Are You Thirsty?

It's a lot of people walking around thirsting for God and don't realize it. I have been there myself. Doing all the right things, church, bible study, etc but really neglecting God. Not spending time in the Word or praying at home but going through all the motions at church. During these times, I get so frustrated because things are not working out in my life. Or shall I say working out the way I would like them to. I remember a mentor talking to me about how Christians can starve from not reading the Word. She said when believers go without reading their bibles their 'spirit man' begins to starve. Initially, they don't even realize it. Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and they haven't touched their bibles. The 'spirit man' just starves because it grows from you reading and meditating on the Word. Can you believe that many go and try to pray for someone else in this condition? I have to raise my hand because I've been there and done that; pouring out and not replenishing myself with the needed prayer, worship, and bible reading. Talk about running on "E". That's when the frustration comes in and we begin to carry burdens that should be casted over to the Lord. His yoke is easy and His burdens are light. So if you recognize that you are thirsting for God's presence when you are doing all the 'church' stuff, take an inventory to see if you're doing what really matters. What really matters is spending time with God. If you're thirsting, then He is missing you, too. Listen to Marvin Sapp's Thirsty (Reprise) to get a feel for what I'm talking about.

Taste Like Chicken!

Here is something funny that I experienced the other day. I was preparing to fry chicken and I seasoned the chicken with garlic powder & pepper. Since I thought that the garlic powder would be salty, I didn't add any salt. Normally I use seasoning salt and pepper on my chicken and then fry it. Well anyway, that was a mistake. The chicken came out nice and crispy, golden brown, just not salty enough for me. So the very next day I tried frying chicken again...this time I included the salt with my garlic powder & pepper combination. It came out fabulous...just writing about the results make my mouth water. So I'm eating the chicken going on and on...'Thank you God for this chicken...it is so good...You don't know what you are missing.' I thought that was pretty funny, telling God that He didn't know what he was missing by not having the privilege to eat some of my fried chicken. Then I thought, does God eat? I don't think so.

So the next morning, I am listening to my bible on CD and I'm listening to Leviticus 2...God has such a great since of humor. I laughed so hard when I heard God's instructions to Moses concerning the meat offering. King James version calls it a meat offering but the New King James version calls it a grain offering. God instructs Moses on how to prepare a meat offering, saying to season it with salt, etc. Here is the link for Leviticus 2. I am mostly referring to vs 7-9, 13. Anyways, I thought it was so funny because when the priest offered the meat offering on the altar, it went up before God as a sweet savour or a sweet smelling sacrifice. That was my equivalent to God eating chicken...lol. The smell of food is related to how it taste. It reminded me of my bragging and saying that God didn't know what He was missing when it came to eating my fried chicken.

After digging a little, I found that the meat referred to was not necessarily real 'meat', but any sustaining food. I still thought it was interesting. Check out this link to read more about it.

Leviticus was all about how to worship God. Our life, our worship, prayers, etc should all go up before the Almighty as a sweet savour. Something He will be pleased with. Something that He will go on and on bragging about how good it is to Him.

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!

I can truly understand how people can get stressed out and want to eat every sweet thing in sight. I have never felt like doing that until yesterday and today. Usually when I used to get stressed out, I would just go to sleep. Was the problem gone? No, but that's what I did. Well, yesterday, I did what a lot of women do! That Chick-Fil-A milkshake and strawberry cheesecake hit the spot! The sad thing is that I actually felt guilty after I consumed all that stuff. I didn't feel guilty because I was worried about my weight [I can gain a pound or two]. It was because I used food to comfort myself because I was feeling anxious. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter, not a cookies and creme milkshake with a slice of strawberry cheesecake! I ate it all in frustration and instantly knew that the Lord was not pleased. I don't know who I thought I was fooling. I was so irritated and instead of complaining, I chose to eat. Is that any better than complaining? Who was I fooling? Obviously myself. God knows us so well. He knows what we are thinking...He knows our thoughts before we even think them.  

I know that I am so close to fulfilling the dreams that God has put inside of me. God's favor allowed me to win a scholarship. I hit a few stumbling blocks when making arrangements to use the money. The Lord's blessings maketh rich and add no sorrow! "I SAID THE LORD'S BLESSINGS MAKETH RICH AND ADD NO SORROW," that is how my grandma would say it to get her point across. If God has blessed then leave it up to Him to work everything out in your favor. Oh, Taste and see that the Lord is GOOD; Blessed is the man who trusts in HIM! Psalm 34:8.

Messing up your crown & glory!

Since starting this blog, I have made it a point to spend time in worship. It is important to listen to music that takes you into heavenly worship. That might not be the quartet song that you grew up listening to. Especially for us southerners, quartet music like church is apart of our culture. I grew up listening to quartet music because my dad was and still is a gospel musician. I am not downing it but I believe it has its place just like all genres of music do.  

I have been saturating myself listening to Williams Murphy's The SOUND! I know this cd has been out for a while but I finally got it. Walmart had it for $9.88. My favorites are I Will Rejoice & Angel's Cry.  

                                       

Angel's Cry describes how the angels or "live creatures" as Revelation 4 says, cry..."Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." Then the 24 elders fall down before the Lord and worship Him. They throw down the crowns that they are wearing. I am sure they are looking quite stylish wearing crowns on their heads. There is nothing raggedy about heaven...Its all splendor and glory. So it made me think about how no matter how cute we look with our hair done and wearing our Armani suits.

We still have to worship God! They didn't care about getting down & dirty and throwing down their glorious crowns. How do you feel about messing that hair up on Sunday that you just got done on Saturday? Can you stand to risk getting makeup on the $2000 Armani suit for our God? He is worthy to be praised! No matter what!

Grandma's peach preserves.

The Lord preserves us. When I think about preserves, I think about how my grandmother would "can" peaches.  We were from the south so someone was always coming through with fresh fruit and vegetables from their gardens. Whenever my grandmother got a few bushels of peaches, she would always put some aside to be preserved. My sisters and I always hated that she did that. We always wanted to eat all of the peaches.  After she preserved them, they always seemed to sit on a special table in the kitchen for years until she felt like opening them for us to eat.  I don't know how but those peaches tasted just as fresh and good as if she had just "canned" them.  

As I read through out the scriptures I see how the Lord preserves his people. Check out Psalm 41:2a The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth... When we trust the Lord, He is able to preserve us. We don't have to spend precious time worrying about insignificant things that really won't matter after some time has passed anyway. Worrying makes you look old and haggard, not preserved at all. Although my grandmothers peaches would sit for years, they never tasted rancid. They tasted just like the peaches that you purchase in the grocery store. Canned fruit should never taste bad because it has gone through the preservation process.

Worship gives us the opportunity to have an audience with God. If we are worshipping, then worry should never be apart of our lives.  Think about it...you are spending time with GOD! What on earth, under the earth, or above the earth could make us worry so much that we forget who our God is!  He is great, Almighty, El Shaddai!  If He can't take care of the situation, then the situation can't possibly be taken care of.

Worshipping God will give you a supernatural glow that is visible. Continuing to practice the presence of God is going to allow His glory to rest on you and people will see it. Remember when Moses came down from the mount in Exodus 34:35a And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone... His face had such a glow that the people were afraid and Moses had to walk around with a veil over his face.  People will definitely note when you have been spending time with God.  Some people may not understand what it is about your appearance. They may just call it beauty or attraction, but that is not the case.  It's the glory of God on you that people will be attracted to.