HEART OF THE MATTER

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  • FIND TIME TO BE KIND

    FIND TIME TO BE KIND

    We awake to the demands of the day—the regular routines that keep our minds busy before our bodies move. We think about the tasks we need to fulfill in our day. Yet, many of these tasks do not bring fulfillment to our lives. We adhere to the schedules that demand our attention, as well as the other things we must make room for. We are rushed by daily tasks, scheduled meetings, and planned events, so we don’t have time to rest. Breathe.

    I was awakened to the command. We need to find time to be kind as we go about the busyness of our day. We see many people in distress, in need of essentials, and mostly in need of a shoulder to cry on. The Lord is prompting his people to find time to be kind. Make room for God to use you. We want to be used by God, but we don’t have time for it. We can be so focused on our own activities. As a result, we don’t allow God to work through us. This prevents us from helping another who is suffering far worse. Our lives have become so congested with survival that we miss the opportunity to save a life and share hope. Find time to be kind.

      As I was thinking about what the Lord was speaking to me. The event of Jesus hearing about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, settled in my spirit. Matthew 14:13, when Jesus heard about what happened to John, he went to a private place to be alone. Maybe Jesus wanted to pray or spend some quiet time alone, away from all the noise and the people. But when the people found out where he was, they followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them. He paused from his solitary mission. He made time to be kind to the sick, the broken, and the lost. The kindness and the compassion of God freely flowed from him. He never lost sight of himself. He always remembered what God had set before him. This was true even in the sorrows of his life.

    Many of us see him as God, but he was all man at this time. He laid down his godly powers to work fully as a man to show us the way. Philippians 2:7-9, “But laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men.” His entire dependence upon God was essential to his performing the miracles he did. Scripture teaches us that he had no powers, only the presence of God. So, we can function like Christ did—healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out demons. Christ has given us the authority to do these things. He also provided us the capability, all in the power of his name, if we believe. And sometimes, it’s not the belief that holds us back. It’s the time we value most that causes us not to see the opportunities.

    Finding time to be kind is a word for us in this hour. God wants to see people set free and dependent upon him. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. He is long-suffering to us-ward. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2nd Peter 3:9). Our lives can become busy as we move throughout the earth. Let’s move with the intention of becoming great in the world. Let’s find time to be kind to those we pass and to ourselves. The Lord encouraged my heart to be kind to the blind. We don’t need permission to be kind; we need to do it.

  • Understanding God’s Greater Grace in Troubling Times

    Understanding God’s Greater Grace in Troubling Times

    God’s grace is greater. Where sin abounds, grace abounds more. (Romans 5:20). In a recent event that I experienced, I heard the Lord say that his grace is greater. Grace is the mercy and the love of God that all people are worth saving to him. “It is not my desire that any should perish but that they all will come to repentance.” (2nd Peter 3:9). God’s grace abounds more where sin is. We see the sin, but God sees the person suffering. The grace of God is gifted to every person, whether a believer or a non-believer. It is through the good grace of God that his love is shared with humanity. His grace is amazing. The people who we are ready to wash our hands of God’s hands are ready to hold them. God’s grace is greater. His grace is what drew sinners to Jesus Christ.” Jesus died for our sins, while we were still sinners.” God’s grace must be displayed through believers whom he has called to be the light. 

    God’s grace is what navigates us through the ups and downs of life. In our times of weakness, his grace is sufficient.” It is his grace that makes us stand under his power, which is greater than anything that comes against us or on the earth. His grace is not earned through the works that we do; his grace is given out of the love that he has for us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son that we may not perish, but have eternal life.” It is the essence of God, pure love, pure motive, pure favor. “He rains on the just as well as the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). Scripture reveals that God’s grace is greater. His saving grace is what led Jesus to the cross that tore the veil that separated us from God. Now, we have access to God through the righteousness of Jesus. He permitted us to enter in by God’s love, mercy, and grace. It’s not about what you have done, and it is about who God is. His grace is greater than anything that we can face along the way. 

    The woman caught in adultery was shown God’s grace. (John 8:1-11). The townspeople were ready to stone her for the sin of adultery that she had committed. And by the Jewish law, they had the right to cause her death. But Jesus, knowing the sins of all, challenged them by saying, “Let he without sin cast the first stone.” The crowd that stood ready to throw each dropped their stone one by one and walked away. Jesus looked at the woman and said, “Where are your accusers? and neither do I condemn you. He releases her with his grace as he cautions her to sin no more. That is a visible picture of what God’s grace displays. His grace and mercy are greater than any sin we can commit.  Then we begin to understand that the grace of God draws men to him and away from darkness.

    In the process of our growth with God, we are not graded; we are graced in the areas where we struggle. God loves us too much to leave us in despair. His grace for us led Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins and bring us into right standing with God. God doesn’t turn away from those who need him. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16). There is a greater grace that only God gives, which helps us to live.

  • ENOUGH TO OUR EMPTY

    ENOUGH TO OUR EMPTY

    In life, we are searching for something, whether that something is a house, a car, a job, school, or love. We spend the majority of our lives searching for the best thing available or the next best thing popular. We spend countless hours searching for those things that will appeal and appease us the most. People spend their entire life searching for those temporary things that will bring them temporary pleasure to fulfill a thirst. People say it’s not a thirst. They say it’s a want. When the satisfaction doesn’t come, they are after the next best thing.

                There are events in the Bible that, to some extent, still resonate with us today. The woman with the issue of blood for twelve years was on a search for healing. The Bible recorded her spending all of her money for a cure that never came to conquer her illness. Until a man from Galilee named Jesus showed up on the scene and set her free. She used all of her funds, but there was no cure. She had the faith to push her way through the crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’s robe. He was enough to her emptiness.

    The ten men with leprosy surely lived an empty, isolated life. No one wanted a diseased person around them, so they were often banned from gathering with others. The Jewish law required diseased people to keep their distance from others. The leaders were afraid of a breakout among the community. But when they saw Jesus, they called out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Jesus gave them instructions. Their faith ignited as they followed what was told to them. They received their healing. He was enough to their emptiness.

    The lady at the well had been looking for love in all the wrong faces. She had five husbands, and the one she was now involved with wasn’t her husband. When Jesus approached her, she was attending to her business of drawing water from a well. He asked her for a drink of water before giving her living water, where she would never thirst again. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14.)

    I can share a story of my own. It is very much relatable to the events in the Bible. It involves my own search for love. I moved from relationship to relationship, looking and hoping to partner with the right one. When times of trouble arose, I was ready to get away. The Lord helped me understand that what I needed was Him, not them. I was empty until Jesus Christ became enough, and I will never thirst again. He showed me that he was the way, the truth, and the life. Only in Christ and through him are we made whole.

    Many people are looking for who they are, where they are going, and various ways to get there. They have many plans to make their dreams come true. They are searching for the very thing that will give them value. They obtain what they have chased all of their life. Then they find out it’s not as satisfying as they thought it would be. They find themselves on the road to the next best thing. Jesus Christ is enough. He gave all of himself so that we wouldn’t lack anything. He is enough for our emptiness.

  • GOD RESTORES WHAT THE ENEMY DESTROYS

                So often, we are caught off guard by daily attacks. We find ourselves battling challenges coming from here, there, and everywhere. It seems the struggles come, they come in like a wrecking ball, and it seems to be no end in sight. If there isn’t something going on with us, it’s something concerning our loved ones. I have experienced the weight of carrying others’ burdens as well as my own. And many times I found myself fighting their fight while they sat idly by and did nothing to help them to survive. These mind-changing blows can destroy all that we have built and tried to maintain if we don’t fight back. Our strength becomes weak in the struggle, and we want to give up because of weariness. Every day is filled with its share of trouble, and sometimes it doubles.  Many of us find other ways to cope with the challenges, and although there are many alternatives, none is as fulfilling as God’s healing.

                As I reminisce over my life, I am reminded of how devastated I used to be. I awoke to face the battles of taking care of children on my own, meeting demands of a job that barely and rarely paid the bills, and I won’t discuss those extracurricular relationships that I needed for myself. I was empty and scratching the surface to survive. Yes, I was ready to tap out because I was tired of the same longings and disappointments. I thought man could give me what I needed, but the sick can’t save the suffering, and settling for half will never make you whole. I found myself hopeless and lifeless, yet I was still breathing. I was barely holding on but ready to give up.  But God said to me, “Come see me.” I didn’t know what that was or what it looked like, but I heard it, and I agreed. I just wanted my life to get better, something to bring me comfort from the things I was experiencing. I went to church that Sunday and gave my life to Christ. It wasn’t easy, but I needed relief from the grief.

     I was baptized and raised to a new life, but where was it? I returned home to fight the same battles, with the same people, and my normal self. I was given a Bible and a baptism certificate, but no one ever stressed to me that I needed to read it. It seemed that the attacks of life grew worse, and I began to think what all that was for. So, I set out to find Jesus so I could ask some questions, and I travelled through the pages of the Bible in search of his whereabouts. And I came to know him, now my life has a new meaning, and my hope is anchored in Jesus Christ.

    BUT GOD HAS SO MUCH MORE IN STORE. My favorite scriptures that captured my attention and heart were “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) and “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

    What the inner me and the enemy destroyed, God restored. I was being reborn to be transformed into a new creature in Christ. God was actively chiseling away those things that meant me no good and replacing them with things of his likeness. Those things I wanted to keep that were destroying me or distracting me from his greatest were being illuminated and eliminated. I have a new life with Christ, and I love being in his company. I write to share that I’ve been there, but also to give you hope to journey to the place of being in his company. I write to share that I’ve been there, but also to encourage you to journey this life with Jesus.

    HIS LOVE IS AMAZING!  

  • WHERE ARE YOU?

    WHERE ARE YOU?

                   When God created the world, everything was good. Adam was given dominion over the land. He was to rule over the animals, birds of the air, and fish of the sea. God created a helper for him, and Eve was born. But they sinned by disobeying God by eating from the tree of good and evil, which they had been forbidden to eat from. Sin entered into the earth by Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience, and separation from God was created. God walked among them before sin entered. God was looking for Adam one day and asked, “Where are you?’ Physically, he could see him, and God knew that he was hiding, but spiritually, he had wandered from God because of the sinful nature that he wore. His eyes opened to his nakedness, and he sewed fig leaves together to cover his bareness, but it wasn’t enough to clothe his sin. God, having love and compassion for them, provided much better clothing for Adam and Eve. But still, he punished them for their disobedience. They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and Adam had to toil the ground to produce food, Eve had to bear painful childbirth, and the snake had to crawl on his belly for his part in the deception.

    Jesus Christ paid for our sins to bring us back into a relationship with God. He was sacrificed for our sins. We can now go before God because Christ, who was without sin (disobedience) on the cross, paid for our sins. (Colossians 2 :13-14). There is no more separation when you accept the gift of salvation for your damnation. You can walk in the freedom that Christ provides and approach the throne of God through his mercy and grace. Yayy!!!

    Many of us have wandered from God because of our sins. We have found ourselves covering up with makeup and other beliefs that don’t offer relief, but somehow, we believe it does. Many of us have sat in our hiding places while God is calling us each by name_____, “Where are you? But because we have traveled so far from him, it is harder to hear his calls. And just like Adam, physically, he knows where we are, but spiritually, we are distanced. So, we sit in our pride until we decide to come out of hiding and head home. Sin will always cause separation between us and a holy God. And because he was Holy, we can also be holy. (1st Peter 15-17). The deception is real back then, and it still is because the enemy will always make us think that we are missing something or that God is keeping something from us. And where we lack trust in God, we eat dust just like the snake (Satan) who we choose to follow. Jesus said, “I came that you may have life and life more abundantly, and the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” (John 10:10).

     “Adam, where are you is a call that God rings out every day to his creation, that he loves so much that he gave his only son. (John 3:16).  His heart longs for the return of the lost souls wandering in the earth. His love for people is something that I can’t fathom. I asked God, why are you mindful of man and he said because I made them in my image. To be made in someone’s image is to connect to them in a way that the human eyes cannot see. ‘How long will you wait while God is calling out to you before you respond and say, “Lord, here I am.

  • JESUS KNOWS YOUR NAME


    I set out to find Jesus, to see if he knew my name.
    I had to ask him why my life had encountered so much pain.
    As I traveled through the Book of Life looking for the place,
    I learned Jesus endured some pains in life; I may never have to face.
    They hammered him to a rugged cross, beat him and called him 
    hurtful names.
    I thought to myself, how does one stand so much pain?
    And a still voice spoke to me, “you’re the reason why I came.”
    Right then, I felt ashamed because I set out to find Jesus so that I 
    could complain,
    But when I found him, there was no reason because my life began 
    to change.
    And Jesus answered me and said, “I always knew your name.”

    Jesus knows your name.

  • EMBRACE JOY THROUGH UNDERSTANDING

    EMBRACE JOY THROUGH UNDERSTANDING

                  In all of life’s hardships that many of us have had to endure, we have found it hard to embrace joy. Some are suffering from financial difficulties, emotional turmoil, sickness, diseases, and hurting hearts, to name a few. We have accepted bow heads and sadness to evade our atmosphere and validated its existence. In the season where we should be jolly, we can’t seem to find joy. We have committed ourselves to chaos and confusion and have gotten comfortable. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning, but we keep crying yesterday’s pain because it is suitable for our situation. We have pierced our eyes on the problems instead of the Savior. “Do not worry, for your Father in heaven already knows what you need.” (Matthew 6:8)

     We have sought someone to ease the pain instead of the Savior. “Come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”(Matthew 11:28). We have medicated ourselves with medicine instead of the Master. By my stripes, you are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) Joy is in our understanding.  John 16:33 Jesus tells us, “In this world, we will have troubles, but take heart I have overcome this world.” Joy is in our understanding. 1st Corinthians 10:13 Paul, the great apostle, says, “He will not let you be tempted with more than you can bear.” Joy is in our understanding. Paul also said, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Joy is in our understanding.

                   Joy is a choice. “This is the day that the Lord has made; we shall be glad and rejoice in it.” Many of us can’t find joy because we expect it to come from temporary people and places. We look for things to satisfy our dreams instead of the Lord. “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your hearts’ desire.” (Psalm 37:4) Joy is in our understanding. The joy that the Lord gives, no one and nothing can rob you of it, but you can give it away by allowing worldly things to manifest more powerful than God’s Word.” The grass will wither, and the flowers will fade, but the Word of God shall stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8). Joy is in our understanding. We all have situations of some sort going on in our lives. Our hope is not hanging on to our storms; our hope is anchored in the Lord.

                   Nehemiah, the governor who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem and implemented God’s laws back into the people’s hearts, stood with Ezra, the priest, and the scribe, for the reading of God’s word. During the reading of God’s word, the people began to weep, but Nehemiah encouraged them to go and celebrate what the Lord had done. “This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10).  

     Today you may feel weighed down by the works and the burdens you carry, but there is a lifter of our heads. And we can look to the Lord in which comes our help. “if God be for us, then who can be against us.” (Romans 8:31). The scripture shows us that we have a Savior, a Good Shepherd who will leave the ninety-nine to go after the one. Praise be unto God “who can do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Joy is in our understanding

  • DON’T DRAG THE BAGS

    DON’T DRAG THE BAGS

                   God calls us to run the race with endurance and not haste but in order to run at the required pace; we cannot drag the bags. Many of us when we take a trip, we seem to over pack for only a few days which slows us down as we travel. All of us have endured some hardship in life, some more traumatic than others. But God is wanting us to wash away the waste and move at the required pace to carry out his plans and promises he has for our lives. My son runs for his high school track team and he never run with his backpack on with his extra clothes in it. Because the weight of it would slow down his performance. Many of us are dragging bags of the past that slows down our ability to move forward. We have past hurts that keeps us from experiencing the better or greater that God has in store for us. Our disappointments and discouragement have caused us to become discontent. The motivation and focus that once energized us is now a distance smile that God hasn’t seen in a while. We cannot run a good race with all the baggage we carry over from yesterday. We store up too much waste and wonder why are we sick. Jesus warned us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34). We have grown accustomed to taking yesterday’s situations into today’s affairs.

                Healing and forgiveness are available through the blood of Jesus. Forgiveness is for you so that your heart doesn’t become overwhelmed with the hardships that we face in life. Un-forgiveness is a weight that will not allow you to be great. Also, disappointments, fears, anxieties, and addictions. It keeps you in bondage to keep another person down. When you dig a hole for someone and watch them fall in, it will stop your growth. Because you have to stop and watch to make sure, they do not climb out. God is a healer. He is the only one that can make “every valley be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rigged places a plain.” (Isaiah 40:4). The Apostle Paul encouraged us to focus on one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. (Philippians 3:13). God is doing a new thing each day if we will make room to consume. But carrying old baggage will make you drag while others who are weightless run on. “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:14). “But he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13).

    In life, we will have to remove all those things that weight us down or hold us back from reaching our predestined purpose.  God came to set us free by saying give it to me and trust me to handle it. God never intended for us to carry the cares of the world but to cast our cares upon him because he cares for us. Each day you awake think about what are you carrying over from yesterday and make a decision to leave those bags behind. “Do you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24). What are you carrying that’s causing hindrance?

  • Overcoming Doubt with Faith in God’s Word

    Overcoming Doubt with Faith in God’s Word

    Believing the word of God, whether written or spoken is instrumental to our walk of faith. God’s word is what moves us forward in times of difficulty and darkness. It challenges us to become what he says and not what we see. It compels us forward in faith so that we can believe without a shadow of doubt that God’s word and his will shall prevail in all circumstances. It is the promises of God that keeps us contending to fight the good fight of faith.

    The other night, I awakened early in the morning to pray and pour my heart out to God. I asked God about my heart condition and the heart condition of others. I asked the Lord, why had I become so frustrated in the matters of my life and the Lord spoke to me, “seeds of doubt.” Seeds of doubt causes frustration, anger, discouragement, anxiety, and panic. Of course, I cried and repented for not believing what God had spoken. God is who he says he is even when we cannot trace him, we are still required to trust him. Because what we seen him do, he still can do. Doubt will take you out when the Word of the Lord is not sealed in your heart. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you.” Knowing what God has spoken and keeping his word in your heart will cause what he said to manifest. Because where doubt is faith cannot operate and “faith is what pleases God”. (Hebrews 11:6).

    The enemy is after the faith of the children of God. In the Garden of Eden, Eve believed God when he said we shall not eat from the tree of good and evil. And the enemy came and presented it in a way, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” The enemy came and sowed seeds of doubt. (Genesis 3:1-4.) And because Eve believed more of what she saw instead of what God said seeds of doubt were planted. (Matthew 13:18) “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” The seed is the Word. God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers3:19) No scene changes anything that God has spoken. We must hold on to the Word of God like our life depends on it, because our life depends on it.

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  • FALLING IN LOVE WITH JESUS

    FALLING IN LOVE WITH JESUS

                When asking the question, who was your first love? Many are quick to recite a name of a man or woman, present or past. And at the remembrance of that name come the smiles or the pain. But we never forget that amazing feeling that comes along with the opportunity to freely love. The beautiful beginnings that set our souls on fire: the early morning texts, the late night conversations and the small love messages throughout the day. We have even given them special ring tones that when we hear it instantly we began to smile. Our hearts grow and glow as we pour ourselves deeper into the emotion. We make Facebook posts about love and in our eyes others can see hearts. And I must admit that it is simply amazing and often breath-taking. Our hearts become overwhelmed with a flood of tender passionate affection that we can’t contain. And all is good, even when things are not going well because our focus isn’t on what isn’t but what is. We’ve embraced a place that we don’t want to erase, and we prepare to stay there. Love never fails and all is well.

                God is a God of order and there is a reason he has designed and defined love specifically and significantly. Love is far greater than any emotion or emoji we seem to tamper with. Love comes with a cost that many of us never counted. We flirt with the feeling and we base life decisions off of it. Jesus going to the cross was a cost for humanity and he did so all in the name of love. (John 3:16) Agape love is the highest form of love, the type of love that God has for his children.  Our first love is actually supposed to be God. God wanted us to feel that tender passionate affection with him and for him. Matthew 22:37 “Love the Lord with all thy heart, soul, and mind.”  In the beginning, Adam loved God. He didn’t long for a mate. God was his mate and they had a relationship. It was God that saw that Adam needed a mate and created Eve to help him. Genesis 2:18, “The Lord said, “it is not suitable for man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.” Adam never asked for a mate because his heart belonged to the Lord. Adam loved God and felt he had all he needed. 1st Corinthians 13: 4-8, The Apostle Paul gives us the specifics of love. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Paul ends this chapter with, “three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love- and the greatest of these is love.

                Love is powerful and it can take you on an emotional ride when God is not properly place. God intended for all to fall in love with him first. Love is not a feeling, it is a focus; a God loving focus that we are to do to the glory of God. Everything that God did was out of love. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28). God is love and the only way to rightly love is through him.