I should totally be asleep right now, sitting up in my room (the Brandy song just came in my head) in Oklahoma City. I had to pause and reflect on what has been one of the greatest weeks in recent memory in regards to youth ministry. It wasn’t just Jesus is the Rockstar (now I really need to recap how powerful that experience was but one blog at a time) it wasn’t speaking at a Youth Conference this past weekend, but it was being inundated and bombarded with emails, phone calls, and text messages from young people with various situations who were all simultaneously being matured spiritually in a unique and profound way. God instantly reminded me this week that prayers I prayed at the beginning of the year concerning our youth and young adult ministries are being answered. I asked God to grant your young people substantial, sustainable spiritual growth where they would be able to look back this year and notice where they have developed and matured. It is reminiscent of a young child who stands in a closet doorway and marks their height one summer, and when they come back next summer to their elation and joy they are significantly taller than they were last year this time. They don’t know for certain what day the growth occurred, but sometime during the summer, fall, winter, and spring, growth was happening.
Such is the case spiritually, we may not be able to attribute our growth to a particular moment, but we must realize that through the various seasons of our life growth is happening every day. If you are experiencing change in what seems to be the fall of life, God is teaching how to embrace transition, if you are in the winter of your life, God is teaching how to hibernate in His presence. If things are beginning to spring forth in your life, appreciate God for what He is doing. If you are in the heat of summer in what seems to be a dry place, know that this too shall pass. A few years ago, everybody in church would declare “It’s my Season!” Often they were alluding to a time of reaping, but the fact is, every season is your season. Just because it isn’t the particular season you desire, embrace it because it is necessary for growth in your life. Nothing would grow if we had one season an entire year. Failure to embrace one season can affect the outcome of another season. You can’t wait till the spring to shout for what’s above ground, but you got to learn to praise him in the winter for what’s happening underground!
God has placed in my Spirit strongly to cultivate the ministry gifts of the Youth and Young Adults at the Cov. So it makes sense why this year, He is spiritually maturing us before instructing us how to operate in our gift. A good gift in the hands of an immature individual can be deadly. If we don’t take advantage of this opportunity for spiritual maturity, we will begin to judge our relationship with God based on how operational our gift is. Gifts and callings come without repentance. God is more interested in you, than the gifts He has given you. KJV Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? KJV Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
A few thoughts regarding Spiritual Maturity… 1.) Humility. Healthy things grow. Growing things change, and change can be uncomfortable. Allow God to reshape, redefine, and evolve who and what you thought you were. His goal is to see His reflection when He looks at you. Arrogance and pride can stunt your growth and impede your progress. KJV 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. KJV Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 2.)Accountability. I so can not emphasize the importance of this one. I would not be as close to God as I am today without having people in my life who I am accountable to. People who know more than the me I seek to present, but the me that needs work that I tend to hide. It is imperative to have people who love you enough to tell you what you need to hear instead of what you want to hear. (Pastor Woods, Pastor Marsh, The Patterson’s, Antwon and Yvette, thank you all!) 3.) Nutrition. Nothing can grow without proper nutrition. KJV 1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: So many people desire to grow spiritually, but don’t incorporate the proper diet of eating the word of God in order to grow. As a result we have malnutrition saints who aren’t healthy spiritually. Satan doesn’t respond to your theory or your logic, but only to the word of God.
God I pray that you will mature us, that you will form, mold, and shape us into the vessels of honor that you desire us to become for your glory. We don’t resist, but we submit, you are the potter, we are the clay. We embrace the process of growth and change, never allow us to become complacent or satisfied, but always cause a hunger and a longing to be present inside of us for you and your will, In Jesus name, Amen
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Don't Sleep on the Power of Devotion
It is amazing how the simple things that are often taken for granted such as faith, prayer, fasting, and a sincere heart can be the paths that lead to a connection with God. Last night after watching Run’s House and eating a ice cream sundae from Baskin Robins (cold stone is bomb, but sometimes you have to go back to the “old landmark” (you would have had to grow up in church to get that!), I went to sleep with a myriad of emotions and thoughts regarding my responsibilities and things that need to happen. If we are not careful our natural situations can bombard our thoughts to the degree that our connection with the supernatural God is impeded by natural situations, instead of our Supernatural God impacting our natural situations.
I woke up this morning at 4am, and my immediate response was turn over and go back to sleep until the Today show to come on, but my Spirit tugged with desperation to connect with the presence of God. Even at the threshold of an encounter with God, my situations and things on my agenda came to my head, my personal inventory and where I desire be as a person began to inundate my mind, and what would have been prayer, was about to turn to contemplation and analysis. But my faith and desire for God prohibited me from becoming a prisoner of my own analysis and robbing me of my prayer time. I am reminded of when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane and the bible declares, after taking Peter, James, and John with him to pray, KJV Matthew 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. Jesus could have stopped with his feelings regarding his situation, but the bible says. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
I have discovered this morning, that your breakthrough, your Spiritual shift will occur if you have the courage to go a little further. The moment we step outside of our comfort zones, out of the norm, what we are accustomed to our faith will become the bridge that leads us to an encounter with God. Worship takes us a little further. In his presence there truly is fullness of joy. Bishop Swancy who Pastors the Peace Apostolic church told me that my grandmother who influenced my life in indescribable measures, used to sing a song called “In the garden.” This words of the song, say “…And He walks with me, and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own, and the joy that we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.” Marvin Sapp does a phenomenal rendition of this song as well.
It is in the morning when thing are silent and tranquil, while it is still dark outside, as the new day dawns that I felt the embrace of God’s Spirit. I began to listen to his voice in prayer, listen to his word, and then I watched Deitrick Haddon presents…Voices of Unity “Together in Worship.” As the songs were playing, God was speaking, depositing into m Spirit. In enjoy “professional” encounters with God that prepare me to share publicly, but it is the “personal” encounter in the morning that reminds me that God and I have a secret place that we share. My mom and I used to have devotion in the morning before leaving school @ 6:50am. We would read a scripture, sing a song, and pray. Didn’t catch the significance at the time, but train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it. A married couple that is in a covenant relationship understands the value of communication. They must communicate in multiple scenarios. But perhaps one of the most significant scenarios is in the bed, “pillow talk” where they are transparent before one another in a way that they haven’t been before. While prayer is essential, don’t sleep on the power of devotion, “pillow talk.” The next time God nudges you wake up and become intoxicated by His presence, you won’t regret it.
I woke up this morning at 4am, and my immediate response was turn over and go back to sleep until the Today show to come on, but my Spirit tugged with desperation to connect with the presence of God. Even at the threshold of an encounter with God, my situations and things on my agenda came to my head, my personal inventory and where I desire be as a person began to inundate my mind, and what would have been prayer, was about to turn to contemplation and analysis. But my faith and desire for God prohibited me from becoming a prisoner of my own analysis and robbing me of my prayer time. I am reminded of when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane and the bible declares, after taking Peter, James, and John with him to pray, KJV Matthew 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. Jesus could have stopped with his feelings regarding his situation, but the bible says. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
I have discovered this morning, that your breakthrough, your Spiritual shift will occur if you have the courage to go a little further. The moment we step outside of our comfort zones, out of the norm, what we are accustomed to our faith will become the bridge that leads us to an encounter with God. Worship takes us a little further. In his presence there truly is fullness of joy. Bishop Swancy who Pastors the Peace Apostolic church told me that my grandmother who influenced my life in indescribable measures, used to sing a song called “In the garden.” This words of the song, say “…And He walks with me, and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own, and the joy that we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.” Marvin Sapp does a phenomenal rendition of this song as well.
It is in the morning when thing are silent and tranquil, while it is still dark outside, as the new day dawns that I felt the embrace of God’s Spirit. I began to listen to his voice in prayer, listen to his word, and then I watched Deitrick Haddon presents…Voices of Unity “Together in Worship.” As the songs were playing, God was speaking, depositing into m Spirit. In enjoy “professional” encounters with God that prepare me to share publicly, but it is the “personal” encounter in the morning that reminds me that God and I have a secret place that we share. My mom and I used to have devotion in the morning before leaving school @ 6:50am. We would read a scripture, sing a song, and pray. Didn’t catch the significance at the time, but train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it. A married couple that is in a covenant relationship understands the value of communication. They must communicate in multiple scenarios. But perhaps one of the most significant scenarios is in the bed, “pillow talk” where they are transparent before one another in a way that they haven’t been before. While prayer is essential, don’t sleep on the power of devotion, “pillow talk.” The next time God nudges you wake up and become intoxicated by His presence, you won’t regret it.
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