Get Your House In order

King Hezekiah learns that he is about to die.  He hears, "Get your house in order".  Those are words that would make you shutter.  I don't know about you, but it definitely reminds me of the grave.  I also says that God will not move in chaos.  When God created man, he first came and ordered our world so that man could live in it.  Men seeking wives to marry must order his world before he can marry her.  No one gets married with nowhere to live and nothing to support their wives with.  A woman doesn't have a baby without nesting for the baby.  She paints the room and buys the crib and shops for clothes and buys little toys.  No baby comes into this world with nothing.  I don't go to work without getting dressed, putting on decent clothes and adorning with makeup.  Why do we expect God to move in our lives without some preparation for him to move in our lives.  Prepare yourself for a move of God.  Get your house in order.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is said to be the most unhealthiest place to live.  People there enjoy there life deep fried.  It is a way of life that they make no apologies for.  There are good places to eat, but according to the American college of Sports annual index, the folks from Oklahoma aren't making reservations.  For this one, I would like to suggest that you remove yourself from unhealthy environments.  You need to be around people who live righteously and they don't have to be pushed to do it.  Unhealthy people seem to enjoy making healthy people give up their ways and join the pack.  You may be joining the pack, but you will pay.

The place of perpetual abandonement

My mother and brother were born in Cleveland, Ohio.  The city is nicknamed, the mistake by the lake.  In this city, people are packing up and leaving by the thousands.  The only people remaining are the people who really have no other place to go.  No one likes to just take off running, but you need to note when to take off running.  I have seen ministries begin to lose members by the hundreds and no one asks the question as to why everyone is leaving.  People are leaving for a reason.  I often say that watching the traffic of life will lead you as to where to go.  If you see mass exits, then question if you should park yourself there.  Consider that you choice to go to a place may be further complicated by the inability to leave that place when it is to your advantage.  A while ago, people were pursuaded to buy homes they really could not afford and when the housing bubble burst, those same people where forclosed on and had no assets to buy housing.  Don't be caught in places of perpetual abandonment.

The land of perpetual June

Life's storms are difficult to come through, but you really can get to a point where you aren't fearing the storms anymore because they cease.  For years, I have prayed for the Bahamas.  I believe that big things can and do come from small places.  I like this chain of islands because they are called, " the isles of perpetual June".  When president Washington took a trip to see these islands, he noticed that they were in the most perfect spot on the earth.  The summers are warm with a average temperature in the eighties.  The winters are cool and dry and the temperature does not dip below sixty.  Hurricanes are few and the island also does not have a great number of tropical storms.  It is the place where the season of June does not have to ever leave.  Would'nt that be great if you could be in a place where your good days are gauranteed to outweigh your bad days.

The land of perpetual cold

Omyakon is a town in Siberia, where the temperatures don't come above -50 all year long.  In the summer, it is cold.  In the winter, it is cold.  There are no romps in the haystack or running barefoot in the tulips.  the most essential piece of equipment here, is  warm fur coat.  You need a covering.  I don't know why people enter the most unsettling time of their lives all by themselves.  They don't consult guidance from church leaders or family leaders.  Some places in life, you just won't be able to go at it alone.  You need a covering or, like in Omyakon, you will simply be found dead.

Explaining it later

The aftermath of a storm can be a calm relief if the storm has been particularly rough.  I suspect that Joplin Missouri will be cleaning up for a while.  Some of the damage is permanent.  There will be funerals.  Some of the damage will simply be swept away.  This is the most difficult part of a storm, the cleanup.  You can wake up from a storm in life and find that……

·         You have married someone you didn’t love

·         You living in a place you don’t like

·         You have spent all your money and you are broke

·         You have distanced your closest friends

·         You have shattered relationships in your family

·         You have destroyed your ministry

·         You have missed the promise

·         You have lost Canaan and must die in the wilderness

These issues take a lifetime to explain and you may not have a lifetime left when you are done so make your decisions wisely.  You go down in a blaze or go down in a blaze of glory.

T

Irrational Behavior

Storms can cause you to panic and panic makes for irrational behavior.  Irrational behavior is something that you are doing that is not ordinary for the way you think.  Sometimes, you can even turn to a different person.  During one storm, a friend of mine watched as a funnel cloud went over her home.  Normally, she is very cautious, but she got caught up in the moment and forgot her senses.  While afraid, some people urinate on themselves, babble uncontrollably, scream,  run into the danger, and some make decisions that can’t be changed like suicide.  The solution to irrationality lies in this nugget of truth.  In the midst of a storm, go to the safe place and don’t move.  Making decisions in the midst of a storm leaves you with a level of behavior that you will have to explain later and it really may be difficult to explain.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice really does make perfect.   At school, there is something called a drill.  We do it about three times a year.  I have done them for the entire time that I have been teaching, yet we have never had a fire or a tornado to test us.  One day, we had an incident that sent us to the safe area and it worked like clockwork because we had practiced.  Life’s storms also require practice to get through.  You should have safe places to go when life hands you a storm.  It could be church, or a relative’s home or a quiet place in nature, but you need to establish a safe place.  I have churches that I attend when I am in a storm.  Normally, they are very quiet and traditional.  They are always close to my house and I make sure no one knows me.  I can go there and sit in the service without being bothered or asked questions and just soak up the end of sound.  That is my safe place, create a safe place of your own.

Routine

Storms are handled best in the midst of a routine.  When the world outside or inside is raging, you need to find a way to go on autopilot for a while.  It is like having your life continue to work even though you are faced with a storm.  When children have a death in the family or a tragedy, parents will send them to school.  I used to wonder why, but then I realized that there is no structure for a storm like routine.  You will need to do what you always do in order for your life to run smoothly.  Keep all your ducks in a row and keep a level head.  Remember to keep your routine.

Storms

Life mimics nature at times, there are times when it is just the season for storms.  I read on the internet of the storm that hit Joplin Missouri and my heart went out for those people.  I wondered to myself, why people would even live in that part of the country where you can have multiple tornadoes in one night.  Matter of fact, why would anyone live anywhere where nature can send you into eternal rest or judgment.  My co-teacher reminded me that the folks in Kansas are the most prepared for a storm.  It would be people here in Illinois who would suffer the most because we are not used to that many storms.  In life, there really is a way to come through a storm.  The nugget for today is to keep your routine in the storm.  It will save your life.

Worrying

A THOUGHT FROM THE WORD

Phil. 4:6

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Calmly think of this

“Be careful for nothing” conveys the idea don’t worry about anything.  God does not want us to worry but He wants us to trust Him.  Someone has written this little thought:  Worry is a futile thing/It’s something like a rocking chair/ It will keep you occupied/ But it won’t get you anywhere.  Another very wise man wrote:  ““There ain’t no use worrying over what you have control over, because if you have control over it, there’s no use worrying about it. There’s no use worrying about what you don’t have control over, because if you don’t have control over it there’s no use worrying about it.” That just about covers everything, doesn’t it?     5/23

If we want to be truly Christlike, we must resist the temptation to worry

A Remarkable story from a woman I met years ago.

I'll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy 12, and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was like to do without many things. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money. By 1946, my older sisters were married, and my brothers had left home.

A month before Easter, the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially. When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering. Then we thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's electric bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us baby sat for everyone we could. For 15 cents, we could buy enough cotton loops to make three potholders to sell for $1. We made $20 on potholders.

That month was one of the best of our lives. Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in our church, so we figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the Pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering.

The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change. We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much money before. That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep. We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering. We could hardly wait to get to church! On Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn't own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet, but we sat in church proudly, despite how we looked. I heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked at them in their new clothes, and I felt so rich.

When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of us girls put in a $20. As we walked home after church, we sang all the way. At lunch, Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes!

Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10 bill, and seventeen $1 bills. Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn't talk, but instead, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash.

We kids had had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't have our mom and dad for parents and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the fork or the spoon that night. We had two knives which we passed around to whoever needed them. I knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but I'd never thought we were poor. That Easter Day I found out we were poor. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor.

I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed that I didn't want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor! I thought about school. I was in the ninth grade and at the top of my class of over 100 students. I wondered if the kids at school knew we were poor. I decided I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at that time.

We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn't know. We'd never known we were poor.

We didn't want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day, we didn't talk on the way. Mom started to sing, but no one joined in and she only sang one verse. At church we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun-dried bricks, but they need money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, "Can't we all sacrifice to help these poor people?"

We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week. Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene. Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Ocy. Ocy put it in the offering plate. When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from our small church. He said, "You must have some rich people in this church."

Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that "little over $100." We were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so? Deep down, I knew that we were actually a rich family.

by Eddie Ogan

A life of Dignity

I know I did not understand a word in this video, yet it touched me in ways you may not understand.  Everyone needs to live a life of dignity.




http://youtu.be/IiggkhdvewE

Wolves

I have three favorite animals.  On the top of my list is the wolves.  When I was a little girl, all of the fairy tales had the big bad wolf in it, but wolves aren’t what you think.  When I learned the truth about what an awesome creature, they were, I knew that human beings possess an amazing power.  The power to distort the truth so well, that  the truth actually seems like it is a lie.  I am determined to find the truth regardless of how much humanity wants me to believe a lie. 

The last written words of David Wilkerson

WHEN ALL MEANS FAILby David Wilkerson | April 27, 2011

To believe when all means fail is exceedingly pleasing to God and is most acceptable. Jesus said to Thomas, "You have believed because you have seen, but blessed are those that do believe and have not seen" (John 20:29).

Blessed are those who believe when there is no evidence of an answer to prayer-who trust beyond hope when all means have failed.

Someone has come to the place of hopelessness-the end of hope-the end of all means. A loved one is facing death and doctors give no hope. Death seems inevitable. Hope is gone. The miracle prayed for is not happening.

That is when Satan's hordes come to attack your mind with fear, anger, overwhelming questions: "Where is your God now? You prayed until you had no tears left. You fasted. You stood on promises. You trusted."

Blasphemous thoughts will be injected into your mind: "Prayer failed. Faith failed. Don't quit on God-just do not trust him anymore. It doesn't pay!"

Even questioning God's existence will be injected into your mind. These have been the devices of Satan for centuries. Some of the godliest men and women who ever lived were under such demonic attacks.

To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights-and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, "I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident. It was no failure on your part. Hold fast. Let me embrace you in your hour of pain."

Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. When all means fail-his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is no other hope in this world.

(This was David Wilkerson's last blog entry before he passed into eternity - Thank you, David...)

Shamed by the Gospel, a short story

She was new to the church
she was new to it's ways
It consumed her nights
and ransomed her days

So when the revival came
and her words were dear
she ran to the stage
and shed a tear

she told how she loved God
and how he brought her out
she gave God a holler
He gave her a shout

but the man of God
wanted something more
he wanted more details
he wanted  more lore

Tell how you was half crazy
Tell how you was a whore
Tell how you was a thief
and the clothes you wore

Tell how you have been to jail
so many times, you can't remember
Tell how you was high from
June to December

Tell about your dear mother
whom you cheated and you plundered
Tell your worst traits
Your character's blunder

Then he said that it was a special anointing
to deliver a wretch like me
I was hard to win
I was hard to set free

I was displayed like a parrot
sitting in a gilded cage
sitting in the shame of the gospel
silently filled with rage

I just wanted to take the microphone
and sweetly, simply say
I don't want to tell you all that
Just, that he brought me a mighty long way

p/s  Testimonies glorify God, not the devil.

Lying to yourself.

The greatest thing about preaching is that you get to say a lot.  The back draw to preaching is that you have to live what you say.  I am a very private person and I don't like to open up to everybody, but a few good friends know my heart and the desires in it.  It is like they write down what I say just to see if I will really live it when push comes to shove.  So far, I haven't disappointed them.  I guess, the only real thing one has left in this life is his or her word.  If you can't trust yourself to be true to yourself, then you are fooling yourself.

Don't be caught lying to yourself.

David Wilkerson

The month of April saw the lost of one of the churches greatest pioneers in deliverance ministry.  David Wilkerson was the author of the first book I read as a christian, "The Cross and the Switchblade".  On frequent trips to New York city, I find myself in his church every Sunday.  You would think that it would be oozing with Teen Challenge, but I found something wonderful.  His church was an ecumenical church with room for everyone.  He had mastered the art of changing lives so that they looked like the undiscernable masses that attend church on a daily basis.  I have been in some form of deliverance ministry my entire life.  Sometimes, I felt like I was in church.  Sometimes, I felt I was in one big rehab.  The ministry of the church dominated the flavor of the church so that it was all you tasted.  David Wilkerson's church, set in a renovated theatre, showed me the true end result to all ministry.  It is that they may blend in with the rest of the body of Christ and no longer appear like what they were.  They become viable community members and productive members of the body of Christ.  They have been delivered from their evils so well, that you would not be able to tell that the enemy had the upper hand at all.

Whintley Phipps Amazing Grace

I love the way Rev. Phipps saw God in so many of the old negro spiritual songs.  His expose' on Amazing grace is amazing.

http://youtu.be/R3pNMOcrA9Q

Whintley Phipps Forever Yours

I can't imagine losing a love like God's.  This part of the lesson made me cry.


http://youtu.be/aUfW__HFrO8

Whintley Phipps Childhood Memories

I believe that great moments begin in childhood.  You can see how greatness is there even when the world around you thinks your insignificant.



http://youtu.be/_CFNfMcYkzo

Whintley Phipps part two

The Gem  I gathered is that you can't climb a smooth mountain.  It is the rough terrain that gives you something to hold on to.


http://youtu.be/4cEQ0t3XAFU

Whintley Phipps defenition of racism

I cannot tell you how much I appreciated this young man in my young years as a christian.  He has always been one of my most favorite preachers and his voice will make you cry, I hope you enjoy this series.




http://youtu.be/y1LcUtaps7k

Moot

There comes a time in your life when you can chase your tail if you want to.  There comes a time when the Mulberry bush is the only thing you see.  A moot point is a point of debate that has no value.  It is like crying for an old lover long since married to someone else, or mourning words you did not speak to a loved one that has been in the grave for years.  There comes a time you have to stop debating things that have no value.  Now, is the time that you need to get off the treadmill of life and start walking toward your Destiny.  Just going around in circles is just a Moot point.

Limited

I have always felt limited.  I was told as a young woman, that I could not have something for one thing or another.  I have been denied because I was black, I was denied because I was a woman.  I have been denied because I was overweight and denied because I was short.  I have been denied the right to be an American and limited to the characteristics of my race, gender and social status.   One day, I saw a show on television called the Cosby Show.  On that show, I saw what most people said did not exist.  There was a black family and they weren't spintered into a million pieces, and the parents loved each other and the children went to school encouraged to do better and they lived in their own home.  Something about that show made me think of all of the people who did not allow what they were to limit what they were.  I thought of Charlie Pride and Leontine Price and Tracy Chapman and Darius Rucker.  I thought of Marianne Anderson and Pearl Bailey.  It was the fact that they did not allow themselves to be typecasted as the only thing they could be, that inspired me to become what I am today.  A beautuful unlimited me.

Shh!!!

When Zecharias heard that he would be a father in his old age with a wife that was barren, God did something remarkable.  First, God dealt with communication.  He shut the mouth fo Zecharias for nine months.  He put a moratoreum on speaking about the birth.  In order to seal it, God struck Zecharias with dumbness so that he would not be able to tell it even if he wanted to.  Sometimes, God will give you something that you just can't speak on.  I have practiced this for quite a while.  Conversation, sometimes, can lack boundaries and we speak on things that we should not be speaking on.  Sometimes, I refuse to talk about a subject for an amount of time because words would violate the atmosphere and I may ruin my own blessing.  If I am unsure or if I am sure, but frustrated, I will stop speaking.  In the case of Zecharias, his mouth opened when the baby was born and it was time for him to be named.  God will tell you when it is time to open your mouth and speak.  Until then, don't let words ruin your destiny by being spoken too soon or by being spoken at all.

Every City Needs A Refuge

Every city has a watering hole, a bank, a bakery and a bar
Every city has a park with trees and grass to lay on and watch stars

Every city has a boutique or mall to get your Sunday's clothes
Every city has a church with bulletins and Bibles stuffed between the rows

Every city has a dealer, a pimp and a hooker on corners late at night
Every city has a hustler, a womanizer or a golddigger hidden or in plain sight

Every city has a gang banger, or thug with a grill he stole
Every city has a welfare queen, with ten kids on her roll

But every city don't have a place to go, if all these ills are yours
Some places move where you can't catch a bus and some just close their doors

Some places check your ID at the front gate annd some just turn you around
Some make sure your uncomfortable with a sly and subtle put down

Every city needs a place where you can stop and change your ways
Every city needs a place where you learn that righteousness pays

Every city needs a place for the depressed and ,beaten down low
Every city needs a refuge, a safe place for you to go