Seasons of Life: The Good and The Not So Good

Some folk have a crisis of faith because they're constantly fed "do this and God will do that for you" and "give to get" sermons but things happen differently.

This is what I mean...
* Give and it'll come back to you in a larger measure--house, car, canceled debt, lots of cash, etc. Instead, you struggle to make ends meet.

* Sacrificial offerings will be returned double fold. Yet, your lights were still turned off and your bills are past due.

* Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Yet, it's been years and the expected answer to your prayers hasn't come.

Note: When we delight ourselves on the Lord, His desires for us become the desires of our heart. The desires of our heart will line up with His will for us. It doesn't mean it's Christmas and our birthday and we get the things on our wish list.

* Just believe...all things are possible if you only believe. Yet, your body is still screaming with pain.

None of those things are wrong because God is able to do above and beyond anything we can ever imagine.

But, but, but God is not a genie nor is He Santa Claus. He is not obligated to move according to OUR wishes. He sees the bigger picture.

We need to know and understand that we move through seasons and all things work together for our good. 

What am I saying? There are prosperous seasons, seasons of not enough, crying seasons, hallelujah! seasons, seasons of health, seasons of illness, and "Lord, come and see about me!" seasons. Through every season, it all works together for our good.

It's great to preach about good things comin', being more than conquerors, being blessed and highly favored, being blessed in the city, being blessed in the fields, etc.

What about those "making" seasons? That season where we're sitting on the potter's wheel and it just keeps on spinning. How about the season when we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death and can't see a way out anywhere?

Yes, God is still there during those seasons, not to bring us out but to take us through.

Through these seasons, He's making us, shaping us, developing us, drawing us closer to Him, breaking us down to rebuild us, stripping our self-confidence and replacing it with reliance on Him, cutting away things...people who are weights holding us back from entering into our next level, etc.

Those are not feel good seasons and sometimes, we won't truly see what God was doing until we've moved out of it, look back, and think things over. One thing we will know for sure is that it all worked together for our good for we have been changed.

Just keepin' it real...

The Soul is More Important Than Dirt

Our soul is where our personality, intellect, will, and emotions reside. It's who we are.

When somebody says, "You know how they are," the statement is referring to characteristics of our soul. 

This is the part of us that dies daily to become more like Christ. This is the part of us the living Word operates on to remove everything that doesn't reflect the image of Christ.

Our body can be seen as the shell or house for our soul. 

Our soul controls the actions of our body. What am I saying?  Sinful actions begin in the mind and are then acted out by the body.

When we die, the body/shell/house turns to dust.  Our current body is not glorified. It's not eternal. It's...dirt.

At the rapture, we will get new, glorified, and eternal bodies.

The Great Commission of the Church--what we are supposed to be about--is to win SOULS for Christ.

Instead of carrying out the Commission, the Church seems to have gotten things twisted and is more focused on saving the body--dirt/dust--and trampling all over, rejecting, and crucifying folk souls. 

Listen, you can NOT win a soul that you have wounded, belittled, rejected, or crucified. 

God help us! 🙏🏽

Just keepin' it real...

It was there all the time...

The ugliness was there hidden behind the "Praise the Lord, Sister!", "Blessed and highly favored!", "I love you!", "Amen, Brother!", smiling face, and Sunday morning handshake.

It was there when they danced💃🏾 in church doing something that looked like a combination of the Wah Toosie and Twist...or some hip-hop move I've watched my son do around the house. 👀

It was there when they prayed for or even laid hands on you. It traveled and entwined with the words they spoke to you when they prophesied or preached to you. 👀

Was church ever a hospital for them where the living Word performed operations to expose the inner workings of and fix their heart issues? 🤔

Was church just a club where they met up with friends, sang, danced...went to see and be seen? 🤔

A lot of folk attend church religiously, making sure they physically assemble in the church building ⛪, but they are not Bible believing, born-again Christians.

Their relationship with Christ doesn't extend beyond the doors🚪of the church building ⛪.

Well, Toni, how do you know? The fruit...

And I'll say this: If the MAGA movement has done nothing else, it's stripped away the facade and revealed the true ugly heart condition of many professing Christians.

See, the movement didn't give birth to the ugliness, it revealed it, nurtured it, and gave it permission to live for...it was there all the time.

Just keepin' it real...