·        Money Troubles

We need to talk frankly about money.  No fluff, no stuff, just plain ‘ole money talk.

I have handled money God’s way since 1996.  I am speaking to you from not only a divine perspective but from real life experience.   I have learned lessons through trial and error.  God has allowed “error” to come in the form of thinking I was hearing from heaven when I wasn’t.  Then the Holy Spirit taught me that what is in place in the Kingdom will always stand before “feelings”.   Experience is our best teacher.  There is a lot of misunderstanding or miscommunication in the Body of Christ about money.

First and foremost, if you are a “follower,” you need to tithe.  A tithe is 10% of your gross monthly income.  The tithe comes right off the top and is your first obligatory “payment,” not the second or third.  To be completely obedient, you need to give the “first” to God. 

I began tithing in 1996.  I was a single mother and I needed help.  As I was obedient to tithe, God was faithful to get me the answers I needed.  Most of the time money didn’t just drop from the sky.  God provided a way for me to make the money.  There have also been plenty of times over the years that God has had people give me money.  But, I was always doing my part by working and doing what I knew to do.  I didn’t just sit around and wait for it to come to me, although at one point, I thought that is just what would happen.  I had no one help me understand about money and God’s way.   For example, I didn’t have a washer, dryer or refrigerator and all of a sudden someone called and asked me if I would store (in the house I was living in for free) for them these exact items.  I was told that I could use them as long as I needed to.  No payment was required and they were the exact color I wanted.  I had been faithful to tithe and this was a result of that obedience.  Then there was the time that someone brought a cell phone to me when I did not have one.  When they gave it to me, it was paid up for six months.  I can relate story after story to you about things God has brought into my life because I was obedient with my money, little as I thought it was.   

The book of Malachi 3:8-12 explains God’s stance on money to a T.  There is one time in the word God challenges His children to “test Him”.  Being the individual I am, He knew I would bite on that one.  I tested God with my money and have found Him, through the years, to be faithful.  It might hurt your flesh to tithe.  Money problems or not, you are robbing God if you do not tithe.  You might not like this but frankly, YOU are the problem, not God, if you are having money problems and do not tithe. 

Becoming a tither will take the stress out of your life so you won’t have so many ups and downs.  It might take a while to get on an even keel with your finances, but if you are willing to give your tithe and won’t quit, God will always help you.  It will take patience.  It will take time for your flesh to get use to tithing, but if you want the blessings of God, and you need a change in your life then YOU need to buck up and just do it.  If I can, you can.  God always put “out the fires” I was having but other things He gave me as He felt I was ready to take care of them.  

I didn’t have a job with a regular paycheck or benefits so I never knew what was coming but I still tithed every week from what I made.   For anyone who makes a paycheck, you need to learn to tithe in order to help yourself.  God puts it right out there for us and is clear in His Word what to do.  Many think they can’t afford to tithe.  You are stubborn and hardheaded if you think this way.  God cannot “open the windows” of heaven over your life if you won’t do this His way.   

Secondly, purpose to tithe where God tells you.  Whether you like me saying this or not, here it is- there are places that say the name of Jesus that are not ordained of God.  The soil is bad and you will not reap a full harvest tithing there.  You need to come to terms in your heart with this fact.  God once told me to stop tithing in a place where I attended.  I did what I knew God was telling me to do and I am glad I listened to Him.  Be wise where you sow your money.  Pray and ask the Lord where He wants you to give your money.  He talks quite clearly about this in Deuteronomy.

Let me leave you with this last piece of advice.   I know this is happening in the Body of Christ right now and I want you to be wise in what you listen to, especially if you are in a financial mess.  If you are being advised by someone on TV to sow a certain amount of money (an exact figure will be given) in order to get a particular harvest or financial gain in return, be careful.  There are many saying this only in order to obtain wealth.

When you are at your depths of despair and really need a miracle, you will listen to just about anyone and what you are hearing is not all coming from Heaven.  If you ever feel like giving in this way, first pray to God and tell Him how desperate you are.   Talk to Him and tell Him exactly what your needs are.  Be careful what you do and how you do it.  After all, it is your life and your money.

If you are having financial problems and currently sow money where you attend church, you need to approach that Pastor and tell him what you are dealing with….period.  If they won’t help you get on an even keel with making certain you are doing everything you should be doing, like working, then you need to leave.  Sow where you get fed.

When you have money problems, your emotions run rampant and it is hard for you to make a clear decision.  You need to get hooked up with someone who is steady, who works diligently, and isn’t always talking about “pie in the sky” ideas that never come to fruition.  You need to follow sound advice especially in the throws of trouble.  When someone tells you to “give me this and I’ll give you that,” be wise.  I have fallen into those traps as well.  However, there have been times when I have sown into TV ministries, but only under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

This is God’s world and His ways and you had better make certain it is His will where you sow.  Not every harvest God gives is money and no one is saying that.  If He sees that you need a healing, then maybe that will be your harvest.  Maybe it is a soul in your family that needs saved and that may turn out to be your harvest.   Learn about God and His ways of doing money.  Be wise.  

Molly              

We all seem to be in turbulent times.  Our emotions are running at an all-time high right now.  We want answers for everything, especially for the questions that most dramatically affect our lives. “Who do I date; what should I or shouldn’t I buy at this time?”  Some may even be wondering if they should file bankruptcy because of their current financial state. We are in great distress and unrest within ourselves and we want someone to help. 

I have felt the exact same way some of you are feeling right now.  As I have mentioned before, I finally raised my hand to heaven and told God He was going to have to help me because I could not live the way I was living anymore. Have you ever felt like you were ready to cash in everything?  I did.

I want to be clear in this answer for you.  I am not a “do-gooder Bible thumper” who is trying to take something from you.  I want to get something to you. I feel the things that you feel.  I have looked upon others wishing I was in the boat they were in.  I have hoped that suddenly a million dollars would come, swoop down into my hands and help me.  I put all my trust and hope in money, jobs and others but I never put any trust or hope in God.  I didn’t know I could.  I really didn’t believe He was real. I guess I thought He was just some puff of smoke I would have to deal with someday.  But make no mistake; when I died or got ready to go, I can tell you whom I would be yelling for help from….

So I am here to tell you that NOW is the time to yell for help from God, not later.  He is real and He is waiting just for YOU.  But you will have to be the one to go after God.  Every answer to every question you hold in your heart or comes across your thoughts can be answered by God alone. 

You don’t need some fancy gimmick or famous person advising you on what you should do.  You certainly don’t need a psychic.  That is from the devil. 

When Jesus died on the cross, He sent the Holy Spirit so YOU could get answers.  The Holy Spirit has helped me with everything from finding a pair of tennis shoes I could afford to providing me with a livelihood.  Yes, there are tangible answers for your life. You don’t have to stay in the mess you are in, whether it is emotional or financial, but you will have to do this God’s way…

Once you read this, don’t ever complain about bad things that are happening in your life ever again. You have been given the answer.  It is not a religious service I am trying to get to you; it is the living breathing Jesus that will make your life different than it is.  I went after Him with all my heart when I didn’t even know He existed and He answered me.  If I can come this far and still rise to do so much for God, then what is your excuse?  There is a scripture that I learned early with Christ and it is found in Matthew 10:39.   “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  Need I say more?

Molly     

We are in a very odd time in our history.  Many things are happening that cannot be explained, or can they? 

Society overall believes God does exist.  All the statistics point to that fact.  Nevertheless, to believe in an actual devil, well, that is a stretch for a lot of us. I understand this thinking because I felt the same way.  However, I can tell you that something dark was after me all of my life and I was being stopped from accomplishing much of anything.  I knew nothing of the devil, Satan, Lucifer or whatever name you call him, until I came into the light.  I was covered in a cloud that wouldn’t seem to ever leave.  There are those of us who really do believe in God.  But, we still have a hard time believing in Satan.

I was put in the situation of watching a movie this past week that, frankly, I would not have ordinarily watched.  The movie I am talking about is called Twilight.  You might be gasping right now wondering why I would watch that movie.  I think that one of the biggest strongholds we have as proclaimed followers of Jesus is that we try to be so “squeaky-clean” it turns others off, making us unable to reach those who need our help.  I am of a different mold.  I need to know what is going on so I can not only intelligently discuss it but also stand against it for the sake of those who need me to.  I would not go to see a movie like Hangover because of its apparently disgusting content I was told about.  I will draw a line.  However, movies like these need to be exposed for what they truly are in order to inform people of the cunning, deceptive ways of Satan.     

Twilight is one of the most overpowering movies I have seen in quite a while.  I still haven’t gotten over it.  The male lead was mesmerizing in his ability to draw you into his world.  I was struck.  The movie was about good and bad vampires.  The tales I grew up with in regard to so-called vampires were mild in terms of the storyline. All you had to do (and this was some early movie work) was hold up a cross (good thing!) and drive a stake through the heart of the vampire in order to kill it.  I even believe that a couple of movies used the name of Jesus in killing the vampires. (The best recourse we all have!) 

I can see where Satan will use this movie to entice others into believing that all of the vampire stuff, which will lead to other dark things, is acceptable. This movie was made as a romantic tale (which we all love) and it sucked you right in.  The male lead of the movie falls in love with a girl, assuring her he will use his will power not to harm her.  He tells her he has been searching for someone like her all of his life.  He had powers that were superhuman.  He was a more “refined” vampire who would only use the blood of animals to live.  So, that is not so bad is it?  It is not like killing people.  There were other instances in the movie where they tried to show the vampire to have human tendencies in an effort to elicit sympathy for this character. That is how Satan can twist your thinking.  His ways can be subtle, yet effective.     

In one scene he referred to himself and the girl as “The Lion and the Lamb.”  This is taken straight from the Word of God.   The vampires in older movies couldn't come out in the daylight at all.   This was not the case for the new version of vampires.  The vampires of Twilight could come out in the day but not in the sunlight.  The twist is when the sunlight hit him, he appeared to be covered with diamonds.  Lucifer had jewels all over him and was a worshiping angel. There are different angels and different demons.  He was the most beautiful angel God created (Ezekiel 14-17). His pride convinced him that he could overthrow God.  So God had to deal with him and hurled him to earth.  He is called the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). His destiny is set and he will burn in the lake of fire forever at the close of this earth, as we know it.  Until then, he wreaks havoc in people’s lives and most don’t know it (Rev. 20:10).  Satan plants the seed in a mind and heart and then builds on that.  He wants to be God so he tries to imitate God and His ways, making you think it is good, when a closer examination will reveal the truth. The movie industry has taken some of the text of the Bible and twisted it so that weak minds are opened to the darkness. 

I have heard believers say, “We already know the end of the Bible and we win.”  This attitude causes them to be defeated by Satan feeling they don’t have to do anything else in their lives to fight him.  Others say, “Satan is under your feet!” Well, yes, he is and he can be but you have to do something about keeping him there.  YOU are responsible for rebuking, casting out and pleading the blood of Christ.  YOU have been given the divine authority by Jesus to do this.  Satan will gain entrance into a life any way he can and this movie was a covering for his wiley ways. 

We are not using our divine rights as God’s children.  We end up being defeated in so many areas because we don’t know what to do.  We have been lulled to sleep by the beautiful, deceptive devil and we don’t even know it.  He has done his job well and I am here to unveil him. There are some Pastors who stand behind the pulpit and say there is no Satan.  Hosea 4:6 says, “My people (which includes Pastors) are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”  I am here to testify to you that Satan is real.

One of two things is happening in your life right now.  You are either walking with Satan or you are walking with Christ.  There is no in-between.  You cannot ride the fence.  Those days are long over.  Jesus and the original twelve disciples fought Satan on the earth.  So will you if you are trying to follow Christ.  Demons don’t go away.  The demons of the Bible days are the demons that are here today.  You have the God-given authority to take care of them through the anointing of Christ.  It is the only way to get rid of them. 

If you think there isn’t a devil, then he has you just where he wants you.  It is time for a great awakening in this earth to the fact that Satan is real and he is leading and wooing others very cunningly and deceptively.  You need to learn what is going on. Don’t shut your eyes and your heart off any longer.  A lot of what you are going through could very well be coming from Satan.  If you think he isn’t real, then you are being deceived.  Twilight = Darkness.  Don’t you get it?  Satan is known as “The Prince of Darkness” and Jesus is known as “The Light.”  He is known as “The Prince of Peace.”  You will never get the true victory and peace in your life until you come to terms with this truth.  Money won’t do it.  Sex won’t do it.  Drinking won’t do it and drugs won’t do it.  Is there anything else you strive after?  Well, that won’t do it either.  Only “The True Light” of Christ will reveal the darkness for what it is.  You can face it or not.  Stop going to the twilight and come into the light so you can see clearly.  Your very state of existence will depend on it.  And you know one thing is clear:  We, as followers of Christ, need “the Blood” to be made new again.  We need “The Blood” to have a new life where we can live for eternity and be rewarded for what we have done on earth but we don’t have to suck others to death to get it.

It is the draw to the dark side that makes you think that evil is good.  This was only a movie but when real evil presents itself, there is no ability to discern right from wrong unless you know the difference, having been trained in the ways of the Lord.  If evil becomes good in your thinking, then the trap is set and it is easier for Satan to sway you.  He only needs a little opening to entice you.  He will use whatever is your weakest link to do that….He does not care and he has no regard for human life.  His ways are evil and he will come to you wrapped up as a very handsome man, a beautiful woman or he will dangle riches in front of you to get you off course.  How are you going to know the difference?        

…and by the way, there are no such things as vampires but there are demons and there is a devil, whether you want to believe it or not.

Molly   

Death

Definition:  The process of dying; the state of being dead; and end; ruin.

Death…  What a scary thing to talk about.  JWTJ is here to talk about scary things so that the absolute light of the truth can be shed on them.  We are here to talk about things we have seen and things we have been taught by the Holy Spirit.  We talk about things others can’t or won’t talk about….so let us begin.

Death is the one thing that you will have to face by yourself.  It is not going to happen “two by two.”  It is probably one of the loneliest times in your state of existence here on earth but nonetheless, something we need to confront head on.  When you face something you are scared or unclear of, the bubble of fear bursts, enabling your mind and heart to deal with it properly.  

This past week we lost, several well-beloved personalities.   Not one of them was more important than another one was to God, our Father.  So why then have we felt saddened more so by the loss of Michael Jackson than the others?  What was there about Michael Jackson that overshadowed Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon and Gail Storm?  What is this telling us?  Each one who died left a legacy.

Was this allowed to happen to so many well-known individuals to wake us up out of a slumber?  It certainly has caused much deep soul-searching by individuals I have been around lately.  Let me go into some detail about these issues.

Number one, were any of these people saved?  In other words, when they took their last breaths, did they go to be with Jesus in Heaven? I know for a fact because of warring in the spiritual realm, either we will go to be with God in Heaven (if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior), or we will go to hell. Make no mistake about it:  Heaven is real, hell is real, and you will go to one of them.

Secondly, I believe that these deaths have caused us to search out our own mortality.  There is nothing quite like losing someone in your same generation that causes you to think about the inevitability of your own death.  It causes you to look at yourself in the mirror and assess your own life….or have you?  It certainly made me rethink several things even as close as I try to walk with Christ in the earth.  I am not perfect and I still fail.  I constantly check myself because I can get out of line.

Also, we can see that money and fame cannot stop death.  It can’t buy you your health and happiness whatsoever.  If you don’t start to realize this, you could be spinning your wheels for the rest of your life in torment.  Seeking fame and fortune will not make you happy inside.  There is a hole that, whether you like it or not, God placed inside of you and it can only be filled with Him.  Until you do this, you will not find true peace in your heart and mind.  You won’t be able to fill it with sex, drugs, or money…period. You will still be left empty until you surrender your life to Christ whether you want to face this fact or not.

Deeds…what did these people leave as a legacy?  When you die you will leave something behind, and I am not talking about material wealth.  I am talking about your name.  Did you leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth?  Did people see you as someone who did the right things, honored your family, and helped the poor and needy?  What kind of name are you going to leave behind when you die?

Funny how we as a society of people will seem to glorify someone in death even if they did really bad stuff….but God doesn’t and you will be judged for what you have done here on earth.  You need to realize this.

Death will be the beginning of eternity in Heaven or hell for each soul on this earth. You will be rewarded for what you have done here, whether you believe it or not.  Your eternity will be what God deems it to be, not man, and you need to come to terms with this.  You could end up in hell with no way out.  The choice is yours.  If the recent demise of some very well- known individuals hasn’t gotten to you, what is it going to take?

Molly