Wise Counsel
Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel-that will stand. Proverbs 19:20-21NKJV
As I was reading my devotional today, the words wise counsel reminded me of a time when I was in Russia. I got a great word of knowledge from a friend. My friend was asking me if I have someone in my life who I trusted and can advise me when needed. When I told him no, he was surprised. He said that I needed to have a mentor in my life and then proceeded to talk to me about the importance of having certain influences of people that surround me in my walk. He used the example of a car engine and the wires within it. He said I needed someone who is a grounding wire, a person who will encourage me onward. He then said that I needed a hot wire, someone who will correct me. Finally, I need a neutral wire someone who would listen and hear me out.
I look back today and thank God for that divine appointment across the world. God reached me thousands of miles away to instill within me, what I would need upon returning home. Little did I know that my life would be transformed, and I would begin a new journey. When I came home, I began my quest for these people that I needed in my life called mentors. What I later realized was that I already had a couple of those “engine wires” in my life. I was ready to move forward, and I was pumped to find my new “advisor”. I began to ask people to mentor me and to my surprise, no one wanted to take on that responsibility. It was tuff for someone to commit to that. I felt defeated and started to allow my thoughts to get the best of me. I kept pushing forward through the defeat and as I pressed onward, I continued to be shot down. I watched with a heavy sadness as the expression on their faces turned from joy to an overwhelming reluctance as they were trying to come up with an answer to not have to commit.
It wasn’t until I let it go, did God lead me right to what I needed. The person I asked to mentor me at one point said, “Let’s just see where this goes.” She was talking about our newfound friendship that came through the writing of books. You see, that was no coincidence. That was God. He is always making things for our good. God knew this meeting would take place at this time, and through something in common with one another, God established one of my “engine wires”.
That day, I realized that my Russian friend was speaking into me, my spirit. The Lord had to take me out of my surroundings to hear His word of what He had planned for me. Out of obedience, I clung to the word he gave me. I also had a lot to learn from that day on about myself and control. As I look back to that day sitting at a restaurant in Russia, I can now see how God was at work in my life and I can also see where I was and where I am now.
Wise counsel leads us to make great the plans of the Lord. It shifts the spiritual atmosphere making a way for the glorious Father to enter and receive splendor. This can only occur when we learn to walk in the ways of the Lord. When we make ourselves less by giving up the ways of the world, we magnify Him to greatness, and His greatness is magnified through us. Wise counsel helps to work out the destiny that God has predestined for us.
We need wise counsel in our lives.
FAITH
Faith. It’s a small five-letter word packed with power, but so hard to define.
There are many examples in the Bible of those who had faith, but how can we describe how it works in us? Have you ever thought about this word and tried to define it? Many times, when someone shares something with me I have a hard time wrapping my mind around what it means. Faith is like this. Could faith be something that not only becomes a part of us but something we have to walk out each day to understand how it operates in us?
When we walk out faith each day it does become a part of us. When we read the scripture of those who have gone before us, our faith builds within us. I believe that faith is not needing to see something, but just believing. When you believe, your hope rises and faith begins to grow within you. Faith may not be something tangible to the living eye but is the feeling inside that you just know. It is not something physical that can be touched however, the heart knows. The heart identifies that it is there by the feeling it produces while it pushes us forward. A believers best example of faith is believing in the Holy Spirit. Even though Jesus performed miracles, some did not believe that He was Divine (Matthew 13:55-40). Faith also can be when you have nothing else to go on and you choose to believe to make it through your day. It’s there when you can’t see it and has been given to us by the Father to overcome difficult situations. Faith keeps us pushing forward. To the believer, it gives God all the credit. To the unbeliever, faith is seen as luck, coincidence, or even hard work, and the credit is given the outcome, which has no internal feeling.
At some point in our lives, we realize that things are just that, things. What we obtain from this life is temporary. Cars, houses, jobs are all needed to live this life but they are not what sustains us. Our validation comes through our inheritance from the Father. Faith becomes a part of us and matures from different trials and tribulations throughout our lives. It cannot be cultivated by what we acquire in life but transpires through our life experiences. Believing that our supernatural God can do all and has made all things for our good opens the door and grows our faith in and through us. You can believe in material things or the ways of the world; all will let you down. This is where our faith begins to bloom. These tough times are where we search for relief, an escape, or a way out. God’s word offers us the fruit of the Spirit, and in what He gives us; faith arises. Hope ignites the spark to believe and belief is what fuels the fire of faith in our lives. No matter what this world says, when we hold onto the faith of the Father through His written word and prayer, we’re able to transform ourselves in all situations. This is how I see faith. How do you define faith in your life?
Led by the Holy Spirit
We are called by God to be led by the Spirit, not the world. Why is this so hard to do? For we know, that when we are led by the Spirit we are eternally fulfilled.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans 8:14NKJV
This scripture reveals what we have to look forward to when we receive Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. When we surrender the ways of the world and take on a new identity in Christ, our journey begins. Just as a child grows and matures throughout life, our relationship with the Father matures as we learn more about Him and His ways. This process reveals to us what moving in the Holy Spirit looks like as we graft ourselves into the Father; becoming mature children of the kingdom. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God to guide and teach us many things. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. Our job is to learn to recognize the way the Holy Spirit moves in our lives. He is our helper in all times and without Him, we are nothing.
The world and all that is in it are temporary. Being led by the Spirit shows us how to walk in this carnal world while receiving an everlasting filling coming from something much greater. That greatness is what the Father has to give us. When we walk in the ways of the world, turning with the way the wind blows, we will not make it to our destination. Our focus becomes lost and uncertainty soon creeps in.
When we walk in the Spirit of the Lord our ways are made clear. A path is revealed. We are confident in the Father to direct our paths. The world offers much that can entangle our thoughts and minds making us waver between right and wrong, good and bad. Walking in the Spirit of God leaves no room for those kinds of decisions. When you choose to be led by the Spirit the ways of the world no longer take a toll on your internal being. Your mind, heart, and soul become aligned within the Father and begin to weave a beautiful picture of the intentions of the Father.
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV
The choice is always ours. When we have tried every avenue God will be there waiting in the darkness. He never leaves us or forsakes us as we navigate the ways of the world. It’s much easier to be led by His Spirit for His purpose than to try to imitate the pattern of this world. We were created uniquely, set on a course to be fashioned after the One who came and died for us. When we accept Jesus the Son of God, a door opens to the Father. His gift is the Holy Spirit in us to encourage, comfort, and guide us. This is the greatest gift to be given and when we receive it our lives are never the same. The love of God is evident through the gift of His Spirit within us flowing through us for His purpose. How does the Holy Spirit move in your life?
God Within Us
The connection is there but are we grounded? I like to think of my connection with God as a telephone cord. The curly part of the telephone is the Holy Spirit and how we hear God. This cord is what connects us to the phone body and establishes a connection. The phone body is God. This is how the network is generated. We are the receiver that listens to the Father being connected through the Holy Spirit. This connection sets forth a direct line of communication to the Father. It produces all kinds of conversations throughout our lives.
Our communication becomes personal when we learn how to use the phone. This relationship with the Father cannot be obtained by any other method. God transmits all our assignments throughout life through the Holy Spirit. When we are in alignment with the Father, recognizing that He is in us, we can receive His messages through the Spirit. Only then can our minds become awakened to our spiritual senses and directly wire us into one single exchange with the Father. This is God within us.
This is where our conversion from our old self occurs, and we begin to upgrade into the new creation through Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. This is where our journey begins. It’s easy to get lost along the way. Our firm foundation is set upon the cornerstone of our life, the Son who paid the price for us. We can never repay what He did for us to become grounded in the Father. Jesus opened the door for us giving us a direct line of communication with the Father. It’s up to us to learn to make the transmission occur.
I pray today for the Holy Spirit to reveal more of the Father to you and open the connection to experience His goodness for you. May this connection ignite a fire within to hunger for more of Him and your spiritual senses awaken to His presence and all He has for you. May your spirit come to life and the Father fill your cup to overflow. As you pour out the goodness of the Father let his replenishing make you new. This is how a telephone works. It generates many transmissions and allows us to listen and receive from the phone body. Choose to listen closely to what the Father is releasing, and the Holy Spirit will guide you towards your destiny.
Come Holy Spirit
Listen
Wow! I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit this morning to focus on the word LISTEN. For a long time, I can admit that I prayed and prayed and never understood why things remained the same. I was missing a piece of the puzzle that God intended for me to put to use. Listening.
Prayer is a two-way conversation. I pray and God responds. But for a long time, I think I was primarily vomiting out my prayers just to release them because it was the right thing to do. Just as we grow through life, I had to learn to grow closer to the Father and through this experience, my prayers matured. God wants a relationship with us as He had with Moses. We can compare that relationship today to our connection with our parents; spouses or a confidant and such. Why do we make it so hard to have this same communication with God? What’s the difference? When we are talking to a friend, do we listen and then respond?
When we listen to God after doing all the talking, the Holy Spirit fills our being and it’s instilled in our hearts. We know the answers. They may or not be what we want to hear. God not only uses our time of prayer, but he also places others in our path to confirm with us. He may show us a pattern of things in our daily lives or come to us at night in our dreams. But, we have to have the hunger to listen. Listening makes all the difference with your relationship with God. There are at least 80 passages in the King James Version of the Bible about taking “heed”. I would say that taking “heed” is something that God is pointing out to us throughout scripture. This is something we must learn to do. When you take heed, you are paying close attention. To pay attention you need to listen. Listening is part of being obedient to the Father and by mastering this tool that God is giving us we will be able to move forward into our destiny.
We have the choice to stay stagnant and ask the same questions and get the same responses or we can change the scenery. We can make it a priority to get to know God with more depth by coming silently to Him, waiting with fervency and expectation as He reveals to us His heart. Be still in the moment. Allow your spirit to utter what you want to say. Allow the Father to speak first. Release your thoughts to Him and listen. Then, the burden placed upon your heart or the idea placed in your mind, is the start of a beautiful conversation that will continue to grow and mature. God is full of wonders, and He has so much to release to us; if only we will slow down and listen. Choose today to attune your hearts to the one who has so much in store for you. Choose to hear the still small voice of the Lord that will push you into your destiny. May God Bless you and give you ears to hear, eyes to see and faith to walk it all out!
Have we lost what was intended for us?
Unity is the key. When we work against God we break all that He intended for our destinies and we allow the enemy to defeat us. We often forget when we are in the midst of our own “stuff”, that God has already won the battle. We choose to make our lives average when we could be succeeding, taking steps to become whole in Him. Instead, we spend our time thinking about our positions and ourselves. Life is much more than our day- to-day. When we dig deep into our purpose, we begin to see how the enemy shows up to stop us from anything deserving. What good is discord?
I believe God has begun to unveil a pattern to me as I read His word. I am finding that when anything good ever happened, it was because “those of old” were always in accord with one another. The Bible has a master design meant for us to follow. Often, man gets in the way of himself and his own succession. His transformation cannot occur when he is his own stumbling block. And for what I ask? It’s always for something temporary verses the eternal that has been promised to us by the Father. When, oh when will we learn?
A thought to ponder… God has given us this life. He breathed life into us. From the dust of the ground, He created us for His purpose. We have all read this or heard this at some point throughout our lives. If we know what God is telling us in Genesis 2:7, then why haven’t we applied these ancient words to our own lives? Do we think that the Bible does not apply to our world today? We are still a part of the story that has taken place so many years ago. The Bible is an ancient manual for us to follow. Those who have gone before us paved a way for us, making our paths clear and secure. The ones who achieved their assignments from the Lord were in accord with one another. They were in unification amongst themselves and the Father. How has it come to be that we have lost what has been given to us so freely? How can we get back to the road less traveled? Father, help us to see You and Your ways for us. Make us new and show us how to walk once again in accordance with Your plans that You have for us. Come Holy Spirit
Am I the Obstacle?
I have been thinking about the blog that I posted last week on “Blueprints”. I decided that this week I would share a personal experience from my life, expanding on how we may be the one getting in the way of our own destiny. The world has a way of making us see and think differently of ourselves; always contradicting who God says we are. If we lose sight of who we are, humanism of the world sneaks in leaving us feeling utterly stuck or even lost at times throughout our lives. As a mother myself, the thought that comes to my mind when thinking about our blueprint; this beautiful gift designed and given from the Lord is: “When is the right time to move forward and to let your children fly, to be able to walk out their destiny given by the Lord?”
Years ago, I had a revolving question in my mind that would never leave me. I wondered why I could not see God moving in my life. God is always at work in our lives, but it may be that we are the obstacles, holding onto the baggage of the world. We may think that because we have certain “labels”, that we were only meant for who we are or what we become. I spent so much time focusing on my children that I could not see God at work in my own life. God was giving and showing me many opportunities to grab on to, so that I could begin to answer my calling, but I could not see past myself.
It wasn’t until I found myself in a hotel room across the world, that I began to truly understand that I could still be a mother to my wonderful children, while also fulfilling my personal destiny. Up until this experience, I was trying to control every area in my own life. As much as I wanted to believe that God was in control of my life, my actions proved this theory completely wrong. At the time of my awakening, I was doing an assignment for God. I like to call it “business”. I was in Moscow, at the end of my mission and while preparing to go home my awakening happened. I broke. I felt in my spirit that the Father was telling me to give him my children. The burden that He placed on my heart over the years could not begin to take root until I chose to totally surrender to the Lord. This meant that I needed to give up the control in my life to keep everything running right in the eyes of the world. I was scared but and at the end of my rope. I had nothing left to give and was completely exhausted. I needed go back to the basics. I needed a boost of faith. While being so focused on what I thought a mother was supposed to be, I lost what God had deigned me to be. I was trying to manage family life and what God had in store for me, rather than petitioning all I had each day for God, in total surrender. I was grafting into the world instead of into God and it was unsustainable.
At this time, my children were just into adulthood making a way for themselves, and I guess you can say that I was at a standstill. I did not really understand what walking out your “Blueprint” in life meant. I did not realize that I had to die to my self by letting go to become what God had for me. This blog is not about giving up being a mother but in fact about much greater. It’s about being a mother an example for her children to follow and how I learned to surrender an area of my life to move forward. Realizing that I am not the protector of my children, only God can instill all that He is and has for them. To do this, I had to let go and move forward into my destiny.
That day in the hotel room with tears rolling down my eyes, I surrendered my children and my life to the Father. God showed me a clear picture. I placed my children into the palms of His hands and I watched Him close them. I knew then that it was never me who was holding it all together, but it was Him. I immediately felt a relief and a release. The Holy Spirit gave me an instant feeling that I would be living my calling and new doors were waiting and open for me. I learned that mothering is a part of me and always will be, yet God has placed many facets in me that are for me to discover and experience. When I said “yes” to Jesus, my entire life changed. It was not until I began living my faith and releasing baggage of the ways of the world, was I able to fulfill my blueprint from the Father. This assignment was one of many that I have to look forward to. As I let go, His love for me fills me to overflow to complete the next project. I hope my story gives you hope in your life to know that wherever you are, God has a unique plan for you, and when you surrender to Him your journey will begin! God Bless
Heart Matters
We were born into sin and recently, I have been asking myself if our hearts are good or bad. I started to wonder if part of why we are here is to learn to remove the ways of the world from our hearts and fill it with the intentions of the Lord. I have a thought about the heart that I would like to share. What if the heart that we are talking about is not the human organ heart that we think it to be? What if the heart is made up of more than a ticker that keeps our body alive?
“ Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Hebrews 10:22
We are New Testament believers and we have been given the ultimate gift. We have been given Jesus Christ. When we choose to follow Jesus many doors open to us. One door in particular is being able to go directly to the Father. We no longer have to go the route of the Old Testament believers, but we now have a direct line of communication to God.
One of the greatest gifts that we have been given is to be able to repent and ask the Father for forgiveness. This truly is a gift. As you know, when we inherit the kingdom of God as His children, He is gracious and merciful to us. When we truly ask for forgiveness with a pure heart, God not only forgives us but this process makes us pure and new again. We also have to play our part in believing that we will be set free. It’s one thing to say you believe and have faith; it is another thing to walk out your belief.
The Bible has many scriptures on the heart. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful and sick (Jeremiah 17:9-10). Proverbs tell us to guard our hearts (Proverbs 24:3). John tells us not to let our hearts be troubled (John14:1). Matthew tells us that out of the heart comes evil thoughts (Matthew 15;9). Samuel tells us that God looks on the heart (1Samuel 16:7). These are just to name a few. The Bible is filled with scriptures about our heart. Our heart is more than just an organ. The heart is where it all starts. We make choices from the heart. Our will comes from our heart. The heart is the center of operations of our daily life.
I believe that when we are born, we have a clean slate and as we grow and develop through life, our hearts get cluttered with good and bad things. The ways of the world spill over in to our hearts making them impure. Why do you think that David wrote: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10 NKJV)? David’s heart turned to the worldly ways. The evil schemes of the enemy saturated David’s heart and filled him with lust and bad thoughts to get what he wanted. God gave the enemy power over the earth although God is in full control of ALL things at all times. Part of this evil power is how the enemy works supernaturally to change the condition of our hearts. When we accept Jesus Christ our Savior, who paid the price of His life for sin to be no more, we freely accept this gift offering to us from the Father to be able to ask the Father for forgiveness when our hearts become tainted. We also receive the discernment or burden of when we are not doing the right thing. With this new ability that God has given us, we can take the sin straight to the Father and ask for forgiveness to make our hearts clean once again. When we do this, we break all ties to the enemy and are washed clean just as when we were washed clean at our baptism. This gift is what will sustain us through life and will keep us on the narrow path, the least traveled route. This reward from the Lord will bring us wisdom and will keep our hearts from breaking down and giving in to the ways of evil. I believe that God gave us this to sustain our hearts from the ways of the enemy. He loves us so much and has so much to give us. It’s up to us to fully surrender and receive what our Father has to give us. Have you checked your heart lately?
Our Blueprint
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 NKJV
Genesis 2:7; God breathed His Spirit into us. This is easy to read but how is this key scripture applied to our life today? I believe that part of becoming who God created us to be, is to learn how to operate in the Spirit. We are here but for a short time to fulfill the purposes of the Lord and the Spirit within us helps us do this. His Spirit is what brings us to life. When we choose to go deeper, hungering for more of the Father, an activation occurs from within and the Spirit begins to go to work. New doors begin opening and our eyes begin to see differently. We slowly become equipped to carry out the plans of the Lord.
When I think about how God’s Spirit works within me, I picture how a vessel works. We are vessels for the Lord to use. He fills our cups to overflow. As He pours into us, our being (our spirit), we release what the Father has given to us to help others. He refills our cups, restoring what we have given away. A vessel stores things. These things can be poured out and replenished. Just as the Father fills us up, he also replaces what has been used. We are never in need because the spirit within us is constantly being revived. The more that we become who the Father intended us to be, the more we transform, leaving all the things of the world behind becoming full of love, joy, peace; all the Fruit of the Spirit. When this transformation takes place, we begin living in accordance to the Holy Spirit within us. This unity brings about all the goodness of God. All that God has intended for us to be is now activated and we can begin to take our new identity, walking out our life in union with the Father. The light, the Spirit within us, begins to radiate from within and shines for the one who is in front of us.
I think this blueprint design that God has intended for us, is part of the process of life. As we learn to let go of the worldly ways and thoughts, we learn to become full of Gods Spirit moving in and through His love. As we release baggage of ways of the world, we become lighter and hunger to share our Father with the world. This is how we love the one in front of us. We are temporary residents here. We are living in this world but not of it. We belong to the kingdom of God and we inherit His kingdom becoming sons and daughters when we accept Jesus Christ our Savior. Our Sonship begins when we say Yes! The Great Architect has a blueprint design for each of us. It’s up to us to find this design, our destinies. It’s our choice to want to learn and to move and operate from the Spirit within. God has purposed ALL of our ways. It’s time to get back to the basics and begin to tread the ancient ways.
The Spirit Within
I could not imagine living my life without the Holy Spirit. I wonder about the people back in the day that lived according to the law. The law, could never be followed perfectly, it was too hard. The Spirit within us makes it possible to not only be set free from the law but gives us the opportunity to live according to the plans the Father has for us. The Holy Spirit gives us what the law could not. We are made righteous through Jesus and justified by our faith in the Father. The law is now written on our hearts.
Conviction plays a key role in my life. There has been different times throughout my journey that I have felt myself veering from the narrow way. As I look back at those times, I see that the role of conviction resembles a “God Wink” of how the Father intervenes in my life to show or remind me of who He is and who I am as His daughter. This “God Wink” or revelation, becomes known to me through the Holy Spirit that resides within me. Until I do something about it, that feeling will not leave me. I thank God that I can go to Him, repent and ask for forgiveness to be made new. God knows we are not perfect and I am thankful that He is patient and loves me. He loves you too.
The blessing is the grace and mercy of the Lord and without the price that our Savior Jesus paid; we would still be living under the law. I will never be able to pay Jesus back for what He did for me but I can live my life complimenting Him. I can learn to be a mirror image of the Son. Jesus is my example to live by and with the Holy Spirit in me; I can be the light for the one in front of me; moving forward running the race, helping to finish the work of the One who gave His life for me. Thank you, Father for Your Son and the life You have given me, to carry onward. Thank You for Your Spirit in me and for setting me free from the law. I will do my best to make You shine in all the days You give me. May You be glorified, I love you.
As you reflect upon my personal experience today, may you take some time to write down what is being revealed to you. In this moment, go to the Father in prayer and ask Him to show you anything that is not presently being revealed to you. Ask Him for forgiveness and to be made new again so that you may walk according to the purposes that He has for you in this life. Finally give Him all of the glory, honor and praise by lifting him up in exaltation as you close your time with Him.
May you find an everlasting peace in knowing that as a child of God you can go to Him for all things. May His grace and mercy cover you and may you walk boldly into the destiny that He has prepared for you!
Come Holy Spirit