God Has Not Forgotten

All of last week I have been soaking in those four words: God has not forgotten.  He has not forgotten me when I was rejected by others.  When I was put aside and didn't quite fit in, he never forgot me. He never forgot me even when I rejected Him. When I was the builder who rejected Christ, the chief corner stone, He didn't forget me.

He didn't forget me even as a mother would not forget her nursing child. He tells me that even if that were the case and she cast her child aside, He would never forget.  His love over me is infinite and everlasting.

So the question then is Have I forgotten?  Have you forgotten?

You have prayed.  You have waited, and waited and waited.  The days became weeks, that rolled into months, adding up to years.  The thing that you prayed for never came about and so now you have closed the door.  You have determined for yourself that it was never meant to be. You have reasoned it out and it is not even possible anymore in your eyes.  So you have allowed your once glowing faith to grow dim in this particular area and you have willed yourself to forget.

You forgot that spouse or child you have wanted to have because according to the time clock you are using it is now too late.  You have tossed in the garbage that dream to return to school because it is for young people and not you anymore.  You have chosen to kill the visions about the future you thought God was telling you about because it never came around in your timing.

Is this you?  I know it's been me.  I find comfort in God's word because I know for sure I am not alone.  Luke 5:5-25 recounts the story of Zechariah the priest, married to Elizabeth (Mary's cousin). God sent an angel after umpteen years to Zechariah (Pastor Z) to say that his prayer has been heard.  He was to sire a son.  You see they had been childless and both were now past the age of child bearing.  Yet God was saying that this prayer was heard.

Of course Pastor Z was in a state of unbelief.  How was this going to be possible?  Gabriel the angel muted him.  He silenced him to keep him from speaking death to the very thing that God was speaking as life.  I wonder if that may not be the case with most of us.  I cannot throw stones because my house is made of glass. It means that I am very much like Z.

My friends, this is not a story with a fairy tale ending. This is truth and it is written down for me and you today.  God has heard our prayers. He has not forgotten you or I.  We are imprinted upon His palms and cannot be erased.  He is going to fulfill His promises, whether you enjoy the wait or not.  You see friends, God's plans are always better than ours.  While Pastor Z just wanted a child, God gave him the forerunner to His very own son, Jesus Christ. He will always exceed your expectations of Him. 

Be encouraged and believe again for God has not forgotten you.

Faith the size of a mustard seed

Today I learnt something I never  knew  before.  I learnt about the mustard seed. Did you  know that the mustard  seed is only about  1-2mm in diameter?  That seed is able to grow in dry weather or wet weather.  It can grow in clay or sandy  soil.  It is drought resistant . It is resilient. It grows  way beyond what you would expect  from such a tiny seed.  It grows up to 20  feet high and wide. It is one of the smallest seeds  there is around. This seed is little  but it yields  much.
So it makes so much more  sense to me that Jesus  says to us in Matt17:20 that with faith the size of a mustard seed  we can say to the mountain move and it shall be moved.  We say to the mulberry  tree be pulled up and replanted in the sea and it will do it (Luke 17:6).
My friend faith doesn't need to be much to be effective.  Faith is able to grow in any circumstance. Faith in God is all we need to overcome.  Faith the size of a mustard seed; Not a whole lot but it is enough.
I tell  you  the truth  that your tiny  faith will grow as you use it more and more. Just like the mustard  seed grows into a tree,  so will your faith when  you activate it. Your faith will be tested. Don't forget  faith without work is dead.

Can we all just get along?

Yesterday was one of "those" days.  You know the challenging ones, the hard ones, the never ending ones. Yes. Just like that.  I went to work feeling pretty good in a new dress.  Great start to any day. The work piled high on  my desk.  The emails kept coming. Still I pressed on.
I then got a meeting request from the president of the company. Apparently he had to fix the division that existed between my department and another.  I was unaware of an issue. Then I got a text from a sister who was offended and hurt by what she presumed I was doing to her.  My musician cancelled on me and I now have no replacement.  Then I came home to the continued cold shoulder and upset of my family member who still held me in contempt from May. It was one of those days indeed.  I'm pretty sure you can relate.  We have all had them.
I asked God out loud for a word.  In expectation I picked up my bible app and continued to read from where I left off. I laughed out loud because the verse was an answer to my situation. I knew without a doubt that God was speaking loud and clear.

It says in Psalm 133:1-3 MSG

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! It’s like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard, Flowing down Aaron’s beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes. It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes, that’s where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life.

God was not off target but hit the bulls eye of my situation.  He didn't address what anyone else was doing or might do. In fact he was telling me that I am the one who needs to get along. In disunity I miss out on God's blessing.  I miss out on the sweetness of life. I miss out on what God wants to do in my life.

Hey now. Don't think you are not in this too.  Let's all get along. Let us forgive and remove offenses from our hearts.  Let's trade ugly for beautiful.

The attack on our youth

On Saturday morning, I rose up early to get on the prayer line.  My alarm went off at 6am and I forced myself out of bed to steal away to the privacy of the den.  It was then I heard the handle of our front door turning around.  I assumed it was some family member and did not move.  It was not.  My mom called me down and there was a seriousness to her voice that had my attention.
 


On our door step was a wisp of a boy, a 17y/o boy.  His clothes were rumpled up, his jacket lying on the porch floor.  He was under the influence of something and might have slept on our front porch.  Who could tell?  His arms bore the bruises of the being pressed up against a grid for a long time.  I saw him and my heart broke. 




In that moment I didn't care about anything else but him. It was the love of God that poured out of me for this young boy. As he looked lost and confused I saw him for who he was - a soul that desperately needed a saviour.  Tears filled my eyes and as I touched his arm, I asked "what happened to you?"
As he started talking I knew that I had to help him.  Somehow he ended up on my doorstep, neither of us knowing each other, but I felt like he was led there by God.  He told me that a man told him to go to the forest and he will be safe there.  The man disappeared and he found himself at my house.


I somehow got his address and I drove him home. 


This young man with his life ahead of him had somehow found himself in trouble.  I doubt very much he will even be able to remember what has happened or even that I dropped him home. I told my nephew and all he said was "sad reality".  Is this it?  Is this the norm of today? 


My friends, we have to be the light in the darkness for those that are lost.  We have to help the generation coming behind us.  They are under attack.  The devil seeks to kill them all. I am praying that my heart and yours will be tender towards them.  That we will not be hardened against them because they look different, act different or are different.  There is a mandate out for them to be destroyed but God's will is for them to live.


Father break our hearts for the people, young and old, that do not know you today.  Let us not stand in judgement of them, but instead let us extend mercy and compassion. Lord help us to look like you in kindness, love, long-suffering and faithfulness.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

I won't let go until you bless me

I won’t let go

What about me Lord?  When will it be my turn?  Tell me, is there a time when you have said this very same thing?  You know, the time your friend came and was telling what God did for them and you wondered silently, Lord what about me? 

I know this has been my questions even as I smiled and congratulated my friend.  It has been a running thought even as my lips said I am so happy for you and I lifted my hands in thanksgiving for that person that is in their season of plenty.  I am wondering now if I may be the only one.  Is it wrong to ask God these things? 

Some months ago, I was thinking of my sister. I started to sing a song that God gave me and it asked

“What will become of me?  What will I do?  Where is the help the Oh God that only comes from you....Where is the beauty from my ashes? Where is the healing from the pain? Where is the joy everlasting?”

I wrote those words down as I sang them and today it is fitting to me.  What about me Lord?  When is it going to be my turning around? What about my blessing?

I have found one other person whose life speaks to what I am asking now. Jacob.  Jacob wrestled with God and it was as if in that time he was asking him these questions.  He wanted something from him and he was relentless in his pursuit of God’s blessings.

The question I ask myself is am I relentless in my pursuit of God’s blessings.  I want what he has for me but am I willing to seek His face?  Am I willing to put aside my agenda and invest my time into His word?  More often than I am proud of I don’t look for Him.  I don’t try to find His will for me. I don’t seek him to find Him.  Yet, I moan and groan Lord what about me.

Today, I want to be like Jacob, wrestling with God, persistent in holding unto Him, unwilling to let Him go.  I won’t let go until you bless me Lord and even then, I won’t let go.

I Give You Me God

I have a new song.

The lyrics have been inside my head and have now escaped the confines of my mind. It is about the offering.  What do I have to bring? Think about it.

What is it that you could possibly give to God?  When I think that he already owns the earth and all that dwell therein,  well it leaves me with very few choices if any at all.  

So I asked myself again, what do I have to bring to God? What is worthy of a king? With nothing in my hands I finally realized that what He wants is me.

He gives me a choice. He actually asks, will you come? When I think I just can't, he reminds me of His son. Jesus already paid the price. He made himself a sacrifice.  Yet he will not demand, but He asks will you give me yourself?

So I give Him me. I give Him all of me. It really is fitting for  I belong to Him.

Friend, will you give Him yourself? It is offering time and he wants you. Will you place yourself as an offering to Him today?

The Day that Heaven Cried by B Bahadoor

THE DAY THAT HEAVEN CRIED

 

 

The sky was dark… a dark heavy gray

Black clouds hung overhead

Threatening to fall that day

The deserted street was lifeless

Not a footprint, not a sound

Then ever so lightly a drop of water fell from the clouds

The world seemed to freeze as the drop hit the ground

All hell broke loose, and the silence was shattered with sound

The dark clouds exploded in fury

The winds howled like wolves that were hungry

Yet His voice carried above the winds

MY GOD…… MY GOD……

Why have you forsaken me?

Glass shattered……Curtains torn in pieces

Thunder boomed…..Lightning illuminated

As the Father turned away in hatred

A gust of wind……then stillness

His last breath…………then silence

As He died

No one knows what happened that day,

The day that Heaven cried

Written By: Brittney Bahadoor