THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING LOST AND BEING LED

"Then Moses led Israel  from the Red Sea, and they went out onto the wilderness"  (Exodus 15:22).

Many people who find themselves stuck in difficult situations often feel as if  they've become lost.  Somehow,  they've arrived in a wilderness where everything  has dried up and nothing seems to be growing.   Many of them have lived in this wilderness for so long that they have given up on  things changing and concluded that this must be all that God has in store for them.  On numerous occasions, they have attempted to change their situation, but all of their efforts have failed.  If this sounds like you, you may not be lost all all!  You may be squarely within the Will of God.  All dry places in life are not the result of been lost.   Sometimes, God uses dry places as as place of preparation.

In Exodus 3:8, when God met Moses at the burning bush, He told him that He was going to deliver His people from bondage and into a land flowing with " milk and honey".  Yet, we know when God delivered His people from bondage,  He led them directly into a "wilderness" where they spent 40 years.  We know that their wilderness experience had a purpose because the Bible tells us that there was a shorter route available that they could have taken and avoided the wilderness altogether.  Exodus 13:17 says, "God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near".

Whenever God leads you some where He has a purpose and a predestined place for you, even if the route is a long or dry one.

Often, your wilderness is the doorway to your promise.  At the initiation of Jesus's  public ministry, He was led into the wilderness first before He ever preached a sermon.  If you are in a wilderness right now,  remember what you learned while there because it will be necessary to sustain you in your Promised Land.  Don't faint or loose heart.  You may be at your door of promise and purpose.  You may not have being lost at all. You may have simply being led !

  

SINGLES

"BUT SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS  SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU".  Matthew 6: 33

IF YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR THE PERFECT MATE PACKAGE WITH 

your name on it,  you may be surprised to discover that the Word of God has a lot to say on the subject of dating, courtship, and finding Mr. or Mrs. right. And if you are anxious or in a frenzy or frustrated about being married, you may have already started to look in the wrong places and open the wrong doors.

Don't settle! You don't want a spouse who isn't God's will for you.  What are you looking for?  God has a good plan for your life.   Don't look solely at the outside   (the packaging)!  Good  looks don't necessarily come with  a warranty for success and happiness!  Look at the character and integrity of a person.

This is how you are going to find your mate:  " Delight thyself also in the Lord : and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4).  You have to start by working on your desires.   When you delight in God, He is going to make your desires pure, He knows what you need much better than you do.

You have to stop seeking the idea of  the person you want as a mate -- and seek God. He has the perfect companion  for you, and He'll bring that person to you if you will be patient and delight yourself in Him. Whether of not it seems you've waited for a long time, it doesn't take God years and years to get someone to you.  He may bring your mate into your life today if you are sufficiently prepared to receive him or her and you are prepared to be "marriage material." You are ready when you are becoming the person that your ideal mate is praying about meeting.

When God is in a relationship, you know it. If you are a committed Christian, you'll also know it  when God isn't involved.  That girl or guy may appear fabulous on the outside, but if they're full of vinegar on the inside, any happiness you thought you'd found with this person will quickly subside.

Take an inventory of your relationships. Sort through and relinquish  the unhealthy  ones that diminish you in any way.  God specifically instructed in His Word that Christians are not to date unbelievers  (2 Corinthians 6: 14).  Pursue someone who has the same type of spiritual life and ministry that you desire.

If you will focus on God and His plan and trust Him to bring your life partner to you in His perfect timing, you'll spend the rest of your lives together being grateful for the fruit of patience and the gift of wisdom.  

BIRTHING YOUR DREAMS

And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into the pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams.  (Genesis 37: 19-20).

THERE NEVER WAS A QUESTION THAT JOSEPH HAD A DREAM.

The question was what would become of it.  There is always a dream within you.  A dream from God means that God-inspired hope planted on the inside of you as a seed in your heart, made real in your imagination by the Spirit of God.   And as with Joseph, when God plants a dream on the inside of you, the promise is often bigger than the person.

One of the greatest gifts you have in your life is the ability to see beyond your present state -- to dream.  It is all about God's great purposes and plans He has designed for you.  No one can define your dream but you.  God gives your dream to you alone.

So what will become of your dream ?  Will you decline it ?  Will you develop it ?  Joseph's dream did not develop overnight.  He didn't know that ultimately he would save his people and nation, but he figured it out.  Will you birth your dream ?  Will you go through the process?  You cannot bypass the process just for progress because you won't be developed.

The last thing the world needs is for someone to play small, what a sad indictment to be a soul saved but a life wasted because of self-imposed limitations.  Pursue the dream God has put in your life. There's no difference between your "true" self  and God's plan for you.  Your true self is made up of your deepest desires and gifts and abilities and dreams and passions.  Your true self is what God created in you.  It is who God made you to be.  Instead of accepting the limits that have  been placed on you, including the limits you have placed on yourself, pursue your passion!

Just as Joseph's brothers intended to slay Joseph and end his dream, the enemy wants to destroy your dream.  Dream killers try to immobilize your life and put you in a place of bondage.  Dreams come to pass when we step out and challenge life and take on the possibilities that lie before us.  So keep on dreaming.  You can do it with God on your side! You can birth it.  Whatever you do, don't stop!

 

Be confident that God will complete what He has started in you   (Philippians 1:6).  You don't  need to know everything, but make sure you know that the same God who gave you your dream, who transformed you and made you a new creation, this same God will bring His work to completion.

DO YOU EVER FEEL THAT LIFE'S BEEN UNFAIR TO YOU ?

" I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will  I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish".   Esther 4:16.

DO YOU EVER FEEL THAT LIFE'S BEEN UNFAIR TO YOU ?   Esther's parents had died.  They had been among the Jewish captives led away from Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar and settled in Persia. She knew slavery and oppression.  As an orphan, she was raised by her older cousin, Mordecai. But she refused to become bitter even though she had been broken and depleted in life.

Esther demonstrates that a person with a past can touch God in the present and believe Him to give her a future.  Esther didn't allow the misfortunes in her life to strip away her God- given identity.  Not everyone does that.  Some people who love God remain bitter and broken.  But everyone has the opportunity to touch God and believe for restoration in their areas of depletion.

One of the qualities that made Esther extraordinary is that she had a great inner fortitude and confidence that gave her the ability to handle pressure.  When  Esther went into the king's presence, where she was up against 127 beautiful virgins who were vying to become queen, she "requested nothing."  the other girls appealed to the king with ornaments and outward beauty.  Esther went with what was inside her -- an inner strength that radiated beauty and gave her favor (Esther 2 : 15).

Although Esther was the least outwardly adorned, what made her stunningly beautiful was "the hidden man of the heart"..........even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great prize"

 (1 Peter 3;4).   Esther was as strong on the inside as she was beautiful on the outside.  And because of that, she could handle a hostile environment because she knew who God  had made her to be.  When the moment came for her to take a heroic stand to save the Jewish people, years of preparation led to a determined date with her destiny.

Don't miss your moment.  Invest in what God has put inside you . Develop the beauty of an " inner life''.  Invest in what lasts all through life and on into eternity!   God is preparing you!   He is transforming you into a person who will rise above the wounding of your past and be overflowing with God's love.   He is establishing in you the ability to withstand pressure and to have an inner radiance that comes from a relationship with Him.

Ask God to reveal to you what it is that He has for your life.  Ask Him to give you a glimpse of the future He has already prepared for you.  It's a future bathed in the glory of God, and it's a destiny worth pursuing with your whole heart.

Life Without Limits: PERSERVERANCE

Life Without Limits: PERSERVERANCE: "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise". (Hebrews 10:36). SOMETIM...

PERSERVERANCE

"For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise". (Hebrews 10:36).

SOMETIMES WE GET FOOLED INTO BELIEVING THAT OUR DESTINY
will just drop in our lap and the promises of God will automatically manifest themselves, but that's not the case. God does not refine you, train you, transform you, or renew you instantly.   He puts you through a process -- a series of inevitable, successive events that cause you to be stretched to the utmost extremes and to go beyond your normal limits or comfort zone .
Your destiny is a process that is being worked out. Therefore you must possess perseverance.
 The journey in this life is just as important as the destination. That process requires patience. It requires steadfastness and faithfulness.  It requires trust and confidence.

You may not understand why it seems that God hasn't  worked yet on  your behalf. You may be puzzled as to why God hasn't caused you to have the breakthrough you have desired.  You may be wondering why God hasn't provided for you in the way you believe He will .....but don't allow your lack of understanding to cause you to move from under the umbrella of God's protection. Instead, persevere!  To persevere means to go through the severity with a proper perception and to stand firm under pressure.

If you want God to move you into a future that will be marked by an abundance of life ....if you want God to create for you  a place in His history, then don't move away from Him.  Keep seeking God with your whole heart, Pray, Lean on Him.  Let the Holy Spirit guide you as you learn how to listen to His voice.  Study the word of God. Learn who God is, how He moves, and what He does.  Keep studying the word and meditating on its truth as a part of your commitment to never give up.

Keep believing God for His anointing to flow through you and to push through everything that would hold you back from walking in His purposes, blessing others, and giving him glory.  Push aside your past, limitations, small thinking, rejection, discouragement, hardships, lies and depression. You can do it in the name that is above every name, the mighty name of Jesus.  You can stand in His strength!

Don't give the enemy a position of authority to enter your life.  Why? Because if you let him, he will seize on that opportunity and bring you down.  Do not wait until the devil moves in and unpacks his suitcase of blight and discouragement to kick him out. Slam the gates and give no place to the devil.  ( Ephesians 4:27).
Guard what you allow into your life through your eyes and ears. Keep your heart and mind pure.

Receive a spirit of boldness, strength, and might. Receive the spirit of the warrior for Christ, the spirit of the Captain of the Hosts, the Lord Jesus Christ. receive the spirit of victory, so that you can walk in everything God's planned for you.

THE PROPHET

Prophets are called to watch, which sometimes demands unusual and difficult journeys.  Isaiah was privy to the conversation of God, and heard them discussing the future of Israel.  However, Elisha heard the plans of the enemy and revealed them to the King, placing himself in a very difficult position.

The prophetic ministry is firmly grounded in both the Old and New Testament scriptures. The foundations of the prophetic office are detailed extensively in the books of Samuel, Kings and Corinthians.

The prophet is one who sees beyond present circumstances, giving access to future events.  He or she refuses to be controlled by fear; but rather, the prophet makes a courageous demand on the ability to progress. This cannot be done without a glimpse onto the future, which is the purpose of the prophet.

" I believe that Jesus intended His teachings to guide us into an abundant life, while at the same time warning us of present dangers, and giving us principles to apply, so we could build upon a sure foundation".
Part of Christ's ongoing instruction to individuals is revealed through personal encounters and the hearing of His voice.

Saul, the persecutor of the Church, was spoken to by Christ and directed to a city in which he discovered his destiny -- An Apostle of Christ.
Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, was instructed by God's voice to go and meet the acclaimed Saul of Tarsus at the House of Judas on Straight Street in Acts 9.

Prophecy, which includes direction as well as affirmation, has the potential (once acted upon) to ultimately become that individual's collection of heroic and historical acts, which would also become their children's divine inheritance.  Jacob acted upon God's voice and instruction and this act birthed Israel.  We still feel the effects of his obedience today.

The prophet is an instrument of God.  His words always bring hope and enrichment to the individual, family and community. Through her connection with the Lord, the prophet offers the individual a connection " in the moment" to God and Christ.  The experience for the listener is an opportunity to let go of the their past, their pain, and cynicism, to accept the grace  and the love of God. The listener is made aware that empowerment and life-long enrichment is a gift offered and that their opportunity  is acceptance.

The prophet carries certain aspects of future events as determined by God. She is a contradiction to present circumstances because of the foreknowledge/ foresight that inspires her. She is merely a channel and is often unaware of the implications of the impression, but carries a certain burden until this is released, hence, the intense disposition that often surrounds prophets.  Her words always bring hope and enrichment to an individual, family, community, and people.