Category Archives: Peace

October 23, 2018

This Is Pretty Cool

By Christina

I have seen the kinds of tasks God has given each of us to do to keep one busy, and I know God has made everything beautiful for its time. God has also placed in our minds a sense of eternity; we look back on the past and ponder over the future, yet we cannot understand the doings of God. I know there is nothing better for us than to be joyful and to do good throughout our lives; to eat and drink and see the good in all of our hard work is a gift from God. I know everything God does endures for all time. Nothing can be added to it; nothing can be taken away from it. We humans can only stand in awe of all God has done. What has been and what is to be—already is. And God holds accountable all the pursuits of humanity.
Ecclesiastes 3:10-15 (VOICE)

God did make everything beautiful in its time.  It is so hard to say that in the rough times.  But now I know and now I see why.  I could only appreciate even more what He is doing in my now season and I am extremely grateful.  I am joyful.  I am thankful.

As we are approaching the close of this year with two more months left to go…I am gazing at all my surroundings and saying, “God did that!” To say the least right–this year has been a pure madness for me.  I had left in January in a season of mystery.  The only thing I knew was that I had to wait for the “what’s next” moment.  I knew it was coming because I pushed myself to tempt God with a move.  I acted on faith and I left the familiar to a place of a real unknown.

It’s been rough.

I started some real momentum in June, only to become completely depleted of life again. It was the last 18 years on steroids.  It was all packed into 3 rough months.  I mean really rough.  It became a season of doubt for me. Then my doubt became my trust. I had to trust the unknown. I had to trust the storm. I had to trust the loss. I had to trust the absence. I had to trust the void. I had to trust that God was leading me through all of that to prepare me for my REAL season of REST!

Well who would have know! But God.  And not only that but He went above all that. In fact during my prayer walk at lunchtime I told him ”You really surprised me! You went over the top!” LOL

Like this is beautiful! It’s nice. It’s lovely. It is exquisite to me.

“One persons opinion of you doesn’t define you. Bleed it out.
Even Jesus doubted Himself –He prayed.
Season of doubt! 
Trees are full of leaves.
In the autumn leaves begin to fall off.
In the winter, there are no more leaves, it is bare.
Even in winter with no leaves, it is still a tree. 
Once spring comes, leaves come again.
They come again to strengthen us.
For this season will pass Christina.” 
Pastor Olusegun Akinkugbe
City of God Glasgow
Scotland

When we experience such a deep drought, it does cause us to doubt. But it took a season like THIS for me to be able to REST for real. It allowed me to experience the Hand of God in great measure. It allowed me to experience NO LACK! It brought me deeper into the things of God. It got me to hear His word in EVERY season of my life. He kept speaking in various ways. It propelled me into a place of pure trust and pure hope that would inevitable lead me to the place of such an overwhelming victory! It’s nice. It’s really amazing.

Wow! All I can say is in this place as I am gazing at my surroundings, “God, It is pretty cool here! Real cool! Thanks for this. You knew what was best and I needed it.”

It is a season to take territory of this.

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in Celebration, Encouragement, Inspiration, Peace, Rest, Transition, Trust

October 6, 2018

Pillow and a Latte

By Christina

I absolutely love my quiet home time.

People must think I am really a nerd, maybe too quiet…. possibly boring?!?! Lol

I am not sure. But it is so me. I love this. I like hearing nothing but the crickets, birds or outside nature. It’s so peaceful.

So here is what I will share with you in this quiet moment. I hope you can find yours too.

I have been on a spiritual journey a little more deeper because… can I be honest?

There is something in me that I truly dislike that surfaces when I am less than connected to God. I find a whole lot of cruddy things. Such as anger, jealousy, frustration, temptation, emptiness, depression, confusion and so many other things stirring in my mind and in my flesh. Who wants that? We’ll definitely not a saved and sanctified believer.

Here’s what the bible says about that:

So get yourselves ready, prepare your minds to act, control yourselves, and look forward in hope as you focus on the grace that comes when Jesus the Anointed returns and is completely revealed to you. Be like obedient children as you put aside the desires you used to pursue when you didn’t know better. Since the One who called you is holy, be holy in all you do. For the Scripture says, “You are to be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16 (VOICE)

So now, my beloved, obey as you have always done, not only when I am with you, but even more so when I can’t be. Continue to work out your salvation, with great fear and trembling, because God is energizing you so that you will desire and do what always pleases Him. Philippians 2:12-13 (VOICE)

I came back from a powerful weekend to find myself in a powerful pity party! That sucks! I can’t keep going with an internal war of battles that I know will never lead me to growth. This means so much. Many unspoken words now gone straight to a sovereign speaking God. That is beautiful! That’s best! Because many times we share things, try things and do things… even if it may be that you are trying to be helpful and it’s not.

It’s a job for God. I know one ☝🏽 thing. I need Him to intervene in my life in every way. I want to stay in communion with my King. I want to stay less out of the mess. I want to live where He wants me. I want to work where He plants me. I want to love who He has given me. I want to eat what He portions for me. I want to write what He shows me. I want to say what He gives me. I want to go where He leads me. I want to do things better. Even if one day is better than the rest, I know progress is chasing me because of this transition.

Three weeks later, I am in a better place. Really. With everything that needs to be here attached to my life. For every other negative thing that tries to attach itself to the womb of my spirit MUST BE ABORTED.

That’s what I found. That’s where I am. I will continue in my quiet time with my pillow and latte still making sure I do the genuine things that matter most. Listen. Learn. Love.

I never thought I had all the answers, so maybe in the silence I will keep learning who I really am and make peace with that. I come with a lot. I am a lot. But it’s only because I know there is a God pushing me to be better. It is all a wonderful lesson of love. A love that lasts longer than a latte. ☕️

I pray that you find yourself too. Encourage yourself to go there. You learn so much in the silence and stillness. These moments that you are alone —are never to cause you pain but to bring you to His presence. A purposeful place we must learn to embrace. A peaceful place of real REST!

Are you ready to please God more. I am ready for that change in me. How about you?

With love,

Christina

2 Comments | posted in Emerging, Encouragement, Healing, Health, Inspiration, Loved Letters, Peace, Rest, Transition, Trust

August 7, 2018

Purposeful Over Positional

By Christina

God said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea and the waters will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, over their horsemen.”
Moses stretched his hand out over the sea: As the day broke and the Egyptians were running, the sea returned to its place as before. God dumped the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. The waters returned, drowning the chariots and riders of Pharaoh’s army that had chased after Israel into the sea. Not one of them survived.
But the Israelites walked right through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall to the right and to the left. God delivered Israel that day from the oppression of the Egyptians. And Israel looked at the Egyptian dead, washed up on the shore of the sea, and realized the tremendous power that God brought against the Egyptians. The people were in reverent awe before God and trusted in God and his servant Moses.
Exodus 14:26-31

God said. Moses stretch. The Israelites walked.

God always speaks a word to us and when He does it requires us to stretch.  For when we do that, not only will things be formed for us but it gives us the ability to walk and allow others to walk through too. Such tremendous faith that it requires from us when God says to do something or gives us a word of what is to come for our future. Some things are more heavier then others and there is always a cost involved to get to the other side.

I been pondering on the life of Moses for some time now.  He gets to see the impossible –possible! What a great start to an emerging victory for the Israelites.  Problem is –that was just the beginning for them.  It took them so long to get to the position and location that God intended for them.  They fussed.  They fought.  They fumed.  They grew faith in some cases and other times they grew frustrated and fatigued!

Don’t we all.

How long does it take to get to the position and place that He has for us.

And so I had a dream last night.  In the dream, I was uplifting others. Inside there were tears falling that no one could see.  There were three instances where God wanted me to minister.  I saw people perplexed, troubled and depressed.  It looked like they were lost. Sometimes like how I feel. Never there yet but trying to be purposeful.  Trying to make the most of my situation when things go from bad to worst.

I encouraged a few in this dream…one by the way of an elevator, the other by some steps and another setting in an auditorium seating.  I said before waking up, “It is not where you are physically but where you are internally.  It is being purposeful over positional.”

Then I woke up…. The story of Jesus at the cross came to my mind.  The story of Moses came to my mind.  It was as if the spirit was preparing not a sermon for me but a sermon IN me.  I wrote it all down.  Because I know I am not there yet! And it frustrates me! It overwhelmes me! But one thing that I do know–is that God is hovering over me, even in my sleep to let me know that He has a purpose for me.

I was telling those people in the dream–“It is not about where you are physically but where you are internally!”

I was telling them–but God was using me to tell me too! I have to live out my purpose every day.  No matter how extensive or variegated my journey may be. If its 40 days, 40 months or I get to another 40 years–it is all about where I am internally so that I can use it to pull on my purpose.

More to come…. stay tuned. #lifeofmoses #themanydayjourney

 

1 Comment   |  tags: | posted in Forty, Inspiration, Peace, Transition, Trust

July 16, 2018

Jesus Is

By Christina

Jesus Is:

The Great I AM;

The Bread of Life;

The Way, the Truth, the Life;

The Resurrection and the Life;

The Lion of Judah;

The Word…. and I can go on!

You know what else Jesus is?

O F F E N S I V E!

Yup! He is and was offensive. He had to be in order to be effective. He had only three years with these disciples to transform them into apostles! He had to be fast! Quick! Swift! Bold! Strategic!

He had a timetable, not theirs.

Excerpt from “The People Factor” by Van Moody states:

Peter, with his fiery temperament probably mixed with horror and devastation at the thought of losing his Lord, reacted immediately. He called Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, contradicting what Jesus had said by declaring, “Never, Lord! . . . This shall never happen to you!” (Matt. 16: 22). In response, Jesus spoke strong and shocking words to Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (v. 23). How would you like to be addressed the way Jesus spoke to Peter? And would you ever be so bold with a close friend? Jesus was! Even though His relationship with Peter was valuable and important to Him, He prized truth even more than friendship.

See if Jesus were to move by feelings, He would not have gotten anything done. He would not have spoken to His disciples the way that he did. It was offensive. He called Peter the Devil! Wow! That would crush us. But instead it built Peter to be the great apostle that won 3000 souls on his first sermon.

Jesus only had three years with them, He had to be offensive yet effective! Today we are filling ourselves with facts—

Good advice;

Tips;

Tools;

Articles;

Social Media;

More conversations…. making us more subjective to the mind of man rather than the mind of God.

If we were to exchange the time spent on conversations, tips, tools and advice with the Word of God then we too would be as effective as Jesus.

We keep depending on the wrong source. Please don’t misinterpret this.

Sources are great but they are not sovereign.

God’s Word is sovereign, final and the absolute truth over any situation and it should govern our every move.

We may make mistakes yes, but let’s get up quickly to rise above the adversity and diversity of opinions and move forward using the Word of God as our sovereign source of substance.

This will help us make the best decisions, have the best relationships and the best outcome for our lives. 

Dear God –may our hearts move toward humility and healing in the most stressful states we could find ourselves in. Move us to Your Word as a guide. May we search it diligently DAY & NIGHT. So we can keep in alignment with Your Kingdom purpose over our lives. Amen.

1 Comment | posted in Inspiration, Peace, Prayer, Relationships