Still Undecided?

I am going to share a post that came from someone I know and I think it is extremely relevant for the time.  The word of God tells us through Joshua 24:15 to choose ye this day whom ye will serve.  Joshua also made it clear that regardless of what anyone else did, he AND his house were going to serve the Lord.  It wasn't optional...not for anyone living under his roof!  Regardless of age, because some parents think the child should choose until they get older even though the Word instructs us to train up a child in the way that they should go and when they are older they will not depart from it.  Just saying. 

Read this post carefully.....you have no time to be undecided.   This could be your last chance.......

The warfare is not against you, it is against the Kingdom. You are not under fire. It feels like you are because you are a co-heir to the Kingdom and everything that comes with that position good or bad. You will experience it all. Keeping it real, satan could really care less about you personally. He is really trying to stop God's perfect will.

2 Corinthians 10:4 says, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." It is not only the weapons but the war itself that is not of this world.

We must not forget that satan is a fallen angel. (This war started in heaven.) He was an angel that thought higher of himself than he should have. He was so full of foolishness that he was kicked out. Can you imagine being in heaven and then being KICKED OUT!!! To put the icing on the cake he was not just kicked out. He was kicked out AND was given a fate of eternal damnation. His gig is signed, sealed, and delivered. He is hell bound forever no matter what. So, he is trying to take everyone that he can with him. You know misery loves company. This cat is a rare breed! He just don't want any kind of company, NO, that is not good enough! He wants those who have turned against God. Those who knew God and still choose to do things their way. Those who have experienced and heard the word of God, but still think the world's way is easier. Those who are so full of themselves who don't want to give up the way of the world even after they have experienced the goodness of the Lord. In other words, those who are like him. Through his destruction of you the Kingdom's plan can not be completed....or so he thinks. God really does not need us, he chooses to be in relationship with us and use us. THANK YOU FATHER!

Let me share with you - satan is patient. He does not care how long it takes to get you twisted up. If there is a slight chance that he might get you tripped up, he will keep at you until you give in. That is why it feels like you are on a roller coaster, the enemy has no new tricks. You are just going up and down over the old stuff. He is placing the same booby traps in front of you hoping you will not recognize that it is all an illusion. He does not want you to figure out the only truth is in the Father.
So don't get tripped up the next time you are in the wilderness and it seems like there is no way out. Remember:

• It is not about you, so give it to the person it is about so He can handle it.
• Read and remember Jeremiah 29:11 and Psalms 32:7
• The enemy comes to steal, kill, destroy, and recruit company for his fate
• Christ came to give life so that we would have it more abundantly.
• The enemy and the Father have as much power over you as you give them. Which one  will you surrender too?

Blessings and Love,

Pastor Melton

God's Unmerited Favor

Today, one of my friends shared with me what took place over the weekend concerning them.  They had gone through doing what they needed to do in order to get their bills taken care of.  When they got finished they realized that they left something really important out.  (How many of us have been there?)  They had promised God that they would sow a seed into their church that coming Sunday and all that weekend Satan was putting thoughts into their head.  Here are some (see if you can identify)
                            1.  Just call some of your creditors and make arrangements on your arrangements
                            2.  You don't have to give all you said you were going to give this Sunday.  You can
                             break it up.  The important thing is that you give it at some point in time.

There were so many things and they kept telling themselves that God is my source and Lord you know my needs.  I am going to trust you.  They told themselves that all weekend, but Satan kept pressing.  So they decided to give all that they had promised the Lord and just trust God. 

Then they were supposed to go out to lunch with some church members after service.  They all went and during lunch one of the church members handed everyone an envelope.  In the envelope were 10 crisp one hundred (I typed it out so you wouldn't think there was a typo) dollar bills.  For those who don't add that well...that's one thousand dollars.  OMG!!!!   And their lunch was paid for...God threw that one in just because!  That's what we call an add-on. 

Psalm 37:7(NLT) declares: Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.  

I enlarged it because you need to embrace it.  We are so busy looking for what we want God to do that we miss what He is doing.  God is still in the blessing business and He is showing all over the world that He cares for us.  He just wants us to trust Him more and more each day.  Now the kicker is that the person that gave the money had been trying to do it for weeks.  And what I shared was that God needed you guys to upgrade your faith and trust in Him.  He already had the blessing for you, but you needed to be in the position that said "Lord I trust you!"  I understand that waiting on God gets hard and sometimes Satan will give us ideas that make sense.  But Samuel declared unto Saul that obedience is better than sacrifice.  Out of all the promises you keep (and I pray you keep them all), honor the word that you gave unto the Father.  For Isaiah 40:31 reminds us that:
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

God's unmerited favor is waiting to rest on you, when you make up your mind to rest in Him and trust Him!

Blessings and Love,

Pastor Nichica Melton
 

Just Thinking Out Loud

A couple of days ago I was watching a commercial for a new TV show or movie.  I can't remember which one it was.  But the person in the commercial said, "We only accept the love we think we are worthy of."  OMG!!!!!

What a profound and true statement and when you say it out loud, it causes you to think about past relationships, whether they were family, boyfriend/girlfriend, marriages, etc.  And you think about the crap that you allowed to happen and also the things that you enjoyed.  Now based on this statement, the things we enjoyed were the things that we were willing to accept in our lives.  The things we felt like that we should have or were worthy of.  But the crap that we ALLOWED, was the mess that we also thought we should have in our lives and we didn't think we neither deserved better or could do better.

And before the necks start rolling and the teeth start smacking,  think about your pattern.  The pattern of people that you have allowed into your personal space.  The people that really mattered and had the ability to hurt your heart or cause you to go from zero to ghetto in less than 5 seconds.  The reason there is a pattern is because there was and possibly is a pattern in your thought process.  Whether conscious or subconscious...I can't say, but it is there.  That thought process told you what you were worthy of.

The Bible records that God loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in Him would not perish, but would have the right to eternal life (John 3:16).  The Bible also records that Jesus, the Son of God, came that we might have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).  That's a never ending abundantly.  That means that joy you experienced yesterday does not compare to the joy that God has for you today.  He has that much love for us and says that He wants to give us that love.  Do you feel worthy of God's love?  Is the reason that you have not given your life and heart to Christ because you don't feel worthy of that kind of love? 

NEWSFLASH:  WE ARE NOT WORTHY!!!  With all of the sin in our lives there is not enough time in eternity to make us worthy of what God gives.  But His love, which is the greatest love, is not based on worth.  It is based on His love for us.  He freely gives each and everyday.  Don't let another moment pass you by, where you allow yourself to reject a love so great. A love that causes every hurt and pain in your life to be healed and washed away.  A love that will embrace everything about you and encourage you to be better and greater than you ever imagined.  A love that doesn't focus on your past, but propels you into your purpose!

Give Christ your heart today!

Blessings and Love,

Pastor Nichica Melton

Thou Art Loosed

Today's entry is coming from a summation that was done by a couple of women that attended the 2012 'Woman Thou Art Loosed' conference.  I intentionally left off "woman" in the title because there are several things that they highlighted, that will work for us all.  Also, what they have mentioned ties into what I have been writing for the past week.  When something like that happens, it is imperative that we pay attention.

Enjoy!

The 2012 Women Thou Art Loosed Conference emphasized “The Pecking Order” in our lives.  (Joshua 6:20-25). He used the illustration of a chicken. Chickens have a certain order they follow when the eggs are being hatched.  There is a birthing process they follow when hatching.  The beak is a very important part of the hatching process…..if the embryo has no beak then it cannot be birthed because he is unable to crack the shell and come out….and if he can’t come out of the shell then he dies.  God wants to bring our lives into order as well.  Sometimes it takes a while to get things in order.  Throughout this process there are some things we have to ignore in order to focus.  The beak is our strength.  When we go through trials and tribulations in our lives (and we all do) then we need our beak (the Word of God) to break through these issues.  If we don’t have a beak (the word/prayer) then we have nothing to fight with.  When the baby chicken has a beak then he begins the process of birth by pecking away at the shell in order to get out.  We must also “Peck” our way out of situations in our lives in order to be free/delivered/healed/etc.  Take your position.  “Peck” the letters in this stand for P-Position (You must get in position for your deliverance) E-Exposure (You must expose people to what you see – this may help with their deliverance), C-Courage (you must have courage to act on what He has and is saying to you regarding your situation), K-Knowledge (you must have knowledge beyond your perimeters; it must go beyond your situation).  You must read the word like a pregnant women eats food.  You need these four things in order to be used by God and be ready in season and out of season.   

Pastor Cheryl Brady talked about “You Have It in You”, which is also the same title of her book (Phil 1:5).  Pastor Brady came from the scripture about  “He has begun a good work in you”.   When God calls you to do something he has already equipped you to do it and has given you the grace to do it.  There are some things in us that we can’t even see yet.  The enemy fights us because he knows God has something in us that is powerful and we must declare war on anything that disturbs our peace.  Check anxiety quickly because it can get out of control.  Fear is not a necessary part of our lives…God didn’t give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.  Just remember meekness is not weakness….it’s strength under control.  Real beauty comes from the inside.  God talks of a meek and quiet spirit.  To have great peace you must have great faith.  The Word is so important because what we feed ourselves and put in us today determines how we are going to react tomorrow.  Watch your self-talk because what we say to ourselves is worse than what others say about us.  We have the power to react or not react to what people say….it’s what we do with words is the key.  Look at yourself in the mirror and encourage yourself in the Lord.  The battle ground is ALWAYS internally.  Understand YOU.  God says to let a man examine himself. 

Remember and keep the faith over things you have asked God for and not yet come to past.  Remember Sarah (Genesis 18:9) and how she wanted a child and God gave it to her well in her 90’s.  Be careful because you can get to the point where you have asked for something for so long and wanted it so bad and don’t have it yet….and you can get to the point where you don’t want it anymore.  BUT wait on God.  What you have rendered unconscious God is still going to do.  Believe again….you have it in you!  You can sometimes be your own abuser.  You cannot die until you have fulfilled the gift in you. 

Lastly, Dr. Cindy Trimm talked about not forcing open what God has shut.  When we have clutter in our lives there is dysfunction.  Get rid of what you don’t want in your life to make room for what you do want.  Stop talking about what you don’t want and talk about what you do want.  If you keep talking about what you don’t want you get pity and you undermine your testimony.

Pastor Paula White mentioned when God ushers a new purpose in your life there is always a shift (Judges 5:1-11), (Isaiah 49).  Prepare yourself to make ready the change.  To be virtuous women you have to go through something…what makes you virtuous is what you are able to withstand.  Prepare to make ready…reposition…cycle…change.  Everything you need is in you.  Rise and come into your being.  YOU are not going to stay broken.  Take on Gods nature and know who you are in Christ. No matter how many times you mess up God still hears you and will deliver you. Don’t let anyone (the enemy, people) take your wealth (Spiritual).  (Hebrews 12)  Lay aside every weight that so easily besets us. God sees Himself in you.

Patiently Waiting

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." Psalm 37:7 (NIV)

One of the hardest things to do is to wait.  Especially when we feel like it is something that we need or something that we really, really, really, want.  Waiting is the last thing that we want to do.  Waiting on God is even harder, because we have to do things His way and according to His plan.  If we don't, we prolong our blessing because of the detours that we decided to take.  We also get frustrated with people who aren't living right, not living according to God's word, not allowing their lives to reflect God, etc.  And because of that frustration we tend to want to try and make things happen on our own.  That is the worst mistake ever!  Here is what I have come to understand (basically from making many mistakes in this area), God doesn't work in the 'here and now'.  He works in the 'back then'.  What you are receiving now is a product of what God orchestrated 'back then' and all the pieces have to come together.  All the people have to come together.  So let's look at it from this perspective....a few months ago when God told you to step out on your faith or step out of your comfort zone and you either procrastinated, didn't do it, or didn't do it like He said....whose blessing did you delay, block, or detour?  Your actions were a piece of someone else's  puzzle.  So the next time you want to get frustrated with God or think about taking matters into your own hands, I want you to stop.  And take the time to pray for that person who may have had the same fear that you had. Or the same doubt that you have experienced. That person is holding a piece to your puzzle.  Pray for them and continue to wait on God....He knows what He is doing.  Remember...the Glory of Israel does not change His mind .........for those of you that read on a regular basis ;).


Blessings and Love!

Pastor Nichica Melton

In Spite of.....

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—  Psalm 103:1-2



In the above text, David had the right mindset that in spite of all he has been through, whether he brought it on himself or not, he was going to praise God.  And the reason he was able to do this was because he remembered all that God had done for him and brought him through.

We as so called believers tend to forget that small, but important concept.  We sing about it, preach about it, but don't live it.  There are so many songs out there that say, Lord if don't do anything else for me...you've already done enough.  Really?!  Is that really how you feel?  I don't think so.  If God only took care of our need, as He says in His word, would we still worship Him...would He still be worthy of all the glory, honor and praise (in our eyes)?  YES!!!  But would we give it to Him...that is the real question.  Pastor John P Kee used to say that there are only two times to praise the Lord.........
                         1.  When you feel like it  
                         2. When you don't

It is time for the Body of Christ to come out of our state of being SPOILED BRATS!  We are so much like the Israelites in the Old Testament that it is scary.  The God we serve is an awesome God and He has done so much for us and even orchestrated things that we have not even seen yet.  There should be an aching in us to praise God and a frustration when we don't.  It has often been said that when praises go up, blessings come down.  I don't believe that.  God has said that when we praise we release the blessings that are already around us and we open our eyes and our heart to the truth of His word.  That is what I believe,  for the Word of God says that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17).  Well if God is always with us and His spirit resides in us, then why would He come to us empty handed?  HE WOULDN'T!   His blessings, miracles, and everything else are with Him. 

So inspite of whatever and whomever.....BLESS THE LORD!  Don't let your situation or the people around determine your level of praise.  Let your love for your God, who has proven that He is your strength, your peace, your everything that you will allow Him to be.....let that determine your praise.


Blessings and Love,

Pastor Nichica Melton

Change and Transition

1 Samuel 15:29

 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”  New International Version (NIV)

When I read this text I had to pause and read it again just to make sure I knew who and what Samuel was talking about and referring to.  Just to catch you up, God is using Samuel to relay a message to Saul that he will no longer be king and God has found another that is a man after His heart.  A man that will serve Him and do His will.  ***CHANGE AND TRANSITION***

Now Saul's change and transition was brought about because of severe and consistent level of disobedience and the disobedience was over things that he KNEW God had told him.  There was no question in what God said, the question was Saul's commitment to God.  Our change does not always happen because we were disobedient.  I know at times it seems like it because the place that God has taken us to doesn't feel better than the place we just left.  There are times that we even question God and wonder why in the world would He take me through all this just to bring me here when I was happy, content, and satisfied over there. 

I have been there, so I know the feeling.  God is the Glory of Israel and the reason that He does not change His mind is because He does not make mistakes.  God's infinite wisdom knows all possibilities for us.  That includes every possible direction that we would take for every possible path that will come our way.  So if you are struggling with where you are right now, then I would encourage you and challenge you to do this:

       1.  Admit out loud to God how you feel about your change and transition (get it all out and be totally honest.  God can't help us unless we are  honest with where we are. Delusional believers are pathetic believers)
       2.  Ask God to show you the walls and areas of fear that you have in regards to your change and transition (don't argue with Him about it and don't take it lightly.  A barrier is a barrier)
       3.  Ask God to forgive you for doubting Him and to show you how to embrace where you are and where you are going. (We do this because often times we are ready to leave where we are, but we can't until we have learned what we need to learn.  And sometimes that is learning how to trust God)

We often times sit in awe of the people that we read in the Bible....Joshua, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Noah, Christ.  The only thing that was amazing about them was their level of trust in God.  Because they were able to trust God, they were able to obey God.  And because they were able to obey God, the anointing and power of God flowed freely through them.  GUESS WHAT?????   They are no more awesome than you!  Embrace your change and embrace your transition.  You will not always understand it or understand why...but the Glory of Israel does not change His mind.  Why? ......because He doesn't make mistakes.


Blessings and Love,

Pastor Nichica Melton

Pressing Your Way Through

Recently I was reading in Romans 8 and there is a verse that says "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace" (verse 6)  That verse is so powerful and it brought into perspective some things that I am going through now, which is literally dealing with the scars from my past.  What this scripture says to us is that if we allow our minds to be overtaken by negative thoughts, whoa-is-me type thoughts and emotions, allow fear to come in, etc...we will not make it through.  That thing which conquered us before will do it again and again and again.  Once the enemy is able to identify a weakness, he does not let up.  BUT...the mind that allows it to be controlled by the Spirit of God is full of life and peace.  That is how it is possible for us to be more than conquerors and that is why the Word of God reminds us that "He keeps him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him". (Isaiah 26:3)

There will be things in your life that trigger pains from your past.  There will be people in your life that are pains from your past, but our job is to make sure we allow God in and to be in control.  When the Spirit of God controls our mind, the foolishness of other people does not.  And we all know, the longer we meditate on something it starts to consume us.  So let us choose to meditate and absorb the Word of God.  Even if it is one scripture per week and allow that Word to become a part of our thinking and eventually our behavior. 

Last night in my prayer time, God gave me this to say and I want to share it with you all:
                "I am my Heavenly Father's daughter.  I am not under any generational curse because He is not cursed.  I do not walk in pain and fear because He does not walk in pain and fear.  I am my Heavenly Father's daughter and I reflect Him in what I do, what I say, and what I think.  I am my Heavenly Father's daughter and I walk in His power and His authority."

Let that be yours and keep pressing your way through!

Blessings and Love,

Pastor Nichica Melton