While the world is in turmoil, I’m constantly reminded to be thankful of the ever presence of God’s grace and mercy in my life.  I not only have breath in my body, I have another day to live.  Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives, we often don’t put things into a wider perspective—and we should often.  By doing so, it can give us a really quick GUT check.  I’m aware of what’s going on today—in my city, the nation, and across the world.  I’m also aware, that the natural mirrors the spiritual.

I believe something(s) are going to break. I believe those of us who are aware and searching for purpose are being prepared.  As each year passes and as I grow more mature than the year before, this year has had its share of personal challenges.  I believe we can’t change the world or our communities without first constantly observing and evolving ourselves.  I’m always in a semi-constant state (because sometimes the spirit of petty takes over) of how I say things or how it’s perceived—I’m always second guessing myself and I live in a state of self-deprecation.  In some areas, that can be good, but in others, it’s a weakness.

Although I’m emotionally sensitive and a perfectionistic ambivert, I’ve learned the weight of myself.  I learned I have a voice. I have a following. I have experiences and testimonies to help people!  Please don’t misconstrue that as being egotistical—it is in no my intention to sound narcissistic.  I have less than 1,000 followers on any social media platform—that is not the following I’m talking about.  The following I’m talking about is our scope of reach… influence… leadership.  What I’m working on is fine tuning my voice, but more importantly, fine tuning my listening.

Major Keys:

1. The truth of the spirit will save you from deception.
2. God is your source of strength, wisdom, and energy.  You just believe that or you don’t. Sorry.
3. My (your) personal plan is a plan of growth and not a plan for achieving things.
4. You will enjoy success—in its proper timing.
5. The length and difficulty of your journey depends on you!

Hearing vs. Listening Vs. Acting

You actually control your destiny by doing one thing—obeying God.  I hear God a lot. He speaks to me in special forms, because I’m a special person. Don’t worry, you’re special too; He speaks to us in a way He can reach us.  He probably is speaking to you too, but you aren’t sure if it’s Him.  Clue: if it’s a reassurance or a “gut” check, it’s Him.  If it’s not tempting or enticing, it’s Him.  God will never tempt us with something He wants us to have.  He’s just going to give it to you, but, you have to hear him to know what He’s telling you.  You have the choice to listen to Him and act on what He’s told you.

The enemy uses folks like you and me by second guessing our decisions and even our thoughts.  There is no secret on how the enemy operates.  Actually, he only does one thing.  He plants a thought.  That’s it.  He plants a thought in (y)our poorly guarded (or unguarded) gates.  He sees how easily swayed we can be, how we liked to be lured by temptation.  He knows your weakness and he finds a crack in your foundation.  If you have a weak foundation to begin with, you’ll probably end up doing more damage control than upkeep and upgrades.  And, if you have a home, you know that bill can run into the thousands easily and you either forsake the home or swallow you pride (which is expensive!) and fix the root of the problem—the foundation.  If there’s a crack in the foundation and water WILL find its way inside—it settles, and overtime weakens the structure and the damage expands.

The Problem Is…

The problem is that we, especially as Christians, don’t know what spiritual warfare is.  Spiritual warfare is the mind in constant competition with the spirit and your spirit in constant competition with your emotions.  In actuality, spiritual warfare didn’t and doesn’t start and end with us; it started in the Garden.  Here’s the truth—the devil 1. Tempted Eve and 2. Planted a thought.  You have to give God your emotions or the enemy will use them against you.

Your thought life is critical.  You cannot take your old thought and cultures and habits into the Kingdom.

The Kingdom can’t manifest THROUGH you if you don’t change your thoughts.  Wrong thoughts can’t produce right words.  Wrong thoughts will hinder your growth.  Wrong thoughts will stop your progression!  Your thoughts turn into words that shape your world!  I don’t know about you, but 2015 has become the year for me to recognize how detrimental your thought life can be.  I’m not crazy, just think about it—every second of our day, we are thinking about something.  We have to train our minds to produce the right thoughts!  We must train our spiritual senses.  We must be focused and intentional on our improvement because we have a purpose.

It is a waste of our life if we do not fulfill our purpose. 

We’ve got time; if you’re reading this, there’s your proof.

For me, 2014 was a year of knowing, awareness, changing and renovating my jacked up mind. 2015 was a year for preparation and foundation building.  Rightfully so, 2016 will be the year of growth and production of fruit.  I’m SO sick and tired of being sick and tired about why things aren’t happening in my life.  (Shameless plug for you to come back tomorrow)… I’m going to share with you 10 things why I’m sick and tired and why 2015 felt like a dud.  I’ll keep you posted.

Hebrews 5: 12-14, The Living Bible “You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others, but instead you have dropped back to the place where you need someone to teach you all over again the very first principles in God’s Word. You are like babies who can drink only milk, not old enough for solid food. And when a person is still living on milk it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life, and doesn’t know much about the difference between right and wrong. He is still a baby Christian! You will never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things of God’s Word until you become better Christians and learn right from wrong by practicing doing right.”

Be Phenomenal,

Charisse