Cows & Bees vs Milk & Honey

Good afternoon all,

God gave me a word this morning and is asking me to be obedient in passing it along. I used to do this on a regular basis but a word came to me recently saying that I was about to go through a period of learning. Any of you who serve God knows that there is a season to eat and a season to serve, but it's rare that you can do both well at the same time. This word is the first complete word that God has given me to minister to others in a while... It's long, but it's a true "soul banter"... I pray that the word God gave me will bless richly bless you all!

Cows & Bees vs Milk & Honey

Exodus 3:7-10

7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

Jericho. I liken Jericho unto anything I pray to God in earnest for. The thing that could make tears of joy and longing drop from my eyes anytime I think about it. The first Jericho I ever really wanted was Vaughan. I didn't even know it was Vaughan, but because I had totally surrendered my desires to God, He gave me the good thing He promised to never withhold from me. I wrote down everything I wanted in my husband on cardboard and walked around it in a church parking lot for 7 days, just like the Israelites did when they were about to overtake the city of Jericho! That next December is when Vaughan walked back into my life after almost 10 years. My Jericho had arrived!!!! The question that remained was, could God trust me to recognize it?

The Israelites had every sign, wonder and miracle right before their eyes and yet they did not believe. They complained and whined and found every excuse to be miserable and disobey God when all they had to do was believe. How many of us, right now, are conquering our City of Jericho, overflowing with milk and honey... and all we can see are too many cows and too many bees?! How many of us are standing in our wealthy place and are still swatting at the bees? The very bees that create our honey!! We don't respect the job that God gave us, we don't love the people that God put in our lives, we disrespect God by speaking a hateful word against His anointed- spreading rumors= bearing false witness against each other... angry and can't see God's overwhelming blessings in our lives. Mad at the cows because there are too many and you're constantly stepping in cow pies! Don't you realize that those cow pies are fertilizing your ground?!?! Don't you realize the more grass that grows, the more the cows will eat and ultimately will be able to produce MORE milk and MORE cows?!?!

We act as wicked, non believing Israelites most times don't we? In Exodus it talks about how the cries of His people were so loud that they reached the gates of Heaven and God began to put a rescue bail out and total deliverance plan in place! Yet, when this plan was put into action... these people, the same people who had cried out for deliverance, were acting like they didn't have ANY sense! They would have preferred to remain in captivity because they were too afraid to believe. Then they looked at Moses thinking, who does he think he is??? Is this you? Has God sent you a messenger or rescue boat, but because it didn't have on Prada, wasn't an eloquent speaker, or because you thought they were too young you passed it by? Moses, the man who stuttered, had committed murder and who had put himself into exile was CHOSEN by God to lead His people to freedom. Who is wise enough to judge? Who can call unclean what God has called clean?? Certainly not us.

Our precious Father who has said that He is "married to the backslider"(HOSEA 4:14-20) has pledged to love us and still care for us, though we fight Him the whole way to freedom. Though we prostitute ourselves to money, men/women, clothes and riches making things our Idol. Though we would prefer to remain in captivity because we are too afraid to believe God for something better= Though we commit adultery against our marriage to God, He has still prepared good things for us. If only we could believe it. If only we could Obey Him. If only we could trust Him. If only... So here you are... sitting in your Jericho, a place that God gave you, to rescue you and give you the desires of your heart. This place where milk & honey flow freely = and all you can talk about are the cows & the bees.

Check yourselves brothers and sisters. Last week was a firestorm of me complaining about the Cows & Bees at work and in my life. Yet these are the same blessings that when my husband transitioned from one job to the other and when we needed just a few more dollars to pay the bills, I had the money to do it! I sat here mad at a heifer who I KNEW was put in my Jericho to fertilize my soil = to help me be so strong that nothing would deter me from being able to build wealth. Swatting at bees being too blind to see that yeah, these may sting, but they also produce the honey & nectar I need in my wealthy place. Pay attention to what God is doing in your life family. I now walk in my wealthy place, about to bring forth in just 2 short months the very thing God spoke in my life before the foundation of the earth was lain. But I could have missed it.

As you know, there were some in the Israelite camp that didn't make it. Some were killed and, to be honest, not matter how they died- one thing surely stood out = Disobedience! Moses, the very man who led the people to freedom in the first place, didn't make it into the wealthy place God promised him because he was disobedient. Some of you know and can recognize that God has spoken mighty things in your life and some of you even know what they are... yet you are in danger of being taken out of the game before you walk into your wealthy place. We struggle with trusting and being obedient to God... and we allow our own evil desires drag us away from Him. We allow our lust for life, our lust for people, and even our lust for the approval of others stand in the way of the thing that we KNOW God called us to do!! What some people have called a mistake, we call proof. God took my husband and I 900 miles away from our comfort zone just to show us the "truth" of who He is in our lives. He proved to us that He had called us to do a particular thing and if we had listened to the fears of our loved ones, (who were only concerned) we would have never gotten here = staring our wealthy place in the face we invite others to do the same.

What do you see? Do you see Milk & Honey or Do you see Cows & Bees? Did you see how unfortunate it has been for Vaughan and I to be on the bus all this time? Or did you see the countless people we got the chance to witness to along the way? Did you see how we've struggled financially over the years? Or did you see how incredibly unbreakable our marriage has become because of it; how well we can balance the books now = which is all about to come in handy? Did you see it? I'm just now seeing it-- I'm going from Cows & Bees to seeing Milk & Honey... will you? Will you see that the wonders and blessings of God don't always come in pretty bows with sweet smells of roses... even though they are? He is a sweet smelling savior who is perfect in all His ways, no matter what they are!

I feel the Holy Spirit asking me to stop there. Asking you all to think about what you have placed ahead of God. Please know that God has promised you good things and not disaster for your life (Jeremiah 29:11) But you could be in danger of never receiving those things because of your disobedience and total disregard for the Most High God. I pray that you, brothers and sisters, will please begin to examine your hearts - ask God to come in and cleanse you so that you will have a mind to serve and obey the commands of our Lord & Savior.

With many blessings & Love I pray...

Amen

Praise Reports!!!

God has moved mightily! Vaughan has been offered a higher position in Springfield and he accepted. Now, those of you who have been paying attention lolol... know that Vaughan and I haven't had a car in a year = WELL... THEY OFFERED TO BUY US A CAR JUST SO THAT VAUGHAN COULD MAKE IT TO WORK!!!!!!!!! WOW! Also, the organization God gave us about 2 years ago... is finally about to come to fruition in 2 short months! Praise God...

But... is this what you think my praise report is? It's not...

Ok. Some of you out there reading this believes that God is good... may not know it... but want to believe that's He's good. You may also want to believe that He blesses and are reading this hoping that the words I type will inspire you to believe that God will bless you. Well, He will. I truly bless God for what He's done for my husband and I... all the things that He's about to do... and has done.

But I must share something with you... all of you who are reading this hoping that God will do the same for you... hoping that God will give you something = keep reading... I bless God for who He is... not for what He can do FOR me. The best thing God the Father could have ever done FOR me is send His only Son here to die for me that I might be FREE! So these other things... although they can be thought of as proof of His Headship, greatness and His hand over my life... the REAL proof of His Headship over my life is how I live... and how I express God's nature through my life. How i allow God to use me in any way He pleases... How I can bless His name in times of lack as well in times of luxury... I sure hope somebody can get this! God is not only as great as His blessings... GOD IS GREAT ALL BY HIMSELF!! He's great no matter the blessing... He shouldn't have to BUY your affection! He shouldn't have to give you something frivilous before you understand His love and concern for your well being.

Can you imagine that some of the angels that fell with satan were Seraphim... do you know what a Seraphim's job is??? Their job is to care for the THRONE of God... and you mean to tell me they just decided they were tired of taking care of the THRONE OF GOD???? They are the ones that they talk about in Isaiah 6:3 who continually cried out saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory"...Wow... but God in all His infinite wisdom is so serious about "will & relationship"... you see... You don't HAVE to love God... in fact... He prefers that if you make the CHOICE to love Him... you make it knowing that there is NO gun to your head... but if you could just get to know Him and have a relationship with Him... there is no way you couldn't fall in love with Him...

Get to know God... stop trying to pimp God... Just belonging to Him IS my praise report... nothing else...

Barack Elected, my coworker FIRED!!!

11/5/08--- not even a day after the election of our first black president comes the very first white person to feel the sting of what it means to offend a black person in these times. I was soooo stunned that my boss asked me to put it in writing and he'll make a decision on what to do today. Comments please:

Good morning Josh & Brandon,

I know that this is an unpleasant situation; it’s not a great day for me either. I wish I wouldn’t have to be speaking to you two about this at all, but hopefully this will bring about a swift resolution.

The time was around 9:46 a.m.; Amy was on the phone with a customer who had called in. The customer, I know had called in, in response to a message Amy left for them yesterday because she began saying, “The reason I called you yesterday was because….” I didn’t have my heater on yet so I could hear everything going on in the office. I then heard her lower her voice and say, “Well, to me, the first issue is that he’s a “Black Man”, the second is that his name sounds like an Arab name”, she then began to spell out his last name to prove that Obama was an Arab name. Then she said, “I’m just scared to death. I know he’ll be assassinated soon”!

When she said that, I said, “OH MY GOD” very loudly!!! Then she tried to get louder and stopped whispering, but then said, “I just don’t think people thought this through, I’m just really concerned about our country”. I looked back at Russ and said, “Did you hear what she just said???” He shrugged his shoulders and said he didn’t hear her. I just got up and ran into Kristie’s office crying and shaking because I was so angry! I looked back and she was running into Tom’s office saying something to him. I couldn’t believe that she said what she said. For the first time since I started working at GoKeyless, I feel uncomfortable being the only black person in the office. I’ve never felt this way before; I just can’t understand the racist frame of mind. Although the customer she was speaking with agreed with everything she said, I just couldn’t believe she would number one, speak that way with a customer & two, say something so racist with me just two cubicles down!!

When I first got hired she made a joke about an Indian person she was speaking with saying, “They’re Indian, what do you expect”. I called her out on that then because I didn’t want her or anybody to be comfortable cracking jokes about people’s race. I’m probably one third of every race there is on earth, so you almost can’t make a joke about any race and not offend me.

In conclusion, if you’d like to know what I want to see happen with Amy, I’ll take an excerpt from one of Barack Obama’s campaign ads and say, “Amy Payton, you just can’t afford more of the same”. Have a blessed day!

Fought On Every Side

A year riding public transportation is too long. After a certain amount of time, it begins to test your sanity. I can definitely feel the heat being turned up...

One thing I'm certain of, is who God is... Matthew 5:45 makes it clear that He is is the same God in prosperous times as He is in the fruitless times... that whether you're a good person or a bad person, God never deviates from His position: 45-that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. What does this mean to me? It means that although I'm being fought unfairly on every side... and although the enemy has bruised my heal, I will crush his head with the knowledge that God is STILL a God of blessings, grace, mercy, love and perfection! That- Though He slay me Yet Will I Trust Him! (Job 13:15) Who else can I trust? Where else would I go, He is all that I hope for. What is my alternative? To believe the enemy??? I'd rather die== So while I stand here bleeding, I will still praise the Lord. Because there is NO ONE like Him! There is NO ONE MORE WORTHY to be praised!

I knew- the moment my path became uncovered that I would be fought on every side. That the heat would get turned up so high that there wouldn't be ONE day that goes by that I wouldn't have tears welling up in my eyes. The enemy saw the hand of God reach down and touch my territory to enlarge it, and pounced. Yet he has lost. He can't have what God has for me. I won't let him take it, not even a single yard. My finances are being attacked, my friends are being attacked, their marriages are being attacked, their children are being attacked, my health is being attacked, my family is attacking me, my job is always attacking me & even strangers that don't even know me are attacking me... yet I stand. Ephesians 6:13-13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

I know satan and his goons want to break me down BEFORE I walk into my destiny. The flames are getting hotter and are shooting higher- the stakes are higher... and just one slip could devastate my whole mission. Yet I am not afraid! This organization for teen girls WILL be registered and ready by January 1. Only God can stop me and since He spoke this for me even BEFORE the foundation of the world began, I don't think He will.

Pray for me Saints. I'm in a battle, THE battle. I can touch, taste and smell the piece of the kingdom that God gave me to bring forth and the enemy is trying to stop it. Sometimes I feel like I'm standing on my own, but I know that's a lie... if you could only lift your eyes up to Heaven on my behalf today, even for a moment and ask God for a supernatural favor for me and my family- please do so.

May God Richly bless you today!