Sweet Dreams

As I have been in supportive ministry now for about twenty years, I have learned that you never know how people are going to respond to you.  Sometimes, when you bless them the act like the children of Israel in this passage, ungrateful.  Some, just wanted to leave Egypt.  Some, like Hobab wanted to be used by Moses.  Some like the sons of Korah wanted to rebell.  Some like the Joshua and Caleb were faithful.  You just never know how things are going to pan out.  What I do know is that despite all of this, you must keep moving on.  No obstacle can keep me from being what God has for me.  The children of Israel got into the middle of the wilderness and forgot that they were on there way to a better place.  Some of chose other Gods, some murmured and then there were some who just kept moving.  Keep moving on.

 

The Eurythmics/Sweet dreams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJE_Sc1Wags

Ask

I used to sit and ask the Lord about things I thought he could do.  I never questioned him about things that might take a God to do.  As a matter of fact, I already had it in my plans for how I was going to accomplish what I was praying for.  I did not take into account that the Bible says, "Faith that is seen is not faith".  I just did not want to ask God for something it would take faith to believe he could do.  I can remember reaching for the moon, but then I grew up and got some common sense.  I thought to myself, "Let's not burden the Lord with all of this foolishness".  I really thought that I could live that way until I found I could not.  What sense does it make to serve an omnipotent God whom you treat as if He is impotent.  Even if His answers were, "No", it did not hurt to ask.  You have not because you ask not and the reason why you don't ask is because you don't want to be disappointed.  Well, God wants to be the one you run to for everything including the impossible.  He loves me so much that he wants to perform great things for me.  He is just waiting for me to need a night in shining armour, a hero and a guardian angel.

Let Me Be Your Angel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AucaM7c9i4

Elevation by Association

Mark 10:32-45 

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time

 ³² They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ³³ “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, ³⁴ who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

The Request of James and John

 ³⁵ Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”    ³⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
 ³⁷ They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
   ³⁸ “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
 ³⁹ “We can,” they answered.
Elevation by association.  I have never been into people.  Maybe it is because I come from a small town with very common people and associates.  Maybe it is because I have gone to churches were the humblest person in the building was my pastor.  I don't know, but there has always been a sore spot in my heart for people who name drop and billboard.  These are people who don't have many accomplishments of their own but they have a lot of friends who have accomplishments and they count on these to make them look better than what they are.  The only reason why they want to be affiliated with you is because you have something or are something that they lack.  I can't imagine how it will feel to have someone drop my name as a point of authority.  In earnest, we use people to billboard.  We display the people we know in order to look better.  James and John realized that they were in the presence of someone great and it would be an honor to sit next to him.  Those were coveted positions.  Notice that they did not ask where Peter was sitting and he too was in the inner circle.  They were only concerned for themselves.  Jesus makes it clear that the seat required a cup and if they wanted to sit there, they had to drink the cup.  Many people want to be like other people without realizing that they don't want to do what that person did to get there.  In a nutshell, it is just best to be yourself and appreciate yourself.  If the only good feeling you have is wrapped up in sitting in a high seat in church, then get
 ready because those seats can change occupants at any time.  You have to feel your worth regardless to who you are standing next to or where you sit.  Are you not the same regardless to where you are?  If you find yourself changing because of where you sit or don't sit, take a good long look within.  External exaltation rarely takes place without internal exaltation.  That is the feeling you get when you have no problem being whomever you are, wherever you are.

Black Butterfly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlGNEqOpQZo

Be Blessed
Diamonds and Pearls Ministries.

Taken

I can remember a time when I thought that prince charming was just around the corner.  Then I remembered that I had been remembering that for quite some time.  I used to watch men as they treated me like I was an untouchable.  Sometimes, I got the feeling that they were scared of me.  Some of them were scared of me.  Thoughts danced in my head like bullets ready to fire at men for ignoring me.  I thought it was rejection, but then I thought, that I don't present myself like I am desperate or looking for a man.  I look like I have one.  I walk down the street with a strut that makes one think my bed is full at night.  That was a comforting thought.  I look like a wife and so I am being treated like one.  Yeah, that's it.  I must be somebodies baby.

You must be Somebodies baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-3TZiyY9Sk

Your Kiss is on my list

Have your ever had something that made you so incredibly happy that it becomes necessary.  It is the thing that makes you smile from ear to ear when you see it or hear it or smell it.  It could be a person or a perfume or a place or a memory.  Whatever it is, it takes you to a place where you can indulge in it and feel absolutely good about it.  I would like to think that I have a list of the best things in life, but sadly most of those things are just passing moments that I sacrifice to routine.  I don't take time to see the daffodils in spring or go looking for lilac trees.  I don't wear my favorite lipstick nor plan to sit down with my best friends.  I go to work, go home and then go to church.  Everyone should have a list of things that make them extremely happy and they should indulge as often as they can.  You don't want to go to the grave wishing that you had finished that bucket list.

 

 

 

Your Kiss in on my list

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYUdldNzLNA

Once

Good Morning,

 

Isaiah 55:6
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near

 

I watched an interesting movie called, "Once".  It is about a musician living in Dublin Ireland.  He is playing on the street when he meets a young woman who helps him find his niche in music.  She helps him record and sell his music to a producer all in one week.  By the end of the week, he knows he needs to go to London and he wants to take her, but she reveals that she is waiting on her husband who is still in Czechoslovakia.  Their relationship was not intimate because she remained loyal to her husband, and the musician was destined to leave.  They were to only interface with each other for one week out of their lives.

    We talk about God like he will always be there.  He will always be there, but he may not be found.  He will always be there, but not near.  We have to be careful to treasure Him and not treat him like an old pair of shoes thrown in the back of the closet.  God can move away from you and yet be in your face.

    My prayer is that we take advantage of every moment we have with God.

 

Once

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc

 

A Soothing Answer to a Violent prayer

One day, I was pulling out of a McDonalds with some dinner.  It was an anesthetic cold, the kind of cold you like to stand in without a coat.  There was a faint hint of melting snow and it was eventide.  The world was slowing down to a crawl and the blues was coming with the cerulean night.  I began to think of spending another night by myself.  I didn't want to bother other peoples families which I was sure had plans, but I did not want to go home.  My wheels began to spin and talk to the only person who could do anything about it.  It was then that this song came over the radio just like God hearing me and answering me in the only form that I could receive at that time.  It was soothing.  It made me smile and I remember it to this day.


Tea Leaf Prophecy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-6hyW9V0dI

What a Fool Believes

Good Morning

 

Mark 8:23-25

 ²³And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

 ²⁴And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

 ²⁵After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

 

Life is about perceptions.  If God could just deal with our perceptions we coud be healed.  How do you see men, I see them as trees.  They are not trees, but because your perception is off, they are trees.   How do you see men, I see them as dogs.  How do you see women, I see them as sluts.  How do you see children, I see them as victims.  How do you see God?  How do you see his church.  You really have to watch your perceptions.  It can cause you to create something that is not there.  Paradigm shifts are moments in life when God grants clarity to see something correctly that you have seen wrong all the time.  Praise him, for what would happen if you went to your grave blind to the blessings you never saw.

 

Prayer:  God help us to be thankful for the illumination despite the timing of it in our lives.

 

 

 

What a Fool Believes/Doobie Brothers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj6PdoZaqCI

The things that make me strong

I'm sitting listening to the thunder In this house that is slowly shedding ghosts and becoming mine. No longer 'ours' but mine Tears bring the exorcist but I am afraid They will wash away the memories. These memories can no longer hold me Touch my hand and keep me warm 'The wind beneath my wings' is gone. I remember mother telling me I wouldn't melt When I was little I came to believe her Now I think she's wrong. The rain and tears are washing from me the things that make me strong.   This poem is written by a women on the forum that I post on.  I found it touching.  I can recall not too long ago, sitting in despair.  I had the same thoughts,,,,but God.   Prayer:  I pray the long night doesn't weaken you, but make you strong.

Close to You

Never underestimate the power of presence.  When you are in the company of a great person with a great spirit, it changes you.  It causes you to feel tremendously blessed.  Often times, we don't really know what we have added to our lives until the presence of the one we loved is gone.  It reminds me that life is too short to take people for granted.  In twenty years, I buried all but one of my nuclear family members.  If I would have known how little time I had with them, I would have taken more photographs, written more often, called more often and maybe complained less.  I am sure, if they could come back and live life all over again, they would say the same.  If they would have known how long they had to go without seeing me, they would have said, " I love you" more often than they did.  Never underestimate the power of presence.


Close to You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87XQKCXfFjQ

I love Him more than yesterday.

I can truly say that my love for Jesus on January 22, 1984 is not the same that it is today.  Back then, I was a child and I had childish notions.  I needed a hero and God was it.  In my twenties, I needed a lover and God was it.  In my thirties, I needed a friend and God was it.  When I look back to that first day I met him in the seventh grade, I can say that I really did not love him, I just loved what he was doing for me.  Now, that a good portion of my desires have gone unmet and I see God for what he is.  He is not my Sugar Daddy or Santa Claus.  Some of what I desired was not in his will for me, therefore I can delight myself all day long, he will not provide it.  I went through the disappointment and the pain only to come out of the love hate relationship simply loving him for what we have together.  I am not looking for the pie in the sky even though I will welcome it if is in His will.  If not, then I will still love Him.

I love you more than yesterday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuqHlv1YPe0

The way we were

I have learned that if you look at something long enough, that will be all that you see.  In relationship with people, you will always jeopardize the relationship when all you can remember is what they have done wrong.  Before you get into a relationship of any sort, you can keep both eyes open so that you can evaluate what you are seeing.  Once you become committed to a marriage, a church, or a job, you have to keep one eye closed.  If you don't, you will pack your bags and walk away from something God may have ordained you to remain in.  Sometimes, that means what's too painful to remember, you have to choose to forget.


The way we were
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNEcQS4tXgQ

Possess the land and not access your hinderances

Numbers 13:18-20 (King James Version)

 ¹⁸And see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

 ¹⁹And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;

 ²⁰And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

 

 

If God gave them instructions to spy out the land, why did they come back with a report about the sons of Anak.  God never told them that they were to go to Canaan and look for what they did not have.  They were to go to Canaan and look at what they were given.  It is negative thinking sometimes that defeats us.  We look at things God never intended to be a hindrance to us.  Based on the report of the ten evil spies, it looked like Canaan was going to be hopeless.  It looked like it would never happen, but that is just a report.  People like to look ahead and tell you what you can and cannot do and if you believe it, Canaan will not be possible.  In this video clip, Michael Jackson plays the scarecrow in The Wiz.  The crows have convinced him that he will never be free even though freedom is just a few feet on the ground.

 

 

 The Brainwashed Scarecrow from The Wiz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ezAB-oQqI

 

 

Your Destiny is Unwritten

 

Destiny is one of the hardest things to wait on.  It is just like being pregnant and knowing that at the end of the pregnancy there will be a baby, but at the moment you are just pregnant.  At the moment you are just bottled potential and everyone says that your time will come.  That statement just frustrates you because there is nothing like knowing you have greatness in your life, but your waiting.  Maybe it is time to refocus.  Staring at the horizon waiting for your knight in shining armour is not waiting it is looking.  Looking for destiny is frustrating, but waiting for it should not be.  Waitiing is not making a decision on something until more instruction comes or the right timing.  Looking is standing in one spot refusing to move until you see something.  That takes a minute.  Live while you wait.

 

Prayer:  I pray that you wait and not look.

 

Unwritten Natasha Bedingfield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lFXy5bIiSA

Hope deferred is still hope

Once upon a time in my life, I was on a plane.  I was on my way to Atlanta, Georgia and I was anxious for my feet to hit land.  To my surprise, I found that we were simply going around the airport and not landing.  The pilot came on and said that the landingstrip had become congested with other planes landing and we were waiting our turn.  That seemed to work for the first fifteen minutes.  Then after hours of circling the airport, some decided that we should fly somewhere else and land there.  The problem is that I was not supposed to be in Savannah, or Hilton head, or Tampa.  I was supposed to be in Atlanta, so I just needed to cool my heals and wait.  That is how we get with God.  God tells us to wait and we get impatient.  Hope deferred does make you sick.  You are sick of seeing all the other planes land.  You are sick of everyone asking you when your plane will land.  You are sick of people complaining that it is taking all this time to get you on the ground.  Hope deferred just makes you sick, But the Bible did not say that hope deferred makes you die.  You don't have to give up completely when you are in a holding pattern, you have to keep dreaming.  You have to keep hoping for when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.  The final fullfillment of your dreams will put a smile on your face for the rest of your life.

Prayer:  I pray that you keep hope alive.

Prepare for your destiny

If you know that you are destined for great things, than you have to prepare for the greatness you are destined for.  That means that you may have days where you seem to be spinning your wheels with no evidence other than the word of God that it will even come to pass.  Some women have babies and they don't prepare for them.  They don't buy a crib or paint the room or buy clothes.  They wait blindly for their child to come into the world with no anticipation.  Some people get married with no preparation.  They have no rings, no dresses and no ceremony.  If you know that you are destined for greatness, you have to prepare for it.  You never know when it will come knocking at your door........

Stephen Bishop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAIQVh7sfmk

The Rainbow connection

When I was a younger, I shot for the moon.  I had ideals and I had dreams.  I really thought that there were pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.  When I was seven, I met a character by the name of Kermit T Frog at the show.  My class had mustered enough money for us to go to Ford City and watch this movie.  The opening song is a song about knowing that you were meant for more than what you are experiencing now.  It let's you know that somewhere in your heart, you know that you are destined for great things.  You aren't just talking about it, you really are destined for great things.  It also tells me to keep my head up.  If I still have the feeling in my heart, than the destiny will come to pass, one day.


The Rainbow connection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFLZ-MzIhM

The abandoned door of Soloma

She was born in the line of a Jewish princess,

Her mother and father related

The sweet kiss of peace

was an uncle and niece

A union her mother hated

 

She found more pleasure with another uncle

Herod Antipas had more than land

A kingdom of his own

and a chance at the throne

and servants at his right hand

 

Their was one man that worried her

John the Baptist and his infamous question

Their mouths dropped in awe

As he quoted the law

It pushed her to aggression

 

Herod would not kill John

for he feared him and all his disciples too

but he put him in prison

to full fill her commission

But her hatred simply grew

 

One day the king gave a feast for his friends

Soloma was asked to dance

As she twisted and turned

She silently earned

A once in a lifetime chance

 

When her mother learned of the offer of gift

she pulled her daughter aside

Forget about things

diamond bracelets and rings

and becoming a rich man's bride

 

Forget about palaces, with ponds and streams

forget about servants in silk

Forget about crowns

and elaborate gowns

forget about honey and milk

 

Forget about destiny, forget about dreams

forget that your life is before you

She stated with hate

"Bring his head on a plate"

And I will begin my life anew

 

Soloma not thinking of the door she was closing

ran to Herod with the odd demand

He sent for the blade

and the promise he made

the executioner took to hand

 

Now, Herodias had only to show for her trouble

a head of a man still living

She had nothing to show

for her efforts though

she was left with torment and misgiving

 

In a short while thereafter, they got too ambitious

Herod and Herodias were exiled and banished

And to this day

the gifted Soloma

From the annuls of time, vanished

 

 

If I was to describe the relationship with God that I have had over the years, it would be like "love" and "hate".  One day I am flying high and you can't get me down out of the clouds.  The next day, I am doubting his love and becoming angry over the pettiest things.  One day I am not doubting God and I have my spiritual bags packed.  I know the root.  It was a hard life much too early for me to understand.  It took me years before I realized that God actually loved me and that he wanted to do what was right for me.  In the evenings, I can hear the battle brewing as I am left at the end of the day with nothing but my thoughts.  I am left with the thoughts that I fought all day long.  Today was a great Sunday and the word was priceless, but nighttime has fallen and the thoughts are back.  God showed up with a song because he doesn't want our relationship to always be on rocky waters.  At some point, the sea must be still and you have to stop rocking the boat.  Tonight, I will not rock the boat, I will just lower the sail and drift.........

I wonder why
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS2Hp9Ck9mQ

A Violation of Time.

You can't stop on time
You can't start on time
You can't go on time
Time is an irrelevant construct to you.
How can you despise it when time is all I really have.
As you take time that I did not give you,
I am running to catch the minutes you stole.
You violated my existence like a young girl to weak to scream.

You raped my soul.

Invisible

I sat by your hearth, just outside the corner of your eye,
By the table with the vase, I spoke as you went by.

I lay in your bedchamber upon your satin sheet.
You sat at your vanity oblivious of me.

I sat on your veranda with a julip in hand
I sung love songs and lullabyes, you refused to understand

The day I vanished my eggs sat col on the plate three days old.
My bed had not been slept in, my winter coat taken for impending cold.

The spot where I drank my Earl grey, the place I read my Word
Are just whispers of a conversation you truly never heard

So now in your lavender field having all your evening spent
feeling empty or abandoned wondering where I went

It's been ages since I have seen you strolling around the bend
You try to catch a linger of my perfume in the wind

I have settled in a new place and in the corner of an eye
It missed me as it saw me, I spoke when it passed by.