Monday, January 25, 2010
Praise the Lord, Chosen Women! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me; bless His holy name! That is my soul's cry this morning -- I simply bless Him for being so all important in my life. I went with some very precious couples this weekend to see the film Book of Eli. It got mixed reviews, but for this group of saved individuals it was awe-inspiring. I have not been able to shake the image of the main character whose conviction and commitment to God and the Word shook me to my core and made me re-evaluate my own conviction. Then, as if that reminder were not enough my husband preached "Obsessed" on Sunday. Simply put, he told us of how Jesus, after giving all to us, is looking for lovers who will become obsessed with Him to the point of stalking! He is looking for those who will desire Him more than our necessary food; who will seek to be with Him wherever He may be found; who will talk about Him relentlessly like a new teenage crush or our deepest puppy love; who will put nothing before our times together AND thoughtfully seek for the next time to talk and be together . . . literally obsessed with Him. I will not soon forget that Word. I think it has literally changed the whole game for me. I told him it was one of the most convicting and challenging messages I have ever heard. I was the videographer for Sunday but I think only about 3 minutes actually got taped -- I was too focused on taking every Word into my own spirit. I challenge you to take some time this week to re-evaluate your relationship with the Lord. Are you an obsessed lover? Be real with yourself. I told Pastor, "Obsessed saints would simply never miss an opportunity to fellowship; to commune; to study; to worship nor to obey Him." They would not put anything before Him. Some of us are obsessed, but not with God. Our obsessions lie with our children; our mate; finding a mate; our job; our television; our stomach; our friends; the mall; travel; pampering; nursing old hurts and wounds; exercise; our looks; vengeance against those that hurt us; anger; laziness; being trendy and in style; texting and talking -- but too few hold Jesus Christ of Nazareth as our obsession. Get real with you and get your priorities straight if they are not. We do not want Jesus to make the Rev. 2:4 declaration to us -- that He has against us that we have left our first love. Make sure that your relationship with Him remains the greatest of all things in your life! Now, that is just MY Monday exhortation to you. If you read last week you know that we had a wonderful Word from Guest Blogger Sis. Melissa Fykes on the topic of prayer. God must truly be dealing in that arena because I had a message forwarded from my cousin Min. Vernon Tubbs II of Houston, Texas who sends out a Daily Word. His message continues on the subject of prayer and I think it is very important for me to share with you. Have a wonderful week in Him! In Service for the Master, Evangelist Lisa Y. Mitchell _________________________________________________________________ HE SHALL CALL UPON ME, AND I WILL ANSWER. PSALM 91:15 NKJV Hindrances to Answered Prayer When a nightclub opened on Main Street, a church which was only a few blocks away organized a 24-hour prayer vigil. They asked God to burn the club down. Within a week lightning struck and it burned to the ground. The owner sued the church, which denied responsibility. After hearing arguments from both sides the judge said, "It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the nightclub owner believes in prayer, while the church doesn't." The first hindrance to answered prayer is - prayerlessness. Sounds simple, but our prayers are not answered when we don't pray. Saying we believe in prayer is not the same as praying. James writes: "You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:3 NKJV). We must take the time to ask God for what we want and need. Sometimes we process situations in our minds, or talk about them with our friends, or wish, or hope, but we don't pray. Thinking, wishing, hoping, and talking with others is not prayer; only prayer is prayer! When we have a need or a situation that concerns us, we're only praying when we talk to God about it. God is waiting for us to make requests of Him in prayer. He never gets tired of us coming to Him! He is able, willing, and ready to act on our behalf, but only if we pray. Jesus said: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV). Have an awesome week!
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Praise the Lord, Chosen Women!
Blessed Monday to YOU! Well, I promised you some new things this year -- and January 2010 has marked our new beginning! As you know we are now posting a weekly blog! You asked for more from your Chosen Women website, and it has been our honor to answer that request. We had a couple of wonderful Guest Bloggers minister last year. They blessed us with their anointed, inspiring and challenging messages. This year we are hosting more messages from our network of Chosen Women. This year's first Guest Blogger is a wonderful woman of God whom God brought into my life last year. Sis. Melissa Fykes is one of the Father's most elect daughters and a precious jewel to the body. Sis. Fykes' genuine spirit is so refreshing in this age when so many people are not authentic. But do not let her gentle spirit fool you -- the girl has a no holds barred anointing and stands flat-footed and speaks what thus saith the Lord. As me how I know! (smile) I am so happy to number Sis. Fykes among my friends, and I am very honored to have her share this on time message with us -- God's Chosen Women! In Service for the Master, Evangelist Lisa Y. Mitchell _________________________ (Habakkuk 2:2) ~ Have you ever bought a dress or suit that had your size on the label, but wasn't quite the right size? You took the suit or dress to get altered to fit your body, then you realized that if you had gone to a tailor first they could have created the same item especially for you? This is what God has done and is doing for His people today! He is telling us "ask and ye shall receive." We must realize that many of our blessings are not just going to come to us, but we must take action in the midst of expectancy! I remember as a child asking my parents for things and being specific in doing so. How much more can God make a specific thing come to pass? Need proof? Read Luke 11:13 and Matthew 7:11! Believe it, Visualize It, Act On It, then Recieve it! There is a process of Faith! Learn to trust God's Word and try it for yourself. His recipes work and result into the same sweet, tasteful, and delicious outcome every single time! Just follow the formula! (Psalms 34:8) While we are living in the "Year of Promise" in 2010, I encourage you to write the vision and make it plain! Ask God the specifics of your request and EXPECT it to come forth. Sis. Fykes is a faithful member of Greater Works Apostolic Outreach Ministries and is married to Elder Forrest Fykes. Praise the Lord, Chosen Women!
Blessed Monday to YOU! I know that many of us are in or preparing to go into New Year consecrations. I pray that you be strengthened to endure. It is fasting time, saints! God is ready to do great exploits amongst His people. I saw a great demonstration yesterday, and God said to me, "This is because of the fast!" God is faithful to His Word -- some things are not going to move until and unless we fast and pray! (Matt.17:21) Today's message of encouragement came to me from a study I recently did on sin. I came across this quote in a study tool, "Adam's sin (Gen. 3:1-6) consisted in his yielding to the assaults of temptation and eating the forbidden fruit. It involved in it, (1) the sin of unbelief, virtually making God a liar; and (2) the guilt of disobedience to a positive command. By this sin he became an apostate from God, a rebel in arms against his Creator. He lost the favor of God and communion with him; his whole nature became depraved, and he incurred the penalty involved in the covenant of works." As I read and re-read this paragraph what was illuminated to me was a single word -- YIELDING. I thought, "Yielding is what opened the door to all the suffering of mankind!" So, as is my custom, that sent me on a word search! So much revelation comes from simple definitions. Words have the power to heal and to deliver. (Psalm 107:20) I found that YIELD means -- to produce something; to give something a result; to give a profit; to not be firm or solid; to stop resisting; to surrender; to pass something on to somebody! My Lord, I can do a whole message on YIELD! As I have said many times, temptation is not sin. Sin is produced through yielding to temptation. Once we yield to temptation, we must understand that our yielding is going to produce something. The unfortunate thing is that the resulting product is not of benefit to the Lord's side. When we yield to sin it is as though we just made a beautiful layup for the enemy and sunk a 2 pointer for him. Yielding to sin gives profit to the enemy! I refuse to play on the enemy's team! When I decide to stop being firm and solid on sin I have just then settled into lukewarmness and am on my way to being vomited out of the mouth of the Lord. Saints, yielding means we have stopped resisting and are now surrendering to the apathetic, limp-wristed, frightened, sub-standard, no standard, weak Christianity that some still have the audacity to label as holiness. I will not be party to this! I am going to heed Joshua 1:7, "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest." Yielding will not cause us to prosper -- yielding gives way to forbidden fruit and destiny lost. I choose to sware to my own hurt and keep standing. What about you? In Service for the Master, Evangelist Lisa Y. Mitchell Praise the Lord, Chosen Women!
Well, this is our first Monday Blog. Today was my first day back to work after some wonderful down time with my family. As said before, I am believing God for His richest and His best for all of us this New Year. A day or so ago my husband said, "If you say God is going to do such-and-such in 2010 ONE MORE TIME . . . !" HAHAHA That let's you know how much I have been proclaiming the Word of God and exercising my faith through positive confession of what I believe and trust God to do. I'm speaking it so much I'm starting to get on the nerves of one of the most faith-filled people that I know! I know that he was just teasing me -- but I do expect even greater things this year! I promise that each Monday is not going to be a recap of my church's Sunday's Message -- but it is this week! I was just that impacted by what I heard. Yesterday our pastor preached on the subject "You're It!" The text was taken from Lamentations 3:24-26. It reads, "the LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD." Pastor recounted the time in his youth when he would play tag with his siblings and cousins at the school property next to their home. They would hop the fence and play for hours. He said that one of his brother was quite young at the time and when it would be that brother's turn to be "it" that proved difficult. It was hard for this younger brother to find the other boys when they hid. They were older and able to allude him very well. Pastor said that sometimes they would be hiding so long that they would begin coming out and calling to one another to find that this youngest brother could not be find. Without fail as they would return to the house tired from waiting to be found they would find the one who was supposed to be seeking after them upstairs, playing a video game saying, "I got tired of looking for you!" Pastor turned that story of tag with a group who loved each other into a story of a Lord who chased after us with great fervor, great patience and great desire. He spoke of how God waited patiently for us. How He came into bad situation and bad places pursuing us and wooing us to Him. He sought us with a purpose to make us His own after paying such a great price to ransom our souls. He went on to say that now that we have been found and adopted into a loving relationship with the Father, Jesus has said, "Tag! You're It!" After pursuing us with everything He now looks for us to pursue with with all of our strength, all of our soul, all of our being. He is looking for a people like Jeremiah that would say that the Lord is my portion and to seek and desire Him more than our necessary food. But instead, all too often, He finds a lukewarm people that place the pursuit of the Lord behind other things like television, work, children, shopping, telephone, computer -- anything but seeking the face of the Lord! What a sobering and convicting Word. We were informed that God is looking for those that would seek Him. He talked about how they played tag where once you were tagged the person could not tag you back right away -- so after being tagged there was usually a time of talking and fellowship. He said that so many are missing that great fellowship with the Lord because you will not seek and pursue Him. It's really not about the pursuit -- it's about the fellowship once you are in His presence! But you have got to seek Him continually to stay into this place of fellowship and friendship with the Lord. Today in recounting some of that message to you I simply say this -- You're It! In Service for the Master, Evangelist Lisa Y. Mitchell | Chosen Women Founder
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