Seeing Nothing; Expecting Everything

 

And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.  And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.  Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.  (Gen. 13: 14-17)

 

Here sits Abram saddened after he has resolved the quarrel between his herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen by allowing Lot to choose the land he wanted in order to preserve peace.  I personally do not think it surprised Abram that Lot chose the best land, a well watered valley, for himself and left Abram the barren mountains. Lot had selfishly chosen his paradise, but Abram had the promise. 

 

I can see Abram as he lay on the floor of his tent, looking up to heaven and wondering when his promise would come to pass.  To hold a grudge against Lot was not going to help his situation so he kept his meditation on the words the Lord had spoken to him and to him alone. Now, he is alone again and the Lord confirms His promise to Abram and tells him to get up and walk the land.  Not only did Abram survey the land but his act of obedience caused him to take possession of it. Abram obeyed God because he was fully persuaded that God would do just what he said. We know through scripture that the Lord did perform his promise to Abram who later was named Abraham, father of many nations. 

 

Likewise, …even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though there were will perform His word over your life by any means necessary.  Faith is work!  This holy assignment requires you to move before you see the money, before divine connections are made and before the teacher or mentor appears.  So what if you feel you lack the skills or the training to do what He has called you to do. The Lord only needs a yielded vessel who longs to give Him glory.  Friends may become few on this journey but God promised to always be with you.  Your sweet communion with the Lord will reveal to your spirit things eyes have not seen, ears have not heard neither has entered into the hearts of men. Get dogmatic about your victory.  Get up and walk the land!  Survey and take possession of the land by letting the word of the Lord flow out of your mouth and bring order to your chaos.  This is how God framed the world in Genesis Chapter One.  What you may be looking at right now and what you may have to work with right now may seem like a bunch of nothing but it is really irrelevant to where God wants to take you and what He wants to do through you.  Call forth your resources, your ministry partners, your divine connections, your needed skills and super natural abilities, good health and strength, more money, more favor and faith to trust Him more! God is faithful to do it completely. Glory to His Name!  Do not stop at this level. Cast away your fears and your sadness and raise your expectations. Get ready to receive everything the Lord has promised you!

 

 Heart MattersãAudra S. Singleton. All Rights Reserved. No unauthorized duplication or distribution without written permission of the author.

 

All the Way, Lord! All the Way!

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” 

 Philippians 3:14

 

Sitting at my maternal grandmother’s funeral a few days before Thanksgiving 2003, I found myself taking an attention break from the Homegoing service to engage in a private discourse with the Lord.  I looked at the preacher, the choir, the white casket crowned with an assortment of beautiful pink flowers, stained glass windows, red carpet, some strangers sitting upfront to my left and then to my family.  I began wondering what happens to the soul that has lived but has never held hands and danced with their divine purpose. As humans, we spend a lifetime embracing and rejecting so many people, places, things and ideas.

 

I sat there thinking: What happens when your spirit returns to God and the power point of your life is displayed on the screen of heaven and slide after slide is absent of purpose, only some good deeds and some routine legalism and some high applauding moments of reward. Slide after slide revealing the good that negated the Greatness God placed inside of you.  Checklist after checklist, resolution after resolution, social engagement after social engagement, friend after friend, party after party, class after class, ministry service after ministry service, excuse after excuse and compromise after compromise; idol after idol and Anointing pimp after Anointing pimp…a vicious cycle so busy; so exhausting and yet so empty.  Great training but to what end?

 

Speaking of training my mind goes back to the years I served in the United States Army.  One of the most powerfully motivating phrases I heard and said was “All the way, Sergeant/Sir, All the way!”   It means I understand this mission and I accept my duty assignment and the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in me.  Oh yes, we did have some serious church in the military! I think we were a little more cognizant of death than most people. The cadence to a two-mile or four-mile run went like this:

 

Double-time! Double-time! March! March! Here we go. Here we go. All the way! All the way! All the way! All the way!  One mile, One mile, No sweat, No sweat, Two miles, Two Miles, Better yet! Better yet! Can’t Quit! Can’t quit! I Gotta go, I gotta go, All the way! All the way! I can take it! I can take it! I can make it! I can make it! All the way! All the way!”

 

Before we knew it the run was over and we felt like we could walk on water. We understood that our lives were not our own and we also knew that if we ignored our calling and if we misinterpreted our mission many others would suffer and die.

 

And so it is with our calling on earth.  The high calling of our lives comes from Jesus Christ. We will not all have the same calling nor the same measures of service but it is all a High Calling because it comes straight from God! The call comes from Heaven and leads us through a life’s journey to obtain the prize, Heaven.  It’s not about us. Our job as believers is to stay focused on Him. That’s why we preach Jesus and not ourselves. The word said that we will find Him when we search for Him with all our heart.  It begins with a submitted heart. Your heart has to be surrendered first because the mind is subject to change at any speculation of discomfort, pain or challenge.  It starts when you are on your knees crying out before the Lord and you are caught between a “Yea God (Yes Lord) and a God help me!”  These are the times of dying to yourself and to your will so He can pour His will into you. It’s when you don’t know what to pray for and you are honest with the Lord about it and the spirit begins to give you the utterance, the things you need to pray for in order to fulfill your place in God. Oswald Chambers said, “The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.”

 

 Today, I beseech you to go all the way with the Lord.  As the song says, make a decision, draw the line and tell yourself no turning back.  Stay focused. Guard what the Lord has begun in you knowing that He will complete it.  It will save you and many others.  Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. Lift up your heads, Oh ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, Oh ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of host, he is the King of glory. Selah.  (Ps. 24: 3-10) Lift your hands and say “All the way Lord! All the way!”

 

Heart Mattersã Audra S. Singleton.  All Rights Reserved.  No unauthorized duplication or distribution without written permission of the author.

 

 

Help On Hand

(St. John 11 KJV) 

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.  2. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

  1. Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. 6. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. (…) 11. These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may wake him out of sleep. 12. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 13. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. (…) 17. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. (…) 32. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34. And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35. Jesus wept.

(…) 39. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 40. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?  41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.  And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.  42. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it,  that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. 45. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

 

I love this text for many reasons.  Every time I hear it I can only fathom about the intimate friendship Jesus shared with Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  These three siblings had not just heard of Jesus, they were the ones whom he trusted to minister unto him in the privacy of their home and shared the richest quality time and comfort when he came up to the feasts.  He would minister unto them and they would minister unto him.  What a wonderful fellowship! This is the same Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.  Jesus had no doubt that this woman was devoted to him.  These were Jesus’ best friends and you know how affectionate and protective we are of those we esteem as not only friends but also family. 

 

Now, there is an emergency in this family and Mary and Martha are holding it together because they know all they have to do is get word to Jesus that Lazarus whom he loved was sick.  They knew Jesus would make haste to get there to the same house where these three siblings and He enjoyed real Koinonia (authentic fellowship) and expressed their love for one another.  Mary and Martha did not send a lot of detail with their message, they just told the messenger to tell Jesus that the friend he loved like a brother was sick.  But Jesus did not come. He only sent a message back to them. (1.) This sickness is not unto death and (2.) God is going get the glory out of your situation.

 

 I know Mary and Martha could not understand Jesus deferring his visitation. Their hearts were left insulted by the mere fact that Jesus whom they loved and had served many times seemed unmoved about their 9-1-1 requests.  Just like there are times when we find ourselves in desperate situations and cannot understand why the prayer is not answered and why the mountain is not moved right after we say “In Jesus’ Name.”  We cannot understand why the help is on hold when we have a history with God.  I’m talking about true covenant relationship with Him. Jesus could have spoken a word from a distance that would have raised Lazarus from his sick bed…but did not.  He waited until Lazarus was dead and even his disciples were frustrated. The disciples were heavy hearted over the news of Lazarus’ death.  Lazarus was a dear and loving friend to both Jesus and his disciples. The disciples could not make sense of any of it and you know Mary and Martha couldn’t.  They are grieving, disappointed and frustrated.  Frustrated because they knew Jesus could have changed the course of this entire series of events and could have sheilded them from the hurt and the pain, the emptiness, the tears and from having to make funeral arrangements in the first place.

 

Now, Mary and Martha had plenty of people to comfort them but none of those people could take the place of their friend Jesus.  It’s like someone rubbing you on your back and telling you, “Honey it’s going to be alright” and while they are rubbing, you are numb to it all because you know that the only one equipped to help you is God Almighty.  You know that if He does not manifest Himself soon then your head is going to crack and everyone is going to label you schizophrenic or Bi-polar in just a matter of minutes. 

 

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she could not wait until He arrived at the house. She had to go and meet him.  She had been asking and looking out the window during the day and standing out on the front porch at night looking into the darkness and seeing nothing but expecting everything. She runs to meet him so she can voice her frustration.  She does not know who to blame, Jesus or herself. Sound familiar?

Despite Mary’s grief and disappointment and confusion she cannot negate her passionate love for Christ and as soon as she hears that Jesus is near she makes it clear to everyone that she wants some alone time with Jesus and when she saw him she fell at his feet.  Now this posture is nothing new to Mary for Mary often sat at his feet and this is the same Mary that wiped his feet with her hair.  She knows nothing else to do but to fall into her position of worship.  After she asked him why he had not come sooner she could do nothing else but cry.  Mary cried and Jesus cried also.  They were two friends crying together. One of them was at wits end and the other was the answer. 

 

We know from the scripture that Jesus did raise Lazarus from the dead and loosed him as well.  Everyone who thought they knew Jesus that day received a new revelation of who He is.  The Jews believed that by the fourth day after death the body is so altered and decomposed that there was no possible way that the fragments of corpse left could ever live again.  Jesus revealed another level of his power to his close friends and to the Jews and God received the Glory!

 

God wants the glory out of your seemingly dead situation.  I know you do not have all the faith you need right now but just be like Martha and say,” Lord I believe.” 

 

For those of you who are waiting for the help and the resources you need to bring your God-given vision to pass, come out of the battle amidst the ring of frustration for just a moment and sit in my corner.  Allow me to give you what I call a straight “Mama talk.” This will be the refreshing water you need and strength for your journey.

 

 

Some reasons why people will not help you:

  1. You are seeking help from a pimp. There are givers and takers in life and there is no in between.  If you find yourself serving a person(s) and only able to serve him or her and never able to touch him/her as a person and they always deny your request to heard or to be ministered to, RUN LIKE JOSEPH!  Pimps and control freaks can never be satisfied.  They do not want you to ever be delivered because that would mean that they can no longer use you to expand their kingdom.
  2. God has closed the door because there are some things, some sins that you cannot see on the surface right now and He cannot have you entangled in sin because that will separate you from HIM. He loves you that much!
  3. The good is always the enemy of the best. I heard someone say that we often are trying to do the good thing rather than the God thing.  When a door is closed, don’t fret. If God doesn’t knock the entire wall down on your behalf it means He has something much better, the best for you.
  4. God is trying to get your attention.
  5. The person you are seeking help from can’t stand you! They like to have your anointing around because it keeps the demons away but they hate you as much as Saul hated David because he saw what he used to be before he started listening to people instead of God.  Your light pierces the darkness inside of the person who will not sell out completely to God.  Piercing hurts!  Just ask Jesus.
  6. God is revealing more of Himself to you.
  7. The person you are seeking help from has decided to help God out by telling you, “NO” because they are so sick and tried of God telling you “YES.” They can’t understand the favor of God upon your life because with all of the games they play they can never seem to match what God gives you even though they kill, steal and destroy to get theirs. They have things but they are not fulfilled.
  8. God is teaching you to exercise your faith for every level.
  9. The person you are seeking help from is so overwhelmed that if they take on one more thing they will break. They may look great on the outside but inside they are malnourished and weak. Don’t take it personal when they spend so much time with other people and won’t even put you on the waiting list.  Those other folks are the takers, the junk food, destroying them. They are ones that keep the leader’s head so puffed up until they have forgotten that iron sharpens iron. They are dull and insensitive and have forgotten the Lord their maker.
  10. The people you pour into may not be the ones ordained to pour into you.  People’s needs and security are just as diverse as DNA.  Your harvest may be in another field.  Take the limits of God (in your thinking).  God is Sovereign!  He can do whatever He wants to do and He does not need anyone’s permission to bless you.  If he has to send you on a trip to Africa to connect you to the help you need, he will do it.  Ask me how I know!
  11. You have changed!  People liked you more when you were a victim.  As a victim, they could stand a better chance of manipulating you and treating you anyway they wanted to treat you and you would take it.  You did not have too many standards for company back then because you were so desperate for association and attention.  You had a need to belong just as much as a youth initiated into a gang.  They liked you better when you would not speak up for yourself and you did not have an opinion, Now, the same folk, young and old, cannot tolerate you too much now because you refuse to entertain the pity parties you used to have together and your talk is too positive and energetic.  The things that used to hurt your feelings can’t hurt you anymore.  The people who used to tear you down can’t make your cry anymore. You have found and opened the window of the dark room in your life and let the SON in and allowed Him to cast His light (His word) into every area of your life.  Everything may not be quite like you want it but you are learning to make the Lord your confidence and you are learning to use the rough times in your life as stepping stones.  Even though you are still in the process of your journey, many of the people who are watching you, some you know and some you do not know can tell you are headed for GREATNESS!  AND I CAN HEAR THE LORD SAYING, “I WILL DECLARE YOUR NAME GREAT FOR YE SHALL DECLARE ME AS THE GREATEST!” OH! , GREAT GOD!!!!!

 

 

Some things to do while you wait:

  1. Worship
  2. Keep a journal. You can be whoever you want to be in a journal. This is an excellent opportunity to voice your frustrations and anger and list your deepest desires and recant your greatest joys.
  3. Write the vision and make it plain. If you have written it already, revisit it to mark what has manifested and what you are expecting. Vision has no limitations! You can make it as wide or as narrow as you like.
  4. Clean and organize your house or dwelling place.
  5. Pray! Your intimate time talking to the father is everything! No prayer, no power, little prayer, little power, Much prayer, Much Power!
  6. Thank God for something you have never thanked him for before.
  7. Thank God for the rejection you received. The blessing of rejection is direction.
  8. Recall your history with God. Think about what where you have come from and what He has brought you through.  God is faithful that promised. 
  9. Examine yourself, repent of your sins and pray for your enemies until you mean it.
  10. Spend some time looking into the eyes of a child.
  11. Finish writing that book, song, poem, sermon, proposal or letter you started. If you haven’t started, GET STARTED!
  12. Give the Lord a praise! The devil wants to rob you of your joy which is your strength so you will give up and be in the same place you are right now, 20 years from now. I dare you to sing your favorite song to the top of your lungs and spin around in the floor until you feel the wind of the almighty beneath your wings.  Dance like David Danced.  Talk to yourself like Job. Get a partner and sing and pray like Paul and Silas.  No partner?  Commission the angels to join you.
  13. Go on the mission field. Great leaders are great servers!
  14. Give some quality time to someone who needs you.
  15. Read and rehearse the scriptures.
  16. Get into the routine of exercising, drinking water and getting plenty of rest. Your body needs to be fit for the journey.
  17. Spend your down time only with people who really care about you and value you as a person. Rid yourself of the takers and the joy robbers. Don’t worry about them talking about you.  They already talk about you!  Evangelist Joyce Rodgers writes, “In shedding things and shedding people, whether voluntary or involuntary, we become more dependent on Him.”  Charisma, May 2004
  18. Plan your wardrobe for your vision. Dress for where you are going.
  19. Have frequent moments of DEAR (Drop Everything And READ).  Mark Twain said what is worst than not being able to read is a man that has books and won’t read them.
  20. Take a vacation.
  21. Connect and Collaborate with people who are going places and doing great things. Don’t kiss up or down. Great minds, great visionaries and a like spirits can find each other in a crowd of millions.

 

Don’t loose your mind or throw away your vision over someone who wouldn’t help you.  You will need both your mind and your vision for where God is about to take you.  Your God ordained help will appear at the appointed time throughout your journey.  My grandmother probably had never been taught God is Jehovah Jireh.  She just called Him a “Way-Maker.”  Inhale and exhale.  God is teaching you to depend on Him for your vision and desires as much you depend on Him for the air you breathe.  It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man (Ps.118: 8) is the center verse of the entire Bible. 

 

Hold on! Help is on the way!  Don’t try to figure it out. Intellect will never be able to figure out the autonomy of God.  My most powerful prayer is “God help me and Lord I believe.”  For with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1: 37).  Just be like Mary in Luke 1: 38 and say “Be it unto me according to thy word.”  God will use you to speak a prophetic word in the Earth on what He is about to do while others are still philandering around trying to figure out the last thing that happened.  You can do it! The battle is in your mind; not your pocket or pocket book.  Power belongs to God! (Ps. 62) I wanted to write this months ago and couldn’t.  I started on it. Penned some of my thoughts and still did not get the release from God to send this. Now I have His permission.  I think I had to wait until the person I admired most in ministry disappointed me.  All idols have to be destroyed in our lives so we will be free agents in the kingdom of God.  People are just people. Only God is God!

 

The same God who created the universe, who parted the red sea, who resurrected the dead and laid down His life and picked it up again for our sakes, has made every provision for the vision.  When you told Him, “Yes,” He dropped everything you would ever need into your spirit like time-release capsules.  As you need it, it will be released into your life, not too soon and certainly not too late.  Oh, you can go ahead and praise Him! No idols, no foreboding (being afraid that when a good thing happens to you, a bad thing will follow) and the best is yet to come! Your situation is not unto death and God will get the Glory!  God is getting ready to lift you. He is about to remove everything and everyone hindering you from fulfilling your purpose in Him.  God is getting ready to plant you on a higher plain and everyone will know it is Him, especially those who would not help you. Delayed does not mean denied.  What you will learn and gain in this season of waiting is necessary for your next level.  Every round goes higher and higher.

 

(Psalm 121 KJV)

I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

  1. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
  2. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
  3. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
  4. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6.The sun shall not smite thee by day, or the moon by night.

  1. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul.
  2. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

 

Go with God!

 

If this message has been a blessing to you, please write to me and let me know at ministryservices@audrasingleton.org.

 

Heart MattersÓAudra S. Singleton.  All Rights Reserved. No unauthorized duplication without written permission of the author.

 

Saints In The Outfield

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28: 18-20

“…For I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep”
___Robert Frost

On New Years Day 2004 I had the pleasure of watching the movie Angles in the Outfield starring Danny Glover and Tony Danza with my two daughters. This quality time gave me another opportunity to impart into their spirits some Biblical truths and some family values. They loved the movie and their hearts were made glad when they found out that Danny Glover who played the baseball team coach in the movie prevailed despite his past failures, his hang-ups, his bitterness and his antagonist. Just like the angels who were on assignment in this movie to make sure lives were changed and saved and hope was given and made not ashamed, I began to wonder what our world would be like if the Saints of God would get into the outfield.

Many of us have heard The Great Commission (Matthew 28: 18-20). The work the apostles had to do was to set up the Christian religion in all places. By doing so they would be establishing the Kingdom of heaven on earth and doing battle against the enemy throughout the earth. Not only did the Lord give them this commission but also inside of the commission were the instructions for getting it done. He also promised them favor by being a very present help. Many believers say they accept this commission but there is much dereliction of duty. Many will not go because the church leaders will not go. The big religious lie the enemy has blinded so many church leaders with is the false definition of what leadership really is. Leadership is servitude. Servitude is leadership. Leadership is not obtaining a title and having the power to tell others what to do and reaping the benefits of it all while others lie in waste and ruin. Leadership is not a haughty look, bad manners and a character that reeks so badly until the world would rather stay in their sins than bare the pains of the dominance of a selfish, Narcisstic criminal. Great leaders manage things and they lead people. They equip their followers for the work, for a greater work, rather than try to keep them boxed in or suppressed. Great leaders are great servers! Just follow the Bible throughout the life of Jesus Christ.

Our World history is full of remnant stories of leaders both small and great; both ethical and unethical. We, as leaders, learn from the best and we learn from the worst. A glimpse of the worst always magnifies the appreciation of the best. In my childhood, Mother Teresa was exemplified as one of the best female leaders of our times and today her name is at the top of my mental marquee of great leaders. Once upon a time I desired to be just like her. I want to spend my Christian life doing the work of missions. I had a vision of obtaining my doctorial degree in medicine and living the rest of my days in a foreign country doing missions. I could see myself in my simple, yellow sundress, my straw hat and bare feet going to the next shanty to deliver a baby or to hold the head of a dying, aged man as he talked to God inhaling and exhaling his last breaths on earth. I had it all figured out back then. I didn’t know life was so full of constant change, discipline and challenges. If I will ever lay hands in the slums of Calcutta I do not know. I do know that I have my own mission in life and there are many things that belonged to Mother Teresa that I long to inherit. From her personal relationship with God to her charismatic way and favor with man, this historical leader will always be a household name of love, compassion and courage.

Love, compassion, and courage: what would happen if born again believers everywhere moved out in love, compassion and courage in the spirit of the Great Commission? What would happen if spirit-filled believers moved out of their comfort zones and their places of idol worship to really glorify God with their lifestyle instead of offering the Lord random or selective acts of service?

Inside of you is the power to change lives, the potential to really make a difference in the life of someone else, thus making a difference in a family, a community, then a city or territory and then a nation. If each one would strive to reach one and teach one, then we would put a chokehold on the forces of evil that grows with each generational curse. Today, if you harden not your heart, you can change a life for the better. You don’t have to try to reach everyone, just minister to those in your view.
I was sitting in a one-on-one business meeting and in the mist of the meeting the male I was meeting with said to me “Audra, you can’t save the whole world.” I knew Lucifer himself was talking to me. I told him, “I’m not trying to save the whole world. Jesus died to save the whole world; I’m just trying to save those in my view and my view is wherever the Lord takes me.” He quickly put his head down and went on with the agenda items of our meeting.

Don’t let anyone deter you from working in the Lord’s vineyard. Your vineyard may be in your home, across the street, at work or in another country. It is our Lord and Savior who gave the Great Commission and it is He who will award you greatly. Double for your trouble! Don’t worry about if those he send you to will receive you, just trust and obey. The Lord will award you greatly. If you are not received or treated kindly, just shake the dust off and move on to your next assignment when the Lord tells you to. Don’t move until He tells you for your very presence is ministry. It was Noah who had the favor of God upon his life. Every person and every creature in the ark with him was spared from the flood. When it’s time to move on, move on knowing you have done the will of Him who sent you and He will reward you far beyond what you can ask or think.

He that has an ear let him hear. The Lord is soon to come. He is coming for the small and the great. Today, you are encouraged to seek the Lord with all your heart and to heed his every command. He only wants to bless you! Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded (II Chronicles 15:7).

Go with God!

Heart Mattersã Audra S. Singleton. All Rights Reserved. No unauthorized duplication or distribution without the written permission of the author.