Getting off the bandwagon.

The world is full of so many band wagons. Each one filled with voices that draw definitive lines in the sand. The “either you’re for us or against us” mentality is the fruit of Satan and many have been deceived into eating it.

It has left me wondering when did our “allegiance” start being in the things the world says, but not of the things God said. When did it become okay to drop our cross to jump on a band wagon? The only answer I can come up with is NEVER.

“God has one side, His.”

Our hearts have become divided because we fail to see that EVERY single cause that affects His heart should also affect ours not just what the world tells us. I’m not saying we shouldn’t care. I’m saying we need to know His heart and what He is speaking. We are to contend with Him. God has one side, His. He’s not standing on the sidelines waiting to jump on anyone’s wagon.

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Matthew 7:14 KJV

I’m choosing to stand between the lines not going to the right or the left. I’m going strait.

You see, God was and is always for the world. It’s always been Satan against it. Jesus may have drawn a line in the sand, but He never crossed it.

Wells of His oil

I was reminded of this word few days ago and it’s been burning hot in my spirit.
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We have been so tuned up inside these 4 walls of a building to run effectively within it that we have lost how to function outside of it. We became satisfied and dependent on letting someone fill us, that we don’t know how to fill ourselves. Identities have been wrapped up in the areas of ministry served in the church and now many are lost and probably don’t realize that was never their identity to begin with.
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We’ve lost our heart by becoming a trained machine.

Church was never meant to be a comfortable place, but a place to encounter the Comforter. To then be trained, equipped, strengthen and to live from Heaven to earth, not on earth until we get to Heaven. We’ve lost our heart by becoming a trained machine.

God’s looking for an army of oiled filled people, His oil. The day of Christ’s return is getting closer and let us not be like the foolish virgins who not only didn’t have enough oil, but who didn’t know Him. There is more to God than what’s in those 4 walls. He is calling us deeper and the deeper our wells the more oil we have. Deep cries out to deep and shallow recognizes shallow.

Boldness to speak

Yesterday I was reflecting on the boldness of the disciples. I found it encouraging that in the face of many oppositions, they spoke up and out. They never backed down or changed their message. They weren’t deterred, they were determined.

I made me think that maybe just maybe they were growing weary, they were taking hits and I don’t mean physically I mean spiritually. The one thing that stood out the most to me is they prayed for boldness. They didn’t ask to be emboldened in character or strength. They prayed for boldness to SPEAK!

“Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,”

Acts 4:29 NKJV

I’ve read this verse plenty of times, but yesterday it hit me with such importance because this is such a timely word for now. The disciples understood that without boldness, fear would keep them silent. I imagine they knew the only way to speak His word, His truth was to speak it boldly because the Kingdom of God is not shaken and as carriers of His kingdom, we are not shaken either.

The time is now to speak with boldness. The enemy is trying hard to silence our voices because he knows the power of God’s word. The power to speak, declare, create, establish, tear down and rebuild. His Word is our weapon and it’s time to pick up our swords with boldness and fight!

His Altar…. not our platforms.

World changers, light bearers, vessels of His glory that’s what we are called to do. We were never asked to be stage performers, people pleasers or self help gurus. Jesus didn’t hand out personality quizzes or try to be relevant to society’s standards. He lived His life in line with the standard of God’s kingdom. A standard that is much higher than ours because we’ve allowed our standard to be reduced to a worldly one.

Agendas, programs and schedules have taken the main stage all in the name of a “Sunday experience” instead of a transformed life. We turned His altar into platforms of catch phrases and wordly counsel careful not to speak His word with boldness to keep from offending our followers. Here’s the thing, Jesus offended people by what He said and by what He did. He laid His life down for the world, not to be accepted in it.

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.””

Matthew 15:12-14 NLT

Jesus zeal was for the Lord and only for the Lord. He was compassionate for the lost never compromising. He lived His life unto the Lord pleasing Him never deviating from the path He was given. Every word, every act was straight from The Father.

“Your will not mine.”

God never intended us to build platforms in His name with no fire or sacrifice. No, we are to build altars unto Him and be the sacrifice that keeps our fire burning. It’s time to get off the platforms and lay on the altar. It’s time to get back to the place where we cried out “your will not mine”.

It’s about connection…not content.

We are called to do more than provide content. We are called to be a voice and a light in this tumultuous and dark time.

We are to lift up, edify and build connections not content. If we focus too much on eye catching posts then the only thing we are building up is ourselves. We need to capture hearts and souls to build connections linking us to one another through Jesus.

It’s not about who you can bring to your table. It’s about bringing others to His table to build His kingdom…not ours.

Unfiltered Faith

At the beginning of June, the Lord spoke to my heart and directed me to be off all social media. The divisiveness, the hate, and the total chaos was taking a toll on my heart. Every time I logged on to social media I’d feel angry, frustrated, irritated, and it started to affect my spirit and my relationship with God. My love walk was slowing being filled with stumbling blocks and I knew that I was veering off into a path I didn’t want to be on. So I heeded His word and delve into Him and only Him.

“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.” Psalms 19:12 NKJV

It was during this time that I went through a process of being filtered to become unfiltered. To put it simply, Abba revealed many things in me that I didn’t know/think were there. The anger, frustration, irritation were things hidden in me and were being brought to the surface. I’ve come to understand that how I respond or feel is a result of what is already in me. No one or no thing can bring something out of me if it wasn’t in there to begin with. Isn’t that a big revelation? The biggest one though, was fear of men. Something I thought I was free from, to an extent I was, but not completely. I allowed the opinions of others to influence my faith…..online.

“Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.” Job 6:24 NKJV

When I finally stopped justifying and started listening to Abba I realized, He was absolutely right. I recalled how I filtered my faith many times by sweetening up posts to be more likeable, holding back when I shouldn’t have and taming my faith to look more dignified than radical. I was deceiving myself when I thought I was being transparent. I was compromising to an audience of many when I should have been yielding to an audience of One.

Pride may be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s better than choking on it.

This filtering process was quite painful yet healing at the same time. We never go into a fire and expect to walk out the same. God had to purify my heart in order for my faith to be radical again. It’s made me ready for this new season. And as I write this, I realize that this new season also coincides with my last year in my 30s and I’m ready for it.

So I invite you to enjoy me as I transition from Moments in the Garden to Unfiltered Faith. Unfiltered, uncensored, unapologetic, unashamed, unbecoming me to become wholly His.

“Create a new, clean heart within me. Fill me with pure thoughts and holy desires, ready to please you.”
Psalms 51:10 TPT