Know Where You Are Going!

When her car broke down, a woman called out a local mechanic to repair it.
The mechanic lifted up the hood, looked in the engine, whacked something with a hammer and said: “try it now.” To her amazement, the car started straight away.
“That’s incredible,” she said. "You’ve been here less than a minute and you’ve already managed to fix it. I’m so grateful."
The man replied, "It's all part of the job, madam. That’ll be $250.00."
The smile vanished from the woman’s face as she asked, “How much?! How can you charge $250.00, when all you did was hit it with a hammer?"
The mechanic told her, "I can write you out an itemized bill if you like."
"Yes, please," she said firmly.
So he wrote out the bill and handed it to her; it read:
Hitting engine with hammer: $10.00.
Knowing where to hit it - $240.00.

In terms of travel, knowing where you’re going is key, wouldn't you agree? What do you do when you don't know how to get where you're going? No problem -- you simply pull out your GPS and type in the destination. Similarly, in your spiritual journey, you have a tool that will guide you along your path.

Whether your destination is Heaven or The New City, your spiritual GPS will get you there with no detours (that is if you don't leave the planned route!). It doesn’t wait until you get right up on the turn to let you know that it’s time to turn, instead, it lets you know in advance. And just in case you do accidentally leave the planned route, your spiritual GPS will give you an opportunity to “recalculate," and be redirected back on the right track!

Now, while we're getting back on the right road, we may encounter a bumpy road or two (sure to give us a serious headache). We might even have to take a side street or a different highway. That just means that it might take us a little longer to get back on the right road... ohhh, if only we had listened to the original directions from our spiritual GPS!

As you have surely figured out by now, the Word of God is our spiritual GPS. It's always updated to give us the most accurate directions around any hazardous signs or roads. Our spiritual GPS warns us about unexpected accidents and heavy traffic (trials and tribulations) so we don't have to worry about them. In fact, the Lord told us to be of good cheer for he has overcome the world.

Our spiritual GPS also alerts us to detours, where the Lord will recalculate and give us opportunity to turn back to him. He is so great in His love and mercy that He shows us where we are going AND tell us how to get there. So while our natural GPS might be good, our spiritual one is AMAZING!

With that said, let the Church say - amen and AMEN!

Don't Let Anger Rule!

Anger: A strong feeling of displeasure, rage

The Lord realizes that at some point in this life we are all going to get angry about something. That's why He said in His word, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27). While anger may be a part of life, it's important that we don't allow it to carry us into sin.

Despite what you might have heard, it's good not to hid our anger. Instead, we should deal with it (and the reason for it) the moment it comes up. If we don't, it can become destructive. It's always good to acknowledge it, and then deal with it in a positive way by taking it directly to Jesus and confessing it to Him. Although it may feel good to the flesh to be angry and to take that out on others (like by telling them off!), two wrongs have never made a right.

Joyce Myers once said, reacting in anger is how we express our dissatisfaction with life. Let's use Naman as an example. He was a leper who went to the man of God to be healed. However, when the man of God sent his servant out to pray for him instead of doing it himself, Naman became dissatisfied with life and didn't want to do as he had been instructed (go and dip in the river Jordon seven times). Fortunately for Naman, he had a servant who told him that if the man of God servant had told him to do something "big" for his healing, he would have most certainly done it. With that in mind, Naman went and dipped himself seven times in the river and came out completely healed. Naman almost allowed his anger to cheat him out of his blessing! We should never allow our emotions to take over to the point where we cause our flesh to sin and we end up blocking our own blessings.

I can't say it enough - we must not allow ourselves to be in such a rage of anger that we miss out or almost miss out on our blessings that we have prayed so hard for. Even when we want to get angry with our spouse, our sibling, and/or our children for something they have done, we must remember that it's not our responsibility to change them; we are not responsible for their happiness nor their decisions. It is, however, our responsibility to stay focused, and to love them in spite of their actions. God will take care of the rest, after all it is His responsibility (not ours).

We should never allow our anger to fester, because years later it will affect us in ways we wouldn't believe. Remember to keep in mind, "This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!             

Thank God for His Favor!

Favor: Grace, delight, as act of kindness.

I thank the Lord for favor and His wonderful acts of kindness.... some say favor ain't fair, that’s because they don’t see what we are doing in private - they don’t see our prayer time, our worship, and our thanksgiving to the Lord for who He is and what He is to us. Instead, what they are responding to is what they see outwardly - us being blessed.

It's imperative that we delight in Him, and that we spend time in His presence. Of course, our mind set should not be that we are giving time simply to get what we want. Our mind set should always be that we do the things we do because of the love we have for Him; and because of what He’s done for us. When the Lord sees us delighting in Him, He’s faithful to do as His Word says.

Romans 13:8 tell us to "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." He’s too merciful; too holy; too awesome; to allow us to do all the giving.  I thank the Lord today, because He didn't have to wake me up this morning. He didn't have to give me another opportunity to praise His name - but He did! It was an act of kindness, which is favor. He wants to treat us with generosity and goodwill far beyond what our little minds can ever comprehend!

Take me for example - Several years back, I wanted an Cadillac Escalade. My family laughed at me and wouldn't even go to the car lot with me to look at one. You see, at the time, I was working a job making $15.00 an hour, so they didn't believe that I could afford to pay for one. Later, I started working for a lady that owned an Escalade and about six years ago she became ill. Would you believe that once she lost the desire to drive, she gave that Escalade to me... even though she has three sons of her own?? Now that's favor!

My friend needed a financial blessing - specifically she needed $1000. Instead of stressing herself out, she laid out before the Lord in prayer. She needed the money that same day. After praying and praising she went back upstairs, and when she walked by her husband, he told her, "I’m going to put a $1000 in your account today." She never asked him for the money (some of you ladies out there might know why). Now that's favor!

His acts of kindness, His grace, and His delight doesn’t just stop with us. Deuteronomy 5:29 says, "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!" You realize that means that The Lord will show our children favor as well! Try and tell me that He's not an awesome God!

Many years ago, my son ran off the road and hit a steel pole head on - on the driver's side. Needless to say, the car was completely totaled...but my son walked away without a scratch! I know they say that Volvos are the safest cars on the market... but we all know that it wasn't that Volvo that kept him safe. Now that's favor!

With that said, let the church say amen... and AMEN!

We Must Walk the Walk of a Believer!

Worthy: Deserving admiration or honor

Ephesians 4:1 tells us, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation where with ye are called." In other words, Paul is begging us to live a life worthy of the divine purpose to which we have been called, with behavior that is pleasing to God. Verses 22-24 of the same chapter tells us that the Lord's desire for us is that we "...put off concerning the former conversation [or behavior] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed [or reestablish] in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." The Lord desires us to have a personal relationship with Him - one of praise and thanksgiving and He wants us to have an upright walk with Him. When the Lord sees us walking worthy of our calling (i.e. that of a believer), He honors it and shows great mercy and favor toward us.

As an example, let's take a look at Samuel's walk before the Lord. He walked upright and the Lord was pleased with him. When Samuel prayed for something, he had great influence with the Lord - wouldn't it be AMAZING to have that kind of influence?! When the Philistines invaded Israel, Samuel prayed for God to intervene and "...the Philistines were subdued and they came no more into the coast of Israel; and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel" (1 Samuel 7:13). Samuel chose to take a stand with God and to walk worthy before Him, just as we must do. The word also says in 1 Samuel 3:19 that "none of his words fall to the ground," in other words when Samuel spoke it - God heard it and acted upon it. Now how awesome is that?!

Walking worthy of our calling pays great dividends, but of course, we have to do our part. As Ephesians 4:31-32 reminds us, "Let all bitterness, and wrath and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you; with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." This is obviously what Samuel had working in his life, because the Lord honored him. You and I can also have this same favor working in our lives if we keep the Lord first and if we walk worthy of our calling. As the song says, "if He did it before, He'd do it again. Same God right now, same God back then!"

With all that said, let the church say amen... and AMEN!