La La La La....I Can't Hear You!!!

“But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts." Zechariah 7:11,12

BMW (Beautiful Men Worshiping)

Gentlemen, Is This You? Ladies is This True???

I don't know what it is
But I like your swagger.
I don't mean to be rude
But it's like your drunk in the Spirit
And you just stagger
In the presence of God.
It seems odd
But I can't seem to shake
You from my mind.
I think about you all the time.
It's that
Royal Thugness about you.
Like Jesus has Faithful and True
On His thigh like a tattoo.

It's not the ride on 24's
With the Lamborghini doors
But it's the way that you sway
As you're caught up
Saying,
"Jesus you're the one I adore."

Could you be the one
I've been waiting for?
Could you be the one
I've been praying for?
To watch a rock like you
Cry out in praise
Shows the glory
Of the transforming power
Of the Ancient of Days.

I have to go deep into God's presence
To crucify my flesh
Because honestly,
I can't stand to be too close
To your holiness.
And the anointing
That exudes from your pores.
I start thinking about
Being not just your shorty
But your queen
And how you could be my king.
How you could be for me
And I could be yours.
Making sure
That I cover you in prayer
As you conquer all the giants out there,
With no fear,
Because you know your warrior queen
Has your back on everything.
And her favor shuts down all
Attacks from the enemy
And brings you before great men
And great kings.

Could you be the one
I've been waiting for?
Could you be the one
I've been praying for?

A man whose low before Christ
But stands tall against opposition
With his strong stature.
Knowing how to prayerfully
Play his position
For my hand.
Will you be able
To run it full court
For the destiny God has for us?
Are you willing
To forsake all others to support,
The vision God has for you and for me?
Walking in paths of righteousness
To fulfill individual & collective callings
Are you willing to sacrifice to do what's best for me
And your family?
Can you prayerfully bring out the best in me?
Are you secure enough to let me be free to be me?
Will you allow me to speak into your life prophetically?
I'm not asking you to be a perfect man
But are you the perfect man for me?
Or am I lost trying to fulfill a carnal thug fantasy?

Harps in the Willows

We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.
For there those who carried us away captive 
Asked of us a song,
And those who plundered us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” Psalm137:2, 3

Melancholy choruses

Blowing in the wind

Like a harp hung in the willows

Like a dream deferred

Withered in the sun.

There goes another one...

A gift, a talent

Buried in the sand.

Like a child

Throwing away a million dollars

Not knowing what she had in her hand.

We see it everyday

Those sour souls

Grinning behind gritted teeth

Because of the stench

That lies beneath.

In their hearts,

In their minds,

In their souls,

And their toes

The buried desolate remains

Of a destiny left to rot.

Purposes left for dead

After they've given it all they've got.

Or probably not...

Because fear of failure got

Their hearts on lock.

Yeah, America's got talent

But so does the world.

Unlike oysters without pearls,

If you were born,

You have it.

It's just a matter of you

Recognizing it.

Regardless of the contrary winds

And the opinions of siblings

If you would just see value

In your unique gift,

This world would be a whole lot different.

People would actually

Smile and mean it.

People would actually

Share their dreams

And folks believe it.

Because they've seen it

Happen for others before.

People wouldn't be

So jealous of one another

Because we'd all be

Getting our unique shine on,

One way or other.

Instead of being like Cain

And hatin' on our brother.

So unearth the seed,

The uncultivated fruit

God blessed you with.

Plant it in good soil

And pray hard on it.

Water it with the Living Word.

Resist the devil and he will flee.

And take away all his doubting birds.

Stand in expectancy

And give God praise

For every root and shoot

And continually

Walk in the light of holiness

Until you can enjoy the fruit.

And don't forget to share

And be shade for the upcoming new root.

He came that we may have life

And that more abundantly.

So break out of barrenness

And choose to be all that

God has called you to be.

Like trees of life

For the healing of the nations

Let us fully manifest

God's purpose for this creation

And build a forest of purposes

A monument; a testimony of triumph

For coming generations.

Beautiful

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. " Ecclesiastes 3:11a

He makes everything beautiful in its time. Have you ever noticed that certain plants bloom in certain seasons, yet we don't complain about it. We accept it as a part of life and we keep walking. The same should be true for the things we use as an excuse to keep from moving out of our comfort zone. Do you think a butterfly is concerned about what it looks like when it is time to break forth out of the cocoon? Does it ask for a mirror before it sees sunlight? Does it ask God for a test run before it spreads its wings by faith? Does the butterfly continue to act like a caterpillar until it "feels" like a butterfly?

Therefore, when God calls you to a higher level, don't shrink back and look for something in your past to disqualify you. Don't say well, Lord, if only I was shaped like I was ten years ago, then I can do _____ (you fill in the blank). Or "Lord, if I was only like this person, then I can do..." If he wanted you to be like that perfect idol you've created in your mind to keep from doing His will, He would have made you that way or asked the person who has what you think you need to do the job, instead of you. Why would God bother you, if you weren't His perfect choice in this very time, in this very season, just the way you are? People used to see the pictures of me from 7 years ago and marvel at my outer beauty. However, I know the inner pain and turmoil that I felt in that season. Spiritually unregenerate; a caterpillar, feeling like I was dying of heartache. Now, I may not be shaped the same way, but my heart and soul have been forever transformed by His divine love. Through prayer and the Word and fellowship with believers, I've been broken, restored, transformed and renewed from the inside out. At times, I look back and say to myself, if only I looked like that or if only I could be this way or that way but ultimately, I love who God has made me to be on the inside. And I realize how His glory on the inside has beautified even my outside. Therefore, I can't allow appearances or opinions to bind me from being free to be who He has called me to be. The Word says, "For I consider the sufferings of this present time, not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18. The inner glory is priceless! I am a total package, just as He has prepared me to be and I have to believe it everyday of my life.

So accept your life and keep walking. If you choose to be processed and make a decision to follow His purpose for you, then you can walk out His plan, true repentance starts and the change comes. Then comes the wings, then comes the confidence, and then you will see your innate beauty fly effortlessly on full display. And you will see that what was on the inside of you looks even better than what you could ever imagine. And the God-thing about it is, if you allow the refined inside to flow out, it renews, revitalizes and beautifies the outside in the sunshine of your divine destiny.

Be Like A Child

I remember my first steps as a baby Christian. I remember my zeal! I knew God would do anything for me. All I had to do was trust and believe my Daddy loved me. And some how without a shadow of a doubt, I knew He did. When I read scripture, I took Him at His Word. If it said, believe and don't doubt, I made my best effort EVERYDAY to not allow doubt to sneak in under my covers. When the Word said, "Love," I loved. When He said, "Pray," I prayed and when He said, "Fast," I fasted.
Somewhere along the walk, I lost my youth in Christ. Throughout the use and abuse, throughout the persecution and pain, I lost my unwavering faith that Daddy loves me and He will give me anything my heart desires. (Psalm 37:4, Mark 11:24, Matt 21:22, Matt 18:19-20, Matt 7:11) In the processes and the waiting, somehow I've let hope wither thinking that my Hero on a white horse will never come rescue me. (Rev 18:11-16) I can blame the jaded veteran Christians who slowly snuffed out my toddler-like flame by saying, "You're just a babe. Enjoy it now," or "Wait until you've been in this a while, it gets harder." Or when I believed God for a brand new church van and I said God will send someone to pay for it, my leader chuckled a quiet, "Yeah right!" but we did get a new van within a year of that declaration. But I can't blame them and I can't blame you. I just have to get in His face again and again until I'm so trusting of Him, so sure of Him and so over myself that I'm willing to stand on a sink singing His glory once again. Knowing that if I trip, He'll catch me. And know without a shadow of a doubt that He gave me everything and everyone around me to do His will and it is ALL GOOD!! Because no one is better than me cuz my Daddy said so! (Phil 4:13, Deut 32:10, Rom 8:31-39)

Matters of the Heart

"A good man obtains favor from the LORD, 

      But a man of wicked intentions He will condemn. " 
Proverbs 12:2

People of God always quote this scripture when they feel like someone is being judged, "Man looks at the outer appearance but God looks at the heart..." This is so true but let's take it a little deeper today.  Let's scratch beneath the surface of this scripture to pull out something that will transform our lives beyond a cliché. In this scripture in Proverbs, it talks about the intentions of one's heart.

When was the last time you checked your intentions? Why do you wear what you wear? Why do you drive the way you drive? Why do you talk to certain people a certain way? Why do you go to the church that you go to? Are you doing these things for the right reasons? Some people in the church believe that if you look the part and act the part, that's all you have to do to get into heaven and mislead millions to believe that lie to. With God, it takes a lot more than a nice suit, speaking in tongues and healing a few sick people to make into heaven.

I remember when God was dealing with me about lust. He used the scripture in Matthew 5:27-28 to speak to me about how important it is to pay close attention to the things that start off in the heart. “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery. ’But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. He showed me that there was a particular gentleman who I was attracted to that when he came around, I put on lip gloss, I contemplated what I was going to wear more intently. I specifically dressed a certain way just for him. Now, I was saved, very saved and in ministerial training but it was my season for God to magnify the hidden sins and faults in my life that would later cause Christ shame if I didn't deal with them before I reached the lime light. (That's why I needed to go through a process first, but yall don't hear me though...) Anyway, my pastor's wife called me on it, as she always would and told me, which I knew was from God, "Watch the way that you dress." I gave her all kinds of excuses but I knew, though what I was wearing wasn't provocative, that I had intentionally stood in front of my mirror grooming myself for him. Now, you may say it is okay to have a little "crush" but a crush is really lust when you are desiring what is not in God's will for your life and you direct more care and attention to him or her than you do to God. And the main issue was that it was inordinate affections because he already belonged to someone else!!!! Yes!!! Let's tell the truth and shame the devil!!!!

So ladies, (Here's a freebie. If you want to get married because you're tired of being a single mom and you want a man to take care of you, you're destined for trouble. You're already telling God that He is not strong enough, He is not capable of supplying all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. You might as well go out and get you a golden calf right now and get it over with because you are making the "idea" of marriage that you have an idol. Then you're crying every night to God wondering why all your friends are getting married and your not. It's your intentions. If you are going to ride that husband like the colt Jesus rode on as they cried out Hosanna instead of honoring him for the man of God that he is and not a substitute child support check, then God will delay your wedding until you get it right IN YOUR HEART. Men, if you want to get married because you can't hold your passions back anymore, you may want God to deliver you from that struggle now because if you don't master it now, it'll ruin the marriage God wants to bless you with. That's why He's delaying you. I KNOW! I'm in the "Delayed but Not Denied" line too, waiting my turn and allowing Him to transform my heart.)

What are your intentions when you wear what you wear or say what you say? Are you talking about your bills in front of a certain individual so that they will feel sorry for you and give you some of their money that you know or think that they have????? Are you changing your voice when you call a certain establishment so that they will give you more access like they do for people of another color??? COME ON SOMEBODY!!! People of God, if we want to REALLY be able to say that we are walking in the kingdom of God, we have to be open and honest with God and OURSELVES and THEN we can be honest with OTHERS!!! THAT'S what transparency and being "naked and unashamed," really means. Yes, I'm wearing 6 inch heels but I'm wearing them because I like them and I want to feel a little taller, NOT because I'm trying to attract attention away from the Men's Night Celebration. Yes, I use big words when I talk because I like corny things like crossword puzzles and reading the dictionary since I was a kid. No, I'm not going to max out my credit card to take you out to lunch just to impress you to get me into your clique or your jaguar club when I know I'm driving a '88 Jetta!! I am who I am because I know who I am and I don't have to live or look or walk or talk a certain way for you to say I'm accepted. I'm accepted in the Beloved and that's all that should really matter to you or to me.

For example, why do church people try to make a person who grew up in the hip hop culture, change the way he walks and dresses because it doesn't look "godly?" Why do they look down on a young lady who is wearing a loose-fitted skirt to her knee because it's a cute skirt but they esteem a girl who's dress is to her ankles but she was a "Bathsheba" who just bathed because she just got of "David's" bed that Sunday morning?? It's not about the slang, it's not about the church lingo, it's not about the shoes, the car, or the white gloves, the nurse shoes and uniform that make you "somebody" in the kingdom, it's the intentions of your heart. As in the example of the Widow's mite in Mark 12:41-44, she didn't give $10 million with an evil heart to control the way the church was ran, but she gave all she had because she loved the Lord and trusted Him to provide for her even though she had no more money.

So, you hear a lot of talk about taking off the masks, "Let's keep it real," etc, etc. But what is the intentions in your heart? Who are you trying to please, God or man? Are you following God because of who He is or what He can do for you? Do you go to church because you want to be looked at as a good person or you want to show off your gift as a singer or musician? Are you trying to fit into the church like a "Member's Only" club because you couldn't make it out in the worldly society? Okay...Imma go there....Are you trying to push everybody else out of the way to be the best Bishop, Apostle, Singer, Prophet, Evangelist, Deacon, Teacher, or whatever in the church because you didn't get a degree in the world so you think you'll make a name for yourself in the church???? You didn't finish college because of certain personal strongholds that you've brought into the church. So now you want to look down on others in the church because your gift looks good in the little small church your in, but means nothing without effort, time and discipline out in the world???????? CHECK YOUR MOTIVES PEOPLE!!! These reasons for why we do all the things we do from looking down on others to not dressing up because you don't want folk to hate on you, is all wickedness that the Lord sees and will judge. We look at the homosexuals whose sin is on the outside but we don't judge the bitterness in our own hearts towards our brothers and sisters. We want to talk junk about the Roman Catholic church because their sin is all over the media but if the Protestant, Episcopal, Evangelical, Non-Denominational, Baptist, Anabaptist, Charismatic, Racist, Segregated, Divided, Selfish, and Lost Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints was put on blast like the priests, there would be shame exposed greater than that of the Jimmy Swaggart scandals that everybody wants to turn their nose up at. That would be like comparing a cherry bomb to Hiroshima! Judgment begins in the house of God and then it will go out into the ends of the Earth. The Lord is not coming just yet or else He may leave with nobody right now because the Church, including myself, is not ready. Let's get our hearts and our houses in order so that we can say, "Come, Lord, quickly come," without hypocrisy or fear.

With sincere love,

Divine Utterance

You Just ARE-Part III

"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:16-18

Christ was a servant king, so don't get it twisted thinking that you just sit on a throne and someone will come and feed you grapes from Canaan. No sista!! You will have to get your hands dirty, at times. If Christ could wash corns and bunions, so can you. Take your big church lady hat off, file the acrylics down or soak them off and let's get down to kingdom business! A kingdom mindset is a matter of the heart, not where your fanny rests. God might tell you to sell all you have and move to Colombia in the midst of drug lords' territory to build a church. Yes, literally build a church. You know, go to their local Home Depot, "Pedro's Tooth n Nails" or whatever it's called and learn how to use a hammer and a paint brush and get busy for Jesus! But in the midst of the terror and the overwhelming culture shock and persecution, if you know that He sent you and you know who you ARE and that you are royalty, you will not bow to the pressure of feeling inadequate for the job. As a king's kid you will know that the reason why you have such honor in the kingdom is because you show your Daddy so much honor and obedience. And that as you put up your first wall and there may be threats against your life like Nehemiah, the whole kingdom and the whole hosts of heaven are backing you.

One of my favorite kind of managers that I like to work for, and I strive to be like, is one who gets in with the people and works. There attitudes seem to be what we call "Down to Earth." How can a person behave this way and not feel threatened to be at your level? They know who they ARE. There is a fair and wise balance between the leader and the servant within. There is a unique balance between delegation and supervision throughout. The manager is not trying to do your job because he thinks he can do it better than you, but he offers help every now and then because its just what he loves to do. There are tasks that others are very well capable of managing on their own but if need be, the leader doesn't mind humbly lending a hand. Most times leaders like this were servants once themselves doing the same job so they can relate to you. They may even be excellent at every facet of the job and therefore obtained the CEO position. They are your supervisor because they know the business very well, in addition to their excellent service in each department.

As the world has imitated the Word again without giving Him credit, all hierarchies know the time tested principle that it is best to recruit from within. Serving helps you to learn all the little minor details about the position God is taking you too, whether the current work is directly or indirectly related to your ultimate goal or not. Though there were no kings in the administration of the Way, in the new testament. However, there was the Five Fold ministry and before Timothy was given a pastorate, he served the Apostle Paul. And though he already had the call and the destiny within him that was nurtured by his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5), he didn't just get saved, leave his home, and become an a pastor. He went through a process of following, submitting, and serving Paul. There were originally 72 disciples, but only 12 became apostles. Out of the 120 that were in the upper room on Pentecost, only a few were mentioned in the bible by name. Why is that? Multitudes flanked Jesus, but few were willing to submit to Him, obey Him, learn from Him and embrace the call on their lives in Him. Many are called but few are chosen. How well you submit yourself to your leadership and serve under the mighty hand of God will be evident in how high God exalts you in due time. (1 Peter 5:6) God has no problem recruiting from without if he has to. He did it with Melchizedek, Jesus, and Paul and he will replace you too if you want to act like a spoiled brat like the Pharisees and the Priests and the Jews. The same Gentile, Nobody, Outcast you choose not to serve can be the same one who will humble themselves and God will elevate above you. Then, YOU will have to serve THEM!

I have friends who have been assigned to pastor churches and guess what? It wasn't to take over T.D. Jakes' church either. They had to work AND pastor AND their jobs took care of many of the needs of the church as well as their growing family. The key is they know WHO and WHOSE they are. No church member can come in and buy them with their tithes and lavish gifts. No one can come up to them and debase them because they are living "below standard" according to society and they know that they can't just walk away from it all when times get rough. Why? Because they know who they ARE in the kingdom. They've spent time in prayer and getting to know the Father, learning that He knows best. In response to His love, they've sacrificed their own personal ambition and agenda for the call of being like Christ and the office that God preordained them to be in. And they know without a shadow of a doubt that since He has appointed them into that office, that their needs are supplied through that office. They are steadily planted by faith, knowing that if they are faithful with the small as heirs, God is surely going to bless them with the much as kings.

Unlike the world, being a king's kid doesn't exempt you from submission, hard work, and accountability. As representatives of a family who is always under the microscope, we must rep Christ well! All great things, like salvation come with a price, however, the rewards and the favor are far more greater. And unlike the world, the legacy, the splendor and the glory are for eternity!