WEIGHTED DOWN! Unclean

Leviticus 13:45-46 - 45"As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!' 46"He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

In the biblical times as you can see from this scripture there were rules about lepers and others who were “infirmed and unclean” that they had to dwell outside of the camp with the other people.  They had to announce themselves when they entered any public place to alert everyone they were there and therefore exposing them to their leprosy. When the priest had pronounced the leper unclean, it put a stop to his business in the world, cut him off from his friends and relations, and ruined all the comfort he could have in the world. He must humble himself under the mighty hand of God, not insisting upon his cleanness, when the priest had pronounced him unclean, but accepting the punishment.  Verse 46 said he shall live alone….  In the New Testament – the same rule is on the scene when Jesus enters.  Luke 17:12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance. 

Today, aren't you glad you don’t have to walk in Walmart and announce your stuff?  LIAR, Unclean.    COVETING OTHER FOLK STUFF, Unclean.  WON’T STAY IN MY LANE, BUT ALL IN HER-LANE AND HIS-LANE WITH CLIFF NOTE VERSIONS OF WHAT I WOULDA SHOULDA COULDA, Unclean.  OVERSPENDING WHEN I KNOW I NEED TO GET THIS DEBT DOWN, Unclean.  No….we don’t want that.  Not at all.  We want to keep our stuff to ourselves and think it's ok.  

The problem with that is not that you are going to have to go live on the outskirts of I-64; under the bridge, or outside of the city limits; THE PROBLEM IS that all these little things keep you outside the Holy of Holies.  It’s like worship is high on a Sunday morning and you are just watching it and not in it. -Or- You wake up in the morning and what used to bring you right into the presence, takes you even longer if you ever even get there.  See as a Christian – we have sense enough (or at least we should) not to be dipping in the sinners top ten (10 commandments) but the other little foxes – the WEIGHTS THAT SO EASILY BESET US and we all have them – that’s what keeps us “standing at a distance” from God.  We all have weights, and no your pastor is not going to have you on a list or cut you off from your friends, but it’s affecting your authentic worship.  It keeps us from "giving him something he can feel!" (had to be at Central Baptist to get it)  The weights make us wait.  Talk to God about yours and deal with them.  I had a little talk about mine... more plank work!  LOL  See last week!  That’s what I heard….be blessed today!  

Plank Work

Matthew 7:3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

Today I'm doing plank work. No not the exercise planks (which I despise by the way) but working on the plank in my eye. I'm calling out some of my known to me issues I suffer from. (Impatience, sometimes too critical, quick wit and quick to speak, etc). Plank is defined as 1. a long, flat piece of timber, thicker than a board.  In the scripture it refers to a plank in comparison to sawdust. In other words (my words) sawdust gathered together makes a plank. Now if there is a plank in the eye doesn't that mean when a person tried to help with the sawdust we take it personal and then it turns to a plank over time? In 77 days I will be getting married. Marriage is the closest of relationships. It behooves me to get some of this dust out of my eye right now before Isadore has a plank to deal with. As a matter of fact I believe that is likely one of the issues in a Christian marriage. U both have to live a godly life right there in close proximity to each other with dust flying everywhere everyday getting in each other's eyes! Whew. 

I know my blog goes to people who I may not know personally but if I know u and I have pointed out a piece of sawdust on/with u, that means I'm giving the green light for u to point out mine. Because if we are mutually picking out dust then no one has to walk around with a plank or in fact walk the plank!  

That's what I heard. Be encouraged today and inbox me or reply to me my sawdust so I can sufficiently deal with my own plank!  Lol

Don't Get Weary

Don't Get Weary

Galatians 6:9-10. ... 9Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

It's so easy to get weary. It's like you get encouraged, "yes I can do this" and run home with bursts of energy to do this that and the other then boom. Some distraction causes weariness to set in.  Or you wake up in the morning....it's a good day.... you head out to work to get 'er done and you get there and two of the 20 things on your list get done because distractions cause weariness to set in. Or you make a plan "I'm going to the gym starting Monday" and all day Saturday you prep your meals for the week you get your cute workout outfit laid out and then Tuesday morning hits and weariness sets in. Or you get up and go to Saturday morning prayer with the determination that this is going to be a new steady routine and you make it out to prayer one week and weariness sets in. The issue as I see it is that I keep putting hope in MY ability to act right.  I must move my muse to the hope of the Lord and not the will of Dagne. Dagne has great intentions but is made of flesh. The Lords hope is what allows me to mount up daily and get it cracking!  I know it's tough. If that's you today don't get weary.  Feel his spirit help you mount up and your strength renew.  If this little bit helped you, then encourage and help someone else. That's what I heard! 

Shelton Becton wrote a song about it! Here it goes:

chorus:
Seek ye first the kingdom of His love, Make Him first in everything you do. If you'll just trust and never doubt what He said, All Good Things Will Be Added Unto You. 

Sighted in Dothan

In the book of 2 Kings chapter 6, there is a story about God’s prophet Elisha. The king of one of Israel’s neighbors was quite upset with Elisha and sent a large force of soldiers to capture him while he stayed in a town called Dothan. Those soldiers surrounded the town overnight. Early in the morning, Elisha’s servant got up and saw that they were surrounded by enemies. What would they do? There was no way out. Surely he and his master would be captured. So he ran to tell Elisha the bad news. Yet Elisha calmly said, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Then Elisha prayed that God would open the servant’s eyes so that he could see why Elisha was able to make such a claim. At once, the servant saw an angelic host, horses and chariots of fire, all around Elisha. God was with his prophet.

What force can stand against God?

That is the question the apostle Paul poses in Romans 8:31 when he writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Do you ever feel like Elisha’s servant: outmatched and outnumbered by mess? Are you overcome with worries and doubts of all sorts? “Does God still care about me? Does he still love me? Will he still provide for me even though I’ve failed to trust in him time after time? Will he forgive me for hurtful words I speak, or taking his grace for granted? Will he bring me through trying times in my life again?"

Well if so sounds like u r hanging out in Dothan needing ur eyes opened anew!  Here’s the wonderful truth: God is for us. The proof of that is found in the fact that he sent his Son, Jesus, to save Us.  He didn’t spare his own Son, but gave him up on the cross to forgive us and make us his very own. And if that is the length to which God goes for you, then as Paul asks, “Who can be against us?” The answer? No one! Nothing! Not even Satan himself! That's why he is always planting those seeds of doubt LIES in ur heart. In everything, you are more than a conqueror through Christ who loves you. God himself has seen to it.  Your Dothan is today, open ur eyes and see the chariots. 

No force can stand against God!  That's what I heard!  Be blessed today!

Tell It - Let 'em Know

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. (Acts 4:1-4 NIV)

Sometimes when it comes to witnessing or ministering to someone in need you will have obstacles.  Sometimes you will become fearful about moving out and doing the things that God has called all of us to "go therefore and make disciples".  Sometimes you will have Sadducees in the corner talking about you and throwing shade.  In those times, we must DO IT ANYWAY.  Because just like the haters do their job, you need to do yours.  They are just "sad - u - see?" so why let them stop you?  Everyone is not going to understand it, but you must continue to tell the truth.  Back in the Acts of the Holy Spirit, Peter and John were imprisoned for doing it but in 2015, we imprison ourselves with fear and doubt and insecurities.  Tell of his love, tell of his mercy, tell of his grace.  You have been a direct beneficiary to his UNCONDITIONAL LOVE POLICY.  There are others on the policy, let them know about their benefits.  I'm letting you know right now!  The kingdom may not grow by 5000 but if it grows by ONE from you telling it...WOW - it's a good day.  

That's what I heard...Be encouraged and wherever you go, come out of the witness protection program and tell just one person today how GREAT is our God!

MEpistles

(1) Do we seem to be again attempting to put ourselves in the right? or have we need, as some have, of letters of approval to you or from you? (2) You yourselves are our letter, whose writing is in our heart, open for every man's reading and knowledge; (3) For you are clearly a letter of Christ, the fruit of our work, recorded not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in stone, but in hearts of flesh. (4) And this is the certain faith which we have in God through Christ: (5) Not as if we were able by ourselves to do anything for which we might take the credit; but our power comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:1-5

That was a long scripture today, however, I wanted the whole context of the message straight from the word. This is Paul writing to the church at Corinth. Today our lives are the examples of Christ and his power on earth.  Any right living that we do is not based on ourselves but based on the power that comes from the Lord. 

One day when I was a little girl in Sunday school at Mount Olive missionary Baptist Church 608 Main St., Clarksville, TN I recall Mrs. Ella Stacker telling me as she was teaching us from the book of Luke and I wanted to go into the book Galatians that "the sinner (as some of us were not yet saved) had no business in anything after the book of John." She said that the Gospels were written to save the lost and that anything after the book of John was written to the church to teach them how to live once they got saved.  

Today we don't have an imprisoned Paul writing to us to tell us how to live. The most we have is Bishop and Pastor Monty on Facebook...lol). We have the word of God. Our lives and how we live them; our faith and how we display it; our love relationship with Jesus and how we show it are the living epistles of today.  It is not through any power that we have but through his Spirit.  I thank God for his grace on the days when my story that I'm telling is not the most well written prose I could muster. Today if ur story is not in the best chapter; if the characters have taken a turn for the worse just keep living, keep serving, keep believing. Eddie Kendrick wrote a song about it, Keep on Truckin Baby. Because when it's all well just in the nick of time it's God who gets the credit!  We r the epistle. Or as I am calling it the MEpistle!  

That's what I heard!  Be encouraged today. 

The Love Note

Good morning peeps. For Valentine's weekend I Am really thinking about love. What is it?  Do I display it?  Am I making a conscious effort to do it like the word says?? Let's take a look:

1 Corinthians 13:4-10The Message (MSG)

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

Dear Lord, please forgive my past false claims of love. I said it and meant it at the time but whew this is love for real. Help me to love like this. Help me to be a living witness of what love means. Give me the fruit of the spirit to carry out this measure of love and the wisdom to know when I am getting it wrong for self correction. Only ur son Jesus was the perfect love that cast out all fear but Give me the grace to be ur love example left here on earth!  In Jesus Name. I love u Lord Amen