General Audiences – Page 12

Hearing vs. listening to The voice of God

Hey 👋🏾 there BCU Family!

As usual, you have the option of listening to our podcast (click the BCU avatar below to listen), reading the notes or BOTH. In any case, we pray the post blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy the post!

About 4 years ago, my brother, Minister Garry, preached a sermon entitled “The Voice” based on John 12:20-32. This post is in reference to listening to that still, small voice that tells us what to do. Do you hear it or listen to it? There is a difference.

Awhile back, I was talking with a handyman *”Lou” who was trying to restart his business and offered to quote my friend, Lee and I for some work we wanted done on our places. Lou was polite, friendly, professional and sounded reasonable! Great!

After we talked, The Lord told me to mention a contract to Lou–we need to get this on paper, right? I left a message for Lou one evening to write up what he quoted me, what materials I needed, etc. I mentioned the contract to my friend, Lee, who said “why would we need a contract? Lou is just starting out, it’s a small business….”

Family, I was torn! How many judge shows had I seen where verbal contracts were not honored? AND I have a business degree. I know better! But, I felt bad, Lou was starting over, and needed a break. So I hushed the Lord’s voice about pushing the need for a written contract. Lou said he didn’t have any contracts anyway🚩 (red flag).

So, Lee, Lou and I scheduled a time we could all meet, to see what Lee needed done. That day, Lou was over two hours late–no call. We telephone out of concern and Lou gets on us about the heavy traffic, citing we don’t understand, he was coming from another town, and since we were expecting him, he figured we’d just wait. 😼(bright red flag).🚩🚩🚩

While I’m listening to this frippery, trying to exercise self-control over my rising temper, I kept trying to explain to him that we understand traffic, just call if you’re going to be late. After a 15-minute conversation, Lou still didn’t think he needed to call if he was tardy (flashing red flag). While Lee dismissed Lou’s attitude and finalized plans, I heard The Lord tell me to not let him do any work on my place. I second guessed a little though–was I in my flesh? Maybe he had a bad day. We all mess up from time to time, right? I admit I hoped I misheard, but I kept watching and praying just the same.

Lou came and worked on Lee’s place. It started to look REALLY nice! Lou even called when he was late or not coming….initially and sometimes. He didn’t show up for a day or two, but when he did come, he sang, worked and did a FANTASTIC job. When I stopped over Lee’s, Lou kept asking me when he could start on my place. I told him to finish up Lee’s first, (while I watched and prayed). Even though the work was getting done at Lee’s, The Lord’s voice was clear. Don’t do it (final waving flag with flashers).🏁🚩🏳🏴

How’d Lee’s story end? While what was done was indeed beautiful, some other major work was only three-quarters of the way done. Lou didn’t show up to finish. He decided to start another job with another client! Lee was VERY upset, and ended up having to get someone else to finish up the work. Messy, I tell ya!

With the help of the Lord, we’ve got to get to a place where we HEAR and LISTEN to His voice.

Why is it that when the Lord speaks, we sometimes second (or third) guess His direction? Granted, we want to make sure we are walking in the Spirit, but in many cases it can be fear, worry and unbelief. Sara and Abraham (Genesis 16), feared they were too old to have a child and went outside God’s divine will to start the process. Yes, you may be bobbing your head, but we are not exempt!

Bottom line: Sometimes the fear of hurting feelings, worry of losing out on a good deal, getting “cussed” out or looking foolish keeps us bound and making unwise decisions. The enemy has a way of trying to drown out the voice of God by using this age-old tactic. It’s our responsibility to know the voice of God and yield to it as Jesus said in John 10. As we steep ourselves in the Word of God, in prayer, meditation and study, God’s voice will become clearer and the voice of that stranger will cause you to flee from it and the things it suggests.

Let’s practice tuning out the noisome pestilence of the world and the enemy and tune in The Voice of God to ensure that the things we do and say will be pleasing to Him, Amen? Amen!

So, BCU Fam, that’s my story! What are your thoughts about the post? Please scroll on down to the comments section and let’s continue our conversation!

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram, and YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and iTunes!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

Commit your works to The Lord and He will establish your thoughts (Proverbs 16:3).

*names have been changed and details omitted to protect privacy.

24 Jun 201725 Jun 2017

BlenCouragesU2 Comments

Attention passengers: Can of ugly opened in seat 13C!

Hey there BCU Family!

A previous post of mine talked about forgiving people who have wronged us, and believe me, I had to and continue to try to be the first partaker of the fruit! When I wrote the post, I was thinking of people close to us like family and friends, as we interact with them so often. Well, the forgiving and attitude check must extend to the “stranger” as well.

A while back, I had to take a trip for work, so I skipped on to the airport, boarded my plane, stowed my carry-on bag and took my seat. An older lady boarded after me with her roller board bag, looking for an empty spot in the overhead to stow it. She opened up the area where my bag happened to be and took it out. I see people do this all the time, to shift and make room for all the bags, so no big deal right? WRONG!

“Miss Lady” proceeded to stow her bag, and leave mine in the floor, and take her set behind me, claiming my bag was in her spot!! HELLO????!!!!!!!!!! The seated passengers looked at me in horror, while I blinked in disbelief and scrambled to make an audible sentence. I think I said something like, “I wasn’t aware this was kindergarten where we had assigned spaces, ” to whit another passenger told her, “that isn’t the way things work”. At that point without realizing it, I actually started praying aloud and asked the Lord to help me to deal with the situation. I thought about the scene that could have ensued had I yelled at her–I’d probably be the one escorted off the plane!

The Lord heard my cry and some of the other passengers aided me to help find a place for my bag and even offered to help me get it after we landed. I looked at her a few times to get a read on her face, but she wouldn’t really look my way. God bless her.

I don’t know what was going on in her head to exhibit such crazed behavior, but let me tell you, the grace of God surrounded my mouth and actions, and to Him I am grateful. I am not confrontational anyway, so getting in someones face is not my style. I will say, I don’t like being mistreated, either, so suffering in silence is not always apropos–I’m telling you all prayer was the fastest route to the right answer.

Looking back, I know this was an attack of the enemy and the Lord must have been testing my reaction and way of handling the situation in the spirit and not in the flesh. While the Lord blessed me to get through part of the situation successfully, in retrospect, I wished I had talked with her.

When people are depressed, hurting, upset or whatever, they direct their anger at whoever is in the path. Often, we take it personally (sometimes it is personal), but mostly not. As people professing salvation, and knowing Jesus can heal, save and deliver like nothing/no one else, we have to practice letting people know that, rather than sucking out teeth in disgust or laying people out.

Titus 3:3-5 reminds us we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after the kindness and love of God our Savior towards us appeared, not by our righteous works, but He saved us according to mercy, by His blood and Holy Ghost. These verses sobered me right up! With God’s grace, let’s hide that Word in our hearts, so we can dig deeper in our hearts and remember that Word when something like this happens again.

Bottom line: People of God, when we see someone “acting up”, we really want to avoid reacting to the outburst, rather should seek to get to the root of the issue. So, let’s ask the Lord what the best way is to minister to them! Whether through a quiet prayer, conversation, scripture sharing, a tract (my mom says I should have given her one :-D) or witnessing, in all we do, we want God to be glorified, the people we are witnessing to and those in the vicinity are edified, His name magnified and that enemy horrified! Someone needs to know that Jesus IS the answer for ALL of life’s troubles. Amen? Amen!

So BCU Fam, that’s my story! What are your thoughts about the can of ugly that was opened up on me? Please scroll on down to the comments section and let’s continue our conversation!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

10 Jun 20179 Jun 2017

BlenCouragesU6 Comments

Should we be “paying close attention” to the non-clappers among us?

Hey 👋🏾 there BCU Family!

Our world is full of people inspiring us with their brand of quotations–some good, some not so much. Every now and again one of these pop culture quotes becomes the “flavor of the month”, to the point where even the body of Christ start to adopt and use them. Now, I am not saying that we can’t learn a thing or two outside of our “66” aka, The Word of God. The question is, does what we’re repeating line up with the Word of God? The phrase in question: “Pay close attention to those who don’t clap when you win.” This mindset is full of pride and has no business on the lips of a Christian. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why.

1. If I happen to “win” (get an award, recognition, a new job, career, minister to someone) or whatever the “win”(I prefer blessing) is, rather than paying attention to who isn’t clapping, the FIRST thing I should be focused on giving God praise for it! Period. God’s Word reminds us that apart from Him, we can do NOTHING (John 15:5b). Also, Acts 17:28 declares, it is in Him [Jesus] we live, move and have our being! So whatever blessing we get is due to Him giving us the ability to think, reason, and follow through. So, any recognition is a result of God blessing us to allow our light to shine before men so they saw our good works–and those works bring glory to our heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16), not ourselves–that invites trouble. Case in point: after giving a wonderful speech, King Herod was killed instantly because “he gave not God the glory” (See Acts 12:21-23).

2. If we’re constantly counting the number or taking names of the “non-clappers,” exactly where is our focus? On people or on God? Yes, we are human and will notice when someone isn’t for us—there is a difference between noticing and focusing. When we “zoom in” to the non-clappers, the enemy gets a good foothold, as he starts whispering all sorts of thoughts, scenarios and plans full of malice, hate and retaliation, which are all rooted in pride. Any form of pride is directly opposite of God’s will for our lives and set us up for destruction. Remember Satan is a fallen angel–and it was his pride that got him thrown out of heaven. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).

3. In close relation to the last point, what’s the motive behind your “win”? Exactly why are you doing what you do? Is it to gain attention and notoriety from people? Or is it to allow God to use you to be a blessing to someone else? In Matthew 6:1-2, Jesus warned the disciples of intentionally and willfully giving their alms or offerings in front of people. The Pharisees did their works publicly to be admired by the people watching which, happens to be the reward–the people watching! Once again, pride is out, front and center!

When you think about it, seeking out “people-admiration” is fleeting, temporal, “sometimey” and the works we do fade in peoples’ minds. What good are man-made accolades beyond the moment they are given? Will they ever wake us up in the morning? Protect us from danger? Reward us at all? Never! The Word of God admonishes us to give secretly, knowing God is watching and will reward openly (Matthew 6:3-4). I guarantee the reward God has is much richer than a few pats on the back!

4. What about the ones who do clap? A wise man of God shared that early in his ministry, while getting ready to teach during a Bible study, he was disappointed at the number of people who did not show—and fussed about it to the ones who were present. Someone finally asked, “well, what about those of us who ARE here?” At that moment, the pastor realized he was in error, apologized and said he would NEVER [fuss about who isn’t present] again! He admonished of us listening to rejoice and thank God for the ones who are with you. Psalm 68:3 says, let the righteous be exceedingly glad; let them rejoice before God, yea, let them exceedingly rejoice (Psalm 68:3).

BCU Family, I believe most everyone loves and needs support and encouragement, myself included–there is nothing unscriptural about that. We should be available, excited and willing to cheer on whoever is being blessed in whatever way God sees fit. The reality is at some point, there will be times that the people we feel should be there for us will not be, for some reason or another–and yes, it can hurt. The awesome thing about God is we can take our hurt to Him, allow His balm to heal us right away, and keep our love toward the offenders consistent, just like God’s love is toward us. In addition, we also should be reminded that we should never make flesh (people) our arm–the flesh will fail! Rather our trust should be in the God of all flesh (See Jeremiah 17:5-8), as we endeavor to please Him. In the end, we want Jesus to “clap” for us by saying “well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.” (Matthew 25:23). Once you hear those words, whoever did or did not support you in this life will not matter.

What are your thoughts on this “watch for the non-clappers” mindset? Please drop me a line in the comments so we can continue the conversation.

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

3 Jun 20173 Jun 2017

BlenCouragesU4 Comments

How are you managing? A lesson on stewardship.

Hey 👋🏾 there BCU Family!

A while back, the Lord blessed me with a thought about stewardship and what our responsibility is, so I thought I’d share a condensed version. Let’s start of with some background. So what is a steward?

In the Old Testament a steward is a man who is ‘over a house.” In order to get the whole picture you can read the story of Joseph starting around Genesis chapter 38, for the sake of time, we’ll look at selected passages in Genesis 43.

1 And the famine was sore in the land.

2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.

17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

18 And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our donkeys.

19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they communed with him at the door of the house.

A steward also had to be trustworthy and follow directions in their entirety.
Once again in Genesis (chapter 44), the steward’s duties were mentioned.

1And he [Joseph] commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.

2 And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.

4 And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? (once again, for clarity, please read the whole story of Joseph starting in chapter 38).

Similarly, in the New Testament, a steward is a person who’s been entrusted to care or honor something. This could apply to Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard:

“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first’ (Matthew 20:8).

Steward also means a manager. This would likely be more around the parables of the Talents and the Unjust Steward. (See Matthew 25:14-30) for the entire story).

After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’

His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest (Matthew 25:19-24, 26-27).

Jesus also said to His disciples: “there was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ (Luke 16:1-2).

WOW! Since we know what a good steward is and what NOT to do, what are some areas can we exercise good stewardship in?

Money–besides tithes and offering, alms or giving to the poor.

He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given (Proverbs 19:17). When God pays back, it’s going to be FANTASTIC! Now, we do not give to get, BCU Family, rather just to be a blessing to someone in a tangible way and however the Lord leads you.

Time–we make time for what we want. Let’s ask God for better time management skills and commit with His help to break the cycle of time wasting tasks that leave us unable to start or finish our assignments. We also should allocate proper time for things like chores, family time and of course, prayer and time with Christ. We should be thirsty for Him!

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water (Psalms 63:1 NKJV).

Body–Physical health–How are you feeling?

Yes, yes, we are not here to stay, gotta die of something, etc. While that may be true in theory, why purposely self-inflict illness? Isn’t it a blessing to witness, praise and worship God in a working temple? Sometimes things just happen and we fall ill (different story), but we want to do what we can to honor the temple or home God gave us by giving it whole foods, vitamins, rest, water and treats in moderation.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 KJV).

Gifts–God does gives gifts and talents, what are we doing with them?

Are we burying the gifts God gives us? Or are we using them well? Think back to the parable of the Talents.The servants that took risks had to get up, go out and do something to earn the other talents! While the Bible doesn’t say, I wonder if they immediately got the new talents or if they messed up a couple of times? Most things take some trial and error to perfect and God will honor your faithfulness. There is a cost of not using what God gave you:

For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:29-30).

If fear, doubt or concern of failure, what others will say comes up in your spirit, take it to God and trust He has properly equipped you. The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe (Proverbs 29:25).

Bottom line? ALL things, including time and money that we have are on loan to us by God. He trusts us to take good care of His things, so we should want to always do our best with His help! Yes—this is a TOUGH post to swallow, BCU Fam! We can do it with God’s help! Let’s talk about this some more in the comments section!

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and iTunes!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

27 May 2017

BlenCouragesULeave a comment

When the inside shows up on the outside

Hey 👋🏾 there BCU Family!

As a youngster, I developed a love for mysteries, drama and psychological thrillers–think Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock and of course, The Twilight Zone.

[Spoiler alerts] There is an episode of The Twilight Zone entitiled “The Masks”, where a cantankerous, wealthy elderly man, Jason, receives a visit from beautiful family, his daughter (a constant complainer and hypochondriac), son-in-law (who is greedy and loves money), granddaughter (who is vain and always in the mirror), and grandson (a sadistic bully). Jason knows his family and who they really are, despite the outward show they display.

Jason is dying and figures his family is just hanging around for the money, so he tells them in order to inherit, they have to wear these speciality and very ugly masks –that are supposed to be the opposite of their “true” (what the family portrays to others) personality. After a small protest, the family dons their new temporary faces to be worn until midnight. Daughter gets a worried coward-looking mask, son-in-law gets a miserable-looking miser one, granddaughter gets a hideous-self centered face mask and grandson gets a twisted buffoon face. Jason also gets in on it and wears a skull mask.

As midnight approaches, Jason passes away and his family is excited that the money they wanted was finally theirs! As they remove the masks, they realize, in horror, their actual faces have PERMANENTLY conformed to the grotesque shape of the masks! The only one not effected was Jason, whose face looks peaceful and serene.

Now of course, the story is fictional and has no scriptual basis–it got me to thinking, though.

In our very virtual, social media intense, “scripted reality” show of a world we live in, on the outside we can appear to be whoever we want. What if God turned us inside out and made our faces into who we really are on the inside? Who or what would we resemble?

Would it be the face of a bully, a tyrant? Would your face show hatred or scorn? Would it be worried, fearful or anxious face? Would your face be gossipy, cantankerous? Lazy and uncaring? Or would it be wearing a favorite TV show, music, or the social media site where the most time is spent? Or the face of practiced (willful, repeated and intentional) sin?

Or would it show the fruit of the spirit–love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance? (Galatians 5:22), as we yield to God and walk in the Spirit rather than in the flesh. Would there be evidence on your face of spending time with God in prayer (I Thessalonians 5:17), fasting (Matthew 17:21), and study? (Psalm 1 and 2 Timothy 2:15). Would it reflect the joy of the Lord being your strength? (Nehemiah 8:10). Would it be a face that read, “I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1), or I love God and keep His commandments (I John 5:3).

Let me be clear, I am all for keeping the temple beautiful and maintained properly–in fact, I Corinthians 6:20 reminds us to glorify God (versus ourselves) in our purchased bodies. We also must remember that as the outer man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day (I Corinthians 4:16). As we yield to God, He tranforms us into His glorious image.

That’s who we want to be inside. Just like Jesus.

Jesus is coming back for the inward man, BCU Family. With His help, let’s fervently and consistently strive for perfection (maturity in Christ) on the inside, so Jesus fervently and consistently shows on the outside. Amen? Amen!

If you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and iTunes!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU