NO For the Greater YES

5/27/14

A few weeks ago I was watching a trailer of a movie, like I often do to find and acquire movies for my Christian movie ministry.  I was writing a blog draft as I watched and listened to the trailer.  As I was writing I heard a series words that caused me to stop what I was doing and pay attention to what was being said.  Why?  Because these words gave me a revelation that was well overdue.  It felt as though my heart stopped beating and quickly restarted once the words were heard.

The focus of the movie (true story) is about a young terminally ill woman.  The young woman, her family, and the whole town were praying for her healing.  For a time things looked like their prayers had been answered, she was in remission, doing well and serving GOD to the highest degree in missions work but then there was a sudden change and it became obvious to her and somewhat a denial for others that she was indeed going to die.  Her faith kept her hopeful but as time passed she began to surrender to what she knew was the inevitable.

This synopsis of the movie isn’t what shook me, but when the young lady said these words, “When GOD says NO it’s because there’s a greater YES in the future”  an ah ha moment took over and I began to see things differently.  After hearing these words, I had no choice but to do a life review and I began to replay in my mind the times when GOD said NO and the significance and impact of HIS decision on my life.

Some of the most heartbreaking NO’s in my life were the most damaging to my spirit.  One of the most significant times in my life when GOD said NO was during a time when my whole world began to crumble beneath me due to a great personal loss.  My best friend, her unborn child, one of her other daughters and my 15 month old son were in an auto accident in 1976.  I drove upon my friend’s car on my way home from work and knowing she had my son with her I was frantic.  My son’s heart stopped several times. As I looked around me it was like a scene from a movie their bodies had been thrown from the car and now were bruised and broken and being transported to the closest medical facility.  I was in shock.  This couldn’t be happening.  This had to be a dream or a hellish nightmare but unfortunately it was real.  I found myself in an emergency room in such emotional pain and agony that I felt I wouldn’t survive.  My son’s condition was grave, his tiny skull had been crushed and if he lived he’d be a vegetable.  Surgery was immediately scheduled to release the pressure on his brain.  I began crying out to GOD, begging, pleading with GOD and it was during my last resort, as I was in the process of bargaining with GOD, that my NO came.  My son died within four and a half hours of his arrival to the hospital never regaining consciousness or having the surgery.

This happened a week before Christmas, I was angry at GOD and even went so far to say I hated GOD because HE said NO.  My best friend, her unborn child, one of her daughters and my son were taken from me forever.

During my life review the greater YES was exposed and I found myself seeing the validity of those words which are also true of GOD’s character.  If you think about the characters in the Bible those with the greatest impact for the kingdom were people to whom GOD said NO. 

When we’re going through our life’s journey and GOD says NO, whether it is to the degree of my NO or a lesser degree, we must remember that there is a greater YES in the future for HIS glory.  We can’t see the plans and purposes of GOD, there’s no snapshot for us to see of the greater YES so this too is one of those mysteries about GOD that we aren’t privileged to.  Therefore, by faith we must trust it to be true.  If HE says NO there is a reason unknown to us but known to GOD.

My greater YES came much later as I was silently drafted into a life of marketplace ministry in the workplace.  I was placed on the front lines of the onset of the AIDS outbreak in 1981 and for many years that followed in order for me to show GOD’s love and compassion to those affected.  I started a women's ministry out of my home and that blessed the community in many ways.  I later was called and instructed to host prayer breakfasts bringing competitors in the health care industry together to fellowship and support one another.  In my most recent years I've had the privilege to minister through the prayer and altar ministry at my church and in February, 2014 my territory continued to expand through the starting of my Christian movie outreach ministry.  This blog site is one of the greatest in the YES category because GOD has continuously touched lives, week after week, in 9 countries and the USA since the first post on December 6, 2013.  These YES moments have set me on a path to walk boldly in my destiny, one that I couldn’t ever imagine. 

GOD has used me in so many ways and venues to touch lives on HIS behalf that although my loss and my NO was devastating, over time the results have proven the YES in my past, and the YES in my present have been indeed for the greater YES and the greater good.   The comfort in all of this is knowing that one day, when my work is done, I will see my son and my GOD face to face.

Be encouraged, when GOD says NO lift up your eyes towards GOD and look forward to the greater YES in your future for HIS glory, honor and praise.  There is where you will find the help you need until your YES arrives. 

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

GOD bless.

Transfer of Ownership

5/21/14

The last post I shared with you was on the difference between stewardship and ownership and the weight that we carry when we choose ownership as it is defined in the world over steward-ship as it is defined in GOD’s word.

The one thing that is crystal clear throughout the Bible is that GOD owns it all.  The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” Psalm 24:1 (NIV)  We can either be owners in our own right or stewards in the eyes of GOD and not just stewards, but good stewards.  To be a good steward we must transfer everything we own to GOD.  Our family, finances, time, possessions, gifts, education and anything else we call ours to GOD.  There is evidence that GOD wants us to be stewards which is found in: Luke 16:10-12 (NIV):

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

There’s no gray area here, there’s only two choices; we’re either an owner or a steward.  There is nothing in between.  But for the sake of this blog we’re focusing for a few minutes on stewardship and the transfer of ownership of all we have to GOD. 

So how do we transfer ownership and become stewards?  It’s really simple, we must give up ownership rights and all that it entails.  That means giving up our possessions, anything that we think we own, anything that we call ours or mine, anything that we’ve place that ownership label on and now call it GOD’s.  That means the tangible and intangible possessions including our money, time, skills, talents, gifts, education and anything that we could be blessed with in the future.

GOD’s will is for us to become faithful stewards, take personal responsibility for caring for the things of GOD and the things that GOD has entrusted to and use what has been given faithfully.

As GOD blesses us and we allow HIM to work on our thoughts about stewardship it will become easier to make that transfer of ownership to the creator of all things.  As with everything in life GOD allows us the freedom of choice.  But surrendering it all is the only rational choice.  Let’s choose to handle what HE’s given to us faithfully.  There is nothing more endearing than that of  servants returning our possessions to GOD.  This type of thinking changes our attitudes and as a result of the change in our attitude GOD can begin to release the blessings that HE has saved for us.

If you’re ready to make that transfer write this down :  (don’t limit the possessions to finances alone, there are many other possessions we claim as our own like our time, skills, gifts, education, business, etc.) 

Ownership Transfer

From:_________________

To:  GOD

I hereby transfer to GOD the ownership of all things on this list of possessions: 

(List all your possessions that you’re willing to transfer here)

Signed:___________________________________   Date:__________

Put your signed copy somewhere that you can be reminded of your transfer.

If we allow GOD to take ownership and we allow HIM to guide us in all that we do we will see the power of GOD’s transforming power across all areas of our lives as we never have before.  Don’t take my word for it, take HIS word for it.  You can take HIS word to the bank: Deuteronomy 5:32-33 (NIV) 32 So be careful to do what the LORD your GOD has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.  33 Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your GOD has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. 

GOD BLESS YOU!

Stewardship vs Ownership

5/5/14

My house, my kids, my money, my job, my car: Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. 

As children there is a specific stage of development. At twelve months, a child: Babbles, but with inflection, which sounds like talking and says their first word. At eighteen months, a child: Says 8-10 words others can understand, has a vocabulary of about 5 to 40 words, uses mostly nouns, repeats words heard in conversation and uses “hi,” “bye,” and “please” when reminded. At two years, a child: has a vocabulary of 150 to 300 words, uses 2-3 word sentences, usually in noun-verb combinations, such as "Dog bark," but also using inflection with combinations like "More cookie?" and refers to self by name and uses “me” and “mine” and we carry this mine/ownership mentality throughout our lives.

Everything we see we want.  All the media advertisements are geared to activate our emotions and plant a seed of the desire to own that thing whether it is large or small.  Cars. houses, jewelry, clothes, food, etc.   

The need to own is like an epidemic, renting something or leasing something is no longer enough, we have to have it, make it ours even if it means swindling someone out of it, lying to get it, taking it from someone else to make it ours and some have gone so far as to kill for that it.  The need for ownership rights becomes the drug of choice and a monkey on our back that we can’t easily get rid of.  The world has impressed in our minds that there is power and status in ownership.  We take pride when we tell someone about the house we just bought or the car we are buying. No one ever brags about renting anything because renting doesn’t carry any significant status symbol.  The name of the game of life in this world is keeping up with the Jones’, the Smiths’ and even the Kardashians. (lol)  This is what compels us to want more and, get more regardless of the consequences.  

Possession (ownership) is about owning something, calling it ours and the drive to make it ours sets us on a path of destruction, stewardship is the safest way and the only way to peace of mind.  Rent to own, lease to own, lease with option to buy are all phrases we’re familiar with and these options lead right back to that path of destruction IF THE PERSON IS OWNING IN TERMS OF THE WORLD’S DEFINITION.  

The best car, house, clothes, jewelry, gourmet foods, lavish living, and exotic travel breeds ownership rights and this ownership comes with a high price when stewardship isn’t the focus of what we are given and are blessed with.  Those fancy cars, houses, jewelry and money may be in our possession but in essence GOD owns it all.  1 Chronicles 29: 11 says “Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is YOURS."  Not some things are GOD’s but it says EVERYTHING IS HIS. We never really own anything here on earth in this life no matter how we get it or how long we have it and the main proof of evidence is that we can’t take it with us.

There is nothing wrong with owning things when we look at it with spiritual insight.   GOD entrusts us with HIS things, HIS children that we so proudly call our sons and daughters, our spouse and our possessions, all on loan and entrusted to us by GOD.  We can possess things and still not own them.  All we have in our possession is what GOD has freely given to us, our time, our talents, our gifts, and our financial resources, etc. and is not ours to take ownership over.  Psalms 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”

When we truly recognize our stewardship rights in lieu of ownership rights and acknowledge that GOD owns everything and that every good thing and every blessing comes from HIM alone it becomes easier to accept the stewardship role.

Stewardship links us to GOD; it is a partnership with GOD. I Corinthians 3:9 says:  ^"For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building."   Our relationship with GOD as our FATHER establishes our role as GOD’s co-workers, GOD’s field, and GOD’S BUILDING. As stewards we are to be concerned about managing the people and things that HE has entrusted to us.  Everything we have has been obtained through the skills, gifts, wisdom, talents and dreams and visions that GOD has given us.  Regardless of the popular belief that successful, well off or well to do individuals are SELF MADE.  There’s no such thing as a self-made man, woman or millionaire.  We can’t fool ourselves into believing that GOD had nothing to do with any of our success or wealth. 

Since GOD is the owner of all things and HE entrusts us to manage what HE has loaned to us then HE will change our thoughts and unhealthy attitudes about ownership and spending if we are willing. Remember we still have free will even in this area.   Anxiety and fear for most people is focused on finances and the future.   If we truly take on a steward mentality, manage HIS possessions/property in a manner that will please GOD, take full responsibility for our stewardship role, HE will be faithful to keep HIS promise of meeting our need and maybe even give us some of our wants.  Philippians 4:19 says: And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  Now let's say “GOD IS IN CONTROL” and mean it!  The key to stewardship is to transfer all that we do, all that we have or ever will have to HIM.  But before this transfer can take place a heart to heart conversation must take place between us AND GOD.  When we are in constant communication with someone it makes it easier to give something to someone you have a relationship with, trust and are in communication with.  This is where faith becomes crucial.

So, do you own what you have?  Or are you entrusted with what you have?  Are you a faithful steward? Or a world class owner?  In the next blog post it will be broken down on how transferring ownership to GOD enables us to become faithful stewards but it will require faith and action on our part.  I personally want to become a better steward and I'm still a work in progress and it's worth it. More on how to make the transfer next time.  

GOD BLESS