John 1: 1-18 (MSG) THE LIFE-LIGHT "1-2 THE WORD was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. THE WORD WAS GOD, in READINESS FOR GOD from day one. 3-5 EVERYTHING was CREATED THROUGH HIM; NOTHING—not one thing!—CAME INTO BEING WITHOUT HIM. What came into existence was LIFE, and the LIFE WAS LIGHT to LIVE by.The LIFE-LIGHT blazed out of the darkness; the darkness COULDN'T put it out. 6-8 There once was a man, his name JOHN, SENT BY GOD to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light. 9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life HE brings into Light. HE WAS IN THE WORLD, the world was there THROUGH HIM, and yet the World DIDN'T even notice.He came to HIS own people, but they DIDN'T WANT HIM. But WHOEVER DID want him, WHO BELIEVED He was who He Claimed and would DO what HE SAID, He made to be their TRUE SELVES, their CHILD OF GOD selves.These are the GOD BEGOTTEN, NOT blood-begotten, NOT flesh-begotten, NOT sex-begotten. 14 THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND BLOOD, AND MOVED into the neighborhood. We saw the GLORY WITH OUR OWN EYES, the ONE-OF-A-KIND GLORY, like Father, like Son, GENEROUS inside and out, TRUE from start to finish. 15 John pointed HIM out and called, “THIS IS THE ONE! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. HE has always been ahead of me, has always had the FIRST WORD.” 16-18 WE ALL LIVE OFF OF HIS GENEROUS BOUNTY, gift after gift after gift. We got the basics from Moses,and then this EXUBERANT GIVING AND RECEIVING,This ENDLESS KNOWING AND UNDERSTANDING— ALL CAME THROUGH JESUS, THE MESSIAH. No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This ONE-OF-A-KIND God-Expression, WHO EXISTS AT the very HEART of the Father, has made HIM PLAIN as day."
Our LIFE CHANGES for the BETTER (inwardly first) as we BELIEVE in what HE SAYS! We've done it all BEFORE...WITHOUT Him...and can SEE what a MESS of things we have made on our own. Just like FUMBLING AROUND in the dark TRYING to find something...we can't SEE what we are SEEKING too clearly. Oh but when we TURN the LIGHT ON we can SEE the MESS we've made along away when we didn't KNOW what was HIDDEN in the dark. But we are also are ABLE to SEE where we are GOING and FIND what we are SEEKING much FASTER!
You know like...
That MAN you KNOW you SHOULDN'T have gotten involved with just because he paid you some attention that you hadn't felt in awhile.
That credit card/loan that you AGREED TO even though you KNOW you said you were TRYING to get out of debt.
That job you thought would bring in MORE MONEY but is KEEPING you from spending MORE TIME with your family and getting to church.
That decision you made WITHOUT given one thought to ASKING GOD about it because YOU WANTED what YOU wanted at that moment.
Those people you've been spending TOO MUCH TIME with who are helping to LEAD you further from God than TO HIM. In THIS LIFE...We NEED THE LIGHT...of HIS WORD!.HE makes things SO MUCH CLEARER... more VISIBLE...and QUICKER to FIND!
No More MOVING in the dark for YOU, YOUR FAMILY, or YOUR COMMUNITY...TURN on the LIGHT! LET THE WORD ILLUMINE your path...for what you need to KNOW for YOUR JOURNEY! It all STARTS with HIM anyway...The LIGHT...The LIFE...THE WORD!
Corinthians 9:6-11 MSG 6-7 Remember:
A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish
crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and
make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against
sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in
the giving. 8-11 God
can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for
anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be
done. As one psalmist puts it,He throws caution to the winds,giving to the needy in reckless abandon.His right-living, right-giving waysnever run out, never wear out.This
most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for
your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you
can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God,
wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way,
producing with us great praise to God.
This morning as I was REFRESHED in the Word of God, I was reminded of the GIVING principle that brings forth blessings and favor into our lives. We can't EXPECT to get without GIVING! It's a spiritual and natural law. If we are desiring and expecting something in our lives that we have not been sowing towards, how can we even EXPECT to get a harvest in that area??? God does not need our giving...WE DO! He already owns it all anyway, and He is just TESTING our HEARTS to see if He can TRUST us with what He has GIVEN us, so that He can later get MORE to us for us to BLESS OTHERS!
The sowing and reaping principle applies to EVERY AREA of our lives! If we SOW mercy, we will receive mercy....if we SOW love, we will RECEIVE love...if we sow generously, we receive generously....just as if we SOW SPARINGLY, we RECEIVE SPARINGLY... no matter what it is! Giving grudgely and with a poor attitude is just as important as our giving. We can sometimes believe that just because we don't think a person needs or deserves our giving that we are somehow excluded from giving. UNTRUE! God wants a WILLING and CHEERFUL GIVER who is OBEDIENT to His Leading!
Many of us are needing FINANCIAL HARVEST for our households, but we have been reluctant or have not GIVEN/SOWN to get a harvest. It may not actually be money that God is asking you GIVE. Are you giving to that family member who is going through hard times but because you think the person has been irresponsible you won't GIVE even though they are in need? Or you know you have tons of things that you no longer need or us but something in you can't part with them because of the money you have spent or whatever special sentiment you hold to them? Or maybe there is a cause that is dear to your HEART that you aren't ready to GIVE your full commitment to because of the TIME it would require?
God is no respecter of persons and He has MORE than enough to GIVE You everything you need along with anything that you GIVE away for His Glory. Remember we can NEVER OUT GIVE GOD! The only thing is it requires a WILLING and CHEERFUL HEART to GIVE/sow seed towards it to spring up a GOOD HARVEST from it!
"Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:18-20)
As I thought about the title of this post, I was taken back 25 years to the time I was being orientated for a college auxiliary. Every orientation group had to come up with a "line" name that represented its members. Our line name was "La Nouvelle Premiere" meaning the "The New Beginning". Just as I was embarking on a new women's group so long ago, I was reminded that I am embarking on a new women's group today. A group of FAITH pursuing single mothers wanting to overcome the challenges in life. Women wanting to stay hopeful while running a home, having a heart for loving themselves/others, and staying healthy(spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally).
With the New Year approaching, a new beginning is coming again… a new opportunity, a new day, a new blessing, and/or a new lesson. The New Year always nudges me to sit back and reflect on the accomplishments/failures of the past year and the hope and possibilities of the coming year. It is a wonderful time for me to reflect, take stock, and write a new plan.
This past year has been a true transition/testing year for me. I truly committed myself to "walking by faith" and putting my feet to act on the things that have been placed on my heart to do. After being a single mother and an employee for many years, I committed to follow my entrepreneurial spirit. I had been praying that God would allow me the opportunity to stay home and make an income. This would allow me to be available to help raise my granddaughter as my daughter takes her own journey as a single mom (side thought...funny how history has repeated itself).
It's amazing to me when God places a vision in your heart, how He will usually put you in a situation to see if you really are committed to what you said you want to do. My vision started as a small need to solve the problems of single mothers who had homes that needed repairs. Single mothers who were having trouble keeping up with the expenses related to getting home repairs done. Single mothers needing to find affordable and reliable repairman to perform them.
However, God only gave me part of the vision to get me moving. There came the need to assist the single mom/s right in my own home before I could assist other women on a larger scale. I now know, there are usually delays and test of faithfulness along the course that will send you a different way than you expected to go. The detour helps you to see how strong, how committed and how faithful you are to get to the end destination. ("He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much..." - Luke 16:10)
Now I ask you, what is your vision/dream? Your vision/dream may not be the same as my vision/dream, but none the less a vision/dream. Maybe your dream is to have more money than month in order to pay all your bills. Or maybe it's to have spiritually Christ-centered children who are not jumping to every outside influence that can lead them down a path of destruction. Or maybe it's just to be available for your children when they need you, instead of making work or other things seem more important because you have to put food on the table. Or maybe it's just to keep an orderly home or to be more stress free and peaceful. Life may not always meet us where we want to go, but one thing is for sure, we can have Faith in God, with action, to move these mountains out of our lives. When we do, we can get to seeing the beauty God intends for us to see.
So with this New Year quickly approaching, I thought I'd share some of the lessons I've learned this year and hopefully it will assist you as we start this new beginning of "walking by faith" together. I hope you're ready. Here we go!
In the pursuit of my vision/dream this year, I've learned the following:
1) Surround yourself with people that encourage you towards where you want to go.(...But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother - Proverbs 18:24)
Where you are coming from will usually never look like where you're trying to go. So it will feel a little shaky and scary at times but with faith-filled people around you, you will be able to move past the feelings of turning back and move forward to where you are going. Find an online community that supports you and feeds your spirit, a local church ministry or maybe a good, faith-filled, close and supportive friend that encourages you.
2) Stay in prayer continuously, confess, and meditate on God's Word. (Pray without ceasing - 1 Thessalonians 5:17;May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14 )
I cannot stress enough the importance and POWER of the Word of God. It has been a tremendous ROCK during the hard times when I needed to press past what things 'look' like to what I know God says in His Word. The great thing about prayer you can do it anywhere. Now, I don't suggest getting you’re praise on in the library or some known quiet place, but if the Spirit moves you to do so....don't hold back. I know sometimes it can't be contained when you really got a praise to get out...mine usually starts with the tears flowing.
3) Remember God's Word and what He has spoken to your heart. (Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life - Proverbs 4:23)
Everything around you may be telling you to go back to the comfortable place from which you are moving.The enemy provides many ways to steal, kill, and destroy your purpose so that it never comes to fruition. So stay in the Word to be able to fight the "fiery darts" that the enemy tries to shoot at you and to be able to rightly divide a word of truth that comes your way. I've had fiery darts from seemingly concerned family members, friends, and from my own thoughts that wanted to take me back to old practices.
4) Stop looking for others to validate what you know you need to do.(Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path - Proverbs 3:5-6)
Your family and friends will try to tell you and remind you to go and get a traditional job so you can have the kind of money you were used to having. They will think you have lost your mind for doing things different than what they have known you to do previously. But when you know, that you know, you are doing what you are called to do money is a small detail. It may not be what you initially would prefer but God always provides just what you need. He validates your efforts as you move forward.
5) Your vision is initially for you to see.(Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry - Habukkak 2:2-3)
Your vision is uniquely designed for you to see, walk and then lead others. You may not have anyone doing what you need to do. So don't panic and become discouraged. You may not have anyone who understands what you are trying to do. You may have to keep it to yourself for a time. You may have to work up to a point where you are seeing things more clearly and are more confident to share without caring what others think/say/see.
6) Keep giving wherever you are able to give. (Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” - Luke 6:38)
If it crosses your path and touches your heart to do....do it. Don't look at how much money you have, whether you need it or not, or if the person would do the same for you. It's a test to make you revert back to a way that is self-centered, comfortable, non-sacrificial, or unloving. God is a giver and He can surely replace anything you give away. He is an abundant God who rewards the obedient.
7) Stand when all hell looks like it's trying to come up against you. (The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly- John 10:10)
This is where the Word really becomes flesh. You need to speak the Life of God’s Word to every negative force that comes up against your vision. There will be times when life will not look like you're headed in the right direction and try to make you look at all the problems instead of God's promises. If God says it, it is true. Not the car that failed on you, not the income that's not matching your expectations, not the chaos that seems to be all around you, and not the children that are acting a fool.
8) Know that God will give you little winks along the way.(Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart - Psalm 37:4 )
God lets you know you are taking the right steps as you move towards what He has called you to do.It may be a person mentioning something you just read in His Word, or spoke to you inwardly. It could be a check in the mail that had the exact amount that you prayed you needed to pay that light bill, or a child who has been rebellious towards your instructions all week, who will come and hug you or say thank you unexpectedly. You'll just know it in your heart and it will strengthen you to keep going.
All of these steps helped me to survive this past year. The year has been less than comfortable for me but has allowed me to have Peace in the midst of it all. Your Peace will show up as well as you lean on the Everlasting Present Helper whom you can place your Faith in....God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Here's to surviving and walking towards a new beginning with Faith!
