Sometimes faith doesn’t make sense!! Can I get at least one witness?! We’ve all heard people say, “When you can’t explain it, you know it was God that did it.” Well, let me testify. My assignment was to relocate my office off Galveston island to a location further mainland. I was then given a general vicinity and specific relocation guidelines as to what to look for etc. Fast forward approximately 3 years later, I thought I found the perfect location but to my dismay it wasn’t a good fit for the company’s vision or business model. So the hunt continued… Now, although the corporate team said ‘no’ to that location, the owner of the retail center said ‘yes’ to my proposition. I offered to find a piece of commercial property in Alvin and he agreed that if the location met his criteria he would build a commercial retail center and tailor a lease space to fit the parameters my company desired for their build-out. Now, I’ll submit to you in the back of my mind, I said to myself, “This sounds good but how in the heck am I going to pull this off.” To make a long story short, I prayed and God revealed to me a tract of land that wasn’t being advertised but for sale located on HWY 35 N Bypass in Alvin, Texas. There’s a lot more twists and turns to this story but to God be the glory (#TGBTG) and in His grace,
I successfully negotiated the commercial real estate land transaction and nearly 1 year later (2019), we successfully moved in to our new retail space and not to mention several other great small businesses: Red Oak Cafe, Sombreros, and recently La Costa Seafood. Here’s the kicker, on March 7th I was honored to speak at a marriage conference hosted by Ed & Kim Oratvez at the Red Oak Cafe. I never saw any of these awe inspiring events transpiring in full sight (read 2 Corinthians 5:7) but God did and I think this is why faith doesn’t make sense, it molds heroes. God is not asking us to see the full picture rather to trust that He is the Artist that painted picture! We are traveling in a season where God is using our circumstances to mold our faith and to turn our hearts back to Him! So in times such as these, don’t ever forget that God leads (Hebrews 11:8-13), God provides (Genesis 22:1-3), and God blesses (Genesis 22:5). We all have a story…..what’s yours?!

While we are masking/guarding our mouths to prevent the spread and possible contraction of the COVID-19, let us also be mindful to mask/guard our hearts during these ambiguous times! Proverbs 4:23–26 instructs believers to, “above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.” When Solomon refers to guarding the heart, he really means the inner core of a person—the thoughts, feelings, desires, will, and choices that make that person who he/she is. The Bible tells us that our thoughts often dictate who we become (Proverbs 23:7; 27:19). Believers know the peace of God, which surpasses all human comprehension (Philippians 4:7) will enable them to guard their hearts and minds in Christ amidst all circumstances. Here’s some more good news; the Lord will not relinquish His grip on the treasure of His precious people but will hold us firmly in Christ (Romans 8:31-39). We guard our hearts because the Lord, our Warrior, goes before us, in front of us, and is on every side at all times and in every place we go. Our heart is the most important leadership tool we have. It is not our experience, knowledge, or skills. It is our heart that matters most so it’s incumbent upon us to guard it!

You’re not condemned, your loved by God so don’t live in condemnation (Romans 8:1)! Hopefully, I got your attention! Condemnation is one of the enemy’s favorite weapons. He’ll use anything—the flesh, the media, our past, and even fellow believers—to feed into our sense of unworthiness and fear of punishment. There’s an old Nanticoke Indian tribe parable referred to as ‘The Tale of Two Wolves’: a boy asks his grandfather about his internal struggle between good and evil. The grandfather explains that there are in fact two wolves battling inside of him. “Which one wins?” the boy asks. The grandfather responds: “The one you feed.” This parable is not written in the Bible, however it powerfully illustrates Paul’s point recorded in Romans 8:3-6. Beloved, when we set our minds on the flesh, we naturally begin to feed into its desires. But the opposite is also true: when we set our minds on the Spirit, we begin to walk by the Spirit and give glory to our Father in heaven. I get it!! We battle with this negative opposition daily, but we must remember God’s Word is “living and active and it’s sharper than any two edge sword” (Hebrews 4:12). So when condemnation begins to surface it’s ugly face from our flesh, the devil, or the world, we can boldly proclaim “there is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). As it stands, Jesus paid our sin debt- in -full and He rose victoriously so that we can live in the depths of His victory!!Thank you Jesus, hallelujah, and glory to God! Yes, we have the freedom in Christ to live free from condemnation now and forever! No gift is more liberating than this!!

Billy Graham said, “ l’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.” In Revelation 22:1-5 says, “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,a with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.” Now let’s flip back to Numbers 6:24-26 and it reads, “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;The Lord [a]lift up His countenance upon you. And give you peace.” Did you catch it? The phrase, “The Lord Shine”! You and I both know that’s exactly what our world needs right now! When the Lord ‘shines’ His countenance upon us, it shows that He is looking on us for our good. God wants to bless us. He wants to protect us. He wants to heals us. He wants to deliver us. He wants to save us! He wants to love us. However, I order to become beneficiaries of these benefits we must follow the command in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” The good news is God’s clarion call to repent and his promise to restore hasn’t change! When I read the first verse in Genesis 1:1, I learned it was going to be alright because in the beginning was translated from the Hebrew word Berashite which means, the SON of GOD will be DEVOURED by His own STRENGTH on the CROSS!

#Berashite

#בראשית

English Puritan Church leader, Richard Baxter once said, “This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it.” Let’s be honest, life would be much easier if we had the perfect spouse, children, parents, in-laws, jobs etc. The candid reality is that no one is perfect. We are all works in progress , flawed, and Romans 3:23 reminds us that, “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory [perfection]! Paul formerly known as Saul was one of the best persecutors of the early church. But you would think post his conversion and transformation that his latter life would be nothing short of perfect. He is responsible for writing two-thirds of the New Testament Gospel but yet check out his conviction in Philippians 3:12 (CEV), “I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize.” Paul was focused on pursuing the prize, not being the prize. He was running a race and he knew that seeking the goal protected the cause of Christ from criticism and reproach. When we aspire to live a godly life and pursue the goal (like Paul and countless others), our life becomes more in tuned and consistent with the character of Christ and the character He upholds in Scripture. At the end of the day, the prize is knowing Christ and as recipients of the prize our response is to make Him known!

Pray with me:

Father, we approach your throne room of grace beaten, battered, and flawed. We know that you are actively aware of every imperfection in us. Henceforth we pray that you dispense in us a fresh level of determination and commitment so that we continue to run this race, focused, motivated with maximum effort, dependent on Your resources for those times we fall short of tour perfected glory! Help us to be consistent in the Word and prayer, following a pattern that we might be like Christ, as much like Him as we will be in Your flawless presence, in Jesus’ life resurrecting, transforming, and conforming name, Amen.

It behooves us to trust God with the small things just as much as we, trust Him with the big things. It’s truly unfortunate that many Christians today fail to turn their small and minuscule burdens over to God. In most cases, people who elect to do carry these tiny weights end up with 100 pounds of compounded pebbles on their chest and they wander why life is so difficult!! Yes, life is filled with little burdens. Lots of them!! You know, the details of life like bills and carpools and in-laws (not my in-laws, of course). The flesh tells you that God is pleased when you carry the load, that He will help you when you help yourself—particularly on the trivial, little stuff. I get it! I know we should always trust God to carry the heavy burdens that are beyond our ability—like our salvation, deliverance, healing, or getting out of a speeding ticket 😁. So, the real question is why should we bother Him with small burdens when He has all these wars, storms, and now a catastrophic worldwide pandemic to deal with? Beloved, God measures “trivial ” burdens a little differently than we do. We measure “trivial” burdens based on our ability to handle it ourselves, whereas God measures it based on our ability to trust Him with ALL THINGS (big or small). Most people have committed this scripture to memory, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight ( Proverbs 3:5-6). 2 Corinthians 2 5:6-7 is another scripture that most Christians remember, “walk by faith and not sight.” Simply put, Solomon and Paul are encouraging us to live life in light of eternal consequences and to trust God with every circumstance! So, today tune and turn your hearts over to the voice of the Holy Spirit and the truth of His Word (John 10:27; 16:13) and choose to live according to the strength that God deposited in you through the Holy Spirit that lives and works through you and never forget; NOTHING is too small or big for our God! He wants it all because He can handle it all!!

Jesus is my Saviour not my religion!

4GivenMinistry

Religion can easily get messy and confusing. In addition to the most popular religions, there are hundreds of “new” or “mainstream” religions. When you add in the multiple denominations within Christianity, it is easy to get overwhelmed and see how the whole idea of religion loses its significance and focus. The Message Bible spin on Galatians 2:20 supports this concept effortlessly. Eugene Peterson said, “What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So, I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.” Why would anyone intentional repudiate the grace of a God?! I for one certainly do not want to frustrate the grace of God because if righteousness is attainable by the law, then Christ hath died in vain. (Galatians 2:21 WBT) Here’s a couple of things to consider about religion: it doesn’t make you holy nor better than anyone other person and it should never be place above God more less people. In closing, too many people lose sight of a relationship with Jesus because they become fixated on religion. Often, these are misguided attempts to find their worth and gain an understanding of what a true relationship with Christ is all about!!

Thomas A. Edison once said, “There is time for everything” and I assume that he read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which also reminds us still today that, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every [a]purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” So what time do you see on your spiritual watch? I believe it’s time to love: your spouse, your parents, your children, your near and abroad family, your friends, and your neighbor. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “Three things will last forever: faith, love, and hope—and the greatest of these is love!”

In lieu of reflecting on what you’re missing, try reflecting on your current blessings. In this season of isolation and separation, it’s a no ‘brainer’ to desire things to go back to normal. Well, perhaps the old normal was really abnormal. So, how do we embrace this ‘new normal’ and survive this season we are currently leasing? Let this soak in for a minute: When God says to His children He will do a new thing, it means you will move to a level of freedom you have never known before. It also means that God is about to surprise your enemies beyond discovery and recovery. In Isaiah 43:19, the prophet Isaiah foretold of the Israelites deliverance from Babylon captivity and even greater; the redemption of sinners by Jesus Christ. Isaiah’s words encourages and inspires us in that same light of hope today and while the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered businesses, restaurants and places of worship, another kind of gathering has reemerged across our communities. Families who were once distracted by the busyness of full schedules, play dates and errands now have seemingly quieter lives. Days are devoid of school, soccer practice and daily commutes, as school districts remain closed and more parents are working from home. Instead, family dinner is making a comeback. Parents are seen more in their yards playing with their young ones. More neighbors are out for strolls with their pets and I didn’t know everybody and their mama rode bicycles. Seriously speaking, what’s so abnormal about all of this? Yes, the number of reported cases are increasing and the death toll is rising but, someway and somehow God in His perfect timing is going to work something good out of all this mess because He uses messy situations to awaken our need for him which in turn grows our dependence on Him, shapes our character, and draws us closer to Himself. Remember this, God ain’t sleep and He promises to make something good out of the storms that bring devastation to our lives.