Take it!

I had an amazing time at church today! Truth be told, it has just been an awesome move of the Spirit of God in the life of my family as the Lord ordered our steps to a different place of worship, one that is clearly part of His call on our lives for this season. It has been one Holy Spirit encounter after the other on another level since then, and the Lord has been unfolding Himself in new dimensions to each and all of us ever since. Err…no don’t ask me the name of the church sis. This is not a call for you to move from where the Lord may have you planted at this time. If He needs you to move, He will move you Himself and it will not be out of any orchestrated effort on your part. I’m simply sharing because I consider that I am doing life with you on some level through this platform, and because of the things God spoke to me at the turn of this year which I am beginning to see glimpses of; and I am honestly both excited at the bit He has shown me, as well as excito-scared (my new word combo) of the magnitude of what He has said is yet to come.

So in church today, the pastor in the course of his message made reference to Esther 8 verse 8 and sis, it was such a powerful alignment to every other thing he preached on prior to and after he made the reference. Honesty, today was another one of those ‘this-message-is-precisely-for-me’ days; but something about this particular verse of Scripture, among the many he shared, spoke deep to my core. It resonated even more profoundly with me as my spirit made immediate connections with two other statements he made in the course of his ministration…. statements that would otherwise have seemed somewhat unrelated were the Holy Spirit not helping me see them through a different knowing. He had quoted Matthew 11 verse 12 further along in his message, and in elaborating on the relevance of that portion of Scripture to the point he was trying to pass across, he’d said, “Not everything is given. Some things must be taken!”  My spirit immediately jumped back to Esther 8 verse 8. 

Again at the end of the service, he had mentioned that there would be a special ministration next week and everyone should come with their 2017 goals. He however reminded us that our faith is not supposed to be in the goals, but in He who enables us to do; that the injunction from God is to seek first after His Kingdom and righteousness and all other things would follow, including the attainment of our goals. Sis, maybe it’s because I have set my own goals for the year which I am trusting God to help me deliver on, or maybe it’s because everywhere around me all I see are conversations about goal-setting; but suffice it to say that as he made that announcement at the end of the service, my spirit immediately went again to Esther 8 verse 8 and somehow I knew that this was the word I needed to share with you today.

^{Esther 8 v 8} You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring no one can revoke.”

·        ‘You yourself write a decree’: Sis, have you framed your 2017? The Lord is reminding you again that He has given you power and authority and that you need to use it to reign and rule in your corner of the earth, to fulfill godly purpose and deliver glory to Him. The word of God is that we should write the vision and make it plain (Habakkuk 2 verse 2). You can only run with it when it is written, sis. Anything else is just glorious imagination. The word of God tells us that the world was framed by the Word of God (Hebrews 11 verse 3), and we carry the divine nature and power of God in us. We are Kings and Priests. He has given us rulership and dominion over the earth and He has asked us to decree a thing and it shall be established. We need to make tangible decrees, sis! Write down your decrees for your 2017 and trust that you are framing the world that the power of God will then unfold for you. Write your vision for this year and run with it. Write it, speak it, set your eyes continuously on it and you will surely see it come to pass… indeed, you will see greater things come to pass in this year in Jesus name. Please don’t be casual about this, sis. In 2017, the Lord is looking for uncommon believers, for radical faith! He is looking for those who will choose to believe Him over what man will call foolish; those who will walk in naive faith, trusting the word of God that NOTHING is impossible to Him. I sense that God wants to show off in your life and in my life in a radical way in 2017, sis. Don’t let ‘normal’ stand in the way of extraordinary this year. Please sis!

·       ‘…as you please’..:  Hey sis, are you as excited as I am at this? As I please? What does this mean? I tell you what ministered to me, sis. The Lord is saying to you and I that there are no limitations this year. As long as our ultimate objective is to deliver a higher level of glory to Him in 2017, we can ask as we please. We can ask for the big things, we can ask for the small things. We can ask for the spiritual things, and we can ask for the material things. We can ask for spiritual enlargement, and we can ask for promotion in our places of planting and in the works of our hands. We can ask for influence and we can ask for impact. As we please, sis. It’s all as we please. However…..

·         ‘…in the King’s name…’:  Here is the catch sis. As we ask, we must ask in the name of the King. Jesus said to us that whatever we ask in His name, God is able to grant to us according to His riches in glory. So there is an alignment called for sis and that is why in my view, while I will ask as I please, I will color it myself by asking in Jesus name, and asking for Him to show me any request I make that does not fit into delivering glory to Him.

·       ‘…and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring no one can revoke’: Sis, be sure you don’t move with any project/goal/endeavor that the Lord does not sanction. Not in this year! These are not the day’s, sis! As we ask as we please, and as we ask in the name of the Lord, let us also be patient to wait and hear from Him so we have clarity as to the things He has sanctioned. God clarifies the what, the how, the when, the where, the with whom, etc. Many times He unfolds these one step at a time, but be sure you have a specific ‘Yes’ for your ‘what’, sis. It is only then that you can be sure He seals it with His seal of approval, with that signet ring no one can revoke. Once the Lord establishes your assignments for 2017, no force from the camp of the enemy can override you. They may try, but it will be a vain thing and in the end the enemy will never prevail.  

Sis, God has an awesome plan for you and I in this year. But, we will only walk in it if we take what He has made available to us. We must pull that which He has spoken into manifestation in this realm, and that involves a ‘taking by force’. This is not a time to be casual about your Christianity! This is not a season to be apathetic about your pursuit of purpose! This is not the time to maintain status quo in your relationship with the Holy Spirit! I can’t tell you enough that this year, the Lord is calling us to a new level of intimacy with Him.

The world is going through fundamental changes, sis. Those who will live in elevation over all the trials and tribulations of the day are those who will intentionally live in an elevated spiritual position. Sis, let’s be intentional and focused about seeking God at a higher level this year. Let’s cast aside every success or achievement of the prior year and years, and let’s consign every failure to history. God has turned a new page for you and I, sis. But there is a demand placed on us if we are to walk in it, if we are to achieve goals that are fully in alignment with His will and which will deliver the glory He desires our lives to bring to Him in 2017. Let’s take it, sis! Let’s PRESS IN and TAKE IT! As always the Lord will help you, sis…as assuredly as He continues to help me!

Be blessed sis…..for you surely are!

Press in

Happy New Year, sis!

Please join me to give all glory to God for keeping us through 2016. Bumps and all, we made it and we’re still standing simply by His grace, mercies and favor. So many passed on just as the year turned sis, so I hope your ‘Halleluyah’ is as loud as mine as we bless the Lord for 2017. God is faithful, sis. In His infinite mercies, He has seen fit to keep you and I in health and strength; and He has held true to His promise to fulfill the number of our days. Our being here is not for lack of the devil having tried otherwise sis, I can assure you. It is simply of the Lord’s mercies that we were not consumed. Thank You Jesus!   

I had said to my son earlier today that it’s amazing just how quickly January is already well on its way. His response was, ‘Actually the entire year is already over, mum’. I listened with a half-smile on my face as he spoke to the fact that 2016 had quite simply raced by and he could see this year progressing along with the same velocity. I smiled because I understood that the discussion about 2017 and how fast it is moving along also holds an underlying significance for my son. He turns 21 in a few months you see, officially then coming into his own as a full legal adult. What I didn’t say to him, but which I thought to myself as he spoke, is that of a truth, 2017 is a year when many of us will have to ‘come into our own’ - spiritually speaking, if we are to experience the full measure of the things God has purposed for us in this season of our lives. Spiritually speaking, the Lord has laid it on my heart that 2017 will indeed be a significant year for those who will seek Him in spirit and in truth on a higher level. It is a year when only the spiritual adults will thrive, while those who still insist on operating on the level of ‘milk’ will struggle.

Speaking of significance, it is on my heart to ask you to do two things today, sis. First, can you take a look at your 2016 and ask yourself what the most significant things, situations, relationships, etc that marked the year for you were?  What were your key learning’s and take-away’s sis? And more than anything else, as you reflect, can you reflect on how God presented Himself through each of those significant markers? Even if you didn’t see or feel Him when you were going ‘through’ any of the things you count as your 2016 markers, are you now able to see and acknowledge that He was with you in every situation? Even if you still can’t figure why you had to go through some of the challenges you faced in 2016, can you trust that He is still doing something in you and that He will also help you to discern, at the appropriate times, what He needed you to learn or birth through every one of those experiences?

The second thing I would like you to do is to take some time to ask yourself how you want to walk with God in 2017. Will it be same old, same old? Or would you rather come up higher in Him? Methinks the world we are in is breaking down at an alarming pace, sis. Those who will thrive in the truest sense of the word as God defines it, will be those who press in…those who understand that it is only from Him that we can receive the downloads for how best to transact, thrive and abide in this season. Determine for yourself what needs to change about your spiritual walk in 2017 sis, and as you do, determine also the specific things you want the Lord to help you do in order to see the fullness of the manifestation of the changes you desire.  

I ended 2016 on a very devastating note, and came into 2017 numbed by the enormity of challenges I found myself facing. And I can tell you sis, that for the first few days of this year, it took everything in me to keep my head up. But this is then also the beauty of having a deep personal relationship with God, and of knowing who you are in Christ. I did and have been doing the one thing I know of a certainty to do, sis. I pressed in, and as I did the Lord spoke to me and calmed my spirit. This is why I am pressing on, and why I know I will make it.

Among other things, He cautioned me not to take my eyes of Him for a minute this year. The Lord said to me that ‘surrendered’ is the state of heart that will keep me in His victory in 2017; that this is not a year where I should try to do battle by myself and that I would not win if I do. He admonished me not to forget that He is my ability always, and especially in this season. He reminded me that His Holy Spirit is more than available to me, and that I must not do anything without consulting with Him first. And He said that I must walk in a spiritual high – in a place of spiritual elevation in 2017. He is still committed to speaking to me on the go, but it is only if my spirit is attuned to His voice that I will constantly hear Him with clarity.

It is on the strength of the understanding that my current struggles all count for something greater for His glory, that I can stare at my storms and still declare that 2017 will be a phenomenal year for me, no matter what. His word is that all things work together for my good, and this I know well. But I also know I have work to do. I have more spiritual meat to eat. I have more spiritual ‘coming into my own’ to do, so that I will see the manifestation of my confession.

Sis, I don’t know how your year has kicked off, but whether it started on a high or a low note is irrelevant. Can you please allow your spirit receive the same counsel the Lord laid on my heart and purpose to do life with Him at a deeper level in 2017? Sis, your spirit needs to be surrendered so you can attain the spiritual elevation God desires for us to ensure we thrive in this year. Can you please take some time to press in? As you press in, can you take your focus off your wants, and rather ask God to show you what He wants from you? Can you ask Him to give you spiritual eyes to see His express purpose for your life in this season, and ask Him to show you how best you can deliver new levels of glory to Him in 2017? Press in sis! Press in and don’t stop. The Lord gave a word in December that He is looking for mobile worshippers – those who will continuously carry His presence and deliver glory to Him on the go. This is my heart’s cry for this year, and indeed the rest of my life. Can you make it yours too?

The Lord will help us sis. He is daily helping me and He will daily help you. As we seek His face and commit to doing His will, we will indeed see His Kingdom come in our lives, and we will experience the fullness of the rich lives He has called us to live on this earth. And so shall it be, in Jesus name, amen.

Be blessed sis….. for you surely are!