize how easily we can become nothing more than common pimps, peddling the word of God in prayer as a means to get what we want. But God says, not so.

God will NOT be mocked. Much of the church is in confusion today because those who make up the church (and some who lead) are not focused on God, but themselves.  Just like the Pharisees and Sadducees of the New Testament day, we’re holding people to the law in one area, but completely ignoring the laws in the other areas. LOVE was the greatest commandment of all the commands given, yet that’s the last commandment we’ll follow.  Don’t lie, don’t talk negatively about people, love your enemies, help the poor, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, seek God with your WHOLE heart, don’t straddle the fence between the world and Christ, don’t gossip, don’t revel in doing wrong…all these are also commands…yet, we have NO problem ignoring them as if they don’t exist.

And….as long as we do, God has no problem ignoring our prayers as if they don’t exist. Not because He wants to, simply because He will NOT be mocked. God is not a genie in a bottle who works for US. WE ARE CALLED TO SERVE GOD. We’ve somehow gotten this confused in this age, but God has not.

I will leave you with Isaiah 58 (The Message Bible):  [Why] Your Prayers Won’t Get Off the Ground

(God Speaking) 1-3 “Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout! Tell My people what’s wrong with their lives; face My family Jacob with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about Me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask Me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having Me on their side. But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and You don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and You don’t even notice?’

3-5 “Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility; to put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

6-9 “This is the kind of fast day I’m after:  to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way.  The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

9-12 “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims; quit gossiping about other people’s sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places, firm muscles, and strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build a new, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

13-14 “If you watch your step on the Sabbath  and don’t use My holy day for personal advantage, if you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s Holy Day as a celebration, if you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there— Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”  Yes! God says so!”

God isn't here to make everyone rich!

I thank God for Shayna Ashley and Sharenell Harris. This morning I was so frustrated that I couldn't even read His word or pray with sincerity. My mind was cluttered. But God used those two people (and my momma) to remind me:

1. Who I am in Christ
2. What I was called to do
3. that He is indeed faithful
4. The walk is NOT easy at all, but it is well worth it to endure.
5. Your circumstances are not at all a reflection of God's love for you or your relationship with Him.

Something else I'm starting to learn...much of the preaching we hear today leads people to seek God to get the desires of their heart. This is detrimental to the faith because when God doesn't deliver on this, people become disgruntled with God, not realizing it's not God but man painting God's promises incorrectly. God is primarily concerned with our Spirit, with our hearts for Him, accepting His salvation and turning from sin with a repentant heart - accepting His forgiveness. His riches are not silver and gold...but spiritual riches of the fruits of His Spirit as listed in Galatians 5:22 - 23.

 What if someone told you that God wasn't interested in making you rich on this earth (materially)...and that you'd endure struggle, lack, pain, etc. for the rest of your [human] life. There's no major breakthrough that's gonna take your family from the "pit" to the "palace" (from just getting by to being wealthy and able to live the life we often admire or dream about). You'll live, you'll thrive, you'll have moments of joy but overall, life will just be life?

What if I told you it can't be God's plan for EVERYONE to be rich? Throughout the bible there are poor, there are sick, there are homeless, hungry, etc. Clearly, it's not God's intention to make everyone rich and successful because if that were the case we'd see that numerous times in His word. We don't. Though preachers will preach this to millions of people throughout the word, as much as we want it to be true, it's simply not.

What if I told you God is a good, wonderful great God, but His love for us is all the same. He doesn't look on the "Christian" with more love, grace, joy, peace, mercy.... than He does the "atheist" He sees us all the same as we're all sinners and He extended His grace to all of us. So Christians cannot expect to be exempt from struggle, pain, lack, hate, slander, lies...even violence. Yes, we are soldiers for Christ....God's is pleased with our love for Him and desire to serve Him...but that doesn't mean He's giving self identified Christians, even those who actually live out His word, any type of special treatment....what would you say?

Would you still serve Him...would you still seek Him with your whole heart...would you still praise His great name and claim Him as your God? If you hesitate to answer this or if your first thought was no.... take it to God in prayer.  We must serve God from a place of pureness. Not to get. Only to give. We give to God. We give to others. We give until we have nothing left (as Christ gave until his own death)...and then, when it's all said and done, we shall see the face of God and receive all that He has promised  (as Christ received His Glory upon resurrection).

It might not come on earth, it might not. Can you still trust God and serve Him anyway? Those who do/will....shall see the face of God and receive the crown of glory. He is true. He is faithful. Endure. Selah.

Are you witnessing for Christ?

Do you notice in John 1:35-46, each time someone “found” Jesus, they’d immediately go back and tell someone else and bring them to Jesus too….when’s the last time you introduced someone to Christ and offered them His Salvation? Selah.

John 1: The Message Bible

^35-36 The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”

^37-38 The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹ He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”

They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.

^40-42 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”). He immediately led him to Jesus.

Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter, which means “Rock”).

^43-44 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)

^45-46 Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”

But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”

Jada Pinkett Smith: The New Model for "black" Motherhood? Not in my book.....

So I read this article that said black parents need to adopt a parenting style more like Jada Pinkett-Smith. Ummm WHO? I decided to read through the many comments supporting the statement to try to understand the mind behind this. But two things continue to concern me:

1. We are praising a woman on "raising her children" who are STILL in the process of being raised! How can we with all certainty applaud what she's doing, calling it "better" when we have yet to see the results of said parenting?

2. Many people are saying this after a photo is released of Willow laying in bed with a 20 year old shirtless man. I'm not sure where anyone else is from, but where I'm from - grown people don't lay in bed with children...if they do, they are looked at suspiciously. If it is okay for a 20 year old man to lay in bed shirtless with Willow Smith, then was it okay for Michael Jackson to lay in bed with little boys as a grown man? I mean, he did say they were only playing...right? Yea....

Many black people are chiming in on this applauding Jada and Will and disparaging the way our parents raised us as if our lives are gone to hell in a hand basket because our parents set boundaries and whipped our behinds when we got out of line. I can't agree with that. I'm sorry.

I was allowed to have an opinion in my home, but I was also given boundaries and I understood that I can't just do whatever I want in the name of "having an opinion" or "knowing myself". I'm a strong woman who knows who she is and my mom disciplined and set boundaries for me, as are many of my friends/family who also had boundaries. Children are children and they need boundaries I'm not saying all beat the child and shut them up but at the same time, remember your responsibility as a parent to guide your child. A child can have an opinion, know who he/she is as a person, and still make choices on their own without allowing the child to act like a complete adult. a 13 year old child in bed with a shirtless 20 year old man, close family friend or not, it's inappropriate this day in age.

Not to mention, people tend to forget that those like Willow Smith have opportunities everyday little black kids don't have. So where they might let their kids dye hair green, lay in bed with grown men, go about without supervision (or maybe only a bodyguard) and all these things... in everyday life one slip could change a child's life forever. The odds are set in willow's favor, her mom and dad can buy her freedom if she messes up. She will still get opportunities with green hair and wild clothes....but Tamika Robinson and Dereon Johnson...we already know the deal, we have to work harder, work smarter and show ourselves twice as worthy if you are wealthy and black, three times if you are black and low income. It's not the same. It's not. Let's not act like the children of Will and Jada Smith are dealing with the same obstacles that the average black child must endure.

I really think people are missing the point in all this. It's not about the fact that she gives her kids choices, we make it sound like our parents treated us like old slaves like our lives were horrid because we had boundaries. What's even more amazing to me is that it's not people who are still struggling, hooked on drugs trying to deal with the abuse of their childhood, kids who have become adults unable to get their lives together so they lose themselves in alcohol/drugs trying to numb the pain, until there's nothing left. No, it's people who are doing something with their lives, who have opportunities, who are intelligent enough to understand it is important for children to have boundaries, not because we want to "rule" the child, simply because it's what's best for a (key word) CHILD.

I don't think this was about how white children turn out vs. how black children turn out rather it was a hit at black parents as if our parents - all of them, every single one - were wrong for raising us as they did and I personally can't agree with that. I don't think my mom was perfect and yes, there were times she could have talked more and whipped less...but she raised me as a mother should and was the one who played a huge role in molding me into the woman I am today....and I knew when to voice my opinion and when to shut up...because in life you need to learn this. I knew the world did NOT revolve around me and that I did NOT always get my way, because in life, you don't! I knew boundaries were necessary because consequences are REAL and when parents give kids too much freedom, they become self absorbed spoiled little brats, who turn into self absorbed spoiled adults....at which point, people want to ask "where were her parents"?

Well...

p.s. Why it gotta be black parenting and white parenting? Geesh, I'm black but I do agree sometimes my people make EVERYTHING about race...not all black parents are strict disciplinarians, and not all non-black parents are pushovers.