The High Calling of God

Well, here we are at the end of another year. Reflecting on all that God has done for me, my family and our church I can't help but praise Him! I serve an awesome God! He has brought me and some family members through some physical afflictions, even creating a miracle in my husband's back. He brought me through what seemed like a heart attack to find out that my heart is in perfect condition. He is delivering me from severe gastric reflux. He has delivered and is delivering us from too many things to mention. And then there are all the times that He has protected and provided for us when we weren't even aware of it. There have been many things we have prayed for but we have not seen the answer yet. Many still need deliverance,  healing, provisions and many things from the Lord. But we do not lose heart. The fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much and we continue to walk in His righteousness and pray out for deliverance for others. God hears each and every praye...

John 11:25 "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." A few weeks ago I spotted a Gerber Daisy plant growing between our sidewalk and the ally. It was not in the spot where I had planted it. Yet, there it was blooming, its golden petals and dark brown center lifted up towards the heavens as a testament to what God can do with something even after it has been uprooted and tossed to the side. I realized that sometime in late summer, I thought the plant was dead. It had stopped blooming and its leaves were all dry and shriveled up. So as I do with dead plants, I pulled it up and gave it toss towards the ally. Evidently, it never made it to the hard surface of the alley but ended up in a very small grassy area. When I saw that flower just blooming its little heart out- I thought: "Wow! What a life lesson to be learned here! This daisy bloomed where it was tossed away!  Proof that what G...

Acts 8:26-38 In this text, Phillip was testifying to an Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus Christ. As they came upon some water the eunuch asked Phillip- What's hindering me from being baptized? Phillip responded by saying that if he believed Jesus Christ with all his heart, then he could be baptized. The eunuch responded in the affirmative and was baptized. I am not speaking about baptism today, although I believe every believer must be. But my question today is this: What's hindering you? What's stopping you? What's preventing you from being all that God has designed you to be. I am referring to the mindset that many Christians find themselves in- a general way of thinking that prevents them from being all that God intended them to be. The word hindered means to prevent or forbid, to deny or refuse someone from a certain thing. Some of the synonyms are: manacle, obstruct, shackle, handcuff, inhibit. So many Christians live beneath their privileges and responsibi...

1 Kings 6:1-7      "7 And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built"    While studying this passage recently verse 7 spoke to my heart. While the temple was being built, the stone was cut and finished away from the temple- at the quarry. Then the stone was brought to the temple area and was put in place. There was to be no noise or commotion around the temple area while it was being built. No instrument was to be heard. I thought about our spiritual lives. Most of what God does is in secret, hidden away from the ears and eyes of man. His mysteries and works are often hidden and done in secret- so that no human can take the credit- so that man will not glory in the works of his own hands. And then, in God's timing, He reveals those whom He has cut, fa...

1 Samuel 28:3-7 3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. 4 Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her....

1 Peter 2:4-8 "4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."   7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," 8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offen...

John 8:12 " Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'" Ephesians 5:8 "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of the light;" Ephesians 5: 13,14 "But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light; for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, 'Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." The Bible speaks much about "light'. Christ is known as the "light of the world". Christians are called "children of the light" . We, as Christians, need to bring everything into the light of Christ. Bring them out of the shadows and expose them to the light. All of our situations, emotions, thoughts and/or conflicts. Don't you just love the first morning light? It signifies the end of t...