Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween IS NOT Christmas!

I believe I finally figured out what it is this year that is bothering me so much about Halloween. People are actually treating it like Christmas. And not only people, people who are confessing or professing I should say, to know Christ. To be Christians. Just so you will know, Halloween IS NOT Christmas!


In my driving, I have seen neighborhoods where people have put up decorations for Halloween, as if it was Christmas. I mean lights, balloons and ornaments all over the lawn. I have seen headless horsemen; a cut off head with supposedly blood coming out of it, hanging from a tree; graveyard headstones; all kinds of things. What is this?! I’ve also seen this giant balloon-like Frankenstein monster on a cart, filling up a yard and the moment I saw it, I asked the Lord to cast down every imagination that will try to exalt itself against the knowledge of His Word. Namely, I continued, “Take that thing down. Send a mighty wind and tear it down! (I haven’t seen it up in the last week or so, just so you know).


Anyway, people are being fooled. They are being bamboozled, hoodwinked, deceived, however you want to say it. And as much as they may not be aware they are buying into death and all those other d’s that come with the enemy of their souls, destruction, doom, depression, and so on.


Ok, you might be saying, “it’s not about all that, it’s just a holiday and it’s just a time for the kids to have fun.” And to that I will say this, “it’s the devil’s holiday and it’s not only the kids having fun.” In Hosea 4:6, God says His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. What you don’t know WILL hurt you. The Bible says that we should avoid all wicked customs. Read it for yourself, Deuteronomy 18:9-14. We, especially as Christians, should in no way, shape or form, align ourselves or associate with anything evil. Anything of the devil. Including and especially Halloween. We are to make no place for the devil. Ephesians 6:12 says we wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. What is that, but evil?! What is that but the devil? And if we are wrestling against him, why are some of us choosing to dance with him? Why are we attending his party?


If you find yourself here, you must ask yourself, if he were a person, would you invite the enemy of your soul to a celebration in your honor? Then why would you go to his?


Yes, I once celebrated Halloween. I took part in the whole shebang. All of the festivities. And I allowed my children to do so. The buying of the candy, the tricks and the treats, all of it. But God! I thank God that He has spared me and brought me into the knowledge of His Word. We must do all of His Word. Not just the parts we like and not just the parts we agree with. That is really what this comes down to today. Either you belong to the Lord or you don’t. Either you are going to believe His Word or you won’t. God has placed before you life and death. He encourages us to choose life. And that is following after Jesus Christ and Him alone.


The devil was thrown out of heaven because he wanted to be like God. He wanted to be God. And here he is now cast down to earth and people, Christians even, are treating him like a god. God alone is worthy of our adoration. Reconsider this day and don’t buy into the hype. Don’t dance with the devil, don’t play with him and don’t party with him.


“But God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and “All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.” (2 Timothy 2:19 NLT).


It’s a must!


Be blessed and sincere in your knowledge of the Lord.


A servant of the Lord,

Sis. E

Monday, October 26, 2009

DIAGNOSIS: Devil Is A Liar!

Praise the name of the Lord! For He is my Rock, He is my Fortress, He is my Deliverer. In Him will I Trust. What an awesome God we serve. True to His Word!

For most of the weekend I found myself in a hospital bed, on a heart monitor, taking a number of tests… EKG, ECG, Cat scan, Sonogram, blood work and more blood work… only for them to determine that the devil is a liar! Once again God is exalted and the devil is defeated in my life!

God is good! On Saturday after going shopping with my husband I came home and I was in tremendous pain. Severe chest pain, accompanied with problems breathing. My husband took me to the E.R. where they quickly gave me an EKG, hooked me up to a heart monitor, IV fluids and begin a round of doses of Nitroglycerin. For those who are not aware as I wasn’t, that it is to open your arteries and everything inside of you, so your blood can flow quickly. While it may heal one area, it causes another to suffer. So while it caused my chest pain to subside it caused my head to ache (and possibly) my back.

But anyway, the doctors thought something was wrong with my heart. The nurse that was attending to me, as well, because she had said, that though the EKG was not showing anything often times in black women, symptoms of a heart attack are hidden, so they’ve got to look deeper. And deeper is what they did. After putting me through hours of testing and on and off again pain, turns out the diagnosis was (for me anyway), the devil is a liar!

Just as soon as my husband learned I was in pain, he began to pray. On our way home, then on our way to the doctor, he was praying while I was confessing thank You Jesus. Thank You Jesus! You are the Lord God Who heals me. You said so, I believe Your Word! (Isn’t it funny how this attack came not even 24 hours after the day I wrote about reminding God of His Word, “God You Said It, Remember?” The enemy of your soul knows what you believe too)!

Anyway, on the way to the hospital and even after we arrived there, prayers of thanksgiving and the Word was confessed over my life. And I believe that was why the pain was coming and going. When it first started it would not leave my body. I could not sit down straight in the car ride, on the couch, or anything and I certainly could not lean back, because when I did it felt like something or someone was leaning on my chest with a boulder! I have never felt anything like that in my life. And the only way I got a little relief, was by leaning forward with my legs folded. (And trust me we were not meant to sit like this… just so you know).

The hospital did decide to keep me overnight to monitor my heart because they wanted to be sure. And I did put up somewhat of a fight because I really wanted to go to church on Sunday morning. I did not want to spend my Sunday morning up in somebody’s hospital bed. That is not what God intended. But there I was. With a heart monitor, oxygen in my nose, an IV on my hand and a helpful dose of Percocet. But tell me my God ain’t good!

At 2:00 am on Sunday, I had what I did not know would be, my last bout of pain. I woke up, (bless the Lord!) and I was in severe pain. I called for the nurse and waited for her to bring me my Percocet. But she didn’t bring it right away because I could not have any more until 2:30. So I sat there talking to the Lord, reminding Him of His Word, speaking to the pain in my body telling it that it must go, rebuking the devil and all his attempts. The nurse came in shortly after and gave me one last dose of Percocet. And I sat up for the remaining of the night (early morning), until they came in with another machine and to take some more blood.

More tests and a couple of hours later, the pain had completely disappeared. And I knew I was healed and that was just yet another attack from the enemy, attempting to kill, steal and to destroy. Know this that the enemy is not your friend. He is a spirit. And he wants nothing more but to see you dead. I mean it. Dead. He wants your spirit dead (but we are alive in Christ). He wants your finances dead, He wants your relationships dead, He wants you dead. And he will do everything in his power to destroy you and he will succeed if you let him. When you feel pain and anything contrary to the Word of God, know that those things are from him. He is trying to steal from you. But don’t let him. Speak the Word of God over yourself. Speak the Word over your pain. Come at him the same way he is coming at you. "Yeah, devil, my body hurts (you can’t deny that), but my God is a healer. He said that He will take sickness from my midst! So you can get on out of here with that. You are a liar and there is no truth in you!"

When all of this was happening, I was surprised at my reaction. I wasn’t afraid where at another time I might have been and I thank God. I read so many things about heart attacks and how to recognize them and all, and I never conceded to having one. Because I read something else. (I shall not die but live to declare the glory of the Lord!) The truth. The Word of God. And I’ve come to know something else. God is good. And He’s a healer. And He loves me and that is the report (and the diagnosis) I believe. Anything else won’t work.

So Sunday evening, just a little over 24 hours later I was discharged with an “unknown” diagnosis. And I walked out of that hospital on my own two feet, painless, with the t-shirt my husband had brought for me to wear home (and how appropriate)… ipray. Enough said.

God is good. For real! And He’s a healer!

A servant of the Lord,

Sis. E

Friday, October 23, 2009

God You Said It, Remember?


As we go through some things, God wants us to remember some thing. And it is really very simple. He said, “Remember my Word. Remember the Word you heard Me speak.” That Word, God’s Word, what He has personally spoken to you, may very well be the only thing that will propel you forward.

I found myself recently at a standstill. We all struggle with things especially our faith sometimes and when my husband saw me struggling with mine, he said, simply, “You either believe God or you don’t.” I myself have said that a time or two and even posed it as a question to others. But those words had an anointing on them because then just a day or so later I heard God say Himself, “Either you believe Me or you don’t.” And it caused me to really consider it. And get this, there I was “considering” it and found myself at a standstill. And how many of you know that if you are standing still you are not moving on. Huh? That’s right God said. He said to me, “You are standing still because you’re considering what I told you instead of simply believing it.” And that hit me real hard and I had to repent.

And once I did, the Lord reminded me of a Bible Study I shared years ago called, “But Lord, You Said.” And with it I was reminding the people to speak and to declare God’s Word over whatever it is that might have had them bound, that God would hear them say it. And that’s it, God wants us to remind Him of His Word and His promises. And little did I know that as I was in this standstill mode God kept speaking into my spirit, reminding me of His Word. “Only believe. That’s what I said. Not one Word has ever fallen to the ground. Every promise I have made to you has been yea and amen.” Even in my current state of mind, God was yet there, reminding me of His promises. And He told me that if I would just go back and read my journal then I would be reminded of Who He is and what He has spoken to me. That I would be reminded of the many times that I myself have encouraged others about His faithfulness. He said, “Either you believe Me or you don’t.” He said, “Read it My child and bring my Word before Me. It cannot return to me void. It WILL NOT return to me void. If I have spoken something to you, you have to believe that I shall bring it to pass. It will happen.”

And then He made me remember the Bible Study, and I say remember because I tell you, usually, for the most part, when God shares a Word with me to share with others, I write it down. It’s in one of my notebooks, somewhere. But for this purpose, God would not let me find this particular Word. He said, “No you are going to have to remember this. You are going to have to recall to your mind My goodness.” He said, “My Word I have hidden in your heart that you might not sin against Me. There are times when you won’t have the time to go and read it, you just need to remember some things.” All I could say was OUCH. And then He went on, and He said, “You need to get in My Word and bring it before Me. You tell Me what it says and I shall do it.” And as much as I went around the house, looking everywhere for this (still) I could not find it. And I had no choice but to comply. (His goodness brings you to repentance, that’s a promise too. Just so you know).

So my friends, God wants you to know this today just as He wanted me to know…. don’t forget what He has spoken to you. Don’t forget the Word you heard, in church, on a CD, on the radio, out of the mouth of a babe or a stranger… don’t forget what was spoken into your spirit as you read the Bible. It’s the Word of God and it’s full of His promises and that is what we need to remember when something has us standing still.

Now I don’t mean standing still, waiting on the Lord. There are times we must be still. Because the Bible says to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. It says to be still and know that He is God. But that is a different kind of stillness. That’s a knowing in your spirit that everything is going to be okay. That as He promised, all things work together for the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. That’s the standing still that you know how to do, after you get out of your standstill. Hallelujah! But when we find ourselves standing still "considering things", we need to remember what God spoke to us in whatever form and remind Him of it.

When you are sad and find yourself crying, remind God, but Lord You Said, I could “cast my care upon You because You care for me. You said that You would turn my mourning into dancing. When people are troubling you (and we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and the powers of darkness) but when you are troubled, you remind God, but Lord You Said “no weapon formed against me shall prosper and every tongue that rises up against me I shall condemn.” Lord, You said it.

When you seem to be broke, and you don’t know where to turn, remind God of His Word, but Lord You said, “You shall supply all my need according to Your riches and glory by Christ Jesus.” I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor His seed begging for bread. When you are sick in your body and pain tries to take over, you tell the Lord, but You said Lord, “You are the Lord God that heals me.” When you seem to be all alone and it feels like no one cares, you remind God, but Lord, You said “You will never leave me nor forsake me.” When your children are acting up AND OUT of the will of God, you remind God, you know what, Lord, my child is acting up, but You said Lord, “My children are a heritage from You and because I delight in Your Word, my children shall be mighty in the earth.”

When chaos is all around you and you find yourself afraid, remind the Lord, You said Lord, a thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall not come near me. When you feel threatened by the swine flu or anything else, remember God said, “no evil shall befall you, nor any plague will come near your dwelling.” He said it. Remind Him of it.

God told me to remind Him of His Word. But first I have to believe it. Believe Him. He is not a man that He should lie. Neither the son of man that He should repent. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good? Yeah He will! Remind God of the Word He has spoken to you. And let that be enough to keep you moving forward knowing that He will do exactly what He said He will do. God said it, remember.  You only need to remind Him of it.

God is good. And He is yet real.

A servant of the Lord,
Sis. E