My Dearest You,

HAPPY NEW YOU in this New Year!!!

The Word of the Year for me is DECIDE, because after every decision follows an action.

You can lay in bed all day, but when you DECIDE to get up, what do you do? You get up. If you DECIDE to get a job, what do you do? You update your resume, put in applications, learn something new to help improve your chances of getting a job. If you DECIDE to lose weight, what do you do? You start watching what you eat, exercising more. Even if it’s for a little while, or for some of us one day. But you do it. Why? Because you DECIDED to.

Actions follow a decision.

Think about it. Every time you say the word “DECIDE”, the word “TO” usually comes right after it. Yep, think about it. I decided to. We decided to. They decided to. That means that after every decision an action is inevitable. Even if you DECIDE to do nothing. That’s the action you will take. The action of doing nothing. Because believe it or not, nothing is an action. What are you doing? Nothing. The act of doing no thing, but the fact that you are still breathing nothing is in motion.

As for me, I’m not going to come up with a bunch of thoughtless resolutions that don’t mean much, and that I don’t stick to. This is what I DECIDED:

• To Continually Say “Yes” To God
• To Love Others As God Loves Me
• To Be All That God Has Created Me To Be
• To Help Make A Difference In My Family And Community
• To Go And Make Disciples

What have you DECIDED to do this year?

My Dearest You,

What do you believe the difference between confidence and courage?

This is something that came to me during my quiet time with God.

Confidence is a deep knowing of self.

You know what you can do. You believe in what you can do. You trust in what you can do, so you have confidence.

Courage, however, is confidence in yourself because you know and trust God. It's a deep knowing of who God is, what God can do, AND that God's word is true. You know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God will do what he says he will do, and that what he says he will do applies to you. Nothing or no one can get you to believe anything different.

You can't have courage unless you trust AND know God. You can have confidence, but you can't have courage, because courage is a mind shift. You go from knowing what YOU can do, to trusting and knowing what GOD can do through you.

Courage is deeply knowing and trusting God. It's not surface level or superficial trust and knowing OF God. It's trust IN God and deeply knowing God.

Courage allows you to walk different.
Courage lets you talk different.
Courage makes you BE different.

So many times in the Bible God tells us do not fear. Do not be afraid. What's the opposite of fear?

It's not confidence, because even when you have confidence that you can do something, you still have a little bit of fear or doubt that things might not turn out right.

The opposite of fear is COURAGE.

God says, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

Let me break it down like this:

• Confidence - you believe in you.
• Courage - you believe in you because you know God and trust that God is for you.
• Faith - you believe God even if you don't believe in you.

Have courage in all you do.

My Dearest You,

Are you a Christian or a hater in sheep's clothing?

That is a question I often ask myself when I hear a proclaimed Christian, especially in the leadership circle, make statements that divide the body of Christ ethnically. Or, when someone, again, who professes to be a Christian insist that a person is less than based on the color of their skin.

Do you realize that we are all equal in the eyes of God? This includes skin color.

God sees us as his children, and he does not divide his children by color with one color being more superior than the other. That is something we have done ourselves.

Look at the life of Jesus as he walked the Earth.

Have you read anywhere in the Bible where Jesus did not help someone or saw himself better than someone else based of the color of their skin? Nowhere. It's nowhere in the Bible because it never happened. Jesus even helped those who others considered less than because of where they were from or sins that they had committed.

Since Jesus is the example of how we should live, shouldn't we as disciples of Christ do as he did?

God gave a commandment to love your neighbor (others) as yourself, but he knew that a lot of us would not love ourselves.
So what did God do? He gave us a better way to love in John 15:12. Jesus says, "this is my commandment, that you love others as I have loved you". So we are to love others as Jesus loved us.

I'm not saying that you should not appreciate who you are and honor your heritage, but I am saying that you should not hate someone else based on the color of their skin or anything else for that matter.

And I know, some of you may be saying that you have suffered or your people have suffered because of mistreatment from another person or group of people. You feel like they owe you because of your suffering. And I say to you, "Jesus suffered for you and me!" So if someone owes you for your suffering, then you owe Jesus for his.

The good news? JESUS PAID IT ALL!

Jesus has already canceled out our debt. Now, will you cancel the debt that you believe you are owed?

How can you do it? By loving others as Jesus has loved you. By helping others live better and do better.

There will be all shades of people in Heaven. If you want to show God that he can trust you in his Kingdom, it's important that you show him that you can love all people here on Earth right now.

Why is it important to show love for all people? Because God knows your heart, and he cannot be deceived. He knows if you are a true disciple of Christ, or if you are a hater in sheep's clothing.

My Dearest You,

Don't let other people talk you out of doing what God has told you to do. Don't let other people's hesitation or lack of belief in you cause you to not believe in God and his ability to do what he says.

No! Do what God told you to do, how he told you to do it even when it doesn't make sense.

And if you are one of the ones who stopped doing what God has called you do because it didn't make sense to you, someone discouraged you, or you couldn't see how it was going to happen. The full vision may not be clear, but DON'T GIVE UP.

Repent, and ask God to forgive for your doubt. Ask him to forgive you for your lack of faith in his goodness, his grace, and his mercy. Get out your pen and paper and let him guide you as you write down the things that you need to do to get back on course.

It is not too late!

It is never too late to do what God has called you to do. It's never too late to be who God has created you to be. Let go of what's been, and what's been holding you back from trusting God and trusting the Word that he has given you. Everything that you need is available to you through him.

It might not make sense to you now, but as you walk in faith and do what God instructs you to do, he will make the vision more clear as it unfolds the way he intended.

Don't let you or no one else talk you out of seeing the promises God has for you.

My Dearest You,

God used a situation to reveal something to me.

In this situation, there is a woman who I am connected to that I felt like was going through something. Whatever she was going through was grieving my spirit. I felt sadness and loneliness for her, but I did not know why or what was going on with her, so I called her. I asked her was she okay? And explained to her that my spirit was grieving for her for some reason and I didn't know why. She said that she was okay, but she had a lot going on and she would call me later to discuss. I told her that I had been praying for her and will continue to pray for her, and will wait on her call. She never called me back that night. The next day about midday, I reached out to her again to see if she was okay because she had not called me as she said she would. She said that she did not know why she didn't call me back, and repeated it a second time that she did not know why she did not call me back. I felt in my spirit that there was something that she did not want to tell me for whatever reason. I told her that it was fine and if she decided she wanted to talk that I am here for her, and we hung up. I continued to pray in the spirit for her and her family.

As days passed, and the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance that situation. The Lord spoke to me and said," now you see how I feel when you are doing the things that you want to do that are not in my will for you to do. I reach out to you to give you my help, but you shun me off like you don't need me. I try again, and still get the same response. And then I wait. I wait on you to reach out to me. When you do, I am here waiting with open arms to help you through the pain and to your healing.
It grieves me as I wait on you to return to me. Watching you head in a downward spiral going out of control physically and emotionally without you letting me help you. It grieves me to see my children like that. If only they will let me help them."

Is the Spirit of God grieving for you today?

You do not have to spend another minute in despair, depressed, or lonely. Reach out to God through prayer. He is waiting on you with open arms.

P.S. I talked to the woman in the situation, and all is well. Thank God for his love, grace, and mercy on us all in the name of Jesus.