Are you Prepared? 25 One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, 26 "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters--yes, even one's own self!-can't be my disciple. 27 Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. 28 "Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? 29 If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 30 "He started something he couldn't finish.' 31 "Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? 32 And if he decides he can't, won't he send an emissary and work out a truce? 33 "Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple. 34 "Salt is excellent. But if the salt goes flat, it's useless, good for nothing. "Are you listening to this? Really listening?"  Luke 14:25-35 THE MESSAGE BIBLE If God opened up an opportunity for you to be that great Evangelist, Prophetess, Teacher or Pastor tomorrow, are you prepared?  If God gave you an opportunity right now to open that business you’ve been dreaming about are you prepared? If God gave you a million dollars today are you prepared? Have you begin to budget your finances for a debt free life?  Are you prepared financially to leave your secular job if the company shut down overnight? Are you prepared to leave and go where ever God leads you?  Have you prepared mentally, spiritually, emotionally?  Are you prepared for the attacks, haters, and enemies that will come just because you decided to follow the plan of God for your life? Are you prepared to fulfill your purpose and your destiny?  Are you prepared to trust God “No Matter What”? Are you prepared to hear “Well done thy good and faithful servant, or Are you prepared to hear “Depart from me, I never knew you, you worker of iniquity”? Are you prepared for your final destinations if the Lord came back right now? Or are you still working on coming out? Looking at the scripture it says that “a large group of people were walking along with Jesus”  To me this says that there are many believers that go to church and walk with Jesus but have not prepared for their Purpose and Destiny.  Following Christ first means DEATH, and Second, SERVANTHOOD.  You lose your life to gain His, meaning you forget all about you [your plans, your will, your ways] and follow Him.  When you confess that Jesus is Lord over your life you give him full rights to lead and guide you in all things. When people make this statement “ I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the head of my life, and they aren’t living according to the word, it makes them a liar. Revelation 21:8 says All Liars will have their place in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.    It’s time to be about your fathers business (Jesus Christ). You have purpose and destiny here on earth, that’s why you are still here right now. I encourage you to ask yourself “Are you prepared?” If the answer is no begin to sit down and write out what it will take for you to become prepared in whatever God has called you to do.  Blessings & Love,  Sister Cindy Jones   Patience is the key to not settling!   Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.  So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-4 (Message Bible) A couple of years ago a friend of mine had a dream that I had settled and was complaining about my situation to another friend of ours. In the dream my friends were very upset with me, rebuked me and told me not to call them complaining because I had settled.  That dream shook me enough to learn that no matter how bad I desire something, I needed to die to my desires and wait until the appointed time and allow the Lord to let patience have her perfect work. Not settling proves patience and trust in the Lord. Before every major decision we should always seek godly wisdom and wise counsel. We don’t have to keep up with the Jones’s when we operate biblical kingdom principles. God is not a respecter of persons and we must remember that you don’t know how the Jones’s had to sacrifice, sow, fast, pray, and discipline themselves to get what they got. It’s so easy for us to look at a person’s life, how they carry themselves, or how God blesses them and enter into jealousy, envy, and hate. Don’t get it twisted we should rejoice with our brothers and sisters when their blessings manifest. God is a just and fair God and always desires to see his children have the best, be the best, and live the best.  Sometimes settling could be rooted in what we call “hater-aide”. We hate the fact that it’s them and not us so we manipulate and shift things around to make it seem like it’s our season too. Remember “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22 KJV   The bible says “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”  (Jeremiah 17:10 NIV)   What conduct you ask, the conduct of living Holy, walking by faith, living righteousness, and practicing on purpose godly principles.    I know of several instances of singles so desperate for a mate that they ended up settling.  Most of the time it wasn’t the mate they wanted so badly it was the honeymoon. Some of these instances ended up in divorce, physical and emotional abuse and just plain misery, all over a fleshly desire. You can control desires. Let me say that again, you can control any desire through fasting and prayer. No matter what the devil tells you, you have to learn to stand on the word when any temptation or desire  comes.  It’s easy to desire a new car or home so bad that we end up settling for something just to get out of one situation and end up in yet another situation.   In the past when I have settled I would say things like “If I would have waited a little while longer” or “if I would have thought about what I was doing before I did it” and the famous “What was I thinking?”. Why go through un-necessary discomfort when you can allow patience, to have her perfect work. If at any point while reading this devotional you found yourself saying “I did that, or that sounds like me” take a moment and repent to the Lord and ask him to help you not settle but wait on him. Patience comes through trusting, waiting and obeying God. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises towards us. At the appointed time we will reap if we faint not. Sister Cindy Jones True Worshiper "It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself-Spirit.  Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits their true selves, in adoration."   John 4:23-24(The Message Bible/Remix) The highest calling or the main purpose that we are created is to simply worship God. To be created to worship God is a privilege and an honor. God made us for himself; to know him; and to know him is to worship and adore him.  He created us so that we might have a passion so deep that it makes us desire him and be delighted in a very personal relationship with him.  True worshippers are overjoyed by the reality that one day they will meet Jesus and see him face to face and live eternally with him.  So that every part of their lives can be an expression of that worship of God.  Now let's look at the word WORSHIP. It comes from combining two words WORTH plus SHIP.  Those two words together means placing worth or value on something, then interacting with it based upon that value.  God, the creator of everything, placed value or worth, on everything he created.  When we interact with something or someone, we are worshipping-not the person or object, but the one who created it. Worship, then, can be looked on as treating people, things or even viewing situations and the circumstances with the same value or worth as God would. This perspective opens the door to examine ourselves and asking the question, "Who do I worship stuff, people or GOD?"  True worshippers require daily purifying of the heart and renewing of the mind.  They take time to thank God and show gratitude for all he has done. Psalms 100:4 in The Message/Remix Bible made so sweet and plain "Enter with the password: “Thank You!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank Him. Worship Him.   Never forget to tell God THANK YOU, those two words allow us secret access in to his presence with a heart of thanksgiving.  Worshipping is a celebration of God and what he has done for us through his Son, Jesus.  Living a life with a thankful heart, purified heart and renewed mind lets the world know that TRUE WORSHIPPERS have found GOD worthy of ALL the PRAISE they give him.  Now that you have read this ask yourself this question: AM I A TRUE WORSHIPPER? Sis Candace Howard Pressure is the Catalyst for Change   Adultery, suicide, crime, abandonment, teen pregnancy, and drug abuse are not the result of pressure it’s people’s reaction to that pressure. If you equate pressure with doom and gloom and utter negativity you will miss a wonderful opportunity to be a blessing to the body of Christ. Pressure is a common thread in the fabric of humanity that serves as a starting point to greatness or despair, (Choose). Mark 10 talks about a rich young ruler who wanted great things; in this case it was eternal life. He came to Jesus and asked how he could obtain this. Jesus began to explain the steps to the young rulers delight because they were easy for him. The last step required him to give up something he treasured and trust the man of God. The pressure of perceived loss weighed too heavy on his mind so he chose despair. Now 1 Kings 17 there was a famine in the land, the Prophet Elijah told a widowed woman to make him something to eat. This was not unusual except she had no food because of the famine. Even though she had nothing and her prospects looked even worse she pressed through the pressure of lack and found abundance on the other side of obedience. In these two examples they were both faced with the pressure of financial loss, one succumbed to it while the other was sustained by it. Now pressure is not always financial, sometimes it’s a matter of integrity. Have you ever done anything in secret that you wouldn’t do in public? In Genesis Chapter 39 it speaks about the integrity of Joseph, who had been sold into slavery by his brothers and had risen to great influence in Potiphar’s house. Potiphar trusted him fully and when his wife made sexual advances toward him, he very well could have gotten away with it. But integrity said no. Potiphar’s wife was very beautiful and Joseph was very virile. But the pressure of sexual gratification did not out weigh Joseph’s dedication to God. And the Bible says the Lord was with Joseph and he became the most powerful man under Pharoah in Egypt.    Minister Jeremiah Jackson   Peak Performance   I was turning the corner one day on my way home from church and I heard the spirit of the Lord say “Peak Performance”. I asked the Lord, what does this mean? The first thing He showed me was this passage of scriptures…   Luke 1:45 (King James Version) And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.   I have a question for you..How many of us in the body of Christ really do believe God at His word when He says He will do something? Have you ever noticed that when God said something that He will do in the Bible He did it “Big”? It was never half way or just okay. He always gave us His best.   God could have brought Jesus to die in some other place, but He did it in such a way that it would bring glory to His name. The place on the cross sat on a very high place on Calvary’s Hill. High and lifted up before all men they saw the true Messiah dying for all of their sins, taking the guilt and taking even the blame for the past, present and future sins of man. He did it all so, that we might truly live again. It was a peak performance…   The prophet Jeremiah received a word from the Lord in the midst of his prison that God will not only answer your prayers, but would also show you something “great” as well.   Jeremiah 33:3 (King James Version) Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.   God no doubt wants to give you more assurance here. Not just hearing and receiving your prayers, but also a doer of what He said. This is a peak performance..   Sometimes I think about the conception of a child and the birth. I think about the awesome wisdom of God how a baby with bones, fingers, eyes, and a functioning brain can develop inside of a mother’s womb. There has been no one who can duplicate this. No scientist has been able to do this on their own. It’s because God does things that man can’t do without Him. When God created you He created you wonderful. He created you awesome. He created you to worship Him. Just think at the time He created you He also created a plan for your life, a path for your journey, and a future with a expected end. No one can complete what He intended for you only by you. Man…That’s a peak performance   There are countless examples in the Bible that shows us a God who cannot lie and does what He says. No matter what it was God always gave us His best. So, how about you. Build up your faith by taking some time today and this week to recount the things that God has done for you in your life and start praising Him because if He did it before in a profound way believe that He will surely do it again. Just think about it this way..He saved you didn’t he?   That’s a awesome “Peak Performance”   Sis. Erica B.

Featured Product  The Power of a Positive Witness Purchase this dynamic message and listen as Pastor Doug Taylor teaches you how to access the power of your influence and transform your relationships.