Day 1
Make A Decision
Decision making can be tough for some. But when you make the decision to choose Faith and follow the command of the Lord you can't go wrong. As a chosen generation it is not by accident that we are living in these times. God trust you to follow his plan, now its time for you to trust God.
I made the decision in 2015 to follow the voice of God. Now there have been time I didn't always listen with intent or give the obidience I know God desires us to have. But today I am making a decision to reconnect with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Let His Will Be Done (Luke 22:42).
Prayer: Father I pray for those and myself who have accepted you as our Lord and Savior and ask that others are lead to you as they view our lives as we live to serve you. Amen
Day 2
Fervent Prayers
"He's created prayer as a primary way of putting us into personal contact with Him and with His eternal realities, any hour of the day" Priscilla Shirer.
Have you ever made a connection with someone whom you thought you had nothing in common? To be honest on the surface you really didn’t have anything in common. But what little did you know, God ordained the relationship before you ever said hello! For me it happened in 2012,there was a position open in my department and I was responsible for filling the position. As I was considering the need of the department an associate approached me and suggested that I reach out to another associate that was currently working as a cashier. I decided to approach her and when I did she was very much interested. As we sat down to discuss the possible placement during an interview I explained the position would be part-time. Knowing she was in a full-time position I didn’t know if she would be willing to accept the position that would be part-time with no benefits. She graciously accepted the offer. Now when the paperwork was pushed to personnel they entered her as a full-time associate and the connection started.
I approached the relationship as strictly work. I never discussed my personal life with her for fear of the work relationship moving in the wrong direction. As other associates began to weed out and move on to other endeavors we began to share. We began to share our most intimate moments with God. The connection was a Devine Connection that God truly ordained. We taught each other things that God had revealed through lessons, conversations, church, bible study, dreams and so much more. It's so deep that God connects our conversations and reveals things in each of our lives. For example we were discussing Faith and I asked her to describe the letter “F” and she used the word (FERVENT). Well, she choose a word I had not heard of and it took me on a small journey. As I set out to find and discover more about this new word I wrote the word on a sheet of paper along with the definition my associate provided. Fervent: praying with passion and intensity…..Now I am a note taker and I journal about anything and everything. So as the day came to an end I left the definition behind on my desk. I left for the day to take on my most important job, my family.
I didn’t think much of the word until the next morning as I turned on the lights of my office and there it was sitting on my desk. I glanced at the definition my associate gave and I proceeded to the store meeting that was being held at the front of the store. As I am engaging in the meeting I was called to share what was going on in my area, I did so as I normally would. But it was when I stepped back to the area in which I was standing and I couldn’t help but notice there was a book that was about to fall off of the shelf. As I took a closer look at the book it was titled “FERVENT!!!! Yes that’s right God showed up and showed out. Once the meeting was over I eagerly moved towards the book area to take a picture and send it to my associate. I walked the book area after taking the picture to see if there were others. I did not see another book of its kind. I went back to my area and I could not get the book off of my mind. So I decided to google the author. When I googled the author whose name is Priscilla Shirer that's when I learned she was the actress from the movie War Room.
I began to listen to Priscilla Shirer on YouTube speaking at several events and I felt the power of her words. Something told me God strategically placed that book so I would see it because it was meant for me to read. The full title of the book is “FerVent A Woman’s Battle Plan for Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer”. God answered my prayers because I was yearning to develop a stronger prayer life and willing to be lead wherever he desires me to go. Through this connection between my associate and I we have developed a deeper faith, love and relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I treasure this connection and I truly thank God for allowing our paths to meet. Oh yeah! I purchased the book and I am digging deep as I am praying, journaling, highlighting and looking up scriptures.
I encourage you to value the connections that come your way it may be momentarily or it maybe for a lifetime.
Prayer: Heavenly Father I ask you to lift us all as we learn to pray fervently to you. Thank you for allowing us time to learn to prayer and get over ours fears of having a relationship with you. Amen
Day 3
Shipwreck
The last Sunday sermon of March was given by a guest pastor. He was small in stature but he word was powerful. He entitled his sermon “The Fifth Anchor” and he encouraged us all to take a second look back at Acts the 27th chapter. So here we go! I opened my bible to read this chapter and yes you guessed it, in addition to what he revealed in this chapter I had my own revelation in Acts 27:30-32.
Have you ever abandoned your ship and it wasn’t necessary? Not realizing you may fail and yet even parish before its time and you cut the ropes to your lifeline because of your unbelief. It's like getting to the end of the story without knowing the moral of the story, rushing to judgment and blaming others when the problem lies within you for disobeying instruction. I think this is the perfect time to insert Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. There are times when we as believers want to do things our way because we don’t understand God's way and it's not always meant for us to understand or even know what God is up to. If you were sick and knew God would heal you at 10:59 would you trust him to heal you at 11:59 instead? You should! You see doubt should never kick in when you are a believer and you have faith in God’s plan. An extra hour of sickness may bring more things to light for you, the doctor or even the person praying for you.
Prayer: Father in your name I pray we all learn not to abandon our ship too early. Granting the wisdom we need to see things thru. Although we may not understand the how and the what will take place. All we need to know is the true captain of our ship will never abandon us or lead us astray.. Amen
Day 4
Solid Foundations
So we approach the Lord and open our mouths for things we want in our lives. But fail to follow his instructions. He gives life with his instruction, if he says go then we are to go, if he says stay then we are to stay. Our relationship with God is the foundation of our lives. If the foundation is solid it can stand faithfully as the Lord has built this house for us. With this temple we must obey the instructions of the Lord. Luke 6:47-49 and Luke 7:24
Prayer: Father thank you for providing the tools for building solid foundations. You are the rock and we will rely upon you to keep us as we build our spiritual houses in order for our relationship with you to prosper. We ask that you protect us and guide us as we continue to develop others around us. Amen
Day 5
Love
2 John 1:5-6 NLT
I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.
When Pastor Johnson approached me about writing for her newsletter concerning LOVE. My instant response was yes, while thinking to myself this is going to be a piece of cake. I know love, because I love my husband, children, father, mother, brother and sister. But yet I was wrong when I considered this to be an easy task. I played with the thought of sitting down discussing love and placing it on paper as others would receive it and understand my expressions of love. Sure I had jotted several notes and thought I had an outline of how this would flow.
Picture this, it's a Wednesday morning and any other Wednesday morning I would be preparing to go to my 9 to 5. But on this particular Wednesday I was not on the schedule due to some drastic changes that have been made. So I decided to attend Bible Study at my church New Bethel AME in Lithonia, Ga. I will be the first to admit I have not attended an official Bible Study inside of a church since I was a kid. Let me set the scene for you, as I attempt to enter the church the front doors are locked. The parking lot I was empty. So I decided to walk behind the building because I knew there were other doors. As I approached the second door there is a door bell. I ring the bell and one of the trustees opens the door with a pleasant greeting and proceeds to lead me into the room where Bible Study would be held. I am now the third person in the room as the others are starting to join us. I couldn’t help but notice I am the youngest in the room and I do mean the youngest in the room. They all carried bibles with the exception of a few who like myself and would access the bible from our mobile devices.
I was unsure of which pastor would be holding the session, but as Pastor Washington rushed into the room I was elated to see him because he always has a message where he pulls you into the message and not only can visualize what he is saying but you are also witnessing from a spiritual eye. As he opens his mouth to speak he instructs us to turn our bibles to 1 John 4:18 and announces the topic “Understanding Love”.........
This is my lane and God has pushed me here to complete an assignment. Let the note taking begin! As a group we discussed how love allows you to overcome fear and how love gets rid of ignorance, confusion and darkness. Doing things based on your relationship with God I feel was a huge nugget taken from the discussion. So many times we don’t do things or say things out of fear of being judged. Love rids fear of being judged and as a believer you must rid yourself of fear. We also touched on 1 Corinthians 13:1-5 where we discussed there is an attempt to have an understanding but it must be in the name of love and how our gifts must be used in love. Love must be the motivation behind the things we are doing.
Breaking down 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud…..when you look at this scripture and you see the word patient the meaning of patient is able to accept or tolerate delays, problems or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. I overheard a conversation once where a guy told a cashier he was like a nursing home, he was full a patience. It's clear that God suggest that we too be full a patience. Now when we broke the word kind down in the text it revealed of a good or benevolent nature or disposition and we all took heed to we must be kind in order to love regardless of if we like what someone is doing or not. Love is not going to allow us to judge them.
I leave you with these 2 scriptures and I hope and pray that with God’s help I was able to give you the love in which he has given me! I also encourage you to be Taught By Faith in your everyday living.
1 Corinthians 16:14 And do everything with love
1 Corinthians 13:13 Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.
Prayer: Thank you Father for loving us before we knew how to love ourselves. Amen
Day 6
POWER
Every Sunday night and most Saturday nights everyone is tuning it to the hit show Power. (myself included). We know the ins and outs of what James St. Patrick aka Ghost and Tommy are up to and can’t wait to tune in the following Sunday. We have a source that is the real Power! How often are we tuned in to him? The answer should be daily. The daily power that our God provides is beyond anything we could ever ask or think. (Ephesians 3:7) So before you think about the next move of Tasha and Silver, think about how utilizing God's mighty power can work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20)
Prayer: Ephesians 3:16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will emPOWER you with inner strength through his Spirit.
Day 7
Forgiveness
People make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make people. I have learned to live by this motto, because I have experienced some times in my life where I didn’t think I could forgive someone. But thinking how God can forgive us for our sins we should forgive others as well. (Luke 17:4) Think of how you would feel if our Father did not forgive us for our wrong doings. Don’t let another day go by with anger in your heart forgiveness will rid the anger and replace it with LOVE.
Prayer: Father forgive us for our sins knowing and unknowing. I ask that you give us a heart of forgiveness towards those who have wronged us. You are the Alpha and Omega and where there is love there is joy. Fill our hearts with joy as we are lead to forgive. Amen
Day 8
Obedience
Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord , have spoken!
Jeremiah 3:13 NLT
http://bible.com/116/jer.3.13.NLT
I committed to rising before my family to having study time and devotionals with God. The first week I did great! Then the time changed and I did not get up at my scheduled time 5:30 am. Well into a couple of days of not rising at that time I clearly heard God say Keshea...As I looked at the clock it's 5:30, my alarm goes off and I hit snooze. The next morning I hear my name again only this time he called it with authority and called me by both my first and last name. Now we all know if your parents call you by both names you are in trouble. But guess what I didn't rise. I studied and meditated at a different time each morning instead of my committed time. I shared this information with a connection and we kinda laughed it off. It is now Friday the end of my work week and I hit snooze again, as 9:39 rolled around I head downstairs to study my bible. Then he directed me to this: Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord , have spoken!
Jeremiah 3:13 NLT
http://bible.com/116/jer.3.13.NLT
I only saw the last part of the scripture “Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord have spoken!”
Father forgive me for not following your direction and most of all your voice. Making a commitment to God is forever you can't slack because he will remind you of what you said. His word is never void so why should yours be?
Have you ignored the Lord's voice?
Day 9
Commitment
Making a commitment can be easy it's sticking to the commitment that can be difficult. We must consider the obligation we are making when we commit to things in life.
1 Chronicles 16:15 Remember his covenant forever-the commitment he made to a thousand generations.
Just knowing that Jesus has committed himself to us as a sacrifice for our sins can lead to an understanding of how important a commitment is to others and ourselves. Commitment with your heart and not just your mind will give you the will to follow thru. (Psalms 37:5)
Whatever you have committed to I encourage you to move forward with the commitment and stay faithfully prepared for the ups and downs you will encounter.
Prayer: Father thank you for giving us the power to commit and giving us a sound mind of wisdom to know what is for us. Commitments can be big but we know our Father is bigger and we rely on you to carry us through. Amen
Day 10
Authorized
You have been authorized by the Kingdom. He instructs us to have a position of authority. When you realize you have a purpose in life and you activate it, you give yourself the POWER to live it! Redeem the time and make the most of every opportunity. If you change what you say you will change what you see.
Prayer: Father you are most high and we are thankful you are our Alpha and Omega! For you give us authority over our lives and we are to live as you have taught us in your word. Thank you for your authority which takes priority over our own. Amen
Day 11
Meditate
You can only do so much with chaos. Be still and know that I am God. I encourage you to get still and listen for God as you meditate on his word. Don't rush the process just listen.
Prayer: Thank you for drawing me closer to you as I meditate on your word day and night. I am forever grateful for the sweet whisper you provide when I need it most.
Day 12
Wait on God
Acts 1:7
He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.
My cousin and I were discussing not pressuring God, but wanting to know when God would allow us to move forward in our endeavors. We laughed at how things didn’t seem to progress but there was no pressure. As I went to car after our conversation there was a note I had written a few weeks back that was staring at me.
It read: You will not harvest before your time. You see there are so many things I thought I should have been doing right now, but God reminded me it's not time. After reading the note I could clearly remember the day I wrote the message. I was walking to my car and one of my long term patients approached me. This patient is no average patient he is truly a man of God. and this was not the first time God had sent him to deliver a message to me.
My question to myself was what am I doing with my time as I wait?
Romans 8:25 says But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.
You can not rush the work of the Holy Spirit. For he is the Alpha and the Omega and all that he does is with the End in mind. God does not view us in our current state he views us in what he created us to be. Although we may not currently be who he created us to be, we must wait patiently on the Lord.
It reminds me of the saying “The Struggle is Real….But God!
So in your waiting on the Lord you must constantly remind yourself “But God”
Prayer: Thank you Father for allowing us to wait upon you, we find pleasure in knowing we are waiting but never denied! Amen
Day 13
Discovering Your Ministry
Let me give you three points to discovering your ministry
1) Have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
2) Get to know yourself
3) Walk by Faith
1. Having a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gives you the pleasure of knowing where you come from, where you are going and who created you..Your upbringing were circumstances that don’t define you. Through your relationship you can simply ask God how does he want to use you in his Kingdom.
2. Get to know yourself! In most cases we define ourselves based on relationships and what others have told us about ourselves. But you must truly know you. What are you good at doing? What do you love to do? How is that what you love to do can be developed into a known ministry? Just know its something you don’t have to put a lot of thought into because in a natural gift that you may not realize as gift. You may think of it as a hobby.
3. Walk by Faith…...We all know faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We must use the willpower of a baby.. When a baby is ready to take its first steps the baby falls constantly and the parent in most cases in there to break the fall. Much like God is for us. But the most important part of the learning process is that the baby continues to try and try again. Because with Faith the baby will Walk in no time.
Prayer: Father thank you for giving each of us a ministry, we will use it to glorify your name. Leading others to you by living your word daily is our prayer. Amen
Day 14
Thank You!
Thank you for taking the time to reconnect your faith. Now repeat when necessary!