Author: multifacetedpraise

So many of us have sensed the call on our lives or we know what God has called us to do, but we have gotten distracted from that purpose. Now is the time to pick that purpose back up and run with it. It’s time to write one line, sing one song, share one word. We get so focused on the finish line, that we tend to miss every step in between. So today, let’s be consistent. Step into your purpose…..one step at a time. It’s time to begin again!

As we’ve stepped into a new year, so many have made their New Year’s Resolutions. Whether it be to get in shape, lose weight, save money, the list of resolutions can go on and on. However, how different would our world look if we all (those that claim to be Christians) made a resolution to truly KNOW God in 2022. What would it look like if we became resolved to know Him in the fullness of His might and power? With everything going on in the world today, what if we truly walked by faith and not in fear… walked in power and not excuses….truly trusted that He has good plans for us?

In the midst of all the chaos going on today, let’s not get distracted by the temporal, those things that are subject to change. Instead of focusing so much on the natural, begin to focus on knowing, truly knowing, who He is. Relationships are important BUT if our relationship with God is shallow and of minimal priority, then all other relationships will simply leave us wanting and disappointed. Our relationship with Him must be our first priority!

So in 2022, make your resolution to know HIM! Dig deep into who He truly is and watch what He can do in and through you! 2022 can be the best year yet!

Imagine that it is election day 2020.  You enter your designated voting location.   As you step up to cast your vote, a scroll begins to unroll before your very eyes.  On this scroll are the words “Choose this day whom you will serve”.  As you read those words, the agenda of each party begins to appear on the scroll.  As you ponder over these words, you see things like Pro-Life/Pro-Choice,  Big Government/Small Government,  For Israel/Indifferent towards Israel,  For Religious Freedom/Against Religious Freedom,  and the list goes on and on.  As you continue to read, all of a sudden you are standing between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.  They have linked arms with their entire party.  Biden locking arms with all Democrats and Trump locking arms with every Republican.   Both summoning you to join their side.  Which side do you pick?  You’re just not sure.  How do you decide what is the right way to go? 

Now back to reality.   This is exactly how the reality of casting your vote is.  I heard a Pastor say that casting your vote for someone is like linking arms with them and saying I agree with what you agree with,  I stand for what you stand for, I support your cause….not just one cause but EVERY cause. 

I remember playing the game Red Rover as a child. That simple, child’s game has been heavy on my mind lately. The person that was called was the one that came. If you wanted them on your team, you all worked diligently together to make that happen and keep them from breaking through. What about now? Each candidate is calling for their party’s agenda to be established. Will you work diligently with them to make that happen by giving them your vote? Not just some of their agenda but ALL of their agenda. (Pause and let that sink in!)

You must make a choice whom you will serve, whose agenda you will support. Realize that you aren’t supporting a personality, a past, or a socially acceptable candidate. You are supporting an agenda, a platform, a foundation on which each candidate stands. If a house isn’t built on a firm foundation, it will surely fail. What foundation do you want to stand on? A foundation built on God and His values? Or a foundation that is built on man’s agenda?

We are all given the right to make our own choice. The Bible tells us “I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, choose life that you and your descendants might live”. Yes, we all are given a choice to make, but God points us in the direction we should go.

Imagine that you are standing between two completely different agendas and you must make the choice which one you will support. Now, realize that this is your reality. Choose this day which one you will serve…..

So far, this year has been extremely challenging. So many things have happened in such a short span of time. For the first time in their lives, my youngest children have experienced the death of someone they deeply loved and valued. It has been so difficult to help them deal with this heartache while dealing with my own grief. We lost my daddy, their papa, our family patriarch, the glue that held us all together.

As we’ve dealt with this tremendous loss, I’ve come to realize that God is good, even in the midst of my grief. My dad was a great Christian man. He lived his life for God, preaching the gospel of truth, not just in words but in actions. Daddy loved with the love of God and always tried to point others to a loving God that was good, even in the midst of struggles and hard times. Daddy taught us that God is to be first priority and everything else is built on that. Daddy equipped us in his life to deal with his death….not just in words but in actions!

As I’ve walked this road I never wanted to go down…I always wanted my daddy here….I have found myself in somewhat strange territory. I miss my daddy and I would love to pick up the phone and just chitchat for a few minutes. However, everytime I think about him (which is very often), my mind wanders to the question: What is he doing right now? My sadness is for a moment when I think about the answer to that question! I know that he is in the very presence of God! He lived his life serving God and now he is in the presence of the one he loved and served all these years! Daddy is experiencing everything he taught and preached! A place beyond compare, a love that words can’t describe, and peace that is just unfathomable. Yes, I would love to still have my daddy here BUT I just can’t stay sad when I think of what he’s doing!!

I know that our loss is great and there will be things that will bring tears to our eyes and grief and sadness will overwhelm us. Days will come when we miss him so much and would just love to hear his voice….but we have a hope that only comes from knowing God. Daddy ran his race full of this same hope, knowing that in the end, God would usher him home. There are many loved ones that have gone before and now Daddy is celebrating with them, as they all await our arrival. It’s that hope that brings me so much peace.

I must admit, I’m in no hurry to get there… not because I don’t want to go…but I’ve got work to be done here. I have to finish my own race. I have to accomplish the things set before me that God has placed me here to do. I have to equip my children, the way Daddy equipped me.

I’ve always thought that I’d be such a wreck if something ever happened to my daddy, and I guess I really could be, if I allowed myself to focus just on the loss. But, I have a hope! A hope that we are only SEPARATED FOR A SEASON!

It has been a while since I’ve sat down to write. I realized that there has been such a whirlwind of chaos and confusion in my life lately, that I forgot to do the one thing that always seems to change my perspective on things…. WRITE! Isn’t that how it usually works? When life gets difficult and things seem to be going in the opposite direction than what we’ve prayed and hoped for, we get distracted and forget what we are called and equipped to do. We become distracted then the discouragement and hopelessness sets in and we just can’t seem to move forward. Unfortunately, I have been so distracted that I have all but given up on things changing. However, God sent people into my life that would not allow me to stay there!

When the difficult circumstances come, and they will certainly come, we have a decision to make. We can be pitiful or powerful. We can wait with joy or whine. We can complain or celebrate. Yes, I realize these are opposite ends of the spectrum but one brings life and one brings death.

One thing I’ve realized is that the enemy doesn’t come after the weak, the powerless, and the compromised. If it feels like all of hell is coming against you, then there has to be something valuable on the inside of you that he doesn’t want you to discover! If you’ve been facing one battle after another, then you are more powerful than you realize and you are truly a threat to the kingdom of darkness!

I know for me, waiting has been the most difficult part of the process. We have become a microwave, fast-food society. We are always in a hurry and ready to accomplish the task at hand. However, sometimes we have to wait…not a day, but months and even years. Waiting is not easy. There is no fanfare or parade for the wait. We want a celebration, a party, and there just isn’t one. Sometimes you just gotta party on credit….knowing that God’s got you and the situation and you will see your promise manifest! I know that seems so far fetched but isn’t that faith. We have a baby shower because we KNOW that the baby is on the way. We have a bridal shower because we KNOW that the wedding is right around the corner. We do these things in anticipation of the desired results coming into manifestation. So why is it that we make the choice to sit in discouragement and self pity when we are waiting on the promises of God to manifest in our lives? It’s so hard to celebrate, to party on credit, when your situation looks like the total opposite of what you are believing for, but that is the shift we need to make.

How would you react if everything that you’ve been praying for manifested in a day? Party would be an understatement! It would be hard to convince you that you are pitiful. It would be almost impossible to get you to whine or complain.

When we come to the realization that God is good and He is willing and able to do abundantly more than we can ask or think, then partying on credit won’t be a difficult thing!

Stop looking at how long it’s been. Your promise could manifest over night. Everything could be different in 24 hours. God knows the time but YOU know the God who is able!! Party like it’s already here!

For months now, I have needed to replace the batteries in my clock. It really isn’t anything special. Just an inexpensive clock that hangs above my mantle in my den. No special battery needed, just your typical AA battery. So, it’s been hanging there for months with dead batteries. Stuck on the very moment it lost power. Stuck. Not fulfilling the purpose for which it was created because the power source was gone. I’ve looked at it hundreds of times and thought ‘I need to take care of that’ only to go on about my day and never return to take care of it.

But, today was different. As I was going about my day, really minding my own business, the clock caught my eye. Of course, I made a mental note and went on doing other things. But today it was pressing. I couldn’t ignore it any longer. We have several clocks in our home, plus several cell phones so this clock wasn’t absolutely necessary for us to have the accurate time. But it was pressing. So, I pulled the clock down to replace the batteries. As I did I was overwhelmed with these words I AM RESTORING THE POWER! I AM REMOVING EVERY BLOCKAGE, EVERY DEAD CELL, EVERY HINDRANCE, EVERY DISCONNECT AND POWER IS BEING RESTORED. I AM THE POWER SOURCE AND I AM BEGINNING TO FLOW. IT’S TIME FOR POWER. IT’S TIME FOR SIGNS, MIRACLES AND WONDERS TO BE COMMON PLACE. NO LONGER HOPING BUT SEEING. NO LONGER WAITING BUT WITNESSING. BUT, YOU’VE GOT TO CONNECT TO THE SOURCE. YOU’VE GOT TO CONNECT WITH ME LIKE NEVER BEFORE. MAKE ME YOUR FIRST PRIORITY. THROW DOWN YOUR WEIGHTS AND RUN AFTER ME. STOP WAITING FOR SOMEBODY ELSE TO DO IT….YOU DO IT. RUN AFTER ME. I CAN AND WILL USE THE INSIGNIFICANT, THE UNIMPORTANT, THE UNNECESSARY, BY THE WORLD’S STANDARDS, TO SURGE MY POWER THROUGHOUT THE EARTH. DON’T LET MANS OPINION STOP YOU OR DISRUPT YOUR FLOW OF POWER. LISTEN TO ME NOT TO MAN. I AM YOUR SOURCE OF POWER AND I AM ABOUT TO SURGE IN WAYS YOU HAVEN’T EVEN IMAGINED! THE ENEMY’S TIME IS UP! TRUE POWER, MY POWER, IS ABOUT TO BE DISPLAYED AND THE WORLD WILL TAKE NOTICE!

As I write these words, my clock is ticking. Its power source has been restored. What about yours? Are you stuck because you have disconnected from your power source? Are you ready AND willing to allow the power of God to surge through you to change everything it comes into contact with? Run after Him and watch Him do it!

Yesterday, my dogs started barking and whining. It wasn’t their normal ‘someone is here’ bark so I walked outside to see what was going on. I walked down the stairs and out of my garage, not realizing that I was walking right by the problem. I turn around to see a black snake approximately 6 feet long heading up the stairs towards my door, which was open. Needless to say, I freaked out for a minute! I said “You are not getting in my house! Not today! Not ever!” I grabbed my phone to get help from those inside of the house. My thought was to SHUT the door as quickly as possible and at least keep this snake in the garage. My son arrived and shut the door. The snake then slithered over the side of the steps and disappeared into the garage. Of course, my boys being the tough guys they are, went on a snake hunting mission but they never found the snake. I know a black snake is fine, or whatever people say, but to me, a snake is a snake and I don’t like them at all!!

As I was replaying this event over in my mind and praying that the snake had indeed found a way out of my garage, I realized that so many times we miss the snake. I walked right beside the thing and never saw it. I was so busy looking at the distraction that the dogs were creating, I missed the problem. Isn’t that what happens a lot of the time? We get distracted and allow the enemy to slither right on into our house and we don’t realize it until he bites us! The enemy uses those that are closest to us, our family or our friends, to try to destroy us. He slithers in, undetected, unnoticed, because we are too distracted to even realize it! Unfortunately, I have had this happen more than one time. The door was open and the enemy just slithered right on into my house! But, if the door had been closed, he would’ve never gotten in to start with!!

I truly believe that this is a season that we need to become more vigilant about our homes. The enemy is out to destroy our families anyway that he can. He will use any means neccessary! But, access will be denied if the door is SHUT!!! There are people and situations that never should have been allowed access to our homes but we missed the snake! There are relationships that should have been kept at an ‘outer circle level’ but we allowed them into our ‘inner circle’, only to be bitten in the end. We allow the world’s systems to run our homes and not the order that God established. We fail to set boundaries and guidelines for our children and then wonder why they are out of control.

God has given us the responsibility to guard our homes. It is time to shut the door and say “You are not getting in my house! Not today! Not ever! And for those ‘snakes’ already in my house, it’s time for you to go!!”. Declare like Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”. It’s time to be vigilant and shut the door and guard our homes BUT it is also time to clean it out. Pray and ask God to begin to show you the ‘snakes’ in your house and run them out with the fire of God! It’s time to take our homes back and keep the ‘snakes’ out for good!!

(I realize that the photo is not the same type of snake that I encountered; however, the fact that it blends in with the environment so well, it is almost unnoticeable, is precisely the reason I used it.)

For my entire life, I have been operating out of a performance mindset. With that, everything that you do is based on the thought that you are loved ONLY when you do everything right and according to the standards of the person that you want to be loved by. You strive day after day to be seen and validated by the person, only to fall short when expectations are not meet. Unfortunately, you never feel loved or accepted but only resolved to failure and the realization that you are never enough. When I was growing up, I remember watching my siblings get into trouble and vowing that I would never do the things that they did so I wouldn’t get into trouble. I began to strive for perfection. I made good grades in school and worked extra hard, so that I wouldn’t experience the punishment and the disappointment of my parents. I tried to be the perfect, obedient child in every way. But that striving for perfection snowballed into a life ruled by fear and frustration and ultimately, giving up. You see, the fear of not being enough, not being perfect, just led to frustration and more fear and more frustration until the ultimate outcome was to give up and quit. Every relationship in my life has operated with this mindset of performance to earn love. Unconditional love is never earned or maintained by performance. It is just that, UNCONDITIONAL!

As I write this, I realize that even my relationship with God has been with the same mindset. I’ve got to do everything right before He will answer my prayers. I’ve got to make sure that I pray enough, read the Bible enough, go to church enough and then, He will hear me and bless me. I’ve based my relationship with God, not entirely on the works of Jesus, but on my ability to perform and be perfect. Since perfection is and always will be unobtainable, I strive until I’m worn out and then just give up! I don’t walk away from God but I limit His ability to work in my life because I don’t truly expect Him to deliver because I’m simply not good enough. My motive has always been performance when it should have been POSITION!

Performance and position are opposite ends of the spectrum! The Bible says that God knew me before He formed me in my mother’s womb. He has called me accepted. He created me with a plan and a purpose. All of my days were written out before the foundation of the world. He did that! He called me and chose me eventhough He knew I was going to fall short and mess up. My right standing with God is my position in Jesus and His works on the cross, not based on my performance. I can never do enough to earn His love. It is freely given to all that RECEIVE, not all that strive to earn.

The Bible says that perfect love cast out fear. I’ve always read that verse and wondered what that would look like. To be honest, my life has been ruled by fear for so long, that living without fear almost seemed unfathomable to me. However, as I write this, I’m getting a glimpse of what that means. There is a resting, a peace, that begins to settle on you when the truth of your position begins to become clear. I’m not striving to earn anything. I’m not working to earn His love or His approval or His attention. I am just resting in my position in Him. I can expect Him to take care of me and all the things concerning my life because He is a good Father and loves to give good gifts to His children; not His perfect children but HIS children! When you begin to realize that everything flows out of your POSITION and not your performance, that is truly when your life will shift to a new level that you have never dreamed possible!

And yes, there will be things that God will ask us to do. But, examine your motive for doing them. Are you doing it out of your love for Him and your position in Him or is it simply a performance mindset, hoping that you get it right so that you will earn God’s love and acceptance? Let this be the last day that you strive to earn anything through your performance and not your position!!

I sit here wondering why won’t somebody see me? Those that God gave me to. Why won’t they protect me? Protect my heart from all the pain that is being poured out. Why won’t somebody hear me? As I spend my hours, my days, crying out to make some type of sense of what has happened to me, where are they? Nobody sees me, nobody hears me, nobody cares. They are so busy making their own life, the decisions that are all about them. But what about me? When do I begin to matter? When am I important? God gave me to them. They are to protect me, to love me, to comfort me, to hold me. So why are their wants more important than me? I sit with a broken heart and their life goes on. I smile through my pain and their life goes on. I sit frozen in time, still trapped in the moment that their decisions broke my heart. Their life goes on but my life is frozen in that moment. That moment everything changed. That moment when their actions stopped my whole world.Did they not realize how precious my heart was? God gave me to them to protect me, to love me, to cover me, to hold me but they just didn’t. They just wouldn’t see me, they just wouldn’t hear me and they just didn’t value me enough to make a different CHOICE.

God, help us to see and hear our children and realize that our decisions will bring them to wholeness or brokenness. For those children that sit broken, may we rise up and be the hands that heal them back to life.

On March 20, 2019, here in the United States, we stepped into a new season. Spring arrived as the winter season began to drift away. As you begin to look around, you can see the battle between the two seasons. The crisp, cold air of winter is still here as the day begins and ends. The plants seem to be battling between the barrenness of winter and the fruitfulness of spring. It’s as if there is a wrestling match taking place. Winter wants to hold on while spring is fighting to take over.

As in the natural, so in the spiritual. Many of us have found ourselves in a long, barren season of winter. But be encouraged, spring has sprung. The dead, cold winter is over! God is bringing NEW life to every dead area of your life. Just as the birds know that spring has sprung, and they begin to return with their joyful, triumphant song, so will you! A joyful song is beginning to arise from within you that you can’t even begin to explain. It’s a song of victory that declares ‘My winter is over! No more barrenness! No more dead things! New life is springing forth into every area of my life! I have survived the winter!’

Now, be aware! You will be so tempted to hang on to, and even attempt to carry with you, some of the dead things of winter. Those ‘potted plants’ that the winter cold touched and brought death to. Those plants were great last spring and even last summer, and some even lasted until fall, but they aren’t for THIS spring. They aren’t supposed to go with you into this new season. Those ‘potted plants’ are dead and only serve as a distraction. If you spend all of your time watering those dead plants, then there is no time to water what is alive and blooming. I understand that those plants may be special. If they are, then take them to the gardener. Lay them at the feet of Jesus and let the master gardener himself repot them in fresh soil. He knows exactly what it will take to bring it back to life! Make sure you aren’t trying to hold on to dead dandelions when Jesus is wanting to give you beautifully alive yellow roses!!

Spring has sprung! A new season is upon us! Don’t be afraid to remove the heavy coat of winter! Just because it was safe and comfortable last season, doesn’t mean it’s the right attire for this new season! Shake off that heavy coat and feel the warmth of spring on your skin. That warmth is just a reminder that warmer, brighter days are just around the corner!

Winter is gone! Spring has sprung! Don’t look back to winter! Run full force into the spring that God has for you! It’s time to celebrate your NEW SEASON!