Hear his voice

“But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10:2-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Today is a special day for me and my family as we celebrate the twins birthday, they turn 18. Just that quick their life flashed before my eyes and theirs. Now comes another portion of life that they enter into because in society 18 is the age people start to think they are grown. People start to experience lore life alone and learn about themselves. No one there to tell them when or where. What time. Get up. Clean up. Going off to college and the military to start this journey of life and learning how to trust themselves.

HERE IT IS…

Just because they have gotten to a place that they have to go out on their own I pray that the things that I have taught them would stay with them. Also hearing God in the way he speaks to them. It comes a time where we all had to learn his voice and even though we strayed away when he called our name. We knew who was calling us and ran back to him. Hear his voice. Trust his voice. Follow his voice.

Fear not

“Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”

Exodus 20:20 NLT

Research shows and Rick Warren has exclaimed that the bible has 365 verses related to the phrase “fear not”. 365 times we have the ability to to know that we have nothing to fear. 365 times the bible reveals that fear is only to and for God. 365 times we have been shown that we should only fear God. In a article published by, The conversation, it credits fear to be an emotion. It starts in the brain and then is filtered through the body. Our body’s then react accordingly with the fight or flight. Our bodies become defensive and starts to find ways of escape. It is natural to fear and be afraid.what happens when we take on those 365 verses and live as such? What happens when we recognize that God has us covered? What happens when we turn to God in prayer before we get afraid?

HERE IT IS…

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:15 NLT

What happens when we recognize that fear is an emotion that can be controlled. Fear entered into our minds which means we have learned it. We have internalized it and we have created a space for it to be apart of us. Just as Roman’s 8:15 tells us, we have not received the spirit of fear, but in fact we have allowed it in.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10 NLT

I have nothing to fear because it’s not apart of me. It’s not who we were created to be. Fear God for he is the only one who can judge you.

Stand and wait

Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.

1 Peter 5:9 NLT

I remember my Daddy telling myself and my sisters and brother “you dont stand there and let nobody hit you, protect yourself at all times.”. I remember my mom in the same fashion telling him, “they dont always have to fight, they can walk away.”. Honestly that can confuse a kid. For me, it helped me to realize that sometimes all you have to do is stand there. Sometimes just knowing how to fight is all you need to know. There has been people who have come to me and said, “you look like you know how to fight.”. I did and do, however I also knew when to and not to use it. From the different forms I have been taught it was one thing that was taught stand your ground…

HERE IT IS…

Sometimes all you have to do is look like you know how to fight and people wont mess with you. Sometimes they just want to see if you will square up with them. So it is spiritually. I know how to fight the enemy. I know what will make him flee. I know where my power lies, I have been taught how to fight, and I have had warfare with the enemy myself. What I have noticed is that sometimes when he peeks his ugly head and trys to catch me off guard, all I have to do is stand my ground. I dont have to speak, I dont have to yell, I do t have to put my hands up. Not because of MY ability but what has taught to me by my father in heaven. Stand and wait on God.

Wait

“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Waiting signifies an expectant endurance that’s demonstrated by a directed, purposeful, active, and courageous attitude of prayer.” – Charles Stanley, waiting on God.
How often does perfection happen for us? We have what’s called “perfect games” in baseball. We have “perfect games” in bowling. We have different ways of making something be perfect by setting standards on it. In order for it to be perfect for us, it has to be systematically made to be perfect. Who says what’s perfect? Who dictates what is labeled perfect. Or has the ability to deem something perfect.

HERE IT IS…

It’s easy to tell when something is perfect. But for us we have been able to make it measurable. When we use it as a adjective we are saying that it can’t get no better and the way it is is perfect. When it’s not! When we use it as a noun we are putting something into perfection. But it may not be what’s right for it. When we finally see it as a verb, an action we can see that it’s measure has no table because the defects are not there. Again we don’t know what that looks like. Until we know God. Perfect is not knowing how it’s going to happen where it’s coming from l, and it shows up. Why? Because perfection takes you out the equation. Wait on God, it’s coming.

Wait

“O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭13:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬
There is a running joke in the men community that when a woman says that she is ready, to give her another 30 mins. From our perspective it is taking her all day to do the same curl over and over. Or the makeup didn’t come out the way she wanted so she is trying to fix it. The dress she thought she was going to wear doesn’t look right with the shoes like she thought. It’s a process they have to go through. Truthfully speaking I can say that I get it. Don’t understand it, but I get it. It’s a matter of what lever they are going through all this trouble for is worth it because a statement is about to be made. Their will be unspoken statements made to all the other women in that room by doing this, and the person they are with.

HERE IT IS…

This is for you and it doesn’t matter what gender you are. I’ll give you advice from a male perspective. Just find something to do until he is ready. We usually sit in front of the TV and almost forget we are going out. If you focus on what’s in front of you then God will show up with whatever it is you have been waiting on. It’s perfect for you and no one else. It took a while because he had to get some stuff out of it. But he also needed you to stop focusing on it and do what he said. It may not come when your ready. But when it’s ready you know it’s time to go. He’s coming just wait a little while longer.

Wait

“For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Confession, as a kid when I was allowed to stay up late. When I became a teenager and stayed up late. I loved watching infomercials. I would watch the sales pitch, the excitement in their voices. I would watch how this product of what they were talking about worked effortlessly in their hands. The knives were extra shard to cut stone and slice a tomato to perfection. How the exercise equipment seem to make him sweat just from showing it on TV.

HERE IT IS…

Once we order it and get it in the mail. We take it out and assemble it we start to use it we realize that the way they were doing looked a lot easier. That’s just how we try to shortcut God. Knowing that he has everything we need but he seem Les to be taking to long. So we try to hurry God up and end up with some cheap placebo of a fix that we feel we just wasted time and money on. Wait on the Lord, because if you wait his guarantee is better than anything you can buy. Just wait on him, it’s coming.

New heart

“Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51:10‬ ‭NLT‬‬
I love the wizard of oz, but I love the Wiz better. Even though they have the same basis and outline the culture of the movie is different. The lion wanted courage. The scarecrow wanted a brain. Dorthy wanted to go home. And the tin man wanted a heart. He was an empty shell of metal. He had all the other things that he needed but he was so empty inside he couldn’t feel anything. He wanted to know what it felt like to feel. Truth is some of us may not be an empty shell but we have been hurt so much that we have just become numb. Numb to feeling, numb to love, numb to caring because we are to scared to get hurt again.

HERE IT IS…

You want to know what is amazing to me? After all the hurt and pain and anguish that you have had to go through God didnt turn his feeling towards you off. Remember you said YOU were numb. God didn’t move away YOU did. Ask God to help you feel again. To know what it is to be loved again. He will show you what your heart is supposed to be filled with. Just ask him to create in you a CLEAN HEART. Then to RENEW thee spirit with in you. It never left it’s been there the whole time. Embrace it and watch God work it out.

He has you covered

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”
Exodus 16:4‭-‬5 NLT

Provide, sustain, take care of, words and phrases that mention of making sure that someone is not in need of anything. As parents we make sure that our kids are not in need of anything. We try to make sure that the ones that we love and care for are taken care of and provided for. We dont want them to have to find it anywhere else if we are in good health and can make it happen. Where does it come from to allow you to be that providing person. That person that makes sure that everyone is sustained and not in need. Moses and Aaron was spoken to by God and was told what was going to happen. It wasnt anything that they did. It was all God.
HERE IT IS…

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord , who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.
Psalms 121:1‭-‬3 NLT

God provides for us. God gives us the wherewithal and the ability to do what we do for our families. He gives the thoughts, mindset, and intuition to do what we do. Moses and Aaron did what God said and the Israelites where sustained for the time they were in the wilderness. Whatever you going through, He will provide. Whatever is happening in your life, he will sustain you. Whatever may be trying to pull your family apart, God will do just what he said he will do.

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT

Matters of the heart

““The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.””
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17:9-10‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Have you ever had to work for UPS? Or any mail or delivery service dealing with packages. I have, and to say that I loved the idea of it is an understatement. However once I got in there and saw how packages were being handled, how the boxes were thrown. How things were stuffed into trucks and little space to get the most in there in ruined it for me. But it was like God saw that and I was given all the fragile items to pack. I was entrusted to pack away things that were sensitive. Because others wouldn’t take the time and care in what they were doing.

HERE IT IS…

The heart is a deceitful thing is what the scripture says. It be from the way someone handled it. It can be from the way someone just threw it around. It could be from all the broken pieces inside that cause you to feel that way. The truth of the matter is that you trusted your heart into the wrong hands. You have to give your heart to God who knows your whole heart. He made it. He has seen what you been through. The great thing about God is that he has never mishandled one yet. Because when you give your heart to him he is careful with it and protects it and puts it where it won’t fall or be damaged. In his hand

Let him search

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:23-24‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“Have you seen my keys?” The husband ask his wife while moving quickly through the house moving furniture and things around. “No where did you last have them?” She ask. He says, “ on the table.” As he searches and stops dead in his tracks turns around and looks at the mess he made all while searching for keys. He starts to slowly put things back while noticing all the stuff he had lost before was now uncovered. As he retraces his steps back to the table he notices his wife standing there pointing at them.

HERE IT IS…

We will add so much stuff in our life that we start to lose things, people, sight of God. Then when we finally realize what happen we have a mess on our hands. When God steps in he uncovers it all and we have to go right back to him at the table where we left him. Before you go around tearing stuff up ask him to to help you by searching you and directing you. He will see you through. He will remove those things that is causing you to lose it and put it all back together.