SMS Magazine, Summer 2022

Glory to God in the highest, in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

GODSundie Morning Sistas Magazine He’s Coming!

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can’t count the number of times I heard my grandmother say, “You can’t beat God’s giving, no matter how hard you try.” When I was a child, I didn’t understand her testament to God’s goodness, but as I’ve grown older, I understand it with poignant clarity. Can’t nobody do you like Jesus! Just when we think all hope is lost and nothing can be done, He steps in and delivers us in a way that only He can. It’s happened so many times in my life, that I’m at a point where I can’t do anything but trust Him.

God is so good to us! The current times are teaching us just how good God has been. We’ve become complacent, we’re taking His patience for granted, and we’re not making shifts in our behaviors and attitudes as quickly as we should. We’re counting on God to continue to allow us the wiggle room of having one foot in and one foot out, dabbling in the things of the Kingdom only when it is convenient for us to do so. Culture has become our lifestyle and way of being instead of a genuine devotion and commitment to Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ.

Things will never be as they were before. Time is winding down, and sadly, most people are like the foolish bridesmaids who were unprepared and didn’t have enough oil for their lamps when the groom returned. People are so full of apathy or arrogance that they either don’t believe in the rapture or don’t believe it is near. The truth is that whether our Savior’s return is near or far, timing isn’t the most important point. Regardless of the hour, the point is that Jesus Christ has commanded us to be ready.

None of us know exactly what’s going to happen, but God is signaling that something will. This issue of the Sundie Morning Sistas Magazine, entitled “He’s Coming!” is about heeding our Heavenly Father’s instruction and getting spiritually ready for the return of our Lord. It’s about stretching beyond the comfort zones we’ve clung too for so long, and making the shifts in our doing, thinking, feeling, and speaking so that God’s agenda is our primary concern. We must be committed to gaining as much spiritual strength in Christ as we possibly can. We pray that “He’s Coming!” not only aids your quest for spiritual truth, but that it is a source of motivation to be spiritually prepared at your highest level for the return of our blessed and powerful Lord, Jesus Christ.

hen Gwendolyn Speirs graduated from college, she was ready to take the world by storm. But now in her mid-thirties, life has shown her that it wouldn’t be nearly as easy as she had once thought. She majored in Art in college. Her dream was to start with her own boutique filled with beautiful hand-made objects, and then open up boutiques all over the state, then the country. She had inherited her father’s natural aptitude with math and finance. Coupled with her mother’s love of the arts, both had primed her for a very successful college career. She made the most of it, exceling at just everything she put her mind to. For her, failure was almost a foreign concept in those days.

16 years ago, after Gwendolyn finished grad-school, she began to pursue her dream, but things hit a snag very early on. She and her college roommate, Julia, quickly became best friends, and immediately after finishing their degrees, they both moved to New Haven, CT. They set out to make their partnership the most successful of any in the city, but things didn’t quite work out that way. Julia met Nabari and it was all over. He was finishing his PhD at Yale Divinity. When he landed his dream job in his hometown of North Carolina, he and Julia got engaged, and they moved there to start their new life as man and wife. This was Gwendolyn’s first really big lesson about how quickly our well-thought out plans can be delayed and sometimes derailed.

It had already been 20 minutes past the last time Reverend Henderson’s assistant stepped out of his office and apologized. Because of a meeting with another one of his parishioners, the reverend was running way behind schedule. Two years had passed since Julia moved to North Carolina and put their partnership plans on pause, but determined, Gwendolyn was still trying to get her dream of entrepreneurship off the ground. She took a 9 to 5 but saw it as

only a temporary detour. Part of her plan had been a meeting scheduled with Reverend Henderson on her lunch break. He, along with many others in the church, were very impressed with her creativity and how she had used it to help others.

She was waiting patiently but concerned about a longer lunch break from work than she had planned. Normally, the reverend had a firm attention to promptness. She figured it must have been something very important to keep him from their meeting. She really wanted to speak with him about a new collaboration she was working on, bringing local artists together to paint an inspirational mural on the building their church was thinking of purchasing. She thought it’d be a great way to engage the community and raise funds for the new venture. It would really get her name out there, and she hoped it would be the fuel to finally get her back on track with her boutique. When his assistant came out and apologized a third time, she told Gwendolyn they needed to reschedule; she was so disappointed.

Gwendolyn’s job as Creative Director for a youth center was fulfilling and she loved the work, but resources to do the kinds of activities she wanted were always very limited.

She had big and great ideas but getting folks to buy in was sometimes like pulling teeth, and she was beginning to wonder if all she’d ever be was a dreamer. Dreams were the start of all her biggest and best ideas. She’d have a dream at night and get up the next morning filled with excitement about how she was going to make it a reality. She saw the mural in a dream, and she also saw Reverend Henderson surrounded by people, staring in amazement at the mural. She knew it meant something very significant, but when the reverend’s office phoned that he needed to reschedule their meeting after his six-month sabbatical, Gwendolyn was flabbergasted. She didn’t understand what it all meant. Why were her dreams so vivid and beautiful, and why was her reality always so far from it?

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE

hen we find ourselves facing a series of disappointments, it can feel as though our lives are without structure or foundation. You may have had a vision for where you wanted to go. You had dreams and pursued them, but nothing turned out the way you expected. Life, in and of itself, can seem very random, as if there’s nothing that you can lay hold of concretely, but this isn’t the case at all. Life is designed by our Heavenly Father to be supported and lived by faith in Him. He’s the One with the master plan. Whether they occur in our sleep or from our vision and imaginations regarding who we can be and what we will do, our dreams are extremely purposeful, but they must be taken to God for His direction. We must wait on His interpretation of what our dreams mean and how they align with His purpose, then we must follow where He takes us.

Proverbs 19:21(NLT) declares, “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” One of the greatest mistakes that any human being can make is to underestimate God’s allegiance to His purpose for their lives. Our Heavenly Father is an on-purpose God. Everything that He does, from the smallest to the greatest detail, is according to His divine plan, and on this we can depend.

God has a purpose that is ordained for all of creation. His Word testifies to the reality that Heavenly Father is a Planner. He is not redundant in any way, and He never makes a mistake. In the Old Testament, God made a promise to Abraham, the Father of our Believing. He promised Abraham that He would bless him and multiply his descendants beyond what could be numbered. When Heavenly Father initially made this promise to Abraham, his wife, Sarah, was 75 and childless. He and his wife desperately wanted children; they wanted a family and their advanced years was no mistake in the plan and purpose of God.

Abraham is called the Father of our Believing because he was fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is fully able and willing to fulfill. 25 years, Abraham and Sarah waited in faith, trusting and believing God. When Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90, she gave birth to Issac, and the promise of God manifested in Abraham’s life.

God Guarantees His Promises

In today’s society, when you and I make a binding promise for something like a house or a piece of property, we have to make it legally binding with a promissory note or some document to that effect. It is very customary for this promissory note to be held by a higher authority than ourselves, and this is what makes the oath or promise legally binding. We must be extremely clear that there is no higher authority than God. It is almost unfathomable to consider it, but our wonderful Almighty God makes promises to us, mere mortals. We are

infinitely lower than Him, but He makes promises to us regarding His provision and care, and He does this because we are His children and He loves us. He wants us to know that His Word is bond. His Word is true. Again, there is no one higher than God. There is no higher authority and power than Him. So, when He makes an oath or a promise, He’s the One that backs it! He guarantees His own Word. He is binding Himself to honor His Word, and He never, ever breaks His promises.

Hebrews 6:17(NIV) tells us, “Because God wanted to make

the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.” Heavenly Father wants us to be confident that He doesn’t lie, and He doesn’t change His purpose. He is not like us. We flipflop all over the place, but not our Heavenly Father. He is unwavering in His conviction to His Word and He confirms His allegiance to His Word with an oath—a promise like the one Abraham received.

It’s in Your DNA

Nothing slips by God. Not one tiny fraction of the smallest molecule goes unnoticed by Him. We should never make the mistake of underestimating God’s perfection. It is beyond our greatest imaginations. He has attended to every detail of your makeup. Nothing about you was left to chance. The place you were born, the family you were born into, the place you went to school, the teachers you had, the knowledge that has come across your ears; all of it has been according to God’s plan and purpose for

existence.

doesn’t move us about like puppets. He is so wonderfully brilliant that He doesn’t have to do anything like this. He planned for us to be here, and all the details were put in place long before we entered our mother’s womb.

“Our individual agendas are not part of this equation, because our plans are almost always about our individual needs or wants. We’re constantly thinking of the ‘ME’ and not the ‘WE’.”

your

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“Prepared

God’s purpose for our lives is woven in our DNA. It runs that deep, and although our inner spiritman knows God’s purpose, our minds and hearts may not. Psalm 42:7 reminds us that deep calls to deep. This speaks to going deep with intimacy in our relationship with God. It’s going deep in seeking Him, so that we learn His voice. Deep calling to deep is God calling us to meet Him at this place of pure

thoughts, pure attitude, and a pure imagination. This is part of His language as well. He talks through beautiful and sanctified imagery. He calls us to rise up so that we have the highest vision of ourselves in Christ, then we can begin to see ourselves the way God sees us.

Gwendolyn had once tapped into God’s spiritual realm of creativity and wonder, but she refused to bring her faith in line with it. She loved God but didn’t understand her destiny. She never considered the reality that God pours His blessings into us and we are obligated to present them back to Him, so that He can then fill us up with even more. It is a blessed cycle of giving that He has anointed for those who belong to His Kingdom. Our individual agendas are not part of this equation, because our plans are almost always about our individual needs or wants. We’re constantly thinking of the ‘ME’ and not the ‘WE’.

The need to get her name out there and to obtain a huge venue for artistic expression was constantly on Gwendolyn’s mind. It’s almost all she ever thought about. After the friends and resources that she lost, and after her many attempts failed to make this dream a reality, she put her faith on hold and her relationship with God suffered. Her dreams shifted from beautiful visions to those of death and destruction. She didn’t question this much at first, but then her life took an unexpected turn and she could not have prepared for it.

God has a plan for our talents, skills, and

abilities. Whenever you and I begin to make moves in our lives without the knowledge of what God has planned for us, we are opening ourselves up to being tossed about. We can become carried away in ideas and agendas that are not grounded in God’s purpose. This causes us to regress rather than progress, and this isn’t what the Lord desires. Our Heavenly Father wants us to wake up and recognize that He is our Great Big Wonderful Heavenly Father, and the plans He has for us are exponentially higher and infinitely better than any plans we can make for ourselves.

Yes, God gives us dreams and visions. He said in Acts 2:17(NKJV), “‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.” We are living in the last days and He causes us to dream dreams and have visions. Many of them are fantastical, vibrant, and beautiful, but we must always remember that they are for His Plan and Purpose, and they must never be taken outside the context of His Will.

He’s Coming, Be Ready!

Often the times or seasons shift but we don’t shift with them. A new season could be upon us, but we are fixated on what happened in seasons long gone. We’re looking for a repeat when a repeat isn’t possible. We remember the seasons when life was so much more friendly towards us. It just seemed to open its doors of opportunities. The atmosphere felt ripe with fruitfulness, as if the next new blessing was literally within our grasp. We had a brand of hopefulness that was succulent with all the possibilities we wanted for ourselves. It was all so yummy, and it primed our taste buds with delight. It was so delightful that we keep trying to get back and reopen that same door, not recognizing that it is permanently closed.

God blessed us tremendously, and He has been extremely patient with us. In past seasons, He allowed us to indulge ourselves. For most, it was an

indulgence in things of the flesh, and not of the Spirit, but we didn’t see it for what it was. Gwendolyn is an incredibly creative person. She is a dreamer, but like many of us, she didn’t value the things of the Spirit as high as she should have; therefore, she didn’t prioritize them according to God’s standard. Because of this, she was stuck but didn’t realize it. She was trying to hold on to seasons of the past.

As the systems of the world continue to break down and their corruption and wickedness is exposed, people will be forced to be less reliant on those systems. Therefore, they will be forced to be less reliant on the flesh and more reliant on the Spirit. If our faith isn’t where it needs to be, many will find the road ahead incredibly perilous. It will be fraught with challenges and obstacles of which most will lack the spiritual preparation and strength to handle.

No Excuses

Born-again believers are the body of Christ. We belong to him. Ephesians 5:25-26 tells us that Jesus Christ has given his life for his body to make her holy and clean, and sanctified by God’s Word. Ephesians 5:27(NLT) affirms, “He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.” We have underestimated God’s allegiance to make sure that we are spiritually prepared according to the level of Ephesians 5:27. This is His standard. He has well-equipped us through the blood of Christ to meet it, and He expects us to do so.

Colossians 3:4-6(NLT) affirms, “4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole

world, you will share in all his glory. 5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.” To put away the attitudes, feelings, thoughts, words, and deeds that do not represent Christ is not a suggestion; it is the commandment of God. In Colossians 3:4-6, He has told us all we need to know about spiritual preparation. We must put away these sins, because a time is coming, and is soon here, when God will not tolerate our excuses.

What God Has in Store

Throughout the history of humanity, we can clearly see that we are continually being prepared for what God has in store next. There will never be a time in which we are not anticipating an encounter with an aspect of Heavenly Father that we haven’t yet experienced. This is part of what it means when 1Corinthians 2:9(NLT) proclaims, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” John the Baptist was the bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. He was preaching about the coming of the Messiah before Jesus Christ publicly began his ministry. John was considered by many to be extremely radical, some even considered him to be a wild man. He had no use whatsoever for foolishness and was an outsider to the delicacies of Jewish etiquette. Unafraid and intolerant of arrogance, his criticisms of religious hypocrisy were notoriously cutting, and he had many enemies in high places. A rebel at heart, his understanding of his purpose within the Will of God

consumed his being. He is a true example of what it means to know one’s purpose and to pick up our crosses and follow Christ. Somehow, we have gotten it into our heads that God requires less from His sons and daughters today than those whose testimonies and records are written of in His Word. The truth is that He requires more from us. They didn’t have the example of Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit, or the readily available written Word; we do! The Bible contains the records of ordinary people who had extraordinary faith in Him. God placed their records in His Word so that we can learn from them. He wanted us to know about their sacrifices and to understand what He requires of each of us. The times are perilous, there can be no doubt of this. If we will open our eyes and ears, we will see and hear creation warning us that time is drawing near. The window of our spiritual preparation is closing.

When He Comes

Some notable Biblical scholars have said that while we may not know the exact time that our Savior will return, we can approximate a year, perhaps even a month. Others say we can’t even come close. Some have even said that there is no apocalypse, and that Christ will not return. Well, the numerous opinions about the second coming of Christ are one of the many reasons it is so incredibly important for us to read and study God’s Word for ourselves. We are to yield to the Holy Spirit. He is our Teacher and Guide, and he will confirm the truth in our hearts.

Our Master Jesus teaches in Matthew 24:36-39(NLT), “36 However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. 37 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 38 In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. 39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.” If you’ll close your eyes for just a moment, you can visualize so vividly how this could happen any day now, because most people are oblivious. They think things will continue as they have been, but those of us who are diligently seeking God understand that many are not prepared for the return of Christ. Like in Noah’s days, they won’t realize what is happening until it’s too late.

2Corinthians 5:20(NLT) declares, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” This is what God requires of every born-again believer. This is what is important to Him. As a parent, you don’t want to stand before Christ on that glorious day without having done all you can to tell your children about Jesus Christ and to have helped them give their lives to him. As a family member, friend, or co-worker, you don’t want to look Jesus in the face, knowing you had multiple opportunities to speak an encouraging word to someone in need, but didn’t. You don’t want to behold the glory of our Lord knowing you’ve cast people aside because they didn’t look like you and weren’t blessed to know the Lord the way you know him. No, when he comes, we want to be ready, and we should be doing everything we possibly can to hear him tell us, “Well done. You’ve been a faithful servant. Come be with me.”

REALIGNING YOUR AGENDA WITH GOD’S AGENDA

fter her 30th birthday, Gwendolyn started to ask herself some deep questions. Things were not going as she had hoped, and the doors of opportunity she had once experienced in her life all seemed to close. She felt stuck and when a big promotion she wanted didn’t land in her lap, it was just too much. After all the sacrifices she had made, she was shocked and appalled that they didn’t choose her. She abruptly left her position as creative director for the youth center.

Her next job allowed nothing like the creative freedom she had enjoyed in her last position. She was stuck behind a desk all day doing research as a marketing analyst. She didn’t hate the job, but she didn’t love it either. And after she and her boyfriend, Terrence, of two years decided to part ways, Gwendolyn began to seriously look at the path her life had taken. It was not what she

had dreamt for herself, and she found it extremely difficult to reconcile her current reality from where she thought she’d end up.

Gwendolyn was experiencing the discomfort of separating fantasy and faith. She was witnessing the missteps and mishaps that occur when we’ve veered off the path of purpose. God’s grace covers us in many ways, but when we choose a trajectory that impedes our destinies in Christ, life will become unfriendly and this is not fun. People will often say that God is punishing us for our wrongdoing, but this is not the truth. God is not the One that is causing our believing to miss the mark. We do this all on our own. But it is important for us to know that we choose to get back on the path He desires at any time. All we need to do is to pray and ask for His guidance, and then listen attentively to His directives.

“Prepared

“God’s Agenda can’t be compromised. He has a plan for our lives, and He doesn’t alter that plan simply because we refuse to order our steps with it.”

God’s Agenda Cannot Be Compromised

Ephesians 2:10(NLT) tells us, “For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” God considers human beings to be His finest work. He crafted us in His very own image, and we were wonderfully and meticulously made. In terms of building our faith in God through Jesus Christ, this truth must be firmly planted in our hearts. When we’re children, the importance of our identity in Christ isn’t stressed nearly enough. We have all this creative energy and adrenaline, and as we grow, our need to express our individuality becomes greater. We’re playful and carefree in our childhood years, but as we mature, it should dawn on us that God has a purpose for our gifts and abilities. He has equipped us and given us all that we need to do the work of increasing His Kingdom.

God’s Agenda can’t be compromised. He has a plan for our lives, and He doesn’t alter that plan simply because we refuse to order our steps with it. He will always hold us to the standard of Christ because He’s impowered us to meet the standard and to do the things He has ordained for us to do. When we fall short, and things go awry, it isn’t because God is punishing us, it is because we are out of alignment with His order. We’re putting disorder out in the universe, and God has designed the universe in such a way that whatever we put out there, the universe will give back to us.

In the passage of scripture in Luke 14:25-27(NLT), our Master Jesus delivers a Word that is extremely razor sharp. It cuts through all our excuses and makes it clear that God knows our hearts, and He expects our full commitment to Him and what He has called us to do. This passage states, “25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them,

26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else— your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.”

I was attending a Biblical seminar once, and the presenter asked us to read this passage silently and meditate on it. Before our time to read began, she prayed and asked us to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts about how we could be more committed to the words of Christ in Luke 14. Afterwards, she asked a few volunteers to share what they had received. One man stood up and said that he was very upset with this passage. He didn’t like it at all, and he thought it was unfair of our Master Jesus to ask us to give up so much. He especially didn’t like the part about hating everyone by comparison, even your own life, for the sake of the Gospel.

In this passage, Jesus Christ was demonstrating the terms of discipleship— of being one of his followers. Jesus wanted us to know that we each have a cross, and carrying it is not always going to be easy. It can be very challenging. There will be many people who do not like us simply because we have the love of Christ in our hearts. We are sometimes treated with hate and disdain, as though we are inferior, simply because we love the Lord. Yes, there is a cost, but we must also know that the reward is incomparable.

Many people begin to follow God through Jesus Christ without considering that there’s a cost. They are looking for the gifts and blessings, but they have no true interest in knowing God or discovering His agenda for their lives.

The presenter explained that Jesus Christ isn’t telling us to hate anyone or ourselves. He wants us to understand that God requires our full commitment. Nothing, not one thing in our lives, can come before the Lord and His purpose, and unless we understand this, our faith and devotion will not be as strong as God requires.

Following Christ means that to some extent, we must be willing to give up people, relationships, and other things we hold dear. This will require us to be weaned off those comforts as we tighten our grasp to the mission for which we were called. Jesus Christ came to separate the wheat from the chaff. He is the living Word of God, and he cuts straight through to the true thoughts and intentions

of our hearts. He knows exactly what we’re about, and he separates those who truly desire God from those who do not.

Christ is fully transparent, and for those that follow him, he wants us to know that there is a price we will pay. In Luke 14:28-30(NLT), he told the large crowd, “28 But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’”

The analogy and parable that Jesus Christ used in Luke 14:28-30 presses us to use our own imaginations. We must envision a builder that is constructing something useful and great, but he or she is beginning the job without having considered what the project will take to complete. He or she isn’t using their imagination to envision and plan for the labor, materials, and tools they will need, and they are not calculating the cost of those necessities. In other words, they are not preparing adequately for all the things and pitfalls that might lay ahead. Instead, this person is dabbling in a fantasy world of wishful thinking, and that is not faith at all.

God gives us imaginations and dreams, and they have always been used as instruments of spiritual communication. In the Old Testament, Abraham and Jacob had dreams as did many of God’s prophets. Joseph, son of Jacob, had dreams and was also a dream interpreter. Acts 2:17(NLT) states, “‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.” These are visions and dreams that help to achieve God’s purpose. When dreams and visions are used outside the context of His Will and purpose, we can get ourselves into serious spiritual jeopardy. Sadly, like Gwendolyn, many find this out the hard way.

The Difference Between Reality and Fantasy

Dreamers love to dream. Using our imagination and vision to look to the future with optimism and faith is tremendous, but we must recognize when these vehicles have transported us to fantasy and not faith. Without the spiritual preparation and maturity to handle life in the way of Christ, reality can be beyond a challenge. As children, we rely on our parents, and if they are good parents, they will try their best to provide for us and make sure we’re happy and whole. The older we become though, the more we are expected to be spiritually mature and to put the wisdom and support our parents provided to good use. We’ll need to walk by the Spirit and not according to the flesh. This means that we should use the gifts that God has provided to masterfully move through life.

Our current reality is showing many of us the perils of trying to live life on our own terms. It’s revealing a picture of what it looks like to take matters into our own hands and do so without the leadership and direction of our Heavenly Father. When we assume this approach, we become quickly disillusioned and disappointed, because we’re traveling in a direction that is opposite of our destinies in Christ. We become frustrated and upset with life, because we have a vision and dream in our heads, but our reality doesn’t seem to match it, and nothing we do turns out the way we expect. We don’t understand what’s happening, and depression, sadness, and apathy often settle in.

Jesus Christ told us in John 14:26(NLT), “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” This should be our greatest occupation, to learn the Spirit’s language, to understand how he uses visions and dreams to communicate with us, and to move according to His directives and guidance. Jesus said in John 16:13(NLT), “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” Do you trust this magnificent Word from the Lord? If you don’t, now is the time to get to it, because never has there existed a more pressing urgency to learn to walk by God’s Spirit. Many people have not used their ability to

dream and imagine as an instrument to follow God through the Spirit. They have used them to follow their own agenda instead of yielding their imaginations and dreams to God for the Spirit’s guidance. Some of us go for what we want with gusto and determination. If we have the tenacity and boldness to pursue our own dreams and aspirations, we should have even greater faith to pursue the dream God has for us. He’s the One to tell us what to do, not the other way around. If we truly desire to please Him, God will tell us His agenda. Through His Word and through the Holy Spirit that indwells us, Heavenly Father will reveal His purpose for our lives, and we must know that it is our greatest privilege and honor to line up our agenda with His.

DO WHAT GOD REQUIRES

n His Word, God tells us many times that He doesn’t want us to be ignorant. He doesn’t want us to be in the dark about the extraordinary rights and privileges He’s given us through Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want us to be ignorant about our authority and power in Christ, and He doesn’t want us ignorant regarding the evil devices, plots, and tricks that satan will use to attempt to blind us so we will not know the reality of who we are and what we have received.

Coming into the light is coming into an understanding of who we are in Christ. We are lost without this understanding. Genesis 1:26 teaches that God created us in His image. We have free-will, and like Him, we are self-

governing and free to make our own choices. The history of our existence has proven that we are indeed intelligent beings, capable of extraordinary resourcefulness and creativity. Because of God’s masterful design, we are thinkers, and what we think about is of extreme significance. Our thoughts have a profound impact on the quality and substance of our lives. They can lead us into more light where love, liberty, and life increase; and this is the place where we choose to think like Christ. We think thoughts that are lovely, pure, true, and of moral excellence. On the flipside, we can also choose to think the opposite of those things. We can think thoughts that keep us on a path of darkness, death and despair.

This is not what God wants. He wants us to line up our thoughts and actions with what He says we can have, be, and do. Then we will achieve our purpose in His plan. This is what each of us is here on this earth to accomplish.

“So not only has God called us according to His purpose, but He has equipped and qualified us in every way to carry His purpose forth to completion.”

Many believers are feeling lost and bewildered. They complain about not knowing what God requires of them. In frustration, they cry, “Lord, what do You want from me?!!!” They feel they’re doing all they know to do, and that life isn’t cooperating with their best efforts. This is how Gwendolyn felt. She had not realized that the season upon us is like no other. Whether we realize it or not, through the circumstances of our time, God is communicating the shift that He is requiring His people to make, and we must do what He requires.

1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) tells us, “19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” We don’t belong to ourselves; we belong to God. He purchased us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ when Jesus gave his life on the cross for our sins. So, the answer to the question regarding what God wants from us is that He wants everything. God wants and deserves all that we are.

Romans 12:1 instructs us to present our entire lives to God as a living sacrifice, the kind He will find holy and acceptable. He tells us that this is the very least we can do for all He has done for us. We are very quick to put up excuses as to why we can’t do this, but those excuses will not work with

Heavenly Father. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, and Colossians 2:10 informs us that we are completely complete through our union with Christ. So not only has God called us according to His purpose, but He has equipped and qualified us in every way to carry His purpose forth to completion.

I once heard an actress say that acting was her craft and her everything. She said, “I will sacrifice all that I am for my craft.” This is the sentiment of many artistic and creative people. The truth is that we were created to give God our everything, and all our sacrifices should be given to Him alone. As we sow into His Kingdom, He will bless us with more than we can imagine. He tells us in Hebrews 11:6 that He is a Rewarder to those that diligently seek Him. Jesus Christ declared in Matthew 6:33 that blessings will be added to us when we seek God first, but make no mistake, they will be subtracted when we seek any other thing or person first or put them before our Heavenly Father.

God created everything in life, including you and me, to cooperate brilliantly with His Will and Plan. His Will and Plan creates the boundaries of our peace, joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction. Whenever we’re outside of those boundaries, the enemy will attack and very often he does so vehemently.

Through our Lord and Savior’s sacrifice on the cross and through his resurrection from the dead, we have received new life! Our minds and hearts are the receivers by which our existences are activated in this new life. Our human spirit was regenerated through the new birth experience, but our souls are under our free-will, and it is our privilege and responsibility to bring our souls, hearts, and minds in alignment with the new life we have received. We’re living in a different season and our Lord is soon to return. Micah 6:8 (ESV) reminds us, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Our Heavenly Father hasn’t changed and neither have His requirements. We are to love what He loves, and to walk humbly with Him.

The key is walking W I T H God. Walking with Him requires that the Word is planted in our hearts and minds. When this happens, things internally shift and transform. The Holy Spirit works within. He cooperates with the truth that you and I walk out in our lives. Jesus Christ said in John 16:13 that the indwelling Holy Spirit will guide us into ALL truth. He will tell us what he hears from our Master Jesus. Many believers complain that they aren’t hearing from God. Well, the issue isn’t that our Heavenly Father isn’t talking. The issue is that we’re not hearing Him. Our actions do not convey that we are totally on board with where God is guiding us, so we are not exactly cooperating with the move of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we’re still trying to lead ourselves and spearhead our own agendas.

Our relationship with God is a partnership where He guides, we follow. This is how the partnership works. But make no mistake, a partnership requires the investment of both parties. So, we have a part to play. Many of us have it in our minds that this earth experience is given so we can get all we can get and do whatever we want to do. That’s not life’s purpose. We are here to be transformed into the very image of our Master Jesus. We must follow

the pattern and example he set for us. In John 4:34 (NLT), he said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” And in John 6:38(NLT), Jesus Christ teaches us, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” This is our mandate. It is not to do our own will, but to do the Will of the Father.

We will not find our soul’s satisfaction in the world’s agenda. We won’t find it in doing things that are outside God’s Will and plan for our existences. The only fuel that will move us forward is carrying out our Father’s agenda. This is where our gifts, talents, and abilities are mobilized and activated. It’s when we witness how we fit into God’s plan. 2Peter 1:5-7 tells us to make every effort to respond to God’s promises and to supplement our faith with moral excellence, knowledge, selfdiscipline, patient endurance, and Godliness. 2Peter 1:10 tells us to work hard to prove that we are really among God’s chosen ones. Time is running out, and many of God’s elect are lagging far behind. Heavenly Father has shown us tremendous patience and grace, but now is the time to do as Christ instructs in Revelation 3:2(NLT), “Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.” He commands us to go back to the Gospel, hold to it tightly, and repent.

We must be attentive to do what God requires, especially now. The hour is upon us to become extremely diligent about the things of His Kingdom. He holds us responsible for doing all we can to carry forth the mission of Christ. So, wherever we are in life, no matter how dissatisfied we are with our conditions and circumstances, we must turn our hearts and minds to our Lord and Savior. God is working in us through His Holy Spirit, and if we allow Him, He will transform us so that we will be ready when Jesus Christ comes.■

“Our relationship with God is a partnership where He guides, we follow. This is how the partnership works.”

recently had the pleasure of catching up with an old friend. We had such a good time conversing, but during our time together, the Spirit tugged on my heart. I felt compelled to witness to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I was puzzled at first because I’ve known this person for quite some time, and I assumed he knew our wonderful Redeemer. That day, I learned a very valuable lesson. We should never assume when it comes to a person’s walk with Jesus. I came right out and asked him if he was saved. I thought he’d say, “Yes, of course I am.” Instead, he asked me, “What do you mean by ‘saved’?”

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE SAVED

God teaches us in Romans 10:9-10(NLT), “9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” Most of us hear the word ‘saved’ and think of it in very general terms. Being rescued from harm or danger immediately comes to mind. So, if a person doesn’t perceive that he or she is in immediate danger, they may not understand the staggering importance of salvation and being born again through Jesus Christ.

In truth, there is nothing more harmful or dangerous than to spend an eternity cut off from the One True Living God, and therefore being in perpetual eternal darkness and despair. It’s a fate far worse than our minds can comprehend, and this is the reality of all who are not saved through Jesus Christ.

God proclaims in Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT) that He has “rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Jesus Christ has made salvation from eternal darkness and damnation available to us, but he will not force anyone to accept the salvation he offers. Love never forces, it lovingly guides. Our beloved Savior is delighted to guide us into salvation and into his magnificent light if we are willing to be guided by him.

WE MUST CHOOSE TO LOVE GOD

Genesis 1:26 tells us that God created humanity in His own image. Like Him, we are selfgoverning. We make our own decisions, and we get to decide who we are going to be. We decide whether we will be a child of God or a child of satan. An in between doesn’t exist. Jesus Christ makes it clear in Matthew 6:24 that we can’t serve two masters, we will love one and hate the other or vice versa, but we can’t serve both. We’re not built that way.

God has given each of us the gift of free-will, and Romans 11:29(NLT) says, “For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” God is allpowerful, all-knowing, perfect and magnificent in every way. He never has to do a do-over or a takeback. He does things perfectly from the very beginning according to His divine design. He means for us to have what He wants to give us, and He is faithful

WE CAN’T SAVE OURSELVES

Roman 5:11(NLT) tells us, “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Through Jesus Christ, God has made us righteous because being righteous is necessary to be friends with God. Romans 3:2526 The Message (MSG) tells us, “25-26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he

to the gifts He gives. He will not override our freewill choice.

God offers us salvation and it is a free gift. We can’t do anything to earn it. Heavenly Father freely offers us the blessing of spending an eternity with Him through Jesus Christ. God loves us, and because of His great love, He offers us the extreme privilege and honor to choose to love Him back.

John 3:16(NLT) says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” When we were at our worse, God sent His only begotten Son to save us and give us eternal life. He did this because He loves us more than we can ever know. He wants to have a relationship with every living person, and His greatest delight is loving and sharing His Kingdom with us.

had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.”

Because of what God accomplished through Jesus Christ, we now live in God’s "rightness". It’s not that we are so good, God is the only One that is righteous and good. You and I don’t have any righteousness of our own. So, God gave us His righteousness through Christ. Sometimes people will say, “I’m not ready to have a relationship with God yet. I’m too worldly, too angry, too sinful, or too this or that…” Maybe they think they are enjoying

themselves by doing all the things that pleasure their senses, but we were not created to live that way. We were created to walk in God’s Spirit! Only Jesus Christ can fill our cups and give us joy.

It’s a myth that we can make ourselves “okay enough” to come to God. We can’t. None of us can do this. For instance, some that have an addiction to a substance might think they’ll come to God when they give up the drugs or alcohol, but in reality, they find that the struggle never ends. They keep disappointing themselves and can’t understand why they can’t stop.

Others might be very unhappy with their lives because they struggle with insecurities, anxieties, and fears. Spending most of their lives feeling lost, it’s challenging for them to believe that God wants to have a relationship with them; that He loves them in their brokenness and wants to help them. Before we come to Christ, we are all broken and in desperate need of God’s saving grace. We need to be cleansed by the blood of the lamb. We desperately need the new life that Jesus Christ offers us, and God wants to help us. All we have to do is come to Him and invite Him into our hearts.

YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

In John 3:3(NLT), Jesus Christ had a conversation with a man named Nicodemus. He told him, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Just as we are birthed from our mother’s womb and have our biological father’s seed, when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Savior, we are spiritually born again. In order to be a child of God, we must be born physically, and we must be born spiritually. Accepting God’s love through Jesus Christ causes a spiritual consummation. We receive God’s seed by faith, and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. So, to be saved is to be born-again. It is to come alive to God spiritually as His child.

Faith is not magic, and magic doesn’t come from God. It’s not about a ‘kid in a candy store’ attitude, where God gives us anything we want. Faith is believing that God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to save all of us, and it is believing that our all-powerful, awesome God can do anything and through His resurrection power, He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Believing this truth, repenting from our sins, and asking God for forgiveness transfers us from eternal death to eternal life in Christ. We’re on this earth to decide who we are going to be for the rest of eternity, and if we choose God, we must remain committed to Him. We must apologize for the sins we have committed, because sin is an offense to Him. The first Adam sinned and

everyone after him sinned as well. As God’s children, we must reject Adam’s disobedience and surrender ourselves to God to be guided and led by Him.

In John 14:6(NLT), Jesus Christ declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” The world would like us to believe that there are many paths to get to God. Well, it’s true that there are many paths, but they lead to destruction and idolatry. Jesus Christ is the only path to our Heavenly Father, the One True Living God. If we miss this, we’ve missed life entirely. Christ is the Prince of Life and through him, we can live an eternity with God. Ask Heavenly Father to forgive you for your sins. Ask Him to come into your life and accept His love in your heart by believing in what He has done for you through Jesus Christ. Confess your belief that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for your sins, and that God resurrected him from the dead. Once you do this, you are saved and your spiritual journey in Christ has begun! ■

chuckled when I heard Daphne make this statement. I told her, “That’s not going to fare well for you. Anytime that you take relationship matters into your own hands, it’s downhill from there.” This conversation took place over four months ago, and as of today, she still has not met anyone.

Daphne isn’t alone. I’m sure you’ve heard this from one or two of your single friends as well. You may have considered this line of thinking yourself, however, we will all do well to remember that God never makes a mistake. In Jeremiah 29:11, He gives us very plain and direct wisdom. He said, “I created you and I’m the One with the plan for your life. I know what I’ve ordained for you, and I only ordain what is best for my children. Stop trying to figure things out yourself. You don’t know the future, but I do. I have good plans for your future and My plans will keep you hopeful and blessed.”

Our Lord has plans for us, and those plans include a loving and committed spouse should we desire it, but if His plans don’t include a spouse, even that should be well with our souls. Our faith in God should be so firmly established that we are confident in whatever He plans for us.

Like any loving Father, God loves to see His daughters blessed. He’s interested in every detail of their lives. This just make sense. He created and established the family unit. Because of His masterful design, it is within the hearts of all good biological parents to want their children to enjoy a greater success and fulfillment than they did themselves. Some will even go to the extreme to ensure their children have the best of the best. Imagine how infinitely more care our Heavenly Father has taken to secure His good plans for our future. Our earthly parents are not perfect, and they make mistakes, but God is holy, perfect, and has all power in His hands. He will not miss a beat when it comes to helping us walk according to His plans for our lives. We just have to trust Him.

As single women of faith, we don’t have to worry about the details of meeting the man. We just have to be spiritually mature enough to stand strong in marriage through the temptations and challenges the devil sends. In other words, we must be spiritually ready when God presents us to our husbands, but for many of God’s daughters, spiritual preparation is nowhere on their minds.

Some of us are obsessing about marriage too much, and it’s all we think about. Whenever we obsess about a man or marriage, it is because we haven’t understood God’s requirements. As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, he commands us in Matthew 28:19-20 to tell others about him and to teach them about him. We’re to do this continually, without end. 2Corinthians 5:20(NLT) declares, “So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” We have a responsi-

bility to Jesus Christ to share his Gospel. He tells us in John 15:8(NLT), “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”

For far too long, we have thought that sharing the Gospel is only for the person behind the pulpit. This is not biblical at all. The person behind the pulpit is responsible for equipping the people of God so that they are trained to share the Gospel themselves. We are the laborers that God has called to the field to bring in the harvest. If we miss this, we’ll miss a whole lot. Our commitment to do what God has commanded is the magnet for the blessing of marriage. But many of us expect the reward and have never labored in the field. Others labor in the field only to receive the reward of marriage. Jesus Christ commands that we have a heart and mind like his, that we share the Gospel solely motivated by our love for others and the reality that this is what pleases God. James said in James 2:18(NLT), ““Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”” The question James poses in this verse hits it home. “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds?” The good deeds required of every believer are those that involve sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ. Doing so is what causes our lives to be blessed. It positions us for the blessing of marriage because it shows that the love in our hearts is genuine, and we are spiritually mature in the faith. We can never afford to neglect the reality that our diligence to carry forth the mission of Jesus Christ will activate our faith. This is what God requires and this is what keeps us on track according to God’s plan.■

Sistas

Kim Times, Minister, Writer, and Editor, Sundie Morning

Father God, in the precious name of Jesus Christ we come before You with humbled hearts, thanking You for the work that You’ve accomplished in him for us; that we might be whole and acceptable in Your sight. Thank You for forgiving our sins and clothing us in righteousness. We unite in love and prayer for our sisters and brothers all over the world, and we pray this prayer…

A Closer Walk with Thee

For those requesting prayer for a closer walk with You, Father, we pray that You will bless them with spiritual growth and maturity, that they will be able to see what You will have them to see and hear what You would have them to hear. Please teach them how to listen to Your directives, and guide them according to Your divine purpose for their lives. Renew in them a right spirit, Lord, and give them a greater thirst and hunger after Your righteousness. Draw them ever so close to You, Father, as You teach them how to be pleasing in Your sight, that they may be renewed in their commitment to You and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Broken Marriages and Relationships

The symbol above represents the many women around the world who have requested prayer. By placing your hand on the prayer cloth, please touch and agree with us in prayer for them.

For those requesting prayer for marital restoration and broken relationships, Father, we pray that You will comfort their hearts and extend to them the peace of Jesus Christ. Enlighten their hearts so that everyone involved can come to a place of forgiveness and compassion. Please teach them to lean solely on Your strength and wisdom, that they will not look to the left nor to the right, but keep their eyes stayed upon Jesus. Thank You for blessing them with a special anointing that destroys the yoke of desperation, resentment, pride, jealousy, anger, obsession, envy, and loneliness. Allow them to see clearer the path that You have set before them. Please help them to be patient and not overreact as You work out all the details of the reconciliation of their marriages, and restoration of relationships with friends and family members.

Partnering in Marriage

For those requesting prayer to meet a good and Godly man, and to partner in marriage, thank You for blessing them to use this preparation time wisely. Help them to understand the holiness of marriage, and that it is a commitment to You to honor and minister to one of Your vessels. Thank You for blessing them to see clearly the thing that blocks their path, and help them to confront it in a way that brings them closer to You. Show them how to truly put You first, and to understand that putting YOU first is the key that opens the door to matrimony. Please help them to have complete and utter faith that You will present them with a spouse, for You are delighted to do so, and You are faithful to Your Word.

For the Unsaved Loved One

For those requesting prayer that an unsaved loved one might come to know Jesus Christ in the pardon of their sins, we too, pray for the unbelieving person, and humbly ask that You save their souls through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Thank You for helping them to cultivate a humbled heart and a willing spirit. Bless them to cross the path of a witness that You have ordained to speak life into their souls, that they might be drawn to the love of Christ and become born again.

Physical Wholeness

For those requesting prayer for wholeness in their physical bodies, we ask Your divine healing upon them through Christ. Thank You for reminding them of the price that Jesus Christ paid for every believer’s healing, and that we are healed through his stripes. Thank You for bringing those who are sick across the path of anointed physicians and care-givers who will treat them with the best care. Thank You for providing them access to the best medications for their conditions. We know that ALL healing comes from You, and we thank You for working through Your many resources to bring the sick and afflicted to total healing and wholeness.

Financial Breakthrough

We know from 3John 1:2 that You desire our prosperity, not only in finances, but in every aspect of life. For those requesting prayer for a financial breakthrough, we thank You for providing them with wisdom to get wealth and for teaching them to use their resources wisely. Show them through Your mercy, Dear Father, the obedience and benefits of tithing; and then help them to be committed to it so that they will witness firsthand the abundance and covering that tithing will bring into their lives. Thank You for giving them peace and promotion in the workplace, manifestation of their ambitions; and for blessing them with the fortitude, courage, and stamina to shine as a beckon of Your light by presenting their best selves every day.

We pray this prayer for every person who has requested prayer in the precious and powerful name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sundie Morning Sistas