Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105 NLT
The Holy Spirit has always been present in my life, even when I didn’t always acknowledge His voice or follow His guidance. Looking back, my spiritual journey has been like a wilderness season, spanning from 2007 to 2017, a time of learning, struggle, and growth. In 2019, my son walked out of my life—a relationship that was never fully aligned due to differing expectations. While painful, I now recognize that separation as something the Holy Spirit allowed for our growth.
Shortly after, the pandemic struck—a divine disruption that reminded us that God’s plan remains unchanged. In 2020, I delivered a message from Jeremiah 29:11, emphasizing that even in exile or crisis, God calls us to keep living, trusting His promises. Since then, my spiritual path has taken me in new directions, including launching my podcast, where I’ve shared messages on faith, resilience, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
10 This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 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. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.” Jeremiah 29:10-14 NLT
In recent years, the Holy Spirit has emphasized cultivating healthy relationships, setting boundaries, and partnering with God to fulfill His purpose. My teachings have resonated with many, including a viral video on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Looking forward, the message for 2025 is clear—be victorious. We must overcome fear, stand firm in faith, and trust God’s divine strategy, just as Gideon did.
The world is experiencing deep turmoil, but God is using these disruptions to prepare His people. We can’t afford to ignore His calling. Now is the time to step boldly into our destiny, shining His light in a darkening world. Though trials will come, Jesus has given us His peace and the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our steps are ordered—let’s walk in faith and live with purpose.
We want to continue to “Enlighten & Ignite: Catching Spiritual Waves of God’s Healing Rain”. The Lord is waiting to shower us with His healing rain, a warm soothing cleansing rain. God’s rain brings life, blessings, and provision. This is no time to put up the umbrella, and for us ladies, even at the risk of messing up our hair. We need to be saturated with His Love and anointing, drenched with His Word, experience the downpour of his power and spiritual strength. God’s healing rain will miraculously rid us of fear, insecurity, hurtful relationships and all the giants that hinder us and prevents us from growing. However, we may need to clear the way by looking back and reviewing where we have been and what we have done for the sake of repentance, to turn away from or change our mind about those things that are unpleasing to God and to make room for new beginnings. (from Spirit of Prophecy by Marsha Burns)
What mighty praise, O God, belongs to you in Zion. We will fulfill our vows to you, for you answer our prayers. All of us must come to you. Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all. From where the sun rises to where it sets, you inspire shouts of joy. You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy. The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. They all shout and sing for joy!
Psalm 65 NLT
We must catch the Spiritual Waves of God’s Healing Rain. As the Lord has us to wait for the manifestation of our healing, it is not punishment, but preparation. It all depends on our perspective. We must learn to be content as we wait, and not halt our journey prematurely by settling for less than what the Lord has for us. We may be one step away from our own Red Sea experience. Being on the shore of the Red Sea signifies a crucial moment where trust in God’s guidance is essential, and the promise that the waters will part when our feet touch the water, when we have unwavering trust in God’s plan for lives.
2023 was a year of replenishment and revelation for me. Although, my season of waiting to hear my next steps from the Lord continued, it was a time of tremendous spiritual growth in a way that I never could have imagined. As I’ve moved into 2024, the Holy Spirit has impressed upon me to fast from social media periodically, do a lot more reading, and for me to spend focused time in the presence of the Lord, and to be even more intentional to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying. My Holy Ghost Downloads are always enlightening, yet challenging, one of which, I’ve entitled“Catching Spiritual Waves of God’s Healing Rain”.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we ARE healed.
Isaiah 53:5 KJV
The New Living Translations says,
“But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed”.
There are times when we become so preoccupied with our pain and discomfort that we focus on what the Lord hadn’t done, that lose sight of how much He had done. There are other times when we pray so hard for something and it feels like God doesn’t hear us, but yet He continues to bless us in all areas of our lives. It is in those moments, that we should feel like we’ve been chastised by God for not seeking Him in everything and for not being grateful in all things. The scripture says that who the Lord chastens, He loves. The Lord wants to hear our voice, and even in our silence, He hears our heart. We must pray without ceasing even when our faith becomes weak.
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8 NLT
Our pain and discomfort may be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, but our Lord is always right beside us, waiting to shower us with His healing rain, a warm soothing cleansing rain. But remember that before the rain, there will be clouds and those clouds may be holding the moisture of our tears.
Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord.” You have turned mymourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!
Psalms 30: 11-12
We must catch the Spiritual Waves of God’s Healing Rain. The Lord will shift our narrow focus from our pain and discomfort to a broader view of our long-term spiritual growth and character development. We don’t want to be our biggest giant. We may actually be the one standing in our way of moving forward.
We’ve entered another year of God’s Grace, Favor, Blessings, and Love. We must leave our insecurities behind and face our personal challenges head on with the Lord by our side. Be Strong and Courageous! Strength is an internal confidence and courage is an external quality to be bold and to have the confidence to act; to move forward
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage;be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua
Joshua 1:9 KJV
Journal prompt:
Describe a personal challenge that you are facing right now, no matter how small that you may have failed to discuss with the Lord. Consider the reasons why you haven’t and how you will move forward OR describe a big personal challenge that you are facing, and you are still waiting for the answer. Consider the reasons why the Lord still has you waiting, or has He given you an answer that you do want to hear.
2024 is my year of Clarity, Confidence and Courage. Clarity can only be given by the Lord. He doesn’t want us to have blurry vision, but He will not give us clarity when He knows that in our heart, we are not ready for it. I had slowly begun to see glimpses of the Lord’s vision for me through my spiritual eyes. But I must admit that I was in denial and the Holy Spirit has revealed that I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I must stay humble, embrace my calling, and own my purpose. I pray, “Lord, keep me humble”.
Seeking clarity is an act of trust that God is present in the process and that the Holy Spirit will reveal ways for us to move forward. Fully aligned with our sense of God’s purpose in everything we do and in all areas of our lives. Again, we must not allow our minds to talk us out of our revelation. In order for us to have Clarity, we must follow the pillar of cloud and trust the Lord to go ahead of us and show us the way that we should go. Only with clarity will our path become clearer, as we let Him leadus. We must seek clarity and focus as we enter into new, unfamiliar territory. It’s interesting that we are usually very careful not to go ahead of God, but we also don’t want to be too far behind Him either. We don’t want the pillar of cloud to move, and we don’t.
We cannot accomplish our purpose until we understand our identity because we can’t try to figure out who we are and what to do at the same time. What we think about ourselves could potentially sabotage our assignment. We continue overthinking and over analyzing something God is making very simple and very clear, the Lord will not allow us to be anyone other than who He’s created us to be. His anointing, which enables us to understand, apply, and administer spiritual truth, will only fall on our authentic selves. The Holy Spirit will guide us into who we are becoming, and He will reveal our character flaws, as needed. This does not mean that our inadequacies will prevent us from accepting our assignment, however, they must be addressed before our purpose can be accomplished.
Ultimately, we must understand that we are operating in God’s power and His strength. We must be confidencenot in ourselves, but in God. However, He has given each of us a measure of faith and spiritual gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, dividing to every man severally as He will. But all of our gifts worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit. Romans 12:3, 6, 1 Corinthians 12:11 (paraphrased)
Therefore, we have a huge part to play. Our spiritual gifts are important, and we must use them, even if at times we get it wrong. We are not perfect, so we may not always use our gifts perfectly. However, we must not deprive someone of our gift to save our self-image. We don’t want the fact that we may look bad, allow someone to live badly. We must be willing to obey God no matter what others say. Obedience is key.
Despite our experiences or concerns, we must decide to respond in faith instead of fear. We will be tested, but we must allow the Lord to grow our faith in Him, along the way,. I heard Dr. Dharius Daniels say that even when we flunk the test, if we learn the lesson, God will let us go to the next level. God has equipped us to fulfill the purpose that He has call us to. Our assignments are designed to be bigger and tougher than we thought. However, we are not given more than we can effectively handle, provided we do things God’s way.
The Lord says, I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. Proverbs 4:11-12 NLT
In a recent message by Dr. Daniels, he said that many of us are waiting at the green light. The Lord has already given us His divine permission to go, and we must have the courage to hit the gas. He has already strategically aligned everything to make sure that we are at the right place at the right time. God opens doors designated just for us that no man or woman can shut. But on the other hand, when the Lord closes doors, we must not insist on keeping them open. We must just let God be God. He will always have a different measuring stick than we do, and our best efforts will always fall short of the His standard. However, we must have commitment and courage to take the next step and walk in expectancy. We must be intentional in our pursuit of the Lord and even more intense in our worship of Him.
Lord,teach us how to love you and how to trust you with all of our heart…
But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
1 Corinthians 2:9
And with that I’d like to leave you with 3 key points…
Clarity – Seeking clarity is an act of trust that God is present in the process and that the Holy Spirit will reveal ways for us to move forward.
Confidence / Authenticity – The Lord will not allow us to be anyone other than who He’s created us to be.
Courage / Faith – Along the way, we will be tested, but we must allow the Lord to grow our faith in Him. Even when we flunk the test, if we learn the lesson, God will let us go to the next level.
JOURNAL PROMPT: If there was One Word that you wanted to live by this year, what would it be?
As we enter this brand new year of endless possibilities, I believe that it’s important we strongly consider the importance of authenticity, being the person that we have been uniquely designed to be by God. We must look at the importance of endurance, and trust in following God’s guidance, as we “Follow the Cloud to Purpose” in the context of the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness. We will draw parallels between the biblical account and the challenges we face today in our personal life journeys.
God led the Israelites with the pillar of cloud during the day and with the pillar of fire at night. The wilderness was a time of God’s provision, protection, and purpose. Now we too must follow the cloud to our purpose. As with the children of Israel, the Lord needs us to take some time to unlearn some of our old ways, so that we can have true worship encounters with Him. I think there are times that we underestimate God and how methodical and strategically He does what He does.
We must go back to the story of the children of Israel leaving Egypt. God was very strategic by not allowing them to go through Philistine country, although it was a shorter route. He knew that they were not ready to fight the giants and they would have wanted to go back to Egypt. So, often today, God will take us the long way around, towards the Red Sea. Some of us are currently standing at our Red Sea, patiently waiting for the waters to part, and then enduring to keep walking forward.
Today, our God doesn’t want us to be held in bondage by the cares and chaos of this world. All we need to do is follow the cloud to purpose and ask the Lord to direct our next step. At times, we may decide to go with what we know and wish that we had just waited. We must learn to be content with where we are until the Lord says move. When we ask the Lord for advancement, elevation, or personal evolution, God will ask us if we can stand the inconvenience and the unexpected.
As a result, our plans will have to be adjusted. Our preferences may be standing in the way of what the Lord has promised us. We must trust the wait and His way. There are blessings that the Lord wants to give us, but we must follow the cloud, or we might miss our blessings… Remeber, our patience, endurance, and obedience are essential.
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If you were to Google the statement, “Let Him Lead”, you will find article after article about how as women we should allow the man to “take the lead” in our relationships. However, I want to focus on the term, “Let Him Lead” in a biblical sense. So, let’s begin by looking at Proverbs 6:8 CEV, which says:
Always let him lead you, and he will clear the road for you to follow. Don’t ever think that you are wise enough but respect the Lord and stay away from evil. This will make you healthy, and you will feel strong.
But I’d like for us to look a little deeper, as the Holy Spirit continues to ask me, are you sure that you are ready? The other morning, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and it appears that the Holy Spirit has asked her the same question that He had asked me and He may be asking you the same question(s); Are we ready for what He has planned for us, as it applies to our lives, careers, new business, new ministry, new relationship or in taking any or all of that to the next level?
I believe that we all have been preparing, but we may have moved without our Guide. Some of us may have taken on His responsibilities, that of the Holy Spirit and not ours, simply because He wasn’t moving fast enough. Others may have been reluctantly obedient, like me. Reluctance is brought on by fear and apprehension because we have not totally trusted God with His plan for our lives. Why? Because it’s impossible to Trust the Lord with our whole heart, without the Power of the Holy Spirit. We must “let Him lead!
I had a new revelation, which I’m almost embarrassed to admit… when we say that all that we need is already in us, although it is true that the Lord has put in us, our gifts, talents, and abilities, without the Holy Spirit, that will not have the power as the Lord intended. I realize now that I may have mis-spoke if I have given you the impression that we can accomplish what the Lord has called us to do without the Holy Spirit leading, guiding, and directing us on how we use and apply all that the Lord has put inside of us.
What’s very interesting is that in most cases, we’ve prayed and asked the Lord for His help, but when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, we still try to break it down into pieces that are within our control, instead of applying exactly what He’s said to us and allowing Him to lead us through it.
So, what’s the answer, we must stop trying to control the outcome, as we are able to comprehend it. For our vision to come to fruition, for us to bear good fruit, we must not be afraid or fearful when the Lord wants to expand our territory and extend our borders. He has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Our assignment requires His anointing, and our calling requires God’s Power, the Power of the Holy Spirit, neither of which can we accomplish within our own power. The Bible says:
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6
Philippians 1:6
In all of this, the most important, extremely critical element, He commands that we Love Him…
Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[a] This is the first and greatest commandment.
Matthews 22:36-38
Then, in John 13, Jesus, himself, said…
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 13:34-35
Although our patterns of worship may be very different, I think some of us were taught things that we thought the Lord required of us that has made our worship a lot more complicated than it needs to be. It’s simply starts with a little talk with Jesus, telling him all about our troubles, remember that song, just talk to him!…”Let us tell Him about our troubles, He will hear our faintest cry and He will answer by and by, Now when you feel a little prayer wheel turning and you know a little fire is burning, you will find a little talk with Jesus makes it all right…” written by Reverend Cleavant Derrick, who sold it in 1936 for roughly $50.00 (a little-known fact).
Ultimately, we must know our God as not only a Father, who comforts us when we’re in pain but also one who will chastise us when we get it wrong. Asking him to lead us in ALL we do and stop trying to do it without Him, and trusting Him with entire being. I believe that there is a Holy Ghost shift going on, which I think started with the pandemic. He is really trying to get our attention, so that we understand that we must be ready to walk purposefully into what God has for us.
The Holy Spirit keeps showing me that there are several women who may just be so busy living life that they’ve lost sight of living on purpose. For most women, it not from a lack of trying, she make time for her devotionals in the morning, she finds a moment or two to pray in the evening, she goes to church faithfully on Sunday, but with whatever time she has left in her 24-hour day, it is extremely difficult to prioritize those things that the Lord has told her to do. So, you may be asking yourself, what on earth could the Lord possibly expect from her? She just may have to ask Him, because unless we “Let Him lead” us, we assume that we are doing everything that He wants us to do when the Holy Spirit may be trying to pull us into an entirely different direction.
We must realize the magnitude of our assignment and that we can’t accomplish within our own power and control. For us to keep moving forward, we must no longer operate business as usual but know that we are hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, even as I speak, so Let Him Lead you!
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Well I’m sure that with a topic like “Reluctant Obedience“, you must be curious of what does that really mean. It’s an oxymoron at the very least, so please allow me to explain…
If you read my blog posts regularly, you know that I have been in a rather unusual place spiritually for over a month now. It started around the beginning of February, when business (just like the Kerith Brook, remember the Elijah story – 1 Kings 17?) started to dry up. I won’t bore you with all the details, but my relationship with the Holy Spirit became even more intentional and intense. As I was coming out to my drought, He started to ask me some very poignant questions about my spiritual preparedness for what was ahead and apparently, I was not ready!
Then, about the middle of February, something very interesting happened, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me to take my Order Your Steps podcast to the next level. For the first time that I can remember, the Holy Spirit was very specific on the details. However, in the spirit of total transparency, I reluctantly obeyed… I tried to explain to the Holy Spirit that most of the women are too busy to even listen to podcast, yet alone participate in, yet another Zoom meeting on a Sunday afternoon. Now I’m sure that you all are judging me right now, but let’s be honest, why are we pretending with the Lord, He knows what we are thinking, before we think it.
Well, a few women signed up, but I still was not convinced that it was going to happen. But then I heard the Holy Spirit very clearly say something very profound, He said “it is not your responsibility to get them there, that’s my job, and your job is to prepare a place for them to come.”
So the question is, how many times have we been reluctantly obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, because we have taken responsibility for something that wasn’t ours to begin with and thought that we could control the outcome.
Interesting enough, as I had suspected, we had to reschedule our Sunday chat. Later that same afternoon, I was talking to a friend of mine about the situation, and the term, Reluctant Obedience came to my mind and yes, she judged me lovingly, of course. I can only imagine what the Lord has in store for me, but I am definitely being prepared for the next leg of my journey. So, yet again, I’m learned some very valuable lessons:
Never challenge the Holy Spirit, a really, really dumb idea, and yes, I knew better.
When He tells you to do something, reluctant obedience is disobedience, and we never want to be guilty of that.
There are so many blessings that comes with our obedience to the Lord with your entire being.
A Call to Love and Obedience
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
The Blessings of Obedience
But you have seen the Lord perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes! “Therefore, be careful to obey every command I am giving you today, so you may have strength to go in and take over the land you are about to enter. If you obey, you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey! Deuteronomy 11:7-9
Deuteronomy 11:7-9
Knowing just how much the Lord loves us and He always knows and wants what is best for us, even when we don’t.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
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It is just like the Holy Spirit to turn what I thought would be a 2-part series into a three-part series, or maybe even a 4-part series. So, for just a quick review, over the past few weeks, we decided that we are going to stop trying to hide from the Lord, seek His presence and worship Him; trust His sovereignty and lean into the Holy Spirit. Today, we are going to delve into the idea of what it means to “Bear Good Fruit”. As we look at Genesis 1:28, God created the earth and after He blessed all living things and said:
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
In chapter 2 of Genesis, the Lord had not caused it to rain and there was no man to till the ground, therefore, God formed man and breathed into him the breath of life. He then put Adam in the garden to tend [work in it] and keep it [be productive]. We know that shortly thereafter He created Eve, but I won’t go too deep into that story, but I do want to focus on gaining a better understanding of the phrase, “Be Fruitful”. We hear that phrase a lot these days, but what does it really mean? Many times, there are things that we have heard and or learned that we have taken for granted and have not fully understood, that may be crucial as we continue to proceed on the next leg of our spiritual journey. So, let’s go to the Book of John in the New Testament, as Jesus spoke to His disciples.
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
John 15:4 NLT
When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. John 15:8
John 15:8 NLT
This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
John 15:12 NLT
What is the fruit that Jesus is referring to? When we lovingly obey the Word of God, we produce much fruit (the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is LOVE, joy, peace, and so much more). “We are supposed to lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him as (we) bear fruit in every good work.” As the Apostle Paul spoke to the saints in the city of Colosse, he said:
We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. Colossians 1:9b-11a
Colossians 1:9b-11a
So, what does all this mean? For those of us that are being hidden by God”, before He fully reveals our purpose to us, we must be mentally and spiritually prepared to “Bear Good Fruit”! We must take the Word to God, His Seed, plant it in our hearts, apply it to our lives and produce the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is Love, as we touch the lives of others.
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Last week, our topic was “Hiding or Hidden” – Part 1 and we talked about the impossibility of trying to hide from the Lord, and more. So, this week, we were supposed to look at the idea of “being hidden by God”. Therefore, you may have been a little surprised to see that our topic is “Biblical Rest”, but that’s because, as always, the Holy Spirit had other plans. May I also say that I believe that there is someone whose readingthat is stuck and like me, has not realized it. Our spiritual relationship with the Lord is sound, however, we may have reached a point in our spiritual life in which we have stalled, because of our mindset. So, please read carefully, with an open mind and heart, to this potentially life-changing message.
A few weeks ago, “While in Winter”, we looked at biblical rest, a place that I am still in. I realize now that I had found myself in “full speed ahead” mode, when the Holy Spirit said, “pump the brakes”! Now with full disclosure, I had become a little, maybe a lot, impatient, a tad discouraged and a bit frustrated, when He began to ask me some rather thought-provoking, soul-searching questions, and the first being, are you truly mentally and spiritually prepared for where you are going? My original “knee-jerk” response was “Of course, I’ve been preparing and planning for this a very long time”. But then, I had to take a LONG pause and think about what He was asking me. The Holy Spirit had to remind me of Proverbs 16:3, which says, “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed”.
He then took me back to the definition of biblical rest and I discovered that I had not truly internalized it. Biblical Restis not only something we do for our body, soul, and spirit, but a form of worship, when we completely trust the sovereignty of God and lean into His Holy Spirit… a form of worship!
The next question that the Holy Spirit asked was, “Do you know how to truly worship?’” Again, my hasty response was “Of course”, but Wait! since He was asking the question, obviously not! For some reason, I thought that I knew everything about God, which sounds ridiculous now because with my finite mind, I could not possibly know everything about God. Therefore, the key to my worship and maybe yours too, requires a mindset shift. For us to be truly ready mentally and spiritually for what’s ahead, I am praying that the Lord will reveal to us aspects of His characters that we never knew existed, and that we find a place in His Presence that we’ve never been before, and the Holy Spirit will unlock a worship in us that we’ve never experience before.
I don’t want to realize that the Lord has tried to make spiritual shifts in my mind and soul, and I decided to stay stuck in my old way of thinking. I don’t want to be in a place where I’ve tried to maintain control of my situations and circumstances, while at the same time trying to be obedient, because to be honest, I was just not sure how the Lord was going to handle it. What about you?
For us to be truly ready mentally and spiritually for what’s ahead, we must completely trust the sovereignty of God, lean into His Holy Spirit and Worship the Lord with all that we are.…
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I’m sure that you have looked at this week’s topic, “Hiding or Hidden“, and have immediately wondered, What’s the difference? Well, I am glad you asked…. Are we trying to hide from God? Or Is He keeping us Hidden?
Although I won’t read all of Psalm 139, David said this:
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
Psalm 139: 1-4, 7, 11-12
We know that we can’t hide from God, but we can shrink back from those things that we know He has told us and needs us to do. We are just doing stuff or are we trying to camouflage ourselves amid our stuff. The Lord would never tell us to forsake our responsibilities, however, I’d like to suggest that if we gave Him 100% of who we are, dedicated our time to Him first; He would give us more than what we needed to fulfill all our roles. We may be overthinking about where the Lord may be taking us, wondering why He really wants to take us there anyway or we may just be afraid of going. We have surrounded ourselves with so much mental and physical clutter that we just can’t think clearly at all and our atmosphere does matter.
So, here are some examples of hiding places:
Hiding behind the role of a busy wife and mother – Now I would never underestimate the importance of this role. The Lord would never tell us to do something that would cause us to forsake our family. However, I believe that some of us may have lost ourselves in this role and have become defined by what we do and not who we are. As a result, we are always exhausted, feeling underappreciated and at times, unloved.
Hiding behind our busy career that we are comfortable in. We know that we are needed, however, we have convinced ourselves that no one can do it as well as we can. It’s a lucrative position and it pays the bills, yet it has become unfulfilling.
Hiding behind being a busy entrepreneur – Because we live in a constant state of uncertainty, i.e., where is the next client coming from, when will I get a new contract, etc. We too must take a pause and make sure that we are listening to the Holy Spirit. He may be trying to take us to the next level, but we would rather stay where we are safe and comfortable. We should never just settle for just enough to get by. Survival mode will not work for where we are going; we must thrive.
So, what am I saying? We may not be intentionally trying to hide from the Lord; however, we may be unconsciously avoiding what the Lord has called us to do by becoming preoccupied with all our other stuff. I do realize that the stuff must be done, however, let’s look briefly at a few biblical characters that thought that they had valid reasons to hide too.
There was Moses, who after he killed an Egyptian, he went into hiding in Midian. The Lord allowed him to stay there for 40 years, marry, have children and life was good. However, Moses still has an assignment to lead the children of Israel from Egypt into the Promised Land and what he thought would have disqualified him, the Lord had other ideas.
10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”11 But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”2 God answered, “I will be with you”.
Gideon thought that he was hiding because he just wasn’t good enough.
15 “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”16 The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”17 Gideon replied, “If you are truly going to help me, show me a sign to prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me.”
Most of you may know the rest of that story…
And finally, Saul, son of Kish was chosen from among them [to be crowned king]. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! 22 So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?” And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.” 23 So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else.
So, do we have the courage to come out of hiding, from behind our stuff, our insecurities, or other people? Are we hiding behind our busyness? Then I must say that the Lord will wait as long as He has to. He has told us all that He “will be with us”; to help us out of our mental, spiritual, or even physical clutter, that we may be hiding behind. Remember there are people waiting for what the Lord has put in us.
Next week, we plan to talk about “Being Hidden by God”, unless the Holy Spirit says otherwise…
Order Your Steps 