You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.  (Matthew 16:3)

Knee Jerk Reactions

I am famous (to myself and to God) for having what I call “knee jerk” reactions.  I have always been a person who was hot on the griddle to jump and DO anything.  I have gotten burned a lot on that griddle because I had no idea how to discern whether to turn to the right, to the left, to go straight, be still, or how to make any well thought out move.  Thusly, it has cost me in one way or the other in many areas of my human existence.  As hard as I try and as much as I believe that I can and do hear clearly from heaven, there are moments when I know I need to be still and not make any moves.  I know that I need to keep going and doing what I know how to do.  I know that I need to quit trying to make things happen that should not.  Still, my flesh gets anxious to make what I want happen.  I have come to realize over the years that I have to face the fact that there will still be times I will war within myself for discernment of God’s divine will.

Yes, we are in the 21^st century and yes, we have the most advanced technological instruments available to us to use to advance humankind, but that does not mean we do not still boob.  I hear a lack of discernment as I move around Christians. This causes their flesh to take over and they think they deserve something better than they have.  They want what they want NOW, so they jump from the fire into the frying pan without regard to God’s will in the matter.  This is what gets one off track.  Depending on what it is they have made come to pass, sometimes their course in life, may result in taking years to be realigned.  Just because you feel something, doesn’t mean you should be doing it.

For example, I was told four years ago to get up and go to a particular car dealership.  I was told the day and the place and instructed to take a copy of my testimony with me.  I have been told before to go to places with a copy of my testimony, so doing this didn’t surprise me.  In the back of my mind I thought, “Maybe it is for a new car.”  Not knowing the exact outcome, I went as I was commanded and a gentleman came up to me, introduced himself, shuttled me into his office and we began to talk.  Of course, immediately I thought it was a “God thing.”  A few moments of conversation revealed that he was a pastor with a small church and I handed him a copy of my testimony, telling him that God had told me to come there.  He invited me to come to his church the next morning (Sunday) to speak.

Now, (remember my flesh is still weak) another salesman walked in stating they needed to put me into a new car.  (Be wise about others who always tell you “we” need to do this or that for your benefit).  He continued by saying that just the night before, a car had come in that was “just right” for me.  Within a few minutes, the issue was settled (without checking my credit references or other documentation) that I was going to have a new car.  They stated, “We’ll make it happen.”  I was very tired that day and couldn’t discern whether this was actually from heaven.  It happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to think.  I wanted it to be from heaven and thought certainly this would not be manifesting right before my very eyes if it wasn’t God’s will that I have a new car.  God knew I had wanted one (my weak flesh did) but I didn’t need a new car.  I had a car that was only four years old and I had but one more year left before it was paid off.  I thought to myself, “Well, he is a pastor and certainly he won’t deceive me just to make a commission, would he?  Well, of course not!  Anyway, I bit the apple, traded in my car (that had nothing wrong with it) and obligated myself to higher loan and insurance payments.  I drove away from the dealership in shock. 

It wasn’t too long after that I needed a new battery.  The engine light came on and stayed on.  I took it back to the car salesman/ pastor and he told me it would be $300.00 to fix the problem.  As I looked at him in a bewildered state, he said, “Tell you what.  I will pay $150.00 of the charge.”  To make a longer story shorter, he made some vile comments about the way I looked and I walked away knowing I had been taken.  All the pieces of this scam were revealed to me over the period of the next several months. 

I struggled each month to make the car payment and the higher insurance payment it carried with it.  I didn’t stop to consider or to take the time to go home and pray about it and wait on a clear answer from God before taking action.  I am still paying for this car, knowing I “knee jerked” because my flesh wanted another car.  I was deceived.

We have promises in God’s word that if we will walk uprightly before Him, that He will not withhold any good thing from us.  He promises that we will hear a voice behind us saying, “This is the way.”  But we don’t believe He will really talk to us or we don’t know how to discern His will in any given situation.  Additionally, when we are tired, we get off kilter easily and when there is someone who is telling us anything who is “a man of the cloth,” we readily accept what they are spilling forth. And, to top it off when we WANT something in a bad way we really don’t want to hear that maybe “it” is not God’s desire for us so we stifle the Holy Spirit when He is telling us to be patient.   

I have kicked myself over and over, knowing I should have been wiser.  I really hadn’t wanted to go there that day but one thing I did know was that the Holy Spirit wanted me to (but for a different reason).  The outcome of that eventful day was that by actually going to this man’s small congregation, a soul was brought into the kingdom.  In attendance was a girl who was a dancer at a local strip club.  She said, “I haven’t been here (to his church) in several months but I had to come today.”  I discovered two weeks later that she fully committed her life to Christ and stopped dancing altogether.

I did have to go to the car dealership that fateful Saturday but it wasn’t for me.  I had to meet this pastor so I could go to his church to get this particular news of the Gospel to a girl whose stage name was “Molly.”  Ultimately, this pastor did sow, as an offering, into my life for several months, which was another reason I had to meet him.   

Now I know better and don’t make a move until I hear clearly from God, even if I drag my feet.  Let the peace of God reign in your heart when you find yourself in a situation, which could very well be a setup by the devil to destroy you piece by piece.  Wait upon the Lord.  Pray about what you want, what you need, and what you think you need for your life from your Father.  Then get up, stop talking about it, and wait for God to speak to you.  Don’t try to make things happen unless it is a dire emergency.  Yet, still there will be times when God will use these situations to teach you lessons.  You will never be able to put discernment in a box but this is the way God can and will train you to hear from Him so don’t be surprised.

Discernment...  You know we all have a life to live while we are here on earth and many get trapped by Satan.  He gets them off the path that was designed by heaven for them.  The world is in what seems to be uncertain times but YOU don’t have to be.  Will you still make mistakes?  Well, I can tell you “yes” you will, but the chances of you coming out the winner are much greater if you will give God a chance first.  He tells us that if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will He give us the Holy Spirit.  We all need the Holy Spirit for discernment and the promise of HIM is that He will tell us which way to go.

Don’t let your knee hit you in the chin…

Molly         

Away From Me, I Never Knew You….

Matthew 7: 21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in your name?’  “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

These are some pretty harsh words from our Lord, don’t you think?  Exactly what significance do they have for us here today?  

There are many, I fear, who are looking for an outward sign as to the manifestation of the anointing of God upon one’s life.  People want signs and wonders…do  you?  The above scripture states that many will perform miracles to behold but Jesus will stand on the day and say, “Away from Me I never knew you.”  Are you prepared for that?

Clearly, Jesus tells us that signs and wonders will follow those who believe.  Are you looking for signs for the sake of the sign or are you using the God-given power you have been given as His child (do you know you even have power?) to help further the kingdom of heaven upon this earth while putting the power in the right perspective in your heart?

As fallible humans, Jesus already knows that we are going to want to seek a sign or a wonder of some sort.  He is telling us that to have an intimate relationship with Him is better than performing…I have been used by God to give many signs but it seems unless signs are constantly ever present, that people tend to fall away from seeking a personal relationship with God.  We have been so conditioned in the body of Christ to look for outward signs that we can’t seem to get our heads out of the clouds and come back down into the earth and buckle down to actually “do” God.  We don’t seem to have the steadfastness and faith to believe in God unless there are signs.

We are a fallen lot of people and I honestly believe that God is beseeching us to attain a higher calling in Christ Jesus but we are still on the bottle and haven’t even come close to the true meat of the word in our walk with Christ.  We desperately need to buckle down and quit running all over hell and creation looking for a word or a sign.  We need to stop pounding on the gates of heaven asking God to give us power unless we intend to get our hands dirty by doing the will of the Father in heaven.  We need to get up and be steadfast in our everyday lives and hearts, doing diligently what God puts in front of us to the very best of our abilities. 

Hype is fine but at the end of the day when the word has been delivered, hands have been laid on to heal or the prophesy given, you still have to wake up and start your day just like everyone else.  There are no free tickets for anything in the kingdom and I can tell you that God has already tested, proven and tried those whom He is going to use for His glory and to get souls into the kingdom.  Don’t be fooled by signs.  It is the life lived wholly separated unto God that has been through the fire that He approves of.  It is the fire walked through that causes the Fire of the Holy Spirit to flow through.  Everything else is cotton candy and will be exposed for what it truly is.

Put the bottle down and come up to the big table to eat.  It is only God who tests the mind and the heart and He knows exactly whom He has chosen in this end-time harvest of souls.  This is not a game to God, so be wise who you listen to. 

Will He thrust you aside or will He beckon you come unto Him as having known Him?

Molly         

“The Beloved”

There were twelve (12) disciples who walked, talked and fellowshipped with Jesus for three years before He went to the Cross.  I thought about how they were handpicked by the Lord.  There was only one, John, who was called, “the beloved” by our Lord. 

It seems that our focus in the Body of Christ today is about material goods, especially the money end of it.  I wonder how many of God’s children are just saying, “Lord, I would just like for you to appear to me so I could place my head on your breast and love you.”  How many do you suppose would only want that and nothing else in return?

Then there was Judas who sold out the Lord for money.  How many do you suppose are doing that, saying and pretending that they are walking with the Lord?

Are you always looking for a return on your tithe or offering or do you give God money out of just sheer obedience?  Are you always looking for a handout from heaven?  Make no mistake…we deserve nothing.  Our thinking has become twisted and carnal and we are off the mark of the high calling in Christ.

Remember Cain and Able?  Able gave the first fruits with a loving heart and not because he expected to gain something.  Conversely, Cain gave God, well; I call it “sloppy seconds.”  It is time for you to check yourself and see where your true allegiance lies. 

In the days in which we live many are crying out for help because of the hard times they are experiencing, but God promises that those who are really trying to follow Him with a pure heart and motive will be taken care of …they are called, according to King David (a man after God’s own heart), the righteous.  

God is so much more than people are trying to achieve.  He is bigger than enlarging a building, implementing the latest and newest program, and keeping a count of the number of bodies that have warmed the pews in your sanctuary on Sunday.  He deserves our love.  When Jesus Christ comes ( Matthew 25:31-46 is worth your reading) to divide the goats from the sheep, which side will you be on?  Will He in fact call you His beloved?

I have committed many crimes against heaven and still, in God’s infinite wisdom, He has chosen to use me to help His children find their lives at the foot of the Cross.

I had had most things you could buy, had loved much, but was still left with a feeling that I had no life and something was wrong.  One evening, while going through the word of God, I was given a scripture Matthew 16:25 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

I read and reread that scripture until it had really sunk in my spirit and I knew that I was being told I was going to have to lose my life.  Not knowing any better, I asked the Lord, “Am I going to have to die or something?”  I had tried so many things looking for happiness but since everything I tried failed, I finally raised my hand to Heaven…Christ was my last hope.

I was tired of my BS and I felt that if He was real, I couldn’t BS Him anyway, so I was very honest with Christ from the beginning.  I believed He would help me if I would just try to walk with Him.  I didn’t know how He was going to help me, but I knew in that moment in time if I didn’t surrender my heart to Him, that it would be detrimental to me and I was all about “me.”

I was a girl who stood outside looking in a window, peering at people who seemed so happy, hugging each other, kissing, and laughing, while “dining out” on life.  Seeing them (not realizing I was on the outside of the glass window), I began doing only what I knew to do by imitating them in the ways they behaved.  When something would knock me down and I would get disappointed or be severely depressed, someone would be placed in my path that seemed to be doing well.  Then somehow (by seeing them) I was able to pick myself up and try again to strive for the happiness I longed for…but at the end of day I was still empty.

The deep revelation of Christ having the power to set me free from the chains I was held in is what finally broke the window so I could experience true joy and happiness from within, while striving to do His will.  The torment of my mind was finally shattered.

In order to find your life you are going to have to put the effort into learning about what your inheritance is as a child of God and lose your self in Him.  I can’t do it for you, watching TBN all day long can’t do it for you, and trying to work your way into His good graces won’t do it for you.  YOU have to go after God each and every day, even though you feel you are all alone and feel that perhaps you are the only one who is doing what you are doing… but in actuality, you are never alone.  The Holy Spirit will help you just like He helped me, bringing you into your divine destiny and life.

No one can make you.  I asked God to give me a hunger and thirst for Him that I could not satiate with anything else but Him, because knowing me and my history thus far, I knew it was going to take just that to keep me steady and on the path. 

Don’t be deceived; God is not mocked whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap…sow for your life because that is the place you will be happy.

I lost my life to Christ and by doing that, I finally found it and as difficult as it has been, I wouldn’t have had it any other way…To God be the glory.

Molly