Be Grateful

Today, I did what I always do; go to work, sit at my desk, work, and (as you should know by now) listen to music.  Pandora is a wonderful tool, you just type in an artist and it will find similar artists and play a variety of songs for as long as you can listen. I selected my Walter Hawkins station and went on with my day.  The song "Be Grateful" began to play. Now I'll usually sing along (not too loud though) and keep working, but this time I had to listen. The singer starts to describe what God has not promised, the rain and her appreciation of the good things.  Then she describes God's understanding of our pains and how He desires to give us what we want, but we have to be grateful. The next two lines moved me. "Be grateful, because there's someone else that's worse off than you. Be grateful, because there's someone else who'd love to be in your shoes."  Now my first reaction was to rewind a little to hear it again. I have heard this song hundreds of times, but that part did something to me today. A scripture dropped into my spirit and I had to go and read at that point.

Phillipians 4:6-9 states "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."  We can be so anxious (worried, fretful, CONCERNED) with what we haven't got, who got their breakthrough last week, Sister or Brother So-and-so getting blessing after blessing and they just got saved and we've been saved FOREVER and ain't hit breakthrough #1 (or 2 for the most), and worried about the sinner across the street that seems to be getting ahead while we're getting behind, that we get complacent, complain and murmur, and forget how good God has already been to us! You prayed and asked God for something, you told Him what you wanted/needed/desired in prayer and believed Him for it. But for some reason, the little things got by unnoticed because you were looking for the big stuff.  Remember when you needed some gas and you didn't have any money and suddenly found some in a jacket pocket? Remember when you thought your water bill was a certain amount and you left the bill at home only to find out that when you went to pay it, it was LOWER than you thought? Or how about when you woke up this morning and got up and put your clothes on and fixed your breakfast? BE GRATEFUL. Bask in God's glory! He does things, big and small, all day long for us. Instead of focusing on the things that have taken some time to come to pass, think about the things that have come. As the songwriter said, somebody else would love to be where you are. From the greatest to the least!

  Friends, you have to find contentment and happiness where you are at.  RIGHT NOW.  When you pray and make your requests known to God, trust, believe, and walk knowing that He heard your request.  Until the things that you have requested come, know that God’s understanding is with you.  He sent His son Jesus to the earth so that He could know how we feel, and knowing this, He gives us peace. Peace while you wait! Think of all the good things, enjoy life, smile, laugh, study the word, keep His commandments, and watch Him move! And all the while, be grateful! I love you all; have a great rest-of the week.

It's On the Way!

What's the purpose? What for? Why? Lord, fix it now. What am I doing this for? What am I waiting for? What's going to happen? When will it happen? Lord, do it now. Where will I be? When will it happen? Why do I have to do this? Why am I going through this? Lord, remember that I asked You to fix this?  Why is this happening to me? LORD, YOU PROMISED ME! Who will it be? When will it happen? Why is it happening for them? Lord, I needed that, like, YESTERDAY! What did they do that I haven't been doing? Why? What? Where? Lord, when are you going to fix that thing I told you about?  Who? WHEN? Lord? WHEN? WHEN? Lord! WHEN? ***screaming*** LORD!!! WHEN, O LORD!

 Why is it so hard for us to trust in God, when we so easily trust men? We let a paraphrase of Psalm 20:7 that we've heard from some older person(with much sarcasm and attitude "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but I will trust in the Lord!") roll off of our tongues so quick to impress people, but do we really mean what we say? Why do we constantly question God about what He has planned for our lives, instead of waiting for Him to do it? We have to do better. I do it all the time and realized that I need to quit. "Lord, why?" I would always ask. "I'm your child, why do I have to go this way? Why does this have to happen this way? Why can't I have this?" I'm an impatient somebody (yes, that was typed just the way I said it. The first key to acceptance is to ADMIT it.) I want what I want when I want it. If you be honest with yourself, you'll admit that you are too. Much of the body of Christ has not learned how to let patience have her perfect work (James 1:4) due to the society that we live in. We can microwave, we pull up to drive thru windows, we Google for answers, we text or instant message, and we love our cell phones.

Much of our daily lives include something instant, so it's not hard to fall into thinking that God will do everything instantly and then catching an attitude when it doesn't happen when and how we want it to. We have to accept the fact that some requests will take time. We have to accept that we don't need to know every detail of how God will do something; we just need to wait for Him to do it. We have to wait for it to manifest. He has promised us so many things, but He never promised us that He would do it when we want Him to or when we think He should. We've been doing what we are supposed to, keeping the commandments the best we know how, praying, fasting, crying, moaning and groaning, and many of us feel that something should have happened by now. We need to see some results. We have to see it with our own eyes.

So many Men and Women of God have been declaring 2012 the year of MANIFESTATION. I, being the need-to-know woman that I am, did the expected; I searched for a definition. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word manifestation means "the act, process or instance of manifesting." Ok, so what does manifest mean? Manifest means "readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sense of sight. OBVIOUS" Synonyms include apparent, crystal clear, transparent, certain, and evident. Wow! I got a revelation quickly.

In 2012, God will show up in the lives of believers.  He will MANIFEST His glory in so many ways. It will be EVIDENT. It will be VISIBLE. It will be APPARENT. It will be CRYSTAL CLEAR. It will be made for everyone to SEE. He promised us some things, and according to 2 Corinthians 1:20 "All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him are Amen, unto the glory of God by us." All we have to do is wait and watch. Keep praise on your lips and in your heart. His answers are on the way, we just have to stay in His will. Be encouraged!