It’s with a boldness and conviction that I write this. Who am I to say any of this? I’ll tell you – I am the daughter of the Most High God. I am a joint heir with my Heavenly Father. I may not be a pastor or theologian, but I have a heart after the things of God. My desire is to follow Him and be obedient to His word; unafraid to use my voice and speak; to remember that God uses the least of these, the unlikely….

It saddens me that during these times, I see two groups of people. Both groups have faith, but two different kinds. I’ll do my best to put into words what my heart has been feeling.

We as a church are called to walk by faith. We know that without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Heb. 11:6). However, we are also called to submit the governing authorities. (Romans 13). By obeying God’s commands to do so, we are in turn obeying God Himself!

Right now, we are living in times where our faith is being tested. Will we come out of the fire refined or smelling like smoke? (Daniel 3:27) Will we walk in faith or fear? Will we walk in obedience to God’s Word or in disobedience?

Remember, God will NEVER ask us to do something that is contrary to His will!

We all sit under the authorities of our land. No one is exempt! We know that the Bible tells us “all authority has been placed in position by Him,” (Romans 13:1). He never asked our opinion! So, if we are told that during this time of crisis, we as a church can’t gather for a time being, why is it that some Pastors are going against authority and remaining open? To me, there’s no other way to call that than disobedience. This is where my heart grieves. Those that are going against orders are justifying their actions with scripture. Wow! They are calling it faith. Hmmmm- I questioned in my spirit “faith?” How can we call disobedience faith? Could it be pride – is it that maybe these people are trying to prove something? I see these people justifying their actions with scripture saying, “Look at the people in the Bible that didn’t obey and were arrested or martyred for their faith!”

Paul risked his life for the Gospel and was put in chains to get the gospel to the Nations when it was illegal! Paul wasn’t in disobedience to God here. People in the Word preached when they had NO other option! Their situations and circumstances were different. DON’T TWIST SCRIPTURE TO FIT OR JUSTIFY YOUR ACTIONS!!! We are not being told we cannot preach! We are not being told to bow down and worship other gods. If that were the case – then YES, we know we would only worship and bow down to the one and only true God. But, this is not the case!

We are being protected from a harmful virus and the only thing at stake of concern here is our health, NOT our Ministry! This is NOT a “Church” Agenda! While this is by far spiritual warfare on another level, the command to abstain from gatherings has nothing to do with shutting the Church doors. After all, the Church is the body of Christ, NOT the four walls. Our Ministry is how we lives our lives, NOT where we worship!

Not too long ago, there was another movement where the enemy counterfeited God’s grace and used people to justify their ways – which they deceptively thought they could get away with essentially anything because of “grace.” They still preached the gospel. They still proclaimed the name of Jesus. Now, we see a group of people who are operating in disobedience and calling it faith.

We know that in the evil days, the end times, there would be many that would be deceived. There would be false prophets. What’s scary is those that are in deception, don’t even know that they are in it. They are so deceived and blinded. They are so convinced and even use scripture to support their way of belief.

This group of believers may think they are walking in faith, but the deception is that they are actually walking in fear. Is the fear that if they submit governing authority, they will in turn have to give up even more? What is the motive of their hearts? It’s not for me to judge, only God can. These are just my thoughts.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31)

Truthfully, if we are obeying God, we will be taken care of and should have no fear of anything being taken away! When we submit to authority, whether we agree or disagree, that obedience allows God to come on the scene and work it all out for our good! (Rom. 8:28). Conversely, when we walk in DISobedience, we are walking in OUR authority and tie God’s hands back. We NEED to be certain WHO our God is and trust that what He’s asking us to do, submitting to the governing authorities will bring blessing on us.

Let’s stop mocking Christianity and making ourselves look bad! Let’s be a faith that adheres to the laws of the land and walks with integrity, obedience and sets an example to a lost, confused and dying world!

I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever. 

(Psalm 41:11-12, NIV)

Some thoughts that have come to me during this time we find ourselves in. The other night, so many things were running through my mind and the word “adaptability” kept coming, so I got up and decided to dig in to what was God trying to say.

First, I looked up the definition of the word “Adaptability” and it means the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions. The capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose. Wow!!! Does that not resonate with all the changes we are finding our world and our lives in right now?

It got me thinking when change comes, we must not fight against it. We must not rebel, but become adaptable. We may bend, but we will not break. May we adapt to a new way instead of going back to life as normal. May we increase our spiritual capacity for a new and greater purpose! I think we have to understand this isn’t about giving up everything and fearing that if we just adapt to all the authorities are telling us, that we give up our God given rights. That isn’t it! If we abide and follow our leadership, God will bless us. Romans 13:1-  “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the ordinances of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Paul wrote this when Nero was in power and he was persecuting Christians, yet Paul exhorted the Romans to submit to his authority because authority is ordained by God.

Just maybe in this time, God is wanting us to learn to make some adjustments internally so that He can in return increase our capacity for a new and greater purpose!!!

May we as the body of Christ, adapt to the need of the moment we re in and watch God move!!

Let’s look at how Paul used his freedom to win souls!! Paul is an example of how to adapt so that we can win the more!

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Paul’s Use of His Freedom

¹⁹ Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone,to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

 

As we know it, we are living in such uncertain times. People are fearful and full of panic. 

We need to understand that FEAR BREEDS FEAR! Fear is the actual virus that has spread throughout our world. We have done shows before on fear and again, fear is False Evidence Appearing Real! We’re not saying that this virus right now isn’t real, but so many of us have become fearful and are overcome with fear based off of false outcomes. 

People are fearing the unknown – operating in the “what if’s?” Panic is caused by man being infiltrated by the fear of the world around them. Fear has driven people to extreme measures. We see people lining up for hours to get toilet paper, water and hoarding food, but, we should be seeing people lining up to get into church – to get God’s Word that will never run out or run dry! Come on – the only thing we need to be hoarding is the word of God!! 

We are in this world, but we are not of it! We do not walk in the wisdom of the world nor operate like the world does. This is the time to seek God’s wisdom and get understanding to hear God’s direction for us as a church.

Proverbs 4:5 

 “Get wisdom, get understanding do not forget my words or turn away from them.” 

Fear does not come from God, but is of the enemy. 

John 10:10– “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  

We need to understand that the fear the enemy has released was an attempt to shut down the church. But, we know that the enemy will never succeed! For the gates of hell shall not prevail against God’s church! The church is not a building or only held during service times. We are the church and we will not be silent! 

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God and even though we are living in times this generation has never experienced, God will use it for His glory. The church may not be gathering together in a building, but we are still one in spirit! Let’s realize that sometimes we have to be put in uncomfortable positions to grow, to be strengthened, to rise up, and awaken Gods bride!  The testing of our faith produces perseverance, and boy are we being tested, but we will become a stronger and more resilient church! We may be stripped down right now of the things we have taken for granted as a church, but now we will be an even more humbled and grateful people. 

This is no time to retreat or be in fear. We need to be careful not tobe distracted by the media. It’s not the time to bash our government or President, but be praying for them. They are not our enemy! 

Let’s remember what the word tells!

Ephesians 6:12

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” 

In Ephesians, it also tells us how to take stand against the devils schemes; and it is to take on the whole armor of God! 

Right now we are in a spiritual warfare and we need to DAILY put on the whole armor of God so that we can withstand! 

 

The Armor of God 

Ephesians 6:10-18– “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” 

Don’t we know we are leaving in evil times! 

As Christians, this is our time! We have spent decades in Church, conferences, Bible Studies, relying on our Pastors to get the Word IN us! BUT NOW – NOW is the time where WE are to be the Church outside of the 4 walls and feed to others the bread of life we have been living on for so long!! This can be a season of true revival – where the Church is more rampant in our world than ever before because now WE ARE ALL WORKING!! 

When everything around is growing dim, when people are in fear – this is the perfect time for us to rise up! As the days grow darker, we need to shine brighter. We live in this world, but we are not of it. We will not be like the rest of the world walking in fear, panic and anxiety. Instead, we will be full of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE! 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for! We have Hope as an anchor to our soul sure and steadfast; the hope found in Christ that keeps us firm and unwavering in these turbulent waters we are in right now! And we have the Love of Christ, the perfect love that casts out fear!

Philippians 4:6–

“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

How do we keep our minds focused on the things of God? We need to meditate on His Word!!

Philippians 4:8

 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. 

May we be the beacon of hope and light to the world around us. We are the salt of the earth! We are the light of the world! A city on a hill that cannot be hidden!  Let’s find the opportunity to pray with people, to share the good news. These are exciting times for God’s people! More than ever do we have the opportunities to be the light! 

As children of God we know that God knows the plans He has for us plans to prosper and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future! – Jeremiah 29:11 

Instead of fear we call upon Jehovah El Shalom the Lord our peace!

Instead of Sickness we call upon Jehovah Rapha the Lord who heals!

Instead of lack we call upon Jehovah Jireh The Lord my provider! 

Prayer

We come before our Heavenly Father in the authority given to us and bind every demonic scheme of the enemy in Jesus name! We bind the sprit of fear that has swept our world and release faith and hope! The only outbreak we will experience is the outbreak of your Holy Spirit upon our nation and world! Your Word says you will release your spirit upon all flesh and we ask you to release and pour out your Holy Spirit like a massive wave. We call in the wells of salvation! As the days grow darker Jesus, YOU will shine brighter! May your people rise up and be the light, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden!

We know everyone is experiencing a lot of different emotions right now. Christian or not, saved or not, political or not, we are all under the same circumstances at this time. More than ever, my sister and I do not take this platform lightly and applaud all of our fellow broadcasters and evangelists preaching the gospel right now and having to come up with creative and new ways to get the Word out. The thread of fear highlighting our messages is one I don’t think can be preached enough! Fear is significantly more contagious than any fleshly virus circulating our nation. Fear is what is causing lack. Fear is what is causing discord, division, hoarding, and gluttony!

But, while this definitely looks like a flesh war, the war we are at is not a flesh war – it is most assuredly a spiritual battle, and one we should have been better prepared for as a Church, as a Nation! The warning signs have been coming and as we have pushed aside the things of God, the righteousness of His holiness to prevail in our land, we have in turn traded that for sin, political correctness and the laws of our flesh.

Everyone is now quoting scripture (mostly out of context) and asking for prayers and while this is great that we are all deciding that we suddenly need God right now, how much of Him do we want? Do we really want Him to reveal our hearts and what He sees over this nation? Do we really want the wrath of God unleashed?

We believe right now, God is showing us He’s getting ready for His judgment. What we are experiencing are the birthing pains of His divine plan to come forward! We need to get it right or it will get worse! He’s done letting us get away with sin. This is a spiritual battle and God will start separating those who truly follow Him from those who do not.

If we are really in our Word, and not just for the cute scriptures that we can call on Him for healing and compassion, but the entire truth of His Word, we can see that what is happening right now has been prophesied for ages!

Read 2 Chronicles 7:12-22 

God shut the heavens and there was no rain. Isn’t that what we experienced not too long ago – drought? There were locusts devouring the land! Right this very moment, there are swarms of locusts eating up the crops of Pakistan, causing famine! Pestilence among the people – Corona Virus! How many times does he have to warn us before we get it right? And this time, it won’t be pretty!

Solomon was here asking God to make provision for the people, even though they were in sin and this Chapter chronicles God’s conditions for that!

2 Chron. 7:14– “…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways…”

1. Humble ourselves
2. Pray to God, seeking true forgiveness
3. Continually seek God (that means His ways and wisdom and truth)
4. REPENT (Turn completely from wickedness)

God isn’t playing with us anymore! The signs are evident! What will we do now? We have taken prayer out of schools, have been trying to change the Constitution to make it more modern and appealing to our ways, NOT God’s ways!

We NEED God’s provision on our Nation, but we are not going to get it by living the way WE want, supporting sin, and let’s be real! Abortion, LGBTQ, bashing Governing authority! We are trying to pass laws and adhere to our societal norms of inclusivity, yet putting Godly discipline and Godly mandates on the back burner. And we wonder why this is all happening! Wake up!!

Jeremiah 10:10– “But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.”

Our Spiritual Mama Cheryl Salem has said for years, “If the Church doesn’t begin to act in the supernatural, it will become superficial.”

This isn’t prayers on Sunday and church attendance– this is praying in tongues, speaking the Word, meditating on the Word day and night!! This is studying scripture and being armored for such a time as this!!  He is coming for His people and will we be ready? We all may be able to quote Psalm 91 right about now, but do we walk in His ways in everything else??

The FIRST line of Psalm 91 says, HE WHO DWELLS IN THE SHELTER OF THE MOST HIGH…THAT person will reap the benefits of the rest of Psalm 91!! What does dwell mean? To remain, to reside, to LIVE in… Are we doing that??

The enemy can only work through disobedient people, so what does that mean? Let’s find out what the Word says about our Nation right now and how to turn it back to the things of God? Let’s pray like we have never prayed before!! Let’s humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness for changing laws, bashing our governing authority and being selfish!

When we do that, 2 Chronicles 7:14says – “THEN I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.For now I have chosen andsanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.”

IF we do not take this time seriously – if we think this is just a fleshly virus going around and as soon as we get a hold on it, things will go back to normal – we are ignorant!! If we are walking with the Lord in the Spirit, we know this is a wake up call and it’s time to get serious! There are consequences and God doesn’t put them on us – WE put them on ourselves by being disobedient to His Word!

Skip down to 2 Chronicles 7:19

“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them,then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I havesanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

 “And as for this house, whichis exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

God clearly laid out for Solomon what to do! Plain and simple – if the Nation followed God’s commands, the Nation would prosper. If they decided not to, the Nation would be destroyed! How much more clear could it be? Sin is deceptive and attractive.

Concordance: “Solomon eventually turned from God and he and his son lost most of the Kingdom. Following God brings benefits (not always material), while turning away from God brings suffering and punishment, and ultimately destruction.”

Solomon was swayed by the world around him, pleasing the people more than God, going with societal and political norms, even when they went against God! Isn’t that where we are today?? We have exchanged the truth of God’s Word for the lies of the world? We are more concerned about being politically correct and having the votes and acceptance of our peers, than being spiritually correct and having the applause of the heavens.

Concordance: The temple was ransacked after Solomon’s reign. It is difficult to imagine such a great and wise king being corrupted by idols, symbols of power, prosperity and sexuality. But even today these same idols are luring us into their traps.

We are running out of time, but again, Deuteronomy 28:1-14talks about the blessings from God when we are obedient to His word! Deuteronomy 28:15-68tells us the wrath upon us from our disobedience! Sounds like we need to take Him seriously and not wonder why these things are happening around us and be surprised!

We need to start declaring what the heavens are declaring!!

It is definitely time to get in our Word, get on our faces, repent and take this Nation back for God!!

We are going to continue with what we were talking about in our last blog about Unlikely People, but expand a bit. Sometimes we feel so unqualified, uneducated, not pretty or smart enough to be used, but as we look throughout scripture, God always used the broken and despair, the rejected and outcast to further His Kingdom. Why? Because if God can use the least likely, we can ALL see how His plan can include even us! 

As we talk about how God uses the least likely, we can also see this opens a door for criticism and judgment on so many levels. If we look around us today and the things happening in our own culture and generation, we have greatly become so quick to judge and criticize people, rather than keeping our focus on God. We took a look at scriptures and people in the Bible that God used, as well as people in our generation that God may be using, so please go back and read our last blog titled “Unlikely People.”

The times we are living in are so hostile; so much division and hatred. We point fingers, bash, and have exchanged the love and grace of God for a common enemy. What we see right now is a great divide. There are those who are accepting of ALL things (scriptural or not) and call it love, when ONLY God defines what love is! We have those who condemn the opposition and judge. We just have so many people judging one another based off of their own ideologies, but today we want to talk about what judgment really is and what our responsibility is as Christians with regard to judgment.

There are those that say we are not to judge others, lest we be judged. Then, there are those who say we are to call out righteous judgment. So, who’s right? Both are! Let’s take a look at scripture!

Again, we are not theologians, pastors or Bible scholars, but we do have a desire for Gods Word and by the Holy Spirit’s lead, we will do our best to discuss what God’s Word has to say about the matter, not our opinion. 

First, read  Matthew 7:1 (TPT)

Some like to just quote the very first verse “ Do not judge others, and you will not be judged” and stop there. Some like to use that and take it out of context to support their way of living. We have to be careful that we don’t take part of a verse and use to support our ways. We have to take the Word in its entirety. 

The scripture is not telling us that we are not to judge at all so that we in turn wont be judged.

However, verse 2 goes on to tell us that it’s HOW we judge, the measure that we judge. It’s in that same measure that we will be judged! What God is saying is that it is the attitude that we need to check when judging. We cannot make judgments in a critical and condemning way, pointing out someone else flaws to hide our own. Let us not be like the Pharisees judging with a religious spirit thinking we are better than they.

The verse goes on to say, “ Why do we look at the speck in our brothers eye, but not the speck in our own? Jesus says to those, “You Hypocrite!” Pretty harsh words from Jesus! But I love how He doesn’t leave it there, but goes on to tell us how to help fellow brothers and sisters. The “how” is by FIRST examining ourselves and removing the plank in our own eye, so then we can see clearly to remove the speck in another.

This always gets me because it doesn’t say we then judge with harsh words and criticism. If WE know what it’s like to have a plank in our eye, to be deceived and controlled by sin, then why would we not want to help our fellow brothers and sisters with the plank in their eyes so they, too may see clearly? 

I look at my sister and I. Many times in our friendship has one of us been out of line. Many times have one of one of us been just wrong! Instead of judging, we examine ourselves first, pray and ask God to help us see what the issue is with US first! When we can see that, we can then lovingly go to the other and say, “Hey sis, I just dealt with this and now let me help you get through this.” That’s how Christians are called to judge and operate. Yet we don’t do that! We quickly forget how God had to discipline us and we go to another and judge the sin or deception they are in instead of praying and leading them!

So then how are we to judge? What are we to judge according to scripture?

Reading further in Matthew 7:16, it says “You will know them by their fruits.”

We judge according to the truth of God’s Word. It doesn’t say we judge because they are a different political belief or disagree with the way we do things. It doesn’t say we judge them based off of OUR truths and ideologies. And lastly, it does not say we judge because they first offended us!! We judge them by their fruits! So, what are the fruits? 

Galatians 5:22-23– “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

That doesn’t sound debatable! It doesn’t say anything about judging them by what we believe is right or wrong! 

I remember watching the State of the Union a few weeks ago and as President Trump completed his speech, Pelosi tore up the speech in front of everyone. I saw on social media, so many “Christians” applauding and commending her for that! It broke my heart to see such disrespect! Of course, when I called a few people out on it, they replied that Trump did this and Trump did that. I wonder if when we go to heaven and God calls us out on behavior, we can get away with childish replies like, “Well he did it first!” Nowhere in scripture does it say we have any right to judge because someone did something offensive to us! We are called to walk in the fruits of the Spirit regardless of other’s behaviors and actions! Disrespect was definitely not on the list of fruits of the spirit! 

John 7:24 (NKJV)

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with RIGHTEOUSjudgment.”

 The first part of that verse tells us how NOT to judge according to appearance. This is the problem with our world and fallen nature. We judge according to appearance or past mistakes. Last show we talked about Kanye West – God evidently spoke to this man and he had a revelation of who God is. Who are we to judge what God has spoke to him? Who cares who he USE to be? Who did you use to be?? We pray for people to change, for God to move in their lives, but the minute He does, we can’t accept and believe it! 

The scripture goes onto say that we are to judge with Righteous judgment – by Gods commandments, the truth of God’s Word. We don’t judge according to popular opinion, or even our own personal opinion. Take YOU out of the equation and line your ways up with scripture! We are to judge ONLY by Gods divine law, what is upright according to the word of God. 

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14(NLT)

“…Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.”

Again the scripture tells us to Fear God and his commands, His word! His divine Law!

We Christians can miss what God is doing because we look to man and not God. We can be judgmental of the messenger, the man! Look at how we so easily uproot and change churches because we disagree with something the pastor said? We get so offended that we miss out on what God is doing through common man! 

President Donald Trump- he has received so much hate toward him, his wife, his family! And I’m talking about from Christians! And to be fair, there were Christians that also judged and slandered President Obama and his family! It’s not right on either end! 

We think we know them based off what we think is right or wrong. We judge based on our own limited assumptions. You don’t know if they’re in their prayer closet at night. You aren’t perfect! If you don’t agree with our President, stop judging and cutting out what God can do on his and our behalf and pray for him!!!! The Bible says in Romans 13: 

Romans 13:1-3 (TPT)

“Every person must submit to and support the authorities over him. For there can be no authority in the universe except by God’s appointment, which means that every authority that exists has been instituted by God. So to resist authority is to resist the divine order of God, which results in severe consequences. For civil authorities don’t intimidate those who are doing good, but those who are doing evil. So do what is right and you’ll never need to fear those in authority. They will commend you for your good citizenship.”

Did we forget that God puts all leaders in authority?? Who are we to judge Trump? So what if you don’t like the things he does? Just like we are to submit to our husbands, whether we agree or disagree, we are also just as called to submit to all authority placed over us, NOT because they are right, but because in doing so, WE ARE SUBMITTING TO GOD!!! When we defy authority on ANY level, we are essentially tying God’s hands to work on our behalf!!

Every day, we should all be praying for our leaders, our President, those in authority because their jobs aren’t easy and it’s going to take us all working together and putting aside our differences if we want to see the hand of God over this Nation!

1 Peter 2:13-17 (MSG)

“Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.”

Do you ever feel like you aren’t good enough to be used for God’s plans and purposes in this life? Maybe you feel uneducated or more like an outcast. Maybe you don’t feel pretty enough or that you have enough money. One of the most amazing things about God is that He uses the most unlikely people, the broken, despised, rejected and outcast to make a difference in the world for His glory! Think about Moses- we all know how amazing Moses was, BUT God didn’t use Moses when he was the Prince of Egypt! God called Moses when he was just a shepherd! God uses unlikely people to display His ultimate power! It’s about HIS power and glory to be revealed and He can use anybody!

Read 1 Corin. 1:26-30

He is looking for a people who’s hearts are after Him. In and of ourselves, we have nothing to offer, but our willing hearts. We need to be open to who God can and will use. We cannot keep our eyes on man, but on God. If we keep our eyes on man, we will most assuredly miss what God can and wants to do. Too many Christians look at man and walk in disbelief that God can use them. We are very quick to judge man! 

Matthew 13:53  – “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Manget this wisdom and thesemighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Manget all these things?” So they were offended at Him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” 

The people couldn’t believe that Jesus had so much wisdom and performed mighty works. They didn’t believe because they thought they knew Him. He was from their own hometown. They looked at the man and not God. They failed to see Him for who He was. Because they were filled with unbelief, Jesus could not do many mighty works. This can also be found in the recordings of Mark and in Luke. Some translations say Jesus could do NO mighty works! Imagine that! 

We know that Jesus wasn’t incapable of doing mighty works. Jesus is ALWAYS capable. It wasn’t even that the people didn’t have faith. We know that Jesus still performed miracles in those who had little to no faith. Jesus couldn’t perform mighty works because the people rejected him, HIS OWN people! Their eyes and hearts were closed to who HE was as the Son of the living God! Their eyes saw man. Their hearts refused to see glory! 

How does this relate to us? God works through people today just as He did then! Jesus may not be here walking on the earth amongst us, BUT He uses His sons and daughters here as his vessels. We need to remain open to who God can use, or again – we will miss the bigger picture of His plans! If we walk in disbelief like in Matthew, we limit what God can do! We then blame man for not being sufficient and capable when God never asked us to rely on man in the first place! He asked us to rely on HIS perfection as He works through the imperfect people! Wow, what a thought to chew on! 

In our generation, we are so easily offended, judgmental, full of anger and hatred. Everything has to be so politically correct, that we leave God out of the equation and decide to tweak His Word to fit our misguided world! We call ourselves Christians, but judge the people God is choosing to use! 

Let’s bring this closer to home. Take President Trump and Kanye West for example! Yes, we’re going there!  These are two people that profess to be Christ followers, right? But, all we have seen is judgment, hate, and criticism toward these people! Although we are using them as examples due to their current popularity, there are many more unfairly portrayed in the spotlight! When Kanye came out and professed to be a Christian, people (namely Christians) were slandering him. They were judging him on his past. Instead of praying for him and extending grace and letting his fruit be the basis by which we judge, we chose to walk in disbelief that his conversion is true.  We mock, point fingers, dig up and throw around his past. The sad part is the people that are doing this call themselves Christians! Who are we to judge someone else’s heart and if we are judging them, where is our own spiritual morality and conviction? Don’t forget – you are judging God by judging His people! 

Sound familiar? Reminds me of the verse we just read in Matthew! They rejected Jesus because they were in disbelief.  

Proverbs 21:1

“The kings heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases. People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart.” 

WE HAVE TO REMAIN OPEN TO WHO GOD CAN USE!!! 

If we remain quick to judge and criticize, we can miss what God is wanting to do through someone. What if right now, because we are operating in judgment and division, we are limiting the works Jesus can do here on earth today? Because we are so fixated on trying to change other’s beliefs and opinions and judge their motives, we are literally tying God’s hands to change our Nation because we think we can do a better job. 

Again, if we look at the scripture in Matt. 13:53, Jesus could do very little or no works because of the people’s unbelief and judgment. It was Jesus they rejected because they thought they knew who he was based on what their eyes saw. 

We challenge you with this question – What if WE are the ones limiting what God can and wants to do in our Nation, in or marriages, in our families and churches? We judge what our Pastors are doing. We judge what our President is doing. We don’t like the way things are done, so we judge and ridicule. Are we not those same ones nailing Jesus to the cross ourselves?? We cry out for Gods mercy, miracles, signs and wonders, but could it be that we are not seeing them because of our own unbelief? We need to remove the blinders from our eyes. 

God can and will use whomever He wants to. God can change the heart of man.

Look at Paul who was once Saul. He was a murderer of Christians! God got a hold of him and he ended up being one of the most influential leaders, writing 13 books of the Bible, 2/3 of the New Testament and died a martyr for Christ! What would we think today if a prisoner, murderer was out on the streets preaching the gospel? Heck, we can’t even handle a rapper doing that! 

Read Acts 9:1-21

This is about Paul’s conversion. We know Paul persecuted the church. He put Christians in prison and even to death. What if there was someone like Paul in our generation, who was a murderer of Christians and then converted? I can imagine most would not want to see such a person converted and preaching. Most people would spew disbelief and hatred.   

Even in those times, people had a hard time believing. In Acts 10, God tells Ananias to go to Saul and lay hands on him so that he could receive his sight. In verse 13, Ananias at first tells the Lord how he has heard about him and all the harm he has done. But, God goes on to tell Ananias that Saul is a chosen vessel. Ananias listens and goes. So, even at first, Ananias wasn’t completely willing, but he obeys and lays hands on Saul, who’s vision was restored. Saul immediately begins preaching. 

Read Acts 9:21-27 

Anyone who persecutes believers today persecutes Jesus because believers are the body of Christ here on earth that HE ordained. Despite Ananias’s initial reaction to going to Saul, he obeyed what the Lord asked him to do. 

We cannot limit God, even when he leads us to difficult people and circumstances! We don’t know His will and plans! 

God can and will use anyone or anything He can to get His message across! In Numbers 22, He even spoke through a donkey! 

I mean, did we forget the people in the Bible who God used? 

Noah- a drunkard

Rahab- prostitute

David- adulterer and murderer the list goes on… 

Our God is the God of the impossible. He can and will use the least likely-those with willing hearts to be subjected to the criticisms of man, who will also perform miracles in places no one would expect! Jesus was born in a manger! Our very own Messiah was born unlikely, in a barn!! We need to get out of our boxes and limited understanding of WHO God is! Let us not limit God in who or what he can use to move this nation and generation! 

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”