Here is a Thanksgiving Prayer sent to me by my sister in Christ Tanequa Phillips.  This woman is a truly anointed prayer warrior and she blesses my soul every she prays.  I hope this blesses you as it has blessed me.

O God,
We thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.

We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn’s fruit, rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.

Grant us a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.

For each new dawn is filled with infinite possibilities for new beginnings and new discoveries. Life is constantly changing and renewing itself. In this new day of new beginnings with God, all things are possible. We are restored and renewed in a joyous awakening to the wonder that our lives are and, yet, can be.  In Jesus’ name…….

Amen

May the blessing s of the Lord run you down and overtake you!

The world we live in is so clouded with distractions and things that are vying for our attention.  How often is it that we can actually sit still…No movement. No sound.  For many people it gets real uncomfortable real quick  and the need to say something arises. Today’s word challenges us to sit still and listen for the voice of God.

So many people miss God because they are looking for something huge when actually God is operating in the simple minute things that if you are not in tune with the Holy Spirit, you will miss.  We are going to examine a passage of scripture in 1 Kings that talks about an encounter the Prophet Elijah had with God.

1 Kings 19:11-17

¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. ¹⁷ Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.

Now lets examine this passage in depth.  Elijah had just killed 450 prophets of Baal and Jezebel had put out a hit on him.  Further back in 1 Kings 18, it tells of the many great works Elijah had done such as calling fire from heaven, declaring a drought then calling the rain to come forward, kept a widows pantry stocked with food and the list can go on…This same Elijah was now scared of one woman who had said that he would die in the same manner he had killed the prophets, when he had wrought the works of God with his very hands….

How many times have we seen God work so mightily in and through us but something so minute as a threat from a Jezebel that has no power will send us scurrying, tucking our tail between our legs running for cover?  Elijah was running and hiding in a cave!!!  When the word of the Lord came to Elijah and asked him what he was doing there in verse 10 he said that I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me.  WOW!!!  Talk about spiritual amnesia!

Sometimes our soul has so much turmoil that it obstructs our ability to hear soundly or see clearly what God is doing or what he is trying to say to us. In verse11 Elijah was instructed to go out and stand on the mountain.  The Lord passed by causing a great wind to come by and tear the rocks off the mountains.  But the Lord wasn’t in the wind.  Then a great earthquake, then a fire but the Lord wasn’t in either of those.  Then a “still small voice.”  You see God doesn’t have to yell, scream, rant or rave.  It is a still small voice that has the power to halt the storms in your life and quiet your fears and give you direction.  It was that still small voice that gave Elijah his next course of direction and calmed his fears.

God speaks to everyone differently.  For me sometimes he speaks in an audible voice.  Other times, he speaks to me through a devotional I am reading that causes me to seek Him for clarity through His word.  Some of us he has to cause earthquakes and fires and dramatic things to happen in our lives to get us to seek Him or sit still long enough to hear his voice.  But you can’t hear His voice if you are not in tune with the Holy Spirit.

I encourage you today to take time to declutter your mind and quiet your soul from the things of this world so you can hear that still small voice.  In that voice is God’s peace, wisdom and direction to set you back on the right course for your destiny.

As I was reading James 5, something quickened in my spirit.  James 5:1-6 says Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. ² Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. ⁴ Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. ⁵ You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.^{[a] 6} You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. 

Now how many “Christians” do you know would be “shaking” their fists at the wealthy talking about YEAH you getting ready to get yours!  How many “Christians” overly state this scripture:  “They wealth of the wicked will be turned over to the righteous?”  Please don’t get me wrong…There is nothing wrong with “nice” things or wanting them…God doesn’t want us to NOT have “nice” things. After all he created the nice things.   He just doesn’t want the “things” to have us.  I don’t know why folks think that Christians have taken a vow of poverty but after looking at the SMUT of the Preachers of LA, they have made a complete mockery of the faith…(That’s another post for another day…)  

You see, it is God who examines your motives…God’s word tells us that the blessings of the Lord make a man rich and adds no sorrow.  Will he see a reflection of himself in us as we handle the material wealth?  Many of us are not materially wealthy because it would take us away from God and His purpose for our lives…notice I said material because material is made of this world…I’m sorry yall but I have to go back to them Preachers of LA and that mess they are portraying…all the worldly goods and possessions…still ministering the word of God though…People are still being saved…”Some” of the gospel is still being preached…I am reminded of two parables, “The wheat and the Tares and the Sheep and the Goats…(once again, another post for another day…)

Looking at that passage of scripture, I actually feel sorry for the destruction coming up on the rich people.  I know most people wouldn’t feel sorry for them because they have had the best of the best material wise while others have gone lacking.  Sorry because they don’t know Jesus Christ in the pardon of their sins.  Sorry because the only identity they have is their wealth.  Look at what they had to do to maintain it.  They had to cheat others to get/maintain it.  Honestly these people are already in misery because they have to plot, plan and scheme to keep their wealth.  When God gives his people something he is responsible for maintaining it….All we have to do is be a good steward over what he has given us.  

But this is the scary thing…We are blessed with all spiritual blessings once we give our lives to Christ.  We are spiritually wealthy, yet we are functioning spiritually like we are materially.  If we are materially poor or bankrupt we are letting that filter over into how we function spiritually. This is totally backwards!!!!!  We should be letting how we function spiritually filter over into how we function materially.  The material world and spirit world CANNOT co-exist  just like faith and doubt cancels each other out..   The word says may you prosper as your soul prospers…We are constantly cancelling out our blessings because we are trying to bring the world’s mentality into our spiritual world.

Now back to shouting John.  I love that man!!!  The church folks were going to put him out of the church because he shouted to much.  That man was 80 something years old, in great health, tilling his own land.  All of his children were doing well and he never had to go to jail house to get them or to the cemetery to visit them.  Now while the song didn’t say John was all that materially wealthy like the “church” folks in their fine suits and fancy cars…Shouting John had riches those people would never have.  He had the riches of God flowing out of Him.  He had something money could not buy…He had joy.  He had peace and he had prosperity in his own right.  You see most “Christians” are blinded by the smoke screen Satan has put up making the worldly things look glamorous and making believers feel like God is withholding all the good stuff from us…We need to change the lens we are viewing the world through and realize like Shouting John that we have the all the good stuff and that is Jesus Christ…In Him we have everything we need…Once we realize that we can tell them church folks to “Hold our Mule” we gonna shout right here!  

 

He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty Psalms 91:1.  God has been dealing with me in this area for a while now and sometimes I think  have the hang of it.  Other times I don’t get it and feel all out of sorts.  The God for His long suffering!  We are set free in the spirit because the word says He who the son sets free is free indeed.  The struggle is in trying to convert over what has already occurred in the spiritual realm over into the natural realm.  My God!  What a struggle it is!!!!  Earlier this week God told me this…”You have been striving over much instead of abiding…”  We are constantly scurrying to make things happen…I know this is me ALLLL DAY LONG!!!

Whether it is a new job you seek, what to do about your future, how you will pay your bills, ect…We are striving over much.  I asked God what does abiding mean.  He told me it means resting in him.  In Matthew 6:24-34 the word tell us not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear.  It even tells us to look at the lilies of the field that do not toil and the birds of the air that do not sow or reap and yet he provides for them. It is in him we live, move and have our being…So today and any day we get overwhelmed by our situations and circumstances we need to be like Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus and rest/abide in him….He knows our needs.  He knows our desires…When we continue to strive over the things of this world, we are telling God we don’t trust him.  When I asked God what trust meant, he told me it means total reliance. We have a God with an impeccable character and track record of success..Why do we continue to strive???  

As I type these words to you I am ministering to myself.  Like Paul called himself the chief sinner I am calling myself the chief striver.  I will toil throughout the night crunching numbers and figures trying make ends meet or worrying about something that I have no control over the outcome.  I remember when I made the decision to put my mother in the nursing home permanently.  I toiled in my spirit for days trying to figure out a way to make it work because I knew she did not want to be in the nursing home, much less die there and I “Mariette Almighty” would have to give up control and let someone else care for her.  Oh and let me tell you when she started to decline in health even more, I zipped back into action still trying to figure out how I could bring her back home and take care of her.  God literally had to tie my hands and put me in a position where I could not change anything….Even as I sat there and watched God work his perfect will out for my mother’s life, I did not want to give God the control over the situation with my mom.  I didn’t want Him to control the outcome.

I have to make a conscious effort to abide in him daily….All this striving left me depleted and took my joy.  I didn’t enjoy life.  Always overly serious and anxious about everything.  Jesus said that he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.   Most people associate abundant life with material possessions and wealth.  I believed in Jesus but I let the cares of this world strip away that abundant life.  Now I am understanding what the abundant life is,  and it is being surrounded by God’s presence and filled with his peace, love and joy…Abundant life starts on the inside and manifests itself on the outside.  When you are filled with God’s peace, presence and love, it permeates to the outside and transforms your atmosphere.

Let us all have a day of abiding in God’s love so we can truly experience the abundant life.