Willing & Obedient

1. OBEDIENCE is not the mark of a slave; it's one of the prime qualities of LEADERSHIP.

2. When I see Him as who He is I will not call out commands & expect His OBEDIENCE...I will fall on my face & offer myself to Him!

3. When a leader fears God & is desperate to hear His voice & live in complete OBEDIENCE...reformation always follows!

4. The last thing I want to say to Jesus is, "I'm sorry about that...I keep meaning to get around to it!" Delayed OBEDIENCE is disobedience.

5. Hunger for Jesus should always overcome any hesitation we are wrestling with, propelling us into radical & consistent OBEDIENCE!

6. God never calls us to give a half-hearted effort, nor does He call us to "partial OBEDIENCE."

7. The supernatural blessings that accompany OBEDIENCE are worth the "inconvenience" & uncertainty that Jesus asks us to go through.

Do you have an OBEDIENT heart?

Are you WILLING & OBEDIENT?

Isaiah 1:19 "If ye be WILLING and OBEDIENT, ye shall eat the good of the land:"

We don't get to eat of the good of the land if we're not both.

Discussing The VALUE of true COVENANT Relationship

11 Observations About A Servant Leader

10 Things About Excuses

If I hear one more person complain or make an excuse about not coming to church...

1. You can't depend on people who cling to EXCUSES to justify their right to fail. Explanations are poor substitutes for results.

2. The willing find a way. The unwilling find an EXCUSE. God creates ways for the willing & the unwilling create their own excuses!

3. Stop making EXCUSES for friends & family members who insist on being mean to people. Don't say "they mean well." Say "they need help."

4. Stop making EXCUSES for letting insanely selfish people back into your life. They destroy all of you just to enjoy a part of you!

5. Eliminate EXCUSES & failure has no leg to stand on!

6. Stop making EXCUSES to miss Church tonight! Satan uses a tactic called "Isolation for Elimination." Gather with other burning hearts & blaze! Go to church!

7. Don't miss Church tonight! Much of what God does in our lives, He does by "the hearing of Faith." You can't just read. You must hear! #StopMakingExcuses

8. Right now, as you're feeling isolated & alone people at your Church miss you & are praying for you. #StopMakingExcuses

9. Instead of saying, "no one from the church has checked on me." How about say to yourself, "why have I been missing in the first place & then trying to blame them for my absence? They're still there doing what they've always been doing." #StopMakingExcuses

10. Don't miss church over someone else's offense. Let them work it out. You go to church! #StopMakingExcuses

Attitude Reflects Leadership - Podcast

Check out today's 2020 Leadership Podcast: 

Attitude Reflects Leadership 

The Likelihood Of Being Misunderstood

I believe one of the toughest things a leader deals with is that of being MISUNDERSTOOD. It can be very painful.  We can pretty much handle what people say against us, as long as they are engaged in our life.  But what really hurts is when people, who aren't committed in our life, form judgments and misconceptions based on outdated, false and distorted information.

In my mind, I can see Jesus hanging on the cross asking God to "forgive them for they know not what they do."  

Can you imagine the pain He experienced 

inside His heart, knowing that the very people 

He was giving His life for...MISUNDERSTOOD Him?

It's not fair.
It doesn't add up.
It doesn't make sense.

After all, Jesus is the one who raised Lazarus up from the dead.  Now, He's hanging on a cross, completely MISUNDERSTOOD by the people He came to offer life.

Why didn't He stop the crucifixion?  Certainly, He controlled the wind and storms!  Surely, He could have escaped this painful process!  

If you could...wouldn't you?

His own team forsook Him and fled. (Matthew 26:56). NEVER ONCE did Jesus explain Himself.  He watches Mary Magdalene, sobbing with intense emotional pain, but He doesn't even EXPLAIN HIMSELF.  He could have at least told her, "It's going to be alright, this is part of the plan.  My blood will atone for the sins of the world." .... BUT HE SAID NOTHING.

He was MISUNDERSTOOD.

You too will be MISUNDERSTOOD.  You will find yourself in a position where you can't tell what you want to tell.  You can't explain it and you can't whisper, no matter how much you want to, because you're a LEADER.

Your desire to please The Lord 

will outweigh your desire to please men.

Your relationship with people must be secondary to your relationship with God.  No matter how close you are with people, you must be closer to God.  Here's the irony of that...the closer people are to God, the more they will LOVE and RESPECT EACH OTHER.

Without a doubt, I love my friends and family.  However, some of my friends in the ministry are the dearest and closest people in my life...probably because we share a KINDRED spirit in our shared CALLING.

I believe what keeps us so CLOSE is our love for God more than our love for each other.  I know, without a doubt, that if I stopped following after Jesus, these friends would warn me and lovingly rebuke me if I didn't come to my senses. (It works both ways.)

No friendship or relationship is worth it's salt if it doesn't have an INFLEXIBLE commitment to God's glory first and to one another second.

Even your friends will MISUNDERSTAND you, at times. It will happen.  What will you do?

Here's what you must do: You must overlook your sentimental attachments and memories. They aren't sufficient to keep a relationship intact if you're not equally committed to hearing God's voice.

You will be called upon to BEAR THE CROSS OF MISUNDERSTANDING.  The more you bear it, the more you are putting God's voice first and the more God's voice will speak in your ear. 

Leaders will be misunderstood.
Spiritual fathers/mothers will be misunderstood.
Pastors will be misunderstood.

However, good evidence that you can be trusted with God's ANOINTING is your ability to BEAR THE CROSS OF MISUNDERSTANDING in the face of adversity.

• You will be called upon to LAY YOUR LIFE DOWN for people who consider not your life.
• You will at times feel like you're being RUN OVER and used by people.
• You will be taken ADVANTAGE of and then discarded when no longer needed.
• You will be MISUNDERSTOOD on many occasions. 

But remember the words of Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:12,

"But I would ye should understand, 

brethren, that the things which happened 

unto me have fallen out rather unto the 

furtherance of the gospel."

What Paul went through, as a leader, couldn't be compared to the GLORY that God would get out of his life, not only in the raising up of spiritual sons but also ensuring that the GOSPEL message would continue onward to future generations.

This MANDATE will bring with it THE LIKELIHOOD OF BEING MISUNDERSTOOD.  

But through it all...

• Keep going.  
• Keep loving. 
• Keep serving. 
• Keep sharing.
• Keep leading.
• Keep training.
• Keep teaching.
• Keep fathering.
• Keep pastoring.
• Keep teaching.
• Keep prophesying.
• Keep connecting.
• Keep raising.

I Am Healed!

THIS IS FOR SOMEONE TODAY! - 4:30 AM / 2-10-17

God is a HEALER! I believe in three types of healing.

1. NATURAL HEALING - God designed your body to heal itself. (i.e., cut your finger & a scab will form & healing with happen naturally.) David praised The Lord for creating his body so wonderfully! (Psalm 139:14)

2. MEDICAL HEALING - I believe God has gifted medical professionals (i.e. doctors, practitioners, etc.) with the innate ability to treat our symptoms & bring about healing in the body. (Jesus spat on the ground, took the clay & placed it on the eyes of the blind.) (John 9:6; Mark 8:23)

3. DIVINE HEALING - This is where the supernatural power of God manifests within us to perform an accelerated healing or a manifested miracle. Everything we need for our healing is already in us. Jesus is our healer & with His stripes we ARE healed. (Isaiah 53:5) (1 Peter 2:24)

Jesus is my SAVIOR & my HEALER. He lives in me. Everything He is...IS IN ME already. The same faith that it takes for me to believe for SALVATION is the same faith I use to receive my healing. Quite honestly, it wasn't difficult for me to BELIEVE for salvation. I simply chose to believe in Jesus & claim Him as my savior. Likewise, it's the same simple faith...when I believe for my HEALING. I receive it freely.

I rarely ever get a headache. Last night, I struggled with the symptoms of one that was so painful it was nauseating. I prayed for healing as I laid down to sleep. I woke up this morning with no headache & feel very refreshed.

Eighteen years ago, my hands were covered in warts. I had suffered for a long time with them. They were painful. I had been to the Doctor, tried every kind of medicine & even tried to file them down & clip them off myself. I was so embarrassed by them. I attended one of our Monday night prayer meetings & asked to be anointed in prayer. I felt no different. I didn't hear thunder, see lightning or feel goosebumps. However, a few days later, while I was in the shower, I looked at my hands & there were no more warts! No scars! They were completely gone. I wept before The Lord & thanked Him for touching my body!

Friends, Jesus is your HEALER! He remains the HEALER. Even if He elected not to heal you in the way you desire...HE WILL ALWAYS BE A HEALER!

Trust the finished work of Jesus. On the cross, He said, "It is finished." Not only was He sealing the door of one dispensation, as He opened up another, He was providing a COMPLETED (atoned) work for you and I! The bill has been paid! The demand has been met! He bore the stripes on His body for your healing.

I speak LIFE over you today! I call for the HEALER to rise within you!

Change your confession! SPEAK LIFE! Do what King Hezekiah did, after he had received bad news concerning his health...he turned his face toward the wall & cried out to God! God granted him 15 more years! (2 Kings 20)

Hezekiah didn't wait for his health to turn around before he gave God praise! He didn't wait till he felt better to start talking as though he was going to live!

FAITH SAYS YOU HAVE TO 

BELIEVE IT & THEN YOU'LL SEE IT!

Even though you may feel weak right now...the God of HEALING lives within you!

I believe God has a FRESH START for you! Click here to listen to a message I ministered on Sunday, January 1, 2017 - YOUR YEAR OF FREEDOM! http://bfwcindy.sermon.net/main/main/20834451

Faith cometh by hearing & hearing by the Word! (Romans 10:17)

Walk On What Others Are Drowning In

When God is with you, you'll walk on what others are drowning in & you'll rest in places where others couldn't survive one night. What the enemy meant for harm God turned for GOOD!

Friends, I can tell you that if you're going to lead, God will allow situations you think are unfair, unjust & unwarranted to PROCESS you.

You will probably question everything you've been taught, second-guess your own etiquette, manners & principles and even be tempted to retaliate.

However, if you will REMAIN in His grip, TRUST the one that called you, HOLD FAST to good teaching, SEEK to honor God with your conduct & SURROUND yourself with covenant friends & leaders...you will not only SURVIVE...you will THRIVE!

It may be painful right now...having to deal with assumptions, accusations & even character assassination...but I promise you...God will lift you up above your enemy's reach & vindicate you!

Keep a sweet spirit. Pray for those who did you wrong. Put it in God's hands & know that your REWARDS are swift for letting Him deal with it instead of you. 

It's not what you when through...it's how you acted while you went through it.

#BeEncouraged #YourBestDaysAreAheadOfYou

Serve With Excellence

Have you ever been asked to SERVE in any capacity? Were you happy, sad, pumped up or did SERVING put you in a bad mood?

The early church had a challenge in Acts 6 that created an OPPORTUNITY for others to SERVE others with excellence.

Acts 6:1-6

1But as the believers[a] rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

The Challenge (Acts 6:1)

• We read in Acts 6:1 that the church was growing rapidly and it caused some growing pains. 
• The Greek speaking believers complained that some of their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

The Solution (Acts 6:2-5)

• A meeting was scheduled by the twelve leaders to SEEK GOD and find a SOLUTION to the challenge. 
• They agreed to find seven men who would be responsible for MANAGING the food program for the widows. 
• Acts 6:3 lists three qualities for these men.

Here are three qualities we need to serve people with excellence:

1. Be respected and of sound character 

• The bible says God looks on the heart and not the outward appearance of a person. 
• Sometimes we’ll recruit people to serve based on the outward appearance, for polished individuals. 
• We need to pray and seek the Lord for people who have the attitude and qualities of a servant.

2. Be full of the Spirit 

• A big key to serving other’s well is being full of God’s presence. 
• I love that it’s being full of the spirit and not pride; self; or serving to get something.

3. Full of wisdom 

• Wow! God fill me with your wisdom to help me serve others and my church well!!!!
• Stephen was one of the seven chosen to serve. 
• Everyone liked this idea, and they chose: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch. 
• These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. Acts 6:5-6

Results of serving with excellence

• And the message of God kept on SPREADING, and the number of disciples MULTIPLIED greatly in Jerusalem; and [besides] a large number of the priests were obedient to the faith [in Jesus as the Messiah, through Whom is obtained eternal salvation in the kingdom of God]. Acts 6:7

How can you do a better job of serving your church, your community, your family, your company, and others with EXCELLENCE?

Here’s a tip. Start small, and start today. 

Do something and SERVE PEOPLE with excellence.