Dis-Obedience, Un-forgiveness, Busy-ness

There are several things ruminating in my mind that I have struggled with so I just decided to put them out here just to get them out of there.

Disobedience, unforgiveness and busyness can weaken our relationship with God. I am a personal witness to this. As I've struggled with this off and on my entire life but especially in the past year or so. The busier I become the less time I have to spend with Him or in His Word. That allows disobedience to rear it's ugly head and then unforgiveness jumps on the wagon and I am so weighted down that I'm stuck and that is certainly where the enemy wants me to be. But being stuck doesn't have to last if I but come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit He will forgive me, and in my weakness strengthen me so that I can be used by Him so that He may get the glory as others see the changes in my life.

Disobedience provokes the following in God:

Anger - Psalm 78:10, 40 (NIV) "they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law. " 40 "How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland!"

Forfeits His favor - 1 Samuel 13:14 "But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command." (Saul's fall from grace)

Deprived of His Promised blessings - Jeremiah 18:10 "...and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."

Brings a Curse - Deuteronomy 11:27-28 "the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known."

The Word gives up strict instruction on forgiveness - Matthew 26:28 This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Luke 6:35-38;42 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." ... How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Luke 7:47-48 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

Busyness was also an issue that the Lord had and He rebuked people because of it.

Luke 10:38-42 “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and HEARD HIS WORD. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, LORD, doest thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Psalm 39:6 NLT "All our busy rushing ends in nothing."

Ecclesiastes 5:3 NLT "Too much activity gives you restless dreams; too many words make you a fool."

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "

So, in other words, obedience, forgiveness and time spent daily with Him will strengthen and deepen our relationship with Him. And that is one of His greatest desires, to have an intimate relationship with us.

It's been a week... how have you done?

I can't believe how quickly the time passes by even when I try so hard to hold it back.  It's been a week since we embarked on the 37 days of kindness bandwagon with Lysa TerKeurst at Proverbs 31 and I have to tell you what a week it has been. 


Do you realize how hard it is to break out of your routine and do deliberate acts of kindness? I had no clue; but I function on auto-pilot most of my time so I go, I do, I get and I press on with my daily schedule. Unfortunately, for me that means that I am limited in my worldly interacting with people outside of my job and immediate family.


I come to work and I go home, I have bible study and church. Depending on the needs of the children the rest of my time is spent with them or my husband in and around the house taking care of things. So this kindness thing has caused me to be creative and very conscious of my surroundings so I could see where I could possibly lend a hand out of the ordinary. 


I also found it to be a daunting task because by nature I try to be kind and have one of those helpful spirits that is 95% of the time agreeable to assisting anyone any way I can. So with that in mind, I went forth trying to dispense my kindness.


People are skeptical and weary at times at people being nice. Bewildered was also an emotion I encountered and of course anger and frustration from others who were inconvenienced by my kindness also showed up but was quickly dispensed with when grace and mercy over took them.


I am enjoying the challenge and pray that by the time it is all over it will have moved me from auto-pilot to Jesus-pilot where my thoughts and actions are focused on Him and how he would like for me to be aware of what is going on in my world and how I can use that to bring Him the honor and the glory He so rightly deserves.


‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:40 (NKJV)

Amazing Grace

To God be the glory!!!

I had to share this with you because His goodness and mercy cannot be stifled. We must shout it out to the world!

Two weeks ago we had a two-day, three session conference with Dr. Leroy Thompson on "Money Cometh." Thursday night was just blessed and we gave a "proper" offering for the first time this year - I say that because instead of me stroking a check, we asked God and then I asked Tony what he wanted to sow and we were both in agreement with what we decided to give. Tony attended the Friday morning session of the conference and sent me notes since I was here at work. His last note to me was that "Surprise Money" cometh to us so do not worry. We had several unexpected expenses that left us pretty tight financially but I was believing and praying that our breakthrough would come and so I received that anointing from Dr. Thompson and was doubly blessed and encouraged at Friday evening's service.


I have been praying over the scriptures he gave us during his conference and the materials that were in the partners package. It's amazing because I have given far more offerings this month than any other this year as I had committed to increasing my partnership seeds to several ministries that I sow into on a monthly basis and sowed into several people as my heart had been led this week. All the while I have been checking my bank account every day to make sure nothing "bounced" since I knew it would be a close call between what was outstanding and what was in the account. This morning I logged in and there was a balance that far exceeded what I had in there since my paycheck went in on Thursday night and came back out Friday night!!!! :-)

Only God could have moved like this my sweet sisters, only God!!! I received a lump sum amount for child support which will cover the remainder of the bills for the month!!!!! If that isn't surprise money I don't know what is!!!!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah!!!

I took to heart what Dr. Thompson preached about this being a spiritual way of life, a process, not a get rich quick thing, not a slogan and certainly not something to play with or take lightly. I have felt so much better about sowing, about giving and giving generously. I have had a stronger desire to give and have been praying and will continue to pray that I be in a position to give even if I never see the fruits of my giving in whomever/whatever I am sowing. It has been so freeing to know that as I praise Him, as I glorify, magnify and exalt Him and follow His commandments and believe that He will bless me and prosper me according to His will. 1 Chronicles 29:10-13 has become one of my greatest passages of scripture. I read it and speak it every day and it brings me much joy to praise Him that way. I will continue to speak this as I walk boldly in this new process of living for God and allowing Him to use me to give to His people so that He can get the glory.

I pray that this will bless each of you in some way and for you to know the blessings according to Psalms 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." May you find delight in Him this day and every day!! Believe and obey.