Day 6 - Habits

After pouring my Ezequiel 4:9 Cereal, (yes, that is actually the name of the cereal, purchased at my local supermarket, one of the very few that qualifies for this fast, it tastes somewhat like grape nuts, and I think it's growing on me), I inadvertantly reached for the gallon of milk. As I went to pour, I gasped, put the cover back on, returned the gallon to the fridge, and grabbed my unsweetened almond milk. (After Sunday's slip up with 4 candy corns, where I completely forgot about the no sugar allowed until after they were consumed, I need to be paying more attention to what I am doing!)

Habits are hard to change. Maybe it's because after so long of repeating the same thing, we have convinced our mind it's the right way. Maybe it's because we have never seen it done any other way. Or maybe, we are just stubborn. Our life is really a compilation of habits, some good, some not so good. The way we eat, sleep, get dressed, brush our teeth, even the way we deal with our relationships. All habits. When Luis and I were first married, we had a clash of habits, and boy was it messy! When the things I really admired about Luis prior to marriage began to take up mutual residence after marriage, they somehow lost their glamour and glitter. I'm sure he would say the same, and maybe more.  When we both finally decided that change was necessary, and we were determined that nothing and no one was going to tear us apart, we had a life-changing shift in our mindsets and habits. It didn't happen all of a sudden, but it was a process that still, even after fifteen years of marriage, continues to evolve. Now, when I look at the picture in my mind's eye of my life, Luis is right there with me. That wasn't always the case. But each day, we both choose to see the other in our life's picture. We have to purposely set our minds on what is right. The Bible says in Proverbs 23:7, "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is". Consequently the first thing I have to get in submission to God and His purpose and plan for my life is my mind. So, for my habits to change for the better, I must to first change the mental picture that I study daily. I have to start seeing myself in that new, good habit, before my will and emotions can follow. Thankfully, it is not left up to me and my own feeble will-power to do so. We have the Holy Spirit, living on the inside of us, who continually fills us if we ask, and empowers us to change. Habits can be broken in our own strength if given enough consistancy and time. Habits that are brought into the submission of the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us can be changed much quicker. Such good news for a weakling like me...I can find my strength in the One who is all powerful!

Day 5 - Alert

[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come. Ephesians 1:17-21 (AMP)

I made a comment to Luis last night about how clear my mind seemed after only 4 short days of this fast and meditating on the Lord and His word. I feel like my mind is alert, and sharp.  I feel great physically...strong and energetic...but the real difference is how I feel inside my spirit. Like everything has been heightened. When I read my Bible, the words feel like they pierce me greater than before. Maybe it's because I have a greater expectation for what the Lord is doing and will do. After all, expectation keeps our eyes focused and our ears tuned.  Whatever the explanation, I like the way I feel!

This scripture was in my reading today. I have been using the reading plan at Bible Gateway  for some time now. I love it because I can choose the version and even switch the language if I want. I usually read in the Amplified version as it does just what the name implies. In particular, my eyes caught the part of scripture that says,

 "He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him."

How amazing is it that? We, as mortal men and women, can have spiritual insight to the mysteries and secrets of God. It's like a secret club with private access to God himself. How? Reading on, it says,

"By having the eyes of our heart flooded with light."

Flooded. Not just a flicker or a spark, but FLOODED with light. Being continually filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Word is how the eyes of our heart can be flooded with the light. Light that disperses all darkness and reveals all truth to us. When the eyes of our heart are flooded with light, darkness has no place to hide.

Then, the scripture goes on to give three results to having our hearts flooded with light.

1. You can know and understand the hope to which He has called you.
2. You can know how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints.
3. [So that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe.

I love that God invites us to enter in to a deeper dimension with Him, but he doesn't just throw it out there. There is a cost...a price to pay. He desires us to seek Him and pursue Him daily. The more we seek Him, the more He reveals Himself to us, which makes us even more excited to seek Him at a deeper level. I am convinced that God is so awesome and powerful, so great that no matter how much we seek Him, there is no limit to how much we can know Him. And, if we continue to seek Him we will know Him more and more every day until He returns again.

Thank you, Lord, for revealing yourself to us as we seek you. Thank you for making us alert as we flood the eyes of our heart with your Spirit and your Word. Thank you for giving us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so we can continue to know you deeper each day. 

Day 4-Heart Condition

"Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience. Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life." Galatians 6:1-8 (The Message)

Not only have we been given a physical heart that we must take care of, we have also been given a spiritual heart that requires just as much, if not more daily scrutiny and care. This fast, along with my walking, is oh so good for my heart in both realms. So many times in scripture God reminds us how he is much more interested in the condition of our spiritual heart than anything else. When the prophet Samuel arrived at Jesse's house, seeking to anoint the new king of Israel, he was reminded by God that the chosen one wasn't going to be who everyone would obviously pick by judging outward appearance. Time after time, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for having a holy, righteous outward appearance, yet filthy, rotten, judgemental hearts.

Have you ever tried to drive straight while being distracted by something behind you? Where ever your eyes lead, the rest of you will follow. It's impossible to stay on our own path if our focus is on another. We all have been guilty of this at one time of another, but if we truly grab hold of this idea of staying focused on God and His path for us, what freedom!! It is so easy for us to take our eyes off of our own life, our goals, and our divine path, and compare our life to that of someone else. I am convinced that all the devil needs to do to render us ineffective is to just distracts us from our purpose and plan of God for our life. He doesn't have to make us fall into deep sin or renounce God, but just get us off course ever so slightly, and take our eye off the prize, which is running the race that God has set before for us!

I want my physical heart to become strong! Even more so, I want my spiritual heart to beat with passion and zeal for all that God has planned for my life, whatever that might be. My life will not look like anyone else's life. No one else will be as excited about my life and my purpose than me. The purpose and plan God has for my life can not be fulfilled by anyone else but me, and no one else's life will ever satisfy me more than my own. That, my friend, is real freedom!

I mailed in my contract to the Just Between Us editor today. I am not sure when my article, Slivers, will be published, but they will let me know. It is a Christian women's magazine that is published quarterly, so it could be a while. Even so, I am excited to have my first piece actually published in a magazine!

Day 3-Very Strange

OK, last night I had a really unusual dream-where I was talking an extended family member, and I was totally naked and didn't realize it until much later (in dream time). Then, he relayed a word from God from some book of the Bible, chapter 4, verse 17. I know, very weird. But then I got to thinking about nakedness in the Bible. Who was naked? Adam and Eve before they sinned. "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not embarrassed or ashamed in each other's presence." Genesis 2:25. So I think the nakedness was more of a spiritual state rather than a physical one. (Let's hope, anyway! LOL) It was the way God had made then and intended for them to be, completely covered by his protection and provision, rather than anything of physical means. So I looked up all the 4:17 passages in the Bible this morning, and it was very interesting. There are many books of the Bible that don't even have a 4:17, so that narrowed it down a lot. Here are some of the verses:

Genesis 4:17 And Cain's wife [one of Adam's offspring] became pregnant and bore Enoch; and Cain built a [a]city and named it after his son Enoch.

Out of something bad (Cain was the one who killed his brother Abel), a promise arose (Enoch was a descendant of Noah, part of the lineage of Christ.)

Exodus 4:17 "And you shall take this rod in your hand with which you shall work the signs [that prove I sent you]." The calling of Moses, with signs and wonders.

Leviticus 4:17 "And shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, before the veil [which screens the ark of the covenant]."

Making atonement for sins in the place closest to the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God in the Old Testament.

Joshua 4:17 "So Joshua commanded the priests, Come up out of the Jordan."

The last part of the second parting of the Red Sea, when the priests came up on dry land, carrying the ark of the covenant (where the presence of God dwelt in Joshua's time), before the waters came back together.

Ruth 4:17, "And her neighbor women gave him a name, saying, A son is born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David [the ancestor of Jesus Christ]."

2 Kings 4:17, "But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season the following year, as Elisha had said to her."

Promised child born to a barren woman, just as God had said.

2 Chronicles 4:17, "In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah."

Earthen vessels made for the temple of God.

Nehemiah 4:17, "Those who built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves so that everyone worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other hand,"

Rebuilding the broken walls of Jerusalem, which is symbolic of the community of God's people.

Esther 4:17, "So Mordecai went away and did all that Esther had commanded him."

Obedience. This is what Esther told him to do in verse 16. "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast for me; and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I also and my maids will fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."

Daniel 4:17, "This sentence is by the decree of the [heavenly] watchers and the decision is by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High [God] rules the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whomever He will and sets over it the humblest and lowliest of men."

Matthew 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, [a]crying out, Repent ([b]change your mind for the better, heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

After Jesus was victorious over the temptations by the devil, preaching the gospel to everyone.

Luke 4:17, "And there was handed to Him [the roll of] the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened (unrolled) the book and found the place where it was written,
18The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity],19To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day [l]when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound."

Romans 4:17, "As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed."

1 Corinthians 4:17, "For this very cause I sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord, who will recall to your minds my methods of proceeding and course of conduct and way of life in Christ, such as I teach everywhere in each of the churches."

2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!]"

Philippians 4:17,"Not that I seek or am eager for [your] gift, but I do seek and am eager for the fruit which increases to your credit [the harvest of blessing that is accumulating to your account]."

Colossians 4:17, "And say to Archippus, See that you discharge carefully [the duties of] the ministry and fulfill the stewardship which you have received in the Lord."

2 Timothy 4:17, "But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the [Gospel] message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was delivered out of the jaws of the lion."

1 John 4:17, "In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we in this world."


Wow, that's quite a list. The overwhelming feeling I got from all these verses was the promise of God fulfilled, the presence of God with His people, and divine protection, provision, and miracles. Pretty awesome. I started off searching for the one passage that the Lord might have wanted to show me. Instead I found a message repeated over and over again. No wonder the Lord says that His Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. Simply amazing! Day 3 has officially begun...and it's only 10:00am. Can't wait to see what this day holds!

On a lighter note, Joshua had a dream last night that I had another baby, a girl, named Tricia, and she ran all the way home from the hospital after she was born. Too funny!

Day 2-Stay Focused

In the last month, I have begun to dream again. I dream almost every night. I went for a long period of time without dreams, and not sleeping very well. Since I have begun walking and praying regularly and in the Word, it's as though something has awoken on the inside of me. I received a prophecy years ago that God was going to purify the area of my imagination and I would begin to see things in parables and dreams and even see into the realm of darkness know what to do to fight against it. For those of you who have read my blog since the beginning (2008), it seems as though the Lord has already started to teach me things in ways that resemble parables. I am believing that the Lord is going to continue to purify my mind so that I can see Him and hear Him more clearly through this fast and continued time in His presence and His Word.


My challenge is to stay focused. Not on what I can and can't eat, but on the Lord and what he desires from me. Many times, during a fast, I get preoccupied with the logistics of the fast itself, rather than taking that time to meditate on the Lord. My prayer today is that I keep my eye on the prize; a closer, deeper relationship with the Lord through His Holy Spirit.

Day 1-Discerning God's Voice

This is the first of many entries on a new journey that I am taking. I have such great expectation for what the Lord is going to do that I don't want to forget any of it. For the past month, I have been consistantly walking and praying every morning. Then I come home and get into the Word. It is definitely the most consistant I have ever been in these areas of my entire ever. I told Luis that I am becoming addicted to spending time with God. I actually crave it like a food. I have felt that something amazing was on the verge of happening...I have been experiencing an excitement in my spirit equal to the excitement I felt as a child at Christmastime.

Then, this morning when I woke up, the Lord spoke to me and said "40 day Daniel fast, and I will heal you." Sometimes I struggle with deciphering whether I am hearing God's voice or just my own, but today, I have no doubt. For one thing, I would never tell myself to fast! Secondly, the devil is never going to tell me to do something that draws me closer to the Lord. So, I am taking this instruction and running with it, full force ahead! I believe God is really going to do something wonderful, and I have no idea what it is. What He said is vague enough that I'm not sure if it is a physical healing, emotional, spiritual...maybe all of them! I don't know, but I do know that whenever God heals us, it's an awesome thing! So I researched the Daniel fast online and in my Bible, and stocked up on some food items that will help me stay the course. I do not want to cheat one iota...because I don't want to miss anything God has for me. I bought strange food like hummus, and stocked up on fresh and frozen veggies and fresh fruit. I will be drinking only water, and am cutting out all meat, bread, sweets. Basically I'm able to have fruit, vegetables, nuts and water. Sounds strict and challenging, but I have great motivation, so I know I can do it with the strength of the Holy Spirit. I will try to journal each day of the 40 days, and share what I learn along the way. Hope you read along with me and maybe something I share ministers to your heart as well. If you are interested in reading where this fast came from, you can read about it here, in Daniel 1 and also here in Daniel 10.

After three days of rain and gray clouds, I found my silver lining...

God's Timing

I am always amazed how perfect God's timing is. He knows exactly what we need, right when we need it. When I was pregnant with Lily, I was so sad that my midwife from Arizona was more than 2000 miles away. She had been such a support to me all through my pregnancy with Jonathan and I just thought I would never find anyone who compared to Edie. Then a friend told me about a midwifery office in Bamberg, S.C., where we met Anna.

Instantly, I felt at ease, and knew that the Lord had everything in order. She had such a sweet spirit, calm voice, and cheerfulness about her. She was never annoyed with Josh, who would love on her, and look over her shoulder as she charted each visit. (He was definitely smitten with Miss Anna!). She quickly picked up on Jonathan's insecurities about losing his "baby of the family" status. She knew my fears of having a baby in my late thirties, and had a way of calming them, even though the risk never actually changed. She was such an encouragement through the entire 9 months.

When it came time for my little Lily to make her grand entrance, Luis, Anna, the nurse and I spent the time (between contractions) talking about the Lord, and all the great things He has done in each of our lives. There was a peace in that birthing room like I had never experienced in my other births. Even as the pain intensified, and the contractions were more frequent, there was a sweet spirit of the Lord that just lingered. It was a beautiful day for so many reasons, and a special friendship formed between Anna and my family.

When I found out that Anna would be leaving the Bamberg practice, I figured that I probably wouldn't see her again, and that she was just a special gift for a season in my life. Little did I know that Anna was originally from Belton, S.C., and that the Lord would moved us, a year later, to that very same town...and what I thought was an end of a beautiful season, in actuality, was only the beginning of a new one.

We love you dearly Anna. You are a special part of our family!

Lily Turns Two

She was all shy when we sang to her.

It wore off quickly...

Hugs for her monkey from Papa!

Kisses for the birthday girl!

Soccer has begun!

The biggest little soccer fan!

A Word given on the Tenth Anniversary of 9-11-01

This is a word that was spoken at my church on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, by Apostle Ron Carpenter Jr. To watch the service in it's entirety visit http://www.rwoc.org/ .

There is no way you can turn on a TV or radio and not know what today represents and I want to speak to that for a moment. My staff asked me this week and said, “Pastor, what do you want to do? A slide presentation? A video?” And I said I don’t want to do that because I don’t want to take the service down because I believe with Jesus there are no sad endings. I believe with Jesus there is something redemptive in everything. That’s the way I view my life. I had a lot of real crappy stuff I’ve gone through in life, but when you serve the God I serve, there is something redemptive in everything. God will redeem something in every part of your life. Everything. And so I asked the Lord about what I was supposed to do. I wanted to tell you what I felt like God would have us to do. I always believed that America has been spared not because it is a righteous nation. I believe America has been spared because it has a righteous remnant. And there is a theology in the Bible that I sure don’t have time to go through and talk about and prove to you, but it’s “remnant theology”. It’s the way God has always worked. There is no nation where everyone is righteous, but God has always said if there is a remnant in that nation…in fact God told Lot if you can go into Sodom and G and just find me a handful. I don’t mean a whole section of town, he said if you can just find me a handful, I‘ll spare the whole place. The problem was, Lot couldn’t find any. He couldn’t find anybody. And America has it’s share of issues but there is a righteous remnant. You are in here this morning because you have a God you believe in and you believe in his ways and you believe in his righteousness. You believe you are His righteousness. And I want to tell you what I believe happened at 9-11. I am not a sociologist, I’m not an economist , I’m not a psychiatrist or a psychologist, I don’t have data and I don‘t have facts so I am not going to pretend to know something I don‘t. But I am going to tell you my view on it. I don’t believe we started having recession problems in 07 and 08 or whenever year they record it. I believe it stretches all the way back to 9-11 because I believe that was the day America was injected with a huge dose of fear. I believe right now we have a fear problem in America. A vulnerability was exposed. We have never been attacked like we have been attacked there before and if you see the look on the people faces who were a part of it and the people who watched it and the people who went through it you didn’t see a look of sadness, you saw a look of terror, you saw a look of fear. That fear has not subsided and what is wrong with our economy is not a money problem it’s a fear problem. America has never been in a place where it had to make decisions that were fear based. America is known for it’s boldness. America is known for it’s faith. America is known for it’s risk taking. America was born out of boldness. The fact that America was discovered-where there were people that went off on wooden boats and sailed across an ocean and said I believe there is something over there. That’s how this country came to be. We were not born out of a people who were afraid. We were not born out of a people who were fearful we were born of a people who were brave. On 9-11 we got slapped with a dose of fear and when a spirit is injected into a country through an open door, then any decision that is made based out of fear has no ability to benefit you. Fear is your enemy. Fear is when false things appear real. Fear is faith in reverse. Fear is confidence in a negative outcome. Fear is confident the business ain’t gonna work, confident you’re not gonna get the job. Confident you’re gonna lose your investment. Confident you’re not going to be able to send your kids to school. Confident that you’re gonna lose your retirement, confident you’re not gonna be able to sell your house. That is the confidence in the negative. It is the reversal of faith. Faith is believing God for His desired outcome. Fear is believing that the negative outcome will manifest and America has now become a place where people live in negative outcomes. We have a fear problem. We do not have a money problem in America. Aliens did not come down and suck all the dollar bills out of America. There’s no less money than there once was. But what happened? Fear has stopped the current. We call money currency. Currency makes an economy work when it flows it has to have a current. They can have the biggest power plant, they can have a nuclear plant right next to your house but if there is not a current to your house you can’t put toast in the toaster.. They call it currency because it has to flow to benefit an economy. What happens is when fear is injected, currency doesn’t flow, it stops. People don’t risk, people don’t hire, people don’t expand, they don’t do anything. They stop. Why? Because fear is paralyzing. Are you all hearing me today? Are you hearing your preacher? Now, as I approached this I know we have different levels of voting bases in here They say that the Bush administration couldn’t handle the money so we got a new one and now people are mad and they’re saying they can’t handle the money. Of Democrats, Republicans or Independents, nobody can fix fear. Fear is a spirit. You can’t vote on a spirit in the Senate. You can’t reason with a spirit, you can’t talk to a spirit, you can’t vote on a spirit. You break a spirit and cast it out. That’s the way you get rid of a spirit. OK? Now Paul has lived his life, he has finished his course. He’s kept the faith. He kept the faith-he didn’t get into fear, he kept his faith. The guy’s locked up, The guy’s put in prison, the guys shipwrecked the guy’s been through everything, he says I kept the faith the whole time. That’s when you know you keep faith. You don’t know if you keep faith in good times. Can everything become a wreck and you still got your faith? Hallelujah. He said I kept the faith and he’s now beginning to impart before he departs. He wants to take what’s in him and leave it with a young man named Timothy, who is a young Pastor at a church in Ephesus where we get the book of Ephesians. And right in the first chapter right off the bat, let me tell you what he tells Timothy. This is one Pastor who is about to die talking to another pastor who is up and coming and the first thing he wants to address is fear. When God went to Joshua and said you’re it, do you know the first thing He told him? He said Don’t be afraid. Be bold. Be of good courage. Don’t be afraid. Here’s Timothy. He says “therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind“. You can’t make good decisions when you are scared out of your mind. You’ve been given a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind. You have not been given a spirit that makes decisions out of a fearful mind. You’ve been given a sound mind. When nobody else thinks clearly, you ought to be able to think clearly. I don’t know if folk are hearing me or not-I am confronting a spirit today. He says “stir up the gift …for God has not given us a spirit of fear”. That’s odd that those two verses are together. Stir up the gifts that are on the inside of you…because you have not been given a spirit of fear. When fear arises, it shuts the giftings of men and woman down. He says ‘you go back and get your sound mind and that stuff that is on the inside of you, you stir it up again!’ He said ‘come out of your fear and understand God gave you POWER!’ And he said ‘you’ve got powerful gifts on the inside of you. Stir them up again and make them work Don’t you sit back paralyzed by your fear and do nothing and watch life pass you by.’ This is what the Lord told me today. He didn’t tell me to show you a slide show, or have something that would make everybody cry. I want you to stand all over this building and I want you to grab the hand of a neighbor, because this is what the Lord instructed me to do with those that I influence today. I don’t know what they are going to do everywhere else, but this is the folk that I influence. He said “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways” he said “then”- how many know what “then” means? Then means what I am about to say hinges on everything I just said. In other words he said you have to humble yourself , you’ve got to pray, He said you’ve got to seek His face and you’ve got to turn from all that crazy stuff you’re doing. He said you got to quit doing all that crazy mess. You’ve got to turn from your wicked ways and you’ve got to act like you got some sense. He said if you do these things ‘THEN, THEN will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins‘…He said ‘if MY PEOPLE will pray I’ll forgive the sins of the whole nation‘. Woo--hallelujah! God said “I’ll wipe away the reproach of the entire nation if MY PEOPLE will get together and say Lord we’ve sinned against you. I will heal their land“. We need healing in our land. I can’t imagine what the people went through that day but you know what? I don’t want to cry no more. I want to fix it. And I want to show the door the thing that entered the door on 9-11. Because the door we let it in we can open it and kick it right back out. We live in a country that is scared, and it’s afraid, and that’s a spirit and it has to be dealt with like a spirit in the name of Jesus, by the power of His blood, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and I am asking you not to be silent, you may say well I’m not a loud person, I’m an introvert, I’m not a type A personality…I’m not asking any of that. I am asking that you not stand there and listen to me pray. If I heard the word of God right today, He could take a few folk in Greenville, SC and heal a state. Heal a region. Impact maybe the whole nation out of something that came floating out of one building and touch heaven today. And I want you to open your mouth out loud because you participate in whatever you are connected with. We are connected with America. If it does well, we are effected. If it doesn’t do well, it effects us, and people connected to us. And I just want to take this time, no altar calls today, I just wanted to take this transition with prayer, and I am just going to take two or three minutes and I want you to passionately and boldly hit the fear that is in our country and I want you to cast it out of your own life. I have been through things that have made me afraid. I looked in mirror one day and said I don’t like what I have become. Why? Because so many things happened to me it made me fearful. I want to turn it loose again. I want to be that renegade guy again. I want to be that crazy faith guy who will believe God for anything again. I don’t want to be cautious, I want to throw that to the wind. I want to believe God for possibilities. So let’s all raise our voices together and we can know that God is going to hear our prayer, forgive our sins and He is going to heal our land today, in the name of Jesus. Are you ready? Begin praying with my. Father God we invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ , and His kingdom back on our country, hallelujah, and Lord I am not in control of what everybody does with their life, and I am not in control of media, I am not in control of the TV world, I am not in control of all of the Internet, or the political and judicial systems. But I do know in this building today, we are in control, and Father in the name of Jesus I plead the blood right now over our country and over our place of abode and everything we come in contact with. And we speak to this foul devil, this foul evil spirit called the spirit of fear, we come against you not in might nor in power but by the spirit of God, for the Bible says by my Spirit these this will happen. We come against you by the blood of Jesus. Spirit of fear, the blood of Jesus is against you, and we break your power in the name of Jesus, over the banking system, over the economic structure, over the business habits over the political habits of our nation and we again declare that we will be a people of faith, of boldness and of courage, and we cast you out, out of our mind, out of our home, out of our decisions, out of mornings, out of our days out of our nights, out of our money, out of our business, out of our employment , out of our dealings with people, and we take authority over you and we command you go out. OUT, OUT, OUT, in the name of Jesus. Somebody take authority over it. Tell it to get out of your house. Put your hands on your head and say get out of my mind. Got out of my thoughts. Get out of my kids. Get out, get out, get out in the name of Jesus. Swing wide the door of blessing. Swing open the windows of blessing. Swing wide the doors of courage and bravery, righteousness and Godly standards. Manifest in your people what it is to follow Christ. Let your people once again in America be a city set on a hill, be a light in the darkness, salt that has not lost it’s savor. Oh God, forgive us of our sins, and Lord heal our land, in Jesus name, I thank you for it and I believe fruit’s is being born out of this moment. Praise God.

I'll never tire....



...of looking into those big brown eyes



...or that sweet, sweet smile...

...or hearing that contagious giggle...



...or that sweet spirit...



...and his precious voice singing...

...or watching him use his God-given talents...

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
1 John 3:1