Renewed...Again

"When you can't get over the hurt, the pain, the anger, the hatred, etc., pray for that person. "That was paraphrased advice from someone I really look up to. They told me that over a month ago and today I finally took it and prayed for some people. Immediately after praying, I felt God move on me like I never have before and I was able to move past the emotions that were binding me.

I won't go into detail about what people I prayed for, what I prayed about, or anything of that nature. I used to talk about the people that hurt me, that made me mad, that stabbed me in the back, and I thought that would make the emotions go away. I learned that it doesn't help me at all, it only hinders me. I decided that I'll no longer go to people to vent about my problems, I'll go to God, tell Him all about it and pray for the person/people that I have issues with.

I was thinking about the many broken relationships people deal with and why most people don't reconcile. Then, I read in Proverbs 18:19, that "a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle." That says, to me, that when someone you know is offended by your actions, words, etc., they are harder to reconcile with than a strong city and their argument is as strong as the bars on a castle. Now when I think about a strong city, I think about Obama supporters. When the elections came around, so many people backed Obama up that he won the election before all the ballots were in. That is very strong support and it is harder to win over an offended friend, family member, associate, colleague, etc., than it is to win over those supporters.

My Bible says, "A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." - Proverbs 18:20-21 KJV

A man's belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth...hmmm

And with the increase of his lips shall he be filled...hmmmmmm

Let me stop there...

Now when I think about that (Pro. 18:20), I start to question myself and ask, would you really want to be filled with anger, hatred, pain, and all this other negative stuff? Or be filled with the glory of God??? Hmmmm I always pray that God would draw me close to Him (song on bottom of blog). So why in the world would I want to be filled with a bunch of nonsense that I've been speaking?

As I noted before, death and life are in the power of the tongue. I'm going to try something new. I'm going to try to put my attitude in chains and leave it bound. The Bible says whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven (Matthew 16:19). So, no more going off on people, no more bad mouthing, no more of any of that mess. I can ruin someone's life just by mentioning something they did.

Some people may say I'm getting "too holy" or "too good for people" but I say I'm maturing. I would only be wasting my time talking about someone. It's pointless and not getting me anywhere in life.

Now before I go, I can hear someone (no one in particular) complaining, but there is always one person who takes things personal. This is not about anyone, neither is it geared toward anyone. This blog is about Teresa R. George and that's how it was designed to be. If you feel like you're one of those people I prayed for, open your eyes, you just may be feeling guilt.

Love you much!!!

Sista T

Songs that crossed my mind while writing this blog...

Father Can You Hear Me?

For once, I am writing a blog without a song as my source of inspiration. This time, I was reading my daily Bible plan on YouVersion.com and I came across a certain passage that I have read plenty of times but the same verses keep jumping out at me. Many people speak about the different miracles that Jesus performed. One of the miracles I hear over and over is the one where four men lowered a man who had been "sick with the palsy" through the roof and Jesus healed him because of their faith (Mark 2:1-5).

Sidebar:
When I was a teenager, I would go to corporate prayer once a month before we had our Bible study. It was mandatory that we kneel at the altar to pray first and when everyone was done, we would come together, sing songs and pray. One day a minister came to me and said, I can't hear you praying so how can you expect God to hear you? That caused me to think a lot and I started to whisper because I didn't want everyone knowing what my prayers were but I wanted God to hear them.

Back to the Blog:
When speaking of this miracle, most people stop at verse 5 and talk about how God is still in the miracle business. I want to talk about what came after that 5th verse. The text says in verses 6-8, "But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God Only?' And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, 'Why reason ye these things in your hearts?'"

Did you catch what just happened??? I'll give you a few seconds to think about it...

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Ok times up...

These men never spoke the words that Jesus addressed. The text clearly states that they "reasoned in their hearts" in verse 6. It made me think and once it was brought to my attention, I said to myself, well if God can hear these men complaining in their hearts, then he can hear the cries of mine, he can hear the supplications of mine, he can hear the anger, the hurt, the happiness, and everything else that resides in my heart.

Sometimes people fail to realize that when praying, you can't always speak. Someone said let your feet tell your testimony and I believe it goes the same for your prayers. Let your feet do the praying sometimes. Let your cries be your prayers. Even the Bible says in Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." The reality is, sometimes you just can't speak!

Don't let anyone tell you that you must pray out loud or God will not hear you. Do not be ashamed if you cannot open your mouth to pray. That is just fine, cry if you have to, scream if you have to, dance if you have to, wave your hands if you have to, but please do not let anyone make you feel bad about not being able to form your prayers with your mouth.

There is a song I love that says "If I can't say a word, I'll just wave my hands. I get so full, I would explain it if I could, God's been just that good." (If I Can't Say A Word - Karen Clark-Sheard)

Just be encouraged and continue to pray in whatever way you have to.

Be blessed until next time...

Sista T

I Don't Look Like What I've Been Through

"O house of Isreal, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." - Jeremiah 18:6

Like most of my blogs, this is inspired by a song I have been listening to recently. As I type this I am listening to I Don't Look Like (What I've Been Through) by Deon Kipping (@ThatDudeDeon) on repeat. Very few people know my life story and they can vouch for me when I say that I really don't look like what I've been through. If I did, I would look a mess. No one would want to come around me. I would be like one of the lepers before being healed by Christ or the woman with the issue of blood before she touched the hem of Christ's garment.


While listening to the song, I felt like I should write so I went looking for a scripture to relate to this song. As I was looking through my highlighted scriptures on YouVersion.com, I came across Jeremiah 18:1-6 and almost immediately these words came to mind "Pottery doesn't look like what it's been through either." 


A piece of pottery is made from clay and some other materials, and if you saw how this stuff looks like before it's sold in the stores, you would know it looks a hot mess. I don't know the details of the process of making a pot or vase, but I do know is that the clay has to go through a lot of mixing, filtering, and chopping before it can be molded, dried, glazed, and fired to look like a masterpiece.


Some people may wonder what a pot or vase has to do with what people go through. Here it is:

• A nonbeliever is the clay before it is mixed.
• Once becoming a believer, God will begin to filter the mess(water) out of your life(clay).
• The chopping process is when God starts to remove things/people from your life that are not relevant to the plans He has for your life.
• The potter molding the clay is God molding you and shaping you into the person He created you to be for His kingdom.
• The drying process is you becoming more stable in your walk with Christ, not straddling the fence but walking with God. (I'm not saying you will not fall. Romans 3:23)
• The glazing process is God's protection around you. The glaze covers the clay like God covers you from your enemy's attacks.
• The firing process is the trials and tribulations you go through. Some people like to call it "hell on earth" because that's what it feel like sometimes. Like the glaze becomes a liquid and turns into a hard glass like substance, you are broken down and become stronger.

God did not put us on this earth to be clay all of our lives. He created us to be masterpieces made in His image (Genesis 1:26). He wants to mold and shape us into those masterpieces. When you see someone going through, give them the good news that God is doing somethings GREAT in their lives despite what they're going through.

A little encouragement:

When you are going through hell and want to give up on God, say to Him, "Lord, you are the potter and I am the clay. I know that when you are finished with me I will be beautiful in your eyes and you will not have to turn you eyes away from the sin in my life. I thank you for everything I'm going through because it's all part of the process and your perfect will. You told Jeremiah to tell Israel that you wanted to mold them and I know you want to do the same for me. I surrender to you, not my will but thine be done. Have your way in my life and I will be so careful to give you all the glory, honor and praise in the midst the process. I give my life to you in Jesus name."

God doesn't want to see you miserable, He wants to prepare you for something much better. It may take years to get through each stage in the process but be encouraged and stay in the race. When Christ comes back, we will all see that our process was well worth it.

Be blessed until next time...

Sista T

New Found Freedom

"Some of us have been in captivity so long, we don't remember what it feels like to be free." - Minister Keiron Phillips

Something changed in me since the new year set in. I am no longer bound by the things of my past, both old and new. God taught me how to let things go and depend on Him. My prayer recently was that god would remove every pain, past hurt, thought, feeling, and anything else that would hinder me from receiving His love. I asked that He would pour so much love into me so that I had no choice but to give it away and make room for more.

Last week (1/22/12), Pastor Joel Wise of Ft. Lauderdale, FL came to my church and preached a sermon called, "In the Time of Trouble, Who Will Bail Me Out?" Now prior to hearing that powerful message, I had already made up in my mind that I don't care what I'm going through or how I feel, God deserves every bit of praise I can muster up. Pastor Wise's text came from Psalm 27:5-6. In the sermon, he pointed out three things about David that always got him out of trouble.

1. David's confidence: In verse 5 of Psalm 27, David showed his confidence. While everyone around him panicked, David remained calm and said, "For in the midst of trouble He SHALL hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he SHALL set me up upon a rock." Notice David didn't say that God MIGHT do those things but he was confident enough to say that God SHALL do those things.
2. David took corrective action: He corrected the inadequacies in his life. He said to God in Psalm 51:10-11, "Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me." David didn't want to stay in that state of sin and as Pastor Wise said, "He was an instrument of forgiveness and compassion."
3. David never stopped praising: Psalm 27:6 is the perfect example of how David praised God even in times of trouble. David said, "And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy, I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord."

After that point, Pastor Wise asked us to stand up and fine a partner. The exact wording escapes me at the moment but he had us act as though we were removing an old robe and placing a new one on our partners. I went first and I removed one robe and placed on another, then I turned around. When I felt her pull that old robe off, I felt her remove all of the chains, the pain, the guilt, the shame, the baggage I held onto for so long and when she placed that new robe on me, even though there was no tangible robes involved, I felt God's hands and love surround me.It was so overwhelming that I almost fell over. I will never forget that feeling.

Today, Minister Keiron Phillips came in and I could do nothing but praise God for where I came from. The message came from Psalm 126 in its entirety and the title was, "Is This Really Happening?" He began by talking about captives and the captive mentality. Then he spoke the words, "Some of us have been in captivity so long, we don't remember what it feels like to be free." I proudly lifted my hand as if I were saying, "That is so true, it used to be me until God came in and set me free." Soon after that, Min. Phillips said, "Your state of captivity can cause you to think that the place you came from is better than where you are going." Again, I lifted my hand, but this time, I was saying to myself, "I am a living testimony and the devil IS a liar!" It brought me back to when I thought that being in the world was better because I had less problems. WRONG!!!

Sidebar:

That reminded me of a statement made by Bishop Rudolph McKissick Jr. in a sermon. He was saying and I'm paraphrasing. "I don't like to be around people who don't go through anything because it means they're not going anywhere." Whoo boy!!! That got me right there because it reminded me of Psalm 126:5 where it says "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." I can thank God because I am now prepared for some of my blessings because I went through certain things.

Back to the blog:

At one point in Min. Phillips sermon, I had a flashback and almost said to my neighbor, "That's along the lines of what Pastor Wise said last week!" I got excited because he said that we need to put on the garment of praise. He began to prophesy and said that God will be turning things around in 2012. When God starts turning things around we will have a new perspective on things. Then he gave an illustration, he said "When I turn to my right I see Bishop Enlow and Pastor Dariaus. When I turn to the front I see you. When I turn to my left I see the musicians. But when I turn to the back I see something different." I said thank God I'm already in my turning process because what I see now, I didn't see some months ago. I was always thinking in the natural and thinking realistically. Now, I have faith beyond faith where even if people around me said "Teresa, you need to be realistic," I can counter that by saying, "Is there anything too hard for my God??? Absolutely NOT!!! I can do ALL things through Christ which strengthens me and no weapon that is formed against me shall prosper." (Genesis 18:14, Philppians 4:13, Isaiah 54:17)

I encourage everyone who reads this to stop thinking realistically. Just because some things didn't work out in the past, let it go. God has a brighter future for you only if you believe and keep His commandments. You have to have some serious faith these days because the economy and society says that a lot of things people want to do is impossible. Be free in your heart, in your mind, and ask yourself, is there anything too hard for God? Stop living in captivity and bondage, just be free. I put a couple of songs at the bottom that came to mind while I was writing this. Maybe soon you can join me in this new found freedom. Like the song says, "No more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage, I am FREEEEEE yea!"

For those of you who think you can't get through a storm, praise your way through. Thank God for the storm because you have to go through something to get what you want. God will not give you the huge blessing you dreamed about without preparing you first.

You all be blessed, love you much!!!

Sista T

You Deserve All Praise - Madelyn Berry

Freedom - Eddie James

The Storm Is Over Now - Kirk Franklin

Cleanse My Heart

On the night of October 18, 2011, Gospel singer, Jessica Reedy issued a challenge to all of her followers on Twitter. At first she said, I have a challenge, who's in? Immediately, she had people tweeting her back proclaiming that they were "in", not really knowing what they were getting into, myself included. She said, "Starting TOMORROW (10/19/2011), for a WHOLE WEEK, we will be fasting from ALL NEGATIVE COMMENTS, THOUGHTS, ACTIONS, FEELINGS, ALL NEGATIVITY!!!!!!" Reedy then followed that by asking "So who's still in?" She had a lot of people saying that it would be hard but they were going to do it. Then she began to give some pointers on how to get through this fast successfully.

I looked at my life and I evaluated where my negativity comes from and realized that it's in my own home, with my family. We don't always see eye to eye and they don't understand the choices I make in life. My siblings and I live completely different lifestyles even though we were raised by the same people, in the same house, going to the same churches, hearing the same things, I just turned out different. None of us learned how to deal with each others' differences so sometimes when we speak our mouths become weapons of warfare. The Bible does say that death and life are in the power of the tongue(Proverbs 18:21). So,I figured that I would pray as soon as I wake up, in the middle of the night, and when I wake up to start my day. I also pray before I walk back into the house. I started to look for scriptures to encourage me in this fast and while reading The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian, I found a scripture that made me want to speak positive things. The scripture was Proverbs 16:24, "Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." That encouraged me to speak only things that are positive.

After reading that scripture, I started to pray that God would cleanse my mind of all negative things and fill it with those pleasant words, those uplifting, encouraging words. Then, later on that night, I was asked how I was fasting and I mentioned the scripture I had come across and the young lady told me that she didn't know where to find the scriptures, so I mentioned the book and she asked me to share.

I began searching for scriptures on positivity and I noticed that all of the ones I found were dealing with the mouth, my weapon of warfare. Eventually, I came across Matthew 15:11, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, that defileth a man." I understood what the verse was saying but I needed to know much more than that and began to read around the verse. I started at the beginning of the chapter and by the time I got to verse 20, I was so convicted and began to pray. Verses 18-20 reads "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." That thing right there messed me all up. Here I am, praying that God would cleanse my mind of all the negative thoughts that I speak before I think and this stuff is coming from my heart. It made me realize that my heart is ALL jacked up and that bothers me.

For years, I have been trying to find out how to get closer to God and my heart is what's stopping me. My prayer last night was that God would uproot all that negative stuff from my heart, drown it with His love so that it will overflow. The Word says in Ephesians 3:20 "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." If I can imagine my heart overflowing with love, what will God do about that? The thought of that made me happy.

Today is Day 2 of the #NoNegativityFast and my focus today is the cleansing of my heart. So I'll be singing songs such as Renew Me by Martha Munizzi, Create in Me A Clean Heart by Donnie McClurkin, and songs like that. I'll be searching for more scriptures and meditating on the ones that I have come across thus far. I encourage everyone who is doing this fast to think about their lives and where the negativity is coming from. Have a blessed day!!!

Until Next Time...

Sista T

Cry Out

"Osama Bin Laden has been captured and killed..."

That is the highlight of the day, everyone loves our President again, everyone is celebrating. Now, most of my followers on Twitter are Christians, as well as most of my Facebook friends. Why is it that out of at least 600 different people, I have only seen a few people speak about the "other issues" that were put on the back burner because of this one man's death.

Bin Laden is dead, whoop-de-freakin-do. Kids are still dying out on the streets because they don't have anything to do after school or or enough people who cares about their education, so they turn to the streets. Everyone isn't celebrating their deaths, and they sure aren't doing anything to change it. So what are we doing???

I'll tell you what we're doing. We are sitting at home behind a computer, at work behind a computer, walking around with a phone, sitting around with and ipod/ipad, posting statuses everywhere about how this one man is dead and how everyone is so happy that he is dead.

"Justice is now served", some have said. Is it really though??? If that man did not accept Christ as his Savior, there you have another lost soul. Way to go people, you sent another person to hell. If he did accept Christ, you killed him because of the mess he caused. Congratulations, you killed a child of God. The Word says, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." -Romans 12:19 KJV

Christians run around all day on any other occasion saying, "Hold your peace, let the Lord fight your battles." People sing the song, "If I hold my peace, let the Lord fight my battles, victory, victory shall be mine." But today it's a different story, today people are saying, "Osama is dead! I love my President! Justice is served!" What happened to letting God fight our battles??? What happened to giving way to wrath??? Then you sit around wondering why people go around calling American Christians hypocrites and why foreigners call us "Stupid Americans."

How about using that same energy that you used to say all this nonsense to encourage a young person to go to school, get an education, value their life, provide for themselves and eventually a family "the right way"?

CHANGE IN MOOD:

I was listening to Kirk Franklin's new album Hello Fear. The Song "Everyone Hurts" came on and all I could do was think about what is going on. Rather than look for revenge on the man who was behind the killings of many people, why didn't we pray that God will heal the hurt?

It really bothers me to see this reaction to the death of someone. I don't care who he was, no one deserves to be killed, let God handle that.

So tonight, I cry out for the world. I pray for the restoration of people all over the world. I pray for all the people who were effected by any attacks that were caused by Osama Bin Laden. I pray for all those who are celebrating the death of Bin Laden. I pray for those who were hurt by his death. I pray for the kids who were killed as a result of gang violence. I pray for those who are against the education and prosperity of our young people. I pray for the young people, that they are encouraged by someone who can help them succeed in life. I pray for all of the lost souls, the souls that strayed away, the souls that are in between light and dark. I pray for the world, that God would move like a tsunami on the hearts of everyone. I pray that God would touch the hearts of those who lost family members in all of the natural disasters. There are too many natural disasters to name them all, the end times are here. I pray that God's people will move out of their comfort zones and win more souls for Christ. I pray that people will begin to rejoice over the won souls rather than the death of lost ones. I pray that there will be a shift in the economy, so the impoverished will no longer live in poverty. I pray that there will be a shift in violence, that there will be more saved lives than deaths. I pray for all of the missionaries out there making a difference in the lives of people through the Word of God. I pray for those in high positions that they will lead people in the right direction. I pray for the leaders in the church, that they will prepare their people to witness and evangelize everywhere. I pray for the laymen, that they will not only come to church, but walk in their purpose that God has for them. I pray that they will move out of the pews and into the streets and lead souls to Christ. I cry out for every lost soul. God I know you will do these things according to Your perfect will. I pray all these things in the precious name of Christ Jesus. Amen

You all be blessed

Sista T

Love Rant

This is something I wrote in April 2010 and never posted anywhere. It's making me think about some things so I feel a need to post it. I couldn't figure out what to call it so when I saved it, I called it a "Love Rant"... Welp, here it goes...

Love

What is love?

Can I fully experience it?

Why do I desire it?

Can someone tell me?

I feel like I’m on a never-ending search

For something that I should be able to find in a church

But truth be told, sometimes it’s so full of hate

And you have those who will try to debate

That the church is so loving and caring

So explain to me why some “church folk” are hating and airing

The business that isn’t their own,

Say not to gossip, and are the first one on the phone

When someone gets caught out there

Instead of praying, they laugh and stare?

I don’t get it………

Love

What is it?

I’ll tell you what it is

Love is when you give your life for someone you care for

Love is when you forgive

Love is when you can look past someone’s faults and see their heart

Love is when you give to those who don’t have

Love is……something a lot of people don’t understand

We tend to look for love in people, places, objects, etc. How many people actually go to God and say “Lord show me how to love. You showed me You loved me by sending Jesus Christ to die for me. Jesus Christ showed He loved me by dying a brutal death and in the midst of that asked that You would forgive me. I know I can’t show You or anyone else I love them in that manner, so show me what I need to do and I will.” ??? That’s my prayer and I encourage you to make it your own.