Giants

So I was going through some of my old notes and I came across this one from a message the Bishop T.D. Jakes preached last year. I thought it was pretty relevant to my life right now and I hope that you’re able to take something from it as well!

-           -God created you with more then one thing in you

->Don’t limit yourself to one thing

->Awaken the “other you” inside

  

             1 Samuel 17:12-29

-           -Giants are always at the gate

-          -David was in touch with all sides of himself

->He was after God’s own heart

-         - Greatness sneaks up on you and shows itself to you in mighty ways

         -Despise not the day of small beginnings

->It doesn’t matter where you start, only where you finish

-        -If it’s not the thing, it’s the thing that will lead to the thing

->You may not be doing exactly what you’d like to be doing but the Lord has a purpose for this season in your life, to prepare you for the next one

-        -God is about to take you out of your element

->His own divine purpose

-         -You know you’re called to do something when you have the fight in you for something that others have fear for

-        -Courage is a sign of your calling!

-        -Run into something that others are running away from

-        -Your past prepares you for your destiny

-         The devil wouldn’t be fighting you if he didn’t know you were going somewhere

1.      The Giant = the gate to your wealth

a.     Close to your wealth

b.      You may not be able to see increase, but you can always see the giant

2.     Shift your position

3.      Everything associated with you will be blessed

-       -If you have a problem it’s a sign that you are close to your greatness

-       -For every giant has a gate

-       -You can’t delay your battle while you’re waiting on your new equipment

-       -If you don’t invest in your dreams they won’t materialize

->Invest your rock -> David’s rock didn’t kill the giant, it knocked him out

-      -You kill the enemy with the very thing that he is trying to kill you with

-      -Don’t fear the giant!

->He can’t kill you -> He’s only here to move you (you pick the direction)

-     -If God calls you then He doesn’t want somebody else

->Don’t imitate others and their calling

-    -Everybody has a giant and he only tells you lies 

       If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll only do what you’ve already done!

Heroes

So I’m reading “Girls with Swords” by Lisa Bevere currently and it is incredibly amazing and life changing. It’s been a lot of talk about heroes and how they (we) can and should seize our moment. A lot of the heroes that we know in the Bible and throughout history had no idea that they were heroes until after the fact. Heroes are people of substance and live their lives by faith. Through faith there is SO much that we can accomplish. This is a short(not so short) list of some things that our biblical heroes were able to accomplish through faith:

Set the precedent for acceptable sacrifices

Skipped death

Pleased God

Built a massive ark in the middle of dry land

Drew the line between good and evil

Traveled to places unknown

Lived as strangers in the land

Kept their eyes on the eternal

Received what God did for them by faith

Became pregnant in old age and birthed a nation

In times of testing offered the promise back to God

Reached into the future and blessed their descendants

Prophesied destiny and the Exodus

Braved the king’s decree and hid their son

Refused a privileged royal life with the oppressors and chose hardship among God’s people, who were oppressed

Turned from the angry earthly king to obey the invisible eternal God

Celebrated the Passover

Crossed the Red Sea to dry land

Marched around Jericho seven times

Welcomed spies and escaped destruction

Toppled kingdoms

Made justice work

Took the promises for themselves

Were protected from lions, fires, and swords

Turned disadvantage into advantage

Won battles

Routed enemies

Received their loved ones back from the dead

Pretty incredible right?? Some of those seem kind of simple but then I look at others and I’m blown away by the amount of faith that it took that person to believe in that. I want a faith like my heroes, a faith that doesn’t compromise!

What do you see?

“and the word of the Lord came to me and asked: what do you see?”

I see a world full of people who are lost, but unaware that they are lost. I see people seeking for hope, love, forgiveness and acceptance…and destroying themselves because they keep looking in all the wrong places. I see that love can heal the brokenhearted and grace can really set the captive free. I see that light always overcomes darkness. I see that He invades my weakness with His strength. I see the power of believing in the call, and running the race that is set before me. I see a generation who is passionately seeking after His heart. I see that laughter is the best medicine. I see leaders who will rise to the occasion and BE the change. I see that faith somehow keeps me going, even if it’s difficult to believe. I see the bigger picture, even if I don’t quite know how to get there yet.

What do YOU see?

Foot washers?

         “We have all been called to be foot-washers.”  That phrase will more than likely make anyone cringe a little bit…if you look at it with your natural eyes. I remember hearing that for the first time and thinking “Really?? That’s kind of gross, I don’t know where their feet have been. No thanks, not for me.” Silly, but I can admit that I wasn’t on the same page as Jesus at that point. Not to change the meaning of it (because He clearly does call for us to literally wash feet at times) BUT, I’ve realized that it’s the symbolism of it that might be the most important part.

         In biblical times the act of foot-washing was reserved for the lowest of the servants. Peers didn’t wash each others feet, except very rarely and as a mark of great love.  John 12:26 says, “No servant is greater than his master.” If Jesus himself could lower himself to the lowest of the servants and wash His disciples feet, who are we to say that that is beneath us. I’m just human so I can never be equals with Christ, but we are still called to aim to be Christ-like. I can no longer look at anyone as less than me, after-all Jesus never did that. It’s time for me to get my hands dirty so to speak.

         I was raised knowing to respect my elders and I’d like to think that I still do that. Not just because it’s what my parents taught me but because I know that it is the right thing to do. However not until recently have I began exploring the idea of servant-hood. That is sort of a dirty word, you never hear it mentioned an awful lot but it’s key. As a child I’m called to respect, honor and serve my parents. I think that growing up I was fairly good and two out of the three. Serving to me always made me think of waiters and I absolutely didn’t want to be doing that in our house growing up. My regular “chores” were hard enough and I’m supposed to add to that and do things that I wasn’t expected to do? No thanks. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that my parents were and still are excellent examples of servants. They always put others first and even when they were tired they would push themselves a little farther to do something that they knew we would love. After a lot of prayer I’ve realized that it’s my turn to do that. And who better to learn from firsthand than my parents.                         

         The decision to move back to Kernersville wasn’t something that was easy to make or something that I ever saw happening, but I’m completely at peace with it. The thought of moving back into your parent’s house at 25 isn’t normally attached to great things. Most of the time you see this happening for reasons that might be somehow linked to failure. In the past when I’d thought about moving home I thought for sure that I could never do that. Going from a place of freedom to living under my parent’s roof and abiding by their rules will definitely be an adjustment. BUT I’m honestly excited about it! And because I’m excited about it I have to believe that that is God’s way of showing me that this has always been a part of His plan for me. This season of living in Boone has been nothing short of phenomenal. I’ve learned and grown so much and made some of the best and life-long friends I could have asked for. These are all friends that I know that I’ll keep up with no matter where I live 6 months or 6 years from now. They are people that have pushed me to be a woman that I’m proud of and to be a better woman that I could of ever thought possible. Moving to Kernersville is definitely going to be an adjustment but I’ve realized in the past week that it won’t be in the way that I originally thought. Yes, I’m going back to the town that raised me and to live around family that taught me so much, but I’m coming this time as a new/different person. It’s almost as if I’m looking at this as a redo. I get an awesome opportunity to go HOME and really love on my family, and learn from them. How cool is that?? I think that at my age I’m at a place where I can finally truly appreciate all of them for their hearts, gentle kindness, courage and so many other qualities that I’ve never expressed to them. The Lord has really shown me that I’m going to be able to play a key role in winning my family back over for the Kingdom. If I’m going to be helping orphans find families one day that’s something big that He’s trusting me with. And He can’t trust me with something big until I prove that I can handle something smaller. I ask that you please join me in prayer as I’m beginning to search for ways to reach out to certain family members. One word keeps popping up whenever I pray and talk about this move, LOVE, but isn’t the best way to reach the people closest to you is simply to just love them right where they are?