christianity – Page 12 – Transformed at the WELL Devotional Ministry

Good Morning Sunshine! Before You Were Called, Jesus Saw You!

John 1:43,45-51 NKJV ~ “The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” [45] Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” [46] And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” [47] Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” [48] Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” [49] Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” [50] Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” [51] And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

In your day-to-day hustle and bustle it can be easy to overlook the extraordinary and think it’s the ordinary, when it’s not! Look at Nathanael and how Jesus turned this ordinary moment into an extraordinary setup for a divine encounter! Nathanael was skeptical about Jesus! Have you ever been unsure of Jesus? Sometimes it’s hard to see Jesus in the midst of your busy lives, and then other times, His Presence is crystal clear, and you can’t miss it! But guess what, He sees you all the time!

Nathanael found himself up close and personal with Jesus of Nazareth, in a face-to-face moment, and the reality of who Jesus truly was, the Son of God, and the King of kings was right in his face! He asked Jesus, How do You know me? And Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Jesus knows where you are at all times, so whether you are at home, the doctors, the airport, the beach or sitting under a shade tree, He knows!

Nathanael was a skeptic. He was probably just like you, one who organized everything, mentally and physically. You know your type. You say that there is a place for everything, and everything in its place. Nathanael was not going to be taken in by emotions or hype. He wanted to step back and studied the situation before making a decision. His friend Philip knew better than to try and sell him on anything, for Nathanael wanted to know can any good thing come out of Nazareth? His friend knew that he needed to see for himself! This is the kind of friend you need, one that will lead you to Jesus!

Nathanael asked Jesus, “how do you know me?” When Jesus replied the encounter began and the tables turned! Jesus knows! And you need to know that you know that He knows everything about you and every step that you make! This truth took place under the shade of an ordinary fig tree. Nothing fancy, but that spot became his everything! What does your perception of Jesus Christ really look like versus someone else? what do you really see when you look at Jesus Christ? All Phillip said was, come and see for yourself! Sometimes you have to go for yourself, it’s in this moment that your life can change.

Nathanael’s story shows you just how God works outside your expectations and what you actually perceive to what you really see! God invited him to meet with Him in his everyday places of living. The invitation from Philip, to come and see, was nothing compared to what Jesus did. This “Come and See” went beyond the normal into an encounter with Jesus! What were you doing when Jesus called you?

When Jesus calls you and tells you where you are at in life, will you believe in Him then! Who else knows all of your in’s and out’s besides Jesus! But our Jesus is so good, He doesn’t just stop there, He tells you because of this you will see even greater things! As you go about your day, today, remember that each one of your moments that you have been allowed hold the potential for a divine encounter with Jesus, He sees exactly where you are sitting or standing and He’s calling you to come!

It doesn’t matter if you are at work, at home, or in the marketplace, Jesus is present and is actively seeking to get acquainted with you and to have a relationship with you. Let Nathanael’s encounter with Jesus transform you and inspire you to seek Jesus with an open heart and mind and be ready to be amazed by how He will reveal Himself to you. Look for God in every situation whether big or small, look for Him.

When you walk down the street, look for the beautiful things He has made, look up and look all around and see Him in everything and everywhere you go! When you are with your friends or family, thank Him for putting them in your life. Notice Him in the small moments of life especially when you think that there’s not much to that moment, notice His Presence in that present moment and what He has done for you. He sees you and He’s calling you to come and see Him!

Let’s Pray:

Thank You Father! Father help me to see You in every part of my day, even in the places that I least expect to see. Father, open up my eyes to Your presence in the ordinary and the extraordinary moments of life. Father, Thank You for the Phillip’s in my life. Women and men who have unwavering faith and loyalty to You and who are ready and willing to respond to the call of God in their lives and to recognize that He is not only the Son of Man who died on the Cross, but the Son God who rose from the dead so that I might not perish but have everlasting life! Father, help me never to lose sight of who Jesus Christ is in my life. Father, help me never to forget that Jesus is my Redeemer, Keeper, Sustainer and Guide. Father, I want to just like Jesus, today and every day that lies ahead of me. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Blessings…

Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Just Run Your Race!

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 BSB ~ “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. [25] Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. [26] Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air. [27] No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

To be a faithful that Christian in this life, it’s going to take work, self-denial, and self-discipline. Today, as you start out on your race, remember what you are running for, you are running toward your heavenly reward. I absolutely love how Paul described this scripture. He told the believers to be like an athlete! Determined, dedicated and disciplined! This doesn’t mean that you are to be running against anyone else, you just need to focus on your race!

Picture this, the Olympic Games! Athletes from all over the world come to win the honor according to their discipline! They compete to win an award from man, and they believe that it’s the highest honor that one can achieve! In order to get to the games, they must train for ten months prior to the games, they are athletes in training, and they must deny themselves pleasures in order to prepare and be in top condition for the competition. As a believer you should be reaching towards the reward of God’s kingdom and not the award of man! Your gift is priceless!

As an athlete, you have to practice being discipline, you can’t do something one day and be done you have to rain diligently each and every single day for your spiritual progress depends upon it. You must do the same thing every day, prayer, Bible study, and worship will equip you to run with vigor and stamina! Do you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the man-made prize? So run to win! Even though all of them have been disciplined in their craft, they compete with one purpose in mind, to win a prize that will fade and rot! But not you, you run your race for an eternal prize, one that can only come from God and one that will never fade nor rot!

As a believer you should be willing to do whatever God says to do! You have to practice, practice, practice! As a true believer you must make the right choices between right and wrong. And at times you must even give up something good in order to do what God wants. Remember you want a God thing not a good thing, (put your agenda to the side and embracing God’s Plan!) Obeying God is easy until He tells you to let go of something you want to keep!

Ask yourself this question, “who am I?” For your character is not who you say you are, it’s who you really are! You may fool some of the people sometimes, but you can’t fool God at no time. You are your character, either you have it, or you don’t, for this is what determines how much discipline you have and how much you can deny your flesh! For without a goal, discipline is nothing but punishment, but with the goal of pleasing God, denying yourself is nothing compared to the eternal reward that you will receive from God!

For your end goal is to bring others to Jesus Christ, and if you have not practiced self control and learned how to deny your own flesh, you surely won’t be able to help anyone else in this area, Galatians 5:18-23! You see all of us are running a race towards an eternal prize and the prize is not dependent on how you run the race, but on how you run for God, because you see, the prize is already being established, you just have to be mindful of the prize and live for God with as much focus and enthusiasm as did the a runners at their games.

These athletes give up everything in order to win, to emerge as victors! For they know that in the end, there can only be one winner. But thanks be unto God, this rule does not apply to you! Each one of you gets to run your race in your lane with a future hope of an eternal reward from God! So put forth your greatest effort during this contest and set everything else in order to win the prize! Your home in eternity! This prize is so worth the race! And guess what you winning has nothing to do with someone else winning! God got this!

Do you remember when self-help books came out? There was one for everything! Fulfillment, Freedom, Satisfaction, and Awareness, but there were very if any on Discipline! I wonder why? It is because self-discipline requires you to look at you and be honest with the person who is starring back at you! You had to look your strengths and weaknesses, and vice versa. It means that you have to learn the art of No! No to self, No to your flesh and your feelings, No to others that want to lead you away from Jesus! For when you are weak, you are strong, for God’s grace is sufficient! 2 Corinthians 12:9! Remember from yesterday, God is a Sustainer!

Let’s Pray:
Father, thank You! Thank You for building up my character in You! Thank You for the vigor and stamina to run my race and to run it with You in mind. Father, thank You for making me in Your image and for protecting and persevering me through what I have endured, thank You for directing me and teaching me how to handle what I go through, with my character intact! Father, You are backbone of my success and I’m grateful to You for everything! Father, I’m blessing Your Name on my good days and on my challenging days, for I know that this too is a part of my race! Father I Thank You for showing me that nothing I’ve been through was wasted. I Thank You that You used everything to get me right here to this place with You. I Thank You for my waiting period and growing me in every area of my life that I may run my race and win my reward from You. Thank You for pouring out Your love on me. Father, everything that I do is for You and Your Glory and today I choose to run my race with Heaven on my mind, my eternal prize! In the Name of Jesus Christ! Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! The God Of Grace Is Calling You Today!

1 Peter 5:10-11 AMP ~ “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace [who imparts His blessing and favor], who called you to His own eternal glory in Christ, will Himself complete, confirm, strengthen, and establish you [making you what you ought to be]. [11] To Him be dominion (power, authority, sovereignty) forever and ever. Amen.”

God will give you peace in Troubled Times! He will not stop challenges from bombarding or coming against you! He warned you in advance that you would experience “tribulations and trials” in this world (John 16:33), so why are you so surprised when you encountered these obstacles! You have to remember that every time God allows you to face adversity, it’s because He has a divine purpose for it, and He knows that you will profit from it!

What are you going to do with your life today? You do know that you are a force to be reckoned with! Don’t you? Let Go and Let God! God promised those that are His sheep that when you follow Him, that “all things will work together for your good”(Romans 8:28), and you will benefit from it. Remember, nothing that you went through will be wasted, all of it will be used for His purpose!

God said, “after you have suffered a little while,” so, when you have come to the end of yourself, the God of all grace, will impart blessings and favor upon you! For you have been called and you are His, now and forever more! For it is God who arms you with strength and will keep your way secure, trust Him, He got you today and tomorrow, and He won’t fall you! (Psalm 18:32 NIV)!

You have a secure place in His eternal Glory, for Christ Jesus, Himself will complete you and make you what you ought to be, confirmed, grounded, secured, strengthened, established and settle! This is God’s promise to you as His devoted child, that He is constantly working in you and on you in the midst of your trials and trouble and He is perfecting that thing so that you can fulfill the plans and purposes that He created you for!

You are anointed, appointed and ordained for goodness! You are a prayer warrior! You are strong! You are truthful! You are fruitful! You are loved! You are peaceful! And you will dwell wherever God leads you today! Don’t get comfortable in temporary places, because anything that is not sanctioned by God for you will not last, just serve in the present purpose that God has led you too and move on!

Under the Anointing of God, you are covered by the Holy Ghost! Today, deny your flesh, flush your flesh with your faith that you may be strong mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally! Pray and bind every hindering spirit that is not of God in your life, lay prostrate before Him in worship for this is your place of refuge!

Let’s Pray:
Father, Thank You! Father, help me to keep in my mind and spirit that when I face trials that You already knew about it. Father, help me to see everything through Your eyes, Your perspective, instead of mines and the world’s view. Father, I repent right now for going to others first instead of coming to You! Father, create in me a clean heart and renew Your right Spirit in me continuously! Father, teach me how to respond to every trial with a Christlike attitude, so that I can reap the benefits You have for me, and show You that I’m trusting You totally so that I can avoid unnecessary pain. Father, thank You for transforming me into a powerful force for Your Glory and my good. In Jesus Christ Name. Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Remember To Guard Your Gates!

Proverbs 4:23-27 NLT ~ “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. [24] Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. [25] Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. [26] Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. [27] Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.”

When you go to the doctor for a checkup one of the questions that they ask you is how is your heart today? Next, they want to listen to your heart to see how the rest of you is doing! Everything flows from your heart, so what kind of heart do you have today?

The Bible tells you to guard your heart above all else, for everything about you grows from there! Today there are four gates that I want you to watch: The Eye Gate (what you see), The Ear-Gate (what you hear), The Tongue-Gate (what you say) and The Feet-Gate (where you go), because your eyes, ears, tongue, and feet are gateways to your heart.

First Gate Eyes ~ Guard your eye, look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what is before you, look away from all that distracts you and focus your eyes on Jesus,” (Hebrews 12:2 Amp)! Jesus your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your entire body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body healthy and when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness, and if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep is that darkness, (Matt. 6:22-23NLT)!

Second Gate Ears ~ Guard your ears and what you listen to, God says, and stay away from listening to corrupt speech. God gave you eyelids, but He didn’t give you ear-lids, so it’s up to you to walk away from things that you shouldn’t be listening to lest you quench the Spirit. If it’s dirty, walk away! If it’s gossip, walk away! If it’s profanity, walk away! If it’s blasphemous, walk away! If you sense the Spirit grieved in you, walk away!

Third Gate Tongue ~ Guard your tongue, and be mindful of what you say, avoid all perverse talk! You do know that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue!” (Prov. 18:21 NKJV)! Jesus said a lot about the importance of words: “But I tell you, on the day of judgment people will have to give an accounting for every careless or useless word they speak” (Matt. 12:36 Amp). You are going to give an account for every word that you have spoken! God said that if you don’t guard your mouth-gate, your words can literally pour spiritual mud onto our soul! (Eph 5:18-20 NKJV). Be filled with the Spirit by: Speaking the Word of God to one another and thanking God always and controlling your tongue is pivotal to walking in the Spirit!

Fourth Gate Feet ~ Guard your feet, watch where you are going! The Word says, “Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil” (Proverbs 4: 26-27). And you do know that your steps have already been ordained by God! Proverbs 20:24 AMP, “Man’s steps are ordered and ordained by the LORD. How then can a man [fully] understand his way?

The quality of your life depends on how healthy your heart is, and how you protect your gates, for this protects your natural and spiritual life and everything is alight your heart! Your physical doctor can take care of your natural heart, but you need the Great Physician for your spiritual heart which controls your whole heart!

You see everything in your life flows from your heart; your hopes, dreams, humbleness, fears, forgiveness, kindness, joy, peace, and love, everything that makes you who you are flows from your heart. This is why God needs to be the Guardian over your heart! The Great Physician, fills your heart by His Holy Spirit and your faith in Him, flushes the sin out of your heart and makes room for the Spirit of God to fill you!

But this will only work if you have given your heart to God to guard. You see, the only way your heart can survive under the pressure and influences of this world, is that you have submitted your life to the One and Only Jesus Christ, and by your sincere prayer request. Now your heart is protected by God, and this gives you peace and assurance!

Let’s Pray:
Thank You Father for being a Guard over my heart. Father, give me the desires of Your heart for my life, that I may follow You with my whole heart. Give me a heart of unity, knowledge, understanding, love, wisdom, joy, peace, grace, and forgiveness. God help me to fix my affections on You and to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength in a way that it frees me to love other people in the same manner and it teaches me to live in righteousness because I sought You with all of my heart. God, help me to guard my heart, my eyes, my ears, my tongue and my feet, and help me not to be casual with where I place my affections and nurture my heart and help me to grow as I reflect on Your amazing, incredible, unfathomable love for me. Help me to keep my heart with all vigilance today. In Jesus Christ Name. Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! The Breath Of God Is What Causes You To Understand!

Job 32:7-8 ERV ~ “I thought to myself, ‘Older people should speak first. They have lived many years, so they have learned many things.’ [8] But it is the spirit in people, the breath from God All-Powerful, that makes them understand.”

The Word of God is God-breathed! And it is necessary for you to understand this and to receive knowledge from God in order to move, live and function in this world! It is the Spirit of God on the inside of you that gives you understanding, not your age or experience!

God is breathing in you and on you today, do you feel it? You are being inspired by the only One who can teach you any and everything! In order to understand, you need the Spirit of God to breathe in and on you!

And since you know that you are only here today because of His breath and Him breathing in and on you, you should want to worship Him! I mean how different would your life be if you began every day with the thought of God, the One who has given you this day to glorify Him in worship, for you said that He is your Lord and Savior, right, (then act like it) for He is Great and Greatly to be Praised!

When your Almighty Father breaths in you and on you daily, He inspires you with His Word, which gives you wisdom, knowledge and understanding. And you know that the Word of God is given by His inspiration, and it’s profitable for everything that you need in order to do good a work for your Father who sent you! (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Your spirit is to bear witness to the Spirit of God that you are His child, (Romans 8:16.) This is the coming together of God’s Spirit and your spirit man, confirming that you have been saved and breathed on by the Grace of God! God’s Word is now your daily bread, and it is your source of constant nourishment, day in and day out! Because outside of His Word there can be no understanding or knowledge, there is nothing that you can do apart from Him and His Spirit!

Today, pray with a spirit of gratitude, for the Spirit of God being upon you, thank Him for all of His gifts that He has breathed in you! Every day ask Him to open your eyes and mind to understand His Word better, then ask Him to daily lead and guide you by His Holy Spirit and according to His Word!

Let the Ruach of God, The Breath of God, fall fresh on you as you follow Him today!

Let’s Pray:
Father, Thank You! Father, breath on me today, that I might be inspired by You and Your Word! I thank You for Your God Breathed Word! Father, help me to pray and to meditate on Your Word Day in and day out. Father, I want to be led by Your Holy Spirit each and every day of my life, help me to be mindful and careful, to do everything according to how and what You say! Father, my desire is to live by Your Word, Wisdom and Way and to Worship You daily for breathing life into me one more day, I’m grateful, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Don’t Ignore The Caution Sign! It Will Save Your Life!

Psalm 130:5-6 NIV ~ “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. [6] I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

Have you ever been walking or driving, and you came up on a caution sign and a barricade where you could not get through and you had to turn around or go another way? Don’t ignore it, it was God saving your life! What did you do?

As I was praying and thinking about what to write about today, and God brought an incident back to my mind from earlier. And then I was finishing up a prayer call yesterday, and she said the word that I was thinking about, she heard the word “cautious”, which was the word that I had experienced yesterday at work. So, let me tell you what happened, I was going back to my office, and I decided to go outside and walk around, as I proceeded there were some barricades, and they had caution tape connecting them to block the sidewalk where I needed to walk to be closer to my office. I had to literally walk around this space to get back inside. I said to myself, if I would have known that this was here, I would have just stayed inside and went the way that I always go, but because I was in a hurry and I didn’t have time to waste, I wanted to take a shortcut. (Shortcuts are not always shortcuts)!

I was just trying to get back in the office and here is the big caution tape sign in my way, trying to stop me from being great. All I could think about was I don’t have time to deal with this right now! At first, I walked really close to the barricades because it was so close to where I was trying go, I thought that I might be able to squeeze by it, I thought I could just walk through it, and it would be okay, wrong! There was broken glass and limbs in that taped off section that could be potentially harmful! As I pondered on this, I realized this was taped off on purpose, to prevent harm!

Now let’s look at what God does for you, to protect you from danger! There is always a warning before the danger that you just ignored because it was an inconvenience or an interruption to what you have going on in that present moment. Think about it, why would you ignore God’s warning? Is it because you have your own agenda, and you want to stick with what you have? Or does your way just seem to be a good idea? It’s at this point that you should know the Word of God, Proverbs 3:5-6, because on your own, you can’t possibly see how anything bad could happen. Or you just want to do what you want, regardless of what God wants, because you know it’s a sin and you think if you ignore God it is going to go away! It’s not going to go away; you cannot ignore God!

This can say a lot about your spiritual life. As a child of God, your Father, sends you warning signs after warning when you are getting too close to the fire, to sin! God warns you when you are about to cross over into dangerous territory. Just like the caution tape warned me of the possible danger that I was about to face if I would have kept going. God will warn you of the danger in your life! But you have to choose to listen to Him and obey! Stop trying to reason it out, it will not work out, only when you listen to God will it work for you!

God’s warnings are like alarms going off in your spirit to warn you and to protect you, and His protection comes in packages that don’t always feel like protection, but it’s all for your good! Despite this, you still don’t always want to hear what God says, do you? God will send you a warning in so many different ways, a word from a friend; a song, a sermon; a still, small voice or a piece of big yellow caution tape, to let you know that you need turn and heed the Word of God and flee the place that you are heading! You cannot escape or avoid the truth of God’s Word. Now, you do have a choice to listen to God’s warning or to ignore the warnings, but when you ignore Him, you will find yourself right in the middle of sin! And that’s not where you want to be my sisters and brothers.

Yeah, I know a lot of the time you don’t want to hear what God says because it interferes with what you want! So, what do you do when you find yourself wondering where Jesus is in your situation after He clearly warned you about going that way in the first place! First you need to repent of your sins and then strive to not do it again! Strive to live Holy and righteous lives, knowing that He is with you, Leviticus 20:17! God will personally walk you through His Word and show you His Way, which is the best Way. He will show you all the likely and unlikely places where He has been and is protecting you, right here and right now in the present! God is always working on your behalf to lead and protect you from unseen and seen dangers!

Sometimes you may not see the caution sign at first, but God did and He’s working on your behalf! God is always leading you to live a life free from sin. Ask God to open up the understanding of your heart and eyes, that you may see clearly and avoid the dangers and pitfalls that are in front of you! Tell me, can you sense God warning you about anything in your life? Are you listening for instructions on what to do? I want to encourage you to sit with God and listen to Him, He will keep you safe and send warnings your way to keep you from harm. Trust Him and not yourself! And don’t ignore the signs, they are there to protect you and keep you from danger and save your life, for you are living now to live again!

Let’s Pray:
Thank You Father! Thank You for the warning signs that You set in place to keep me safe! Father I’m listening to You as You tell me where to move and where to go! Father, I want all the days that I have to be in perfect alignment and harmony with You, in Jesus Name. Father, I don’t want to be ahead You and Your Way, I want to be right in the center of Your plans for me! Father, I thank You for Your Power and patience with me. Father, I know that everything that I do is through the power of the Holy Spirit, who gives me ears to hear Your warnings and the desire to obey what You say! Father, I thank You and I count it all joy that I can depend on Your love and protection. Father I trust You, and I put all of my trust in You. As my whole body waits for You and on You. Father, thank You for the work that You are doing in me through Your Word. Father, I thank You and I trust You, when I can see and when I can’t, for I know that You are leading me and protecting me from the caution tape, and it will all work for my good and Your Glory. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Get Up and Get Out of God’s Way!

Matthew 16:21-23 NIV ~ “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. [22] Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” [23] Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, He had to come to a decision, choose to do what He was wanted or choose to do what He was born to do! It was a deliberate choice to choose a natural death over life, that you may have eternal life! He had to move from a place of barely being able to face what was before Him in His preexisting humanity to accepting His next inherited change, which was irreversible, it was the final road to Him becoming The Christ! The shaping and molding that God did was fierce, intentional and deliberate!

“Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. [3] Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. [4] And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4 AMP. You had to go through it, you had to go through your Gethsemane, and the only way is through Jesus! As you can see, Jesus didn’t go looking for His trials, He was born for them. So, you do not have to search for your trials, but embrace them deliberately, knowing that they will lead you to endurance, which leads you to maturity! (All I can say is, “Thank You God, You brought me through this and brought me through that! “Thank You God,” You bought me through it!) and I know that some of you have the same testimony, it might not be what I went through, but it was what you went through, and He brought you through it! You should be praising Him right about now!

Trials Come! Testing’s Come! Tribulations Come! And they all have the same purpose and power to produce in you something greater for His Glory, it’s just how you see it and face it! God wants to get the wrinkles out of you so that you can worship Him, He will press out your pain and push you into your purpose, He wants to smooth out your hurt and take you to healing, and He wants to steam out your stubbornness and bring you to a place of surrender in Him, when you release your cares unto Him, Matthew 11:28-30. Your trials came to increase your faith, patience and love that and that you will guard and sustain you. They came to grow you up! What you see as a challenge, God sees it as a way to transform you, so that you may experience a full life of joy! They come to push you to God!

Your experience is yours and nobody can do it for you or detour you! Sometimes when you see someone struggling, the first thing you want to do is rescue them, especially your children and family, your instincts tell you to jump in with both feet and try to fix it for them! But what if that struggle is the very thing God is using to draw them to Him, to strengthen them, to build their character and grow them? Get out of the way, they need to grow and so do you! Let the Growing Begin! You must let it grow in them and you. Today instead of stepping in, step out of the way, you were never meant to fiddle with what only God can fix. Your role is to pray for God to do what only God can do. Stop interfering, for this may stunt their spiritual growth and yours or slow you down from what God has said for you to do and be!

Jesus knew what He had to do, but Peter always seems to think he knew better than the Lord. Nobody knows better than God! So, Jesus told Peter to get out of His way! Today God is asking you to get out of the way for the only way to eternal life was through the gate of Gethsemane and you need Jesus Christ to accomplish this task, nobody else can do it! You need to look at God! Count it all joy “when” you face these trials, (look at the operative word, when), you will face trials, as a matter of you will face many different kinds of trials during your lifetime, but embrace them, because they will lead you into the mature Christians that God created you to be!

Remember that you serve a God who is the same, yesterday, today, tomorrow and for evermore. When you face trials, James says, count it all joy! Are you counting your joy moments? Just take a minute and look back over your life and you should see all the times that God brought, kept and sustained you during your trials! Ask God to forgive you for trying to fix other people’s problems when they’re not yours to fix in the first place. Today, commit to pressing, watching, listening, praying and to loving God and watch Him transform you through your trials. Ask God to help you not get in the way of what He’s doing in your life today and in anybody’s else life!

Let’s Pray:
Father, thank You! Father, I’m doing like you said, I’m counting it all joy when I’m tested by trials and temptations for it is producing a greater faith in me for You. Father, I’m going to meditate on Your Word, I’m going to stand on my firm foundation which is Your Word and I’m going to walk according to the promises of Your Word. I pray for each person reading this devotion and praying this prayer, that they receive You and Your gifts and trust You in everything they go through. May you experience the peace and joy that surpasses all your understanding, even in your our hardest and darkest of days, knowing that God got you. Father, Thank You for the gift of Salvation and the peace you make available to your children though Your son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. Father, may I experience the peace and joy that surpasses all of Your understanding, even in on my hardest and darkest of days, knowing that God got you. Father, I Thank You for Your Holy Spirit that reveals Your plans to me and how You are using these tests, trials and tribulations for my good, to give me strength and courage to face these things head on and overcome it by the word of my faith and testimony in You, for Your Glory. In Jesus Christ Name, Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Are You Fit? Are You In Shape! Seriously?

1 Peter 1:3-5 AMP ~ “Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant and boundless mercy has caused us to be born again [that is, to be reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] to an ever-living hope and confident assurance through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [4] [born anew] into an inheritance which is imperishable [beyond the reach of change] and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, [5] who are being protected and shielded by the power of God through your faith for salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time.”

So many times you don’t say what you should because you want to keep it light. But as a Christian you have probably erred in one way or another by not saying the hard things as frequently as you should have! Don’t panic this is not a beat-up moment, but you need to hear this, because it lies at the heart of this question that I’m asking you? Are you seriously fit? Let me tell you what I’m really asking you, do you know who the Executor of your soul is? Yes, it’s Serious! When you think about your last will and testament, what do you have in place? Yeah I know right now you are thinking about who is going to get what? But that’s not what I’m talking about, I’m asking you have you made plans for where your soul is going to end up? Have you really chosen God and made Him the One and True Executor of you? Seriously! (Matthew 16:26-28)! You need to have your Spiritual Will and Inheritance in place!

There are so many people who are not giving their best to God, they want to be part-time Christians and give a partial commitment to discipleship. You (we) have not given God our all, you have not afforded Him His rightful place that He deserves in your life, and in the lives of your families. And you wonder why you struggle? And why your children do not go to church, (you let them choose if they want to go or not) and thereby you are failing your next generation of committed followers and believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have not given them what they need to navigate the complexities of living in a fallen world, (Proverbs 22:6)! Does your home lack commitment to God’s Word, attending Church, discipleship and biblical growth? Ask yourself this question, where have you put demands on your priorities and the schedules of your life? What matters the most?

In our community we have become experts in “Doing God” and “Doing Church” it has become a secondary priority in your life, you see you “Do God or Do Church” when there is nothing else to do, or when your favorite team is not playing, or some other form of recreation is not taking place, you do church on Sunday, anywhere between 7:00 am and 1:00 pm, that’s all the time you have! And here’s the thing, nobody talks about it! Listen to me well, I’m not saying that you can’t do those extracurricular activities, but why does your relationship with God have to take a backseat to them! I mean you did say, first things first, and yet you do the exact opposite! But if God decided to take your breath away today, what could you do? Nothing! So why not experience those breathtaking moments with Him first and then everything else! (I’m just asking)!

So many times, you have had one bad thing after another happen in your personal life but because, you felt like they were not Serious enough about what was most important so, you ignored it and kept right on doing what you were doing! And it is that word Serious, that underlies the importance of what needed to be done! Now, when you realized how tough and strenuous your commitment needs to be, you find yourself asking this rhetorical question, “Seriously? How and when did we get here? Here lives the answer, with anything that is valuable to you, it is going to require your time, energy, commitment and resolve!

For those of you who exercise on a consistent basis, you know what it takes to keep it going, and it’s not based on how you feel! (Please put your feelings away)! In order to maintain your fitness, you have to be serious about your discipline and devotion. It is with this same principle that rings true for your spiritual fitness, you must be disciplined, devoted and dedicated every single day. Just like you prepare and take care of your physical body, by exercising, eating right and resting, your spiritual body needs the exact same thing! You need to be renewed continually in your commitment to God. This should be your eternal goal! You have to be sure of where you are going, for these is no middle ground or sidelines, either you are with God or you’re not, (Joshua 24:15)!

Let’s be serious for a minute and talk about this; do it for yourself, for your children and the for the generations that have been birth from your loins and the ones that are to come! God has given you His Word and everything that you will need know, it has been outlined and defined for you on how to achieve your goals and how to be worthy to God and faithful as a Christian! His Word will cause you to be Serious about Him and your desire to seek Him daily and to apply His Word of Wisdom to your life. This is one thing that you need to know, knowledge leads to action, this means that what you know and believe will lead to what you do and put into practice. When you read and study the Word of God, you will act on the Word that you read! The fruit will be evident in your life!

If there is one thing, I could tell you to desire, it would be to desire to be like God in your character! I know that you have had to live in and go through some adverse conditions in your life and sometimes things may have even spiraled out of control, and then it would calm down for a little while and then the cycle would start all over again! But then you met God, and what you thought was normal was dysfunction, but thanks be unto God, that life of dysfunction is over! You have a new family, and you are living a new life, full of discipline, devotion, and dedication, you now have all the resources you need to be successful and make right choices!

All you have to do now is live it out the way God gave it to you! You see in this new place you value what comes first, your relationship with God and then everything else follows suit! When you follow the path of God you flush out the flesh! You have made a conscious commitment to enact the Word of God out in your life as a blueprint is to a pattern! I’m calling to all of you, don’t just exist as someone who possess eternal fire insurance, but make it your daily goal to Move Forward because you have God on the inside of you, learn to be present in His Presence, to make the time count, don’t just give your time away, gift it, because time is a priceless commodity and you won’t get back what you wasted, be connected to what is real and what is eternal! Seriously? This is Serious!

Let’s Pray:
Father Thank You! I thank You for Your Word, Your Wisdom, Your Discipline, Your Discernment, Your Dedication, Your Devotion and Your Love for me! Father, I am determined to walk worthy of a child of the Most-High Kin, for You are my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Father, I’m Serious about my relationship and time with You, please reveal Your revelation to me and fill me with Your knowledge and how to apply Your Wisdom and understanding in my life in every area. Father I want to be fit, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and financially so that I can help others, for I know that everything that I have comes from You and I’m grateful! Father, thank You for going before me and taking care of everything that I will need today! Father, send someone across my path today that I can share Your Word with and pray that today becomes the best day of their lives, because they accepted You as their Lord and Savior and now, we’re are siblings in the Kingdom and can do Your Will together! In Jesus Christ Name. Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Do You Want To Be Filled With The Wind Of The Holy Ghost? Or Are You Just Full Of It?

John 3:8 NIV ~ “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Acts 2:1-2 NKJV ~ “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”

I was listening to a sermon by Kevin Wallace, and it let a fire under me as he gave the analogy of the box fan and the Wind of God! You do know what that is correct? It’s a fan made like a box and if you ever went to your grandmother’s house as a little child you know exactly what it is! This fan could cool a whole room in the evening, and the sound it made is one that will always be a memory for you. In this sermon, Rev. Wallace could not find the fan, but he had an app that sounded like a fan! But no wind! This app was a counterfeit for the original. I mean, sometimes all it takes is the appearance of something being real, and we will take this and run with it! The thing with this counterfeit, it sounded good, it may have even looked good, but there was no evidence of the wind!

As for you, when you try and perpetuate as a Christian, you look good, you sound good, but there is no evidence of change in your life, there is no fruit! (Matthew 7:20, “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”) Fake and phony can never replace real and authentic, no matter what you do! When you have the real Holy Ghost in your life, you will fill the wind of the Holy Ghost upon you! And this means that you have consecrated yourself before God and you are choosing to live a Holy and Righteous life!

As you have been consecrating yourself this week and going through the sanctification process, I want to know if you need a revival in your soul? If your answer is yes, ask God to let His Wind blow upon you, for when the wind the blows, there will be movement. For the Holy Spirit is like the wind and when the Holy Spirit blows into your life, something has got to change! Wind cannot be seen, but the effects can be felt and hear, just like the Holy Spirit, you can’t see but you know it’s there. You can feel the effects of His Presence and His Power. For on the Day of Pentecost, the sound filled all the house where they were sitting, and the wind of God cover each one of them right where they were!

As you consecrate and sanctify yourself before God, you will feel the Anointing of God, fall all over you like a Mighty Rushing Wind, blow wind blow! When the Holy Ghost, comes in the Room, it brings deliverance to the room and it sets the captives free, (Luke 4:18)! This is freedom like you have never known or felt before! When the wind blows, it will remove the silence out of you and expose what you have been trying to cover up! No longer will you be bound, and your soul will be saved, (Galatians 5:1)! When the wind of the Spirit of God blows upon you it blows life back into you again, and you will no longer lack Power from on High!

For when the Wind of the Holy Spirit blows on you, it will cause your vision to come alive with the life of God! Now if you like your quiet and quaint relationship with God, you are in for some noise, because you see when the Holy Spirit’s Wind blows, it is not going to be a quiet affair. It is going to be a powerful force that brings sound and sweeps downward from Heaven like the roaring of the sea!and your fruit will be seen by others after the wind blows!

Think about the wind and breath of God like this, when God formed man, He formed him perfectly, but he wasn’t alive until God breathe life into him (see Genesis 2:7)! So, you see you were lifeless until God breathed His breath of life in you! Just like when the Church was assembled on the Day of Pentecost, it had no power until the Holy Spirit was breathed into that place. The Wind came in loud and exploded upon everyone that was gathered there, and the Power of God came upon all of them and they all were empowered by that Mighty Force of Wind!

You see it was at that moment of the wind blowing that the exchange changed, and the Holy Spirit moved in! You see the Holy Spirit brings change like the wind! Did you know that energy is produced by the wind blowing and when the Holy Spirit moves in this manner, He supplies Supernatural Energy that will empower you to do what you could not naturally do on your own, but now you can since God has blown His Supernatural Wind of His Holy Spirit on you!

I want you to know that you cannot fake this! Either you are filled with the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, or you are just full of it like the Fan App! You look good and sound good, but there is no power in you and it is evident by your lack of fruit that you are producing, (John 15:4)! When the Holy Spirit comes in, He’s like a whirlwind shaking loose that which needs to fall from you, something in you is about to change! And this is not a fake it until you make it moment, this is real! Get real before God, He’s waiting for you at the Altar of Consecration! Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit or just be a form? Today, you need to really look at yourself and see what the wind needs to blow away so that when the Wind of God blows on and over you it will be able to settle in and become established in you!

Let’s Pray:

Father, I thank You for the blowing of the Holy Spirit that came to empower me and to make me alive in You and to represent You well on the earth! Father, I’m asking You to blow Your Wind upon me, upon my family, my church, my job, my neighborhood, my city, my state, my world and the nation so that they all will moved by the Holy Spirit and be Supernaturally empowered to do the work that You created us for from the beginning! Father, I decree and declare that I will not be satisfied until the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit has blown upon me today and has given me fresh manna, a divine life and divine energy, for I know that without You I can do nothing, but when Your Spirit blows upon me suddenly I am empowered to do what I could have never done before. Father, right now I am opening myself up to the rushing mighty wind of Your Holy Spirit. I am ready to receive a fresh infilling of Your Divine Winds and to empower me for Your Glory and Service. In the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Blessings…

Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Father, I Want To Live A Holy And Sanctified Life For You!

John 17:19-21 NIV ~ “19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Yesterday we read about consecrating ourselves before we could go to the next level! Well, you can’t just stop there you have to sanctify yourself too! Yes, you must consecrate (your choice) yourself God before you become sanctified (God’s Work)!

What is sanctification? It is a work of grace that is received through faith in Jesus Christ’s Blood. It is a process that begins when a young the (believer) is regenerated, given a new nature, and continues to grow in grace. And in order to be sanctified, you must choose to consecrate yourself first to God, and this is the process that you started yesterday. Keep this in your mind, consecration is the quality decision you made to keep yourself separated and holy unto the Lord. And Sanctification is your willing act of separation unto God. You consecrated yourself when you made the conscious decision to surrender and yield to God with your whole heart! You chose to God’s Will over your will!

I have a question for you, have you ever gotten a stain on your favorite outfit and no matter how much you washed it the stain wouldn’t come clean? And then you tried it one more time with a different cleanser and it came clean. Well, think about your life before Jesus, you tried everything you know how to get rid of the stain (sin) but no matter what you couldn’t do it, until you tried Jesus! His Blood cleansed you. (I can hear the words of this old song, I Know I’ve Been Changed, by Lashun Pace, “Somebody said how can a brown cow eat green grass and give you white milk? Huh, well, if you think that’s something God’s chemical laboratory of redemption took my, my black soul and dipped it in red blood and I came out white as snow”, Isaiah 1:18! The Blood of Jesus Christ cleaned you up! This is your shouting moment, you should be singing Glory Hallelujah and saying Thank You Jesus!

Do you like putting on dirty clothes? No, you don’t, you want clean clothes on! Well, when you don’t repent and ask God to cleanse you from the inside out, you are only surface clean. And nobody wants to be surface clean, I mean you look good from the outside, but on the inside, you are filthy! None of us can be holy on our own, we need God! He does the purifying and sanctifying work in your lives once you have made the decision to be consecrated unto the Him! I’ve come to tell you that only Jesus Christ can clean you from the inside out, will you let Him? As a matter of fact, everything that happened to you was God working on you, it was done to draw you closer and closer to Him! It’s designed to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ! In everything that you walked through it was God working through you and He’s working on you right now through the process of sanctification and it’s all for your good! God is sanctifying you for righteous living and this should be good news to your ears and heart! Leviticus 20:7 ~ “Sanctify yourselves therefore and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.”

As I live and learn more about God, I’ve come to know that we are in this world but not of this world and that we are commanded by Him to stand out and be different! As His child you are to act and think differently, to have separate values and views, from those in the world in everything that you do (Deuteronomy 14:2)! You and I were made in the image of Jesus Christ, so we are supposed to resemble Him and stand out and not look like anyone else, because we have been chosen, (2 Peter 2:9) redeemed and sanctified by the truth of God’s Word! There can be no distinction without separation; if you remain like the world, you will die like the world and that is not what your Father intended for you! But until you change your natural desires from the world to wanting the Word of God and be transformed, (Romans 12:2), you will never change or be different and no one will be able to tell you apart from an unbeliever in the world because your habits are similar to each other (1 John 2:15-16)!

I mean just because the whole world is doing a thing doesn’t make it right. God’s standards and ways are higher than the world, they are the same every day, they don’t change, they are the one constant thing that you can trust and depend upon all of the time! 1 Thessalonians 5:23 ~ “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The principles of God cannot and will not be changed to suit you when you want to compromise the Word of God to fit into the world. You must be a believer every day and all day, you don’t get a holiday or time off just because! For when you compromise, your destiny is no different from theirs, you cannot walk on both sides of the fence, you have to make a choice (Joshua 24:15)! I’m praying that the Grace of God would give you what you need in your character to stand for God, even if you have to stand alone, you must make the Word of God your standard and not man’s word! Be determined to be different in your character and your conduct from the unbelievers in this world!

I just have one more thing to ask you, can you imagine watching a movie that showed what your sin history looked like? Every bad thought, idol word, contrary behavior that went against what He told you not to do, those hidden sins, even those that you thought you hid from yourself, every sin, every day, all day long and day after day. No one would want to see this movie over and over again, yet Jesus Christ, sees everything that you do, and He is the only One that can wash you clean through and through and give you His Mercy and Grace! When God washes you through and through, He gets rid of everything, and the perfect peace of God becomes your portion! Others should be able to tell the difference between you and an unbeliever! Shouldn’t they? God has giving you His statutes and He’s calling you to do a new thing, to be Holy, to be Consecrated, to be Sanctified, to be Different and to be Set Apart for His Purpose and Only your Lord and Savior can do this, “Trust The Process of God, as you continue to consecrate and be sanctified before God!

Let’s Pray:
Thank You Father! Father, search me and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts and remove anything from me that is wrong. Wash me through and through, until I look just like you. Father, I choose to consecrate myself on your Altar, burn off everything that is not like You. Then Father, may I be Sanctified by You and for Your Glory. Thank You Father, for forgiving me and cleansing me from all unrighteousness. Keep my mind and heart clear that I may hear from You at all times. Father fill my mind with good thoughts as You mold me into the image of Your Son Jesus Christ. Father may Your peace encompass me today as I draw near to You! May You continue to sanctify and washes you through and through! Please make me holy. Please make me look more like Jesus today. I pray Lord, that You will continue to work through every circumstance in me and that I will encounter You today in my life and that my life will never be the same because of what You have done for me, in me and through me, it’s for my good and Your Glory! In Jesus Christ Name. Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean