Today I felt like telling you: RECOGNIZE YOUR AWESOME SELF.

Every week for 10 weeks at a time, I teach a class in my church called STN 301: Discover Greatness and I’m really passionate about it because I feel that people need to be told that this world might not recognize what God already sees in them, so don’t wait for the world to do what you were put on this earth to do. It doesn’t have to be something on a large public platform either. Maybe you are destined to be an awesome friend to someone who will have that public platform (she/he needs you), maybe you will be the mother/father to a child that will contribute extraordinary products, services or ideologies to the world. That is great too!

We are almost at the end of January and I know some of you have already had to fight to believe what God says about you already. I’m sorry this world is so harsh. I’m sorry that so many people have bitten into the bitter apple and have sought to poison your spirit. But you still have a choice. No one can take choice away from you. Choose to recognize your awesomeness. Your uniqueness and yes, live in it. Because if you wait for the world to recognize it (if that ever happens) it may be too late. The worst thing that can happen to any one of us is to die with potential inside.

So how are you doing on the front of relationships? Friendships? Houses of Worship? All of those have an impact on how you will ultimately see and accept you. Make wise choices, it will impact the rest of your 2012, there is still time for a path correction. Go in front of a mirror and tell yourself right now…I am what God says I am. I am the apple of His eye. There’s no one else like me and EVEN IF I have haters, they don’t matter because I RECOGNIZE MY greatness and I will use everything in me to give glory to God.

Did you do that? Yay! Now go on and be your awesome self in the world. Someone needs what only you bring to the atmosphere today!

For most of my grown life I’ve been known (or gossiped about) for being a sort of rebel. Not because I have caused any problems but mostly because I have always used my mind to make my own decisions regardless of if I had to stand alone or my friends wanted the church to think they were perfect or whatever. I also was never really afraid to take a stand on something that I truly believed in. That was back then when I was still  bound by people’s opinions and my desire to please them. Imagine now that I don’t have such hang-ups!

So today I awoke with this thought in my mind, “tell them to stop sitting on the fence.” I have been praying about the students I have to mentor in my role as Academic Advisor/Mentor at Bakke Graduate University and what to say to them to motivate them to keep pursuing God’s plan for them. But God said, some haven’t even said yes to me and that is the first requirement. A fully surrendered life to God. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of this verse: “Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.’ But the people said nothing.” — 1 Kings 18: 21

So I ask you too…have you made a decision for God. I mean a real decision. I know you know about Him, you may have experienced his goodness in your life but have you said yes God I stand for you, I live for you? In  researching the verse above a bit, I had to know where it took place. Now I have never been to Mount Carmel but I am told and I have read that it is truly one of the most beautiful sites in Israel. Atop its peak you can see the Samaritan hills to the southwest, the broad expanse of the Jezreel Valley to the northeast, and to the west, the glistening waters of the Mediterranean. Because of abundant rainfall, the slopes and peak are green year-round. It’s no wonder that in Hebrew the name “Carmel” means “vineyard of God.”

But for Jews and Christians, Mount Carmel has an even greater significance beyond its breathtaking beauty. It was on this mountaintop that Elijah confronted the 850 pagan prophets of King Ahab and challenged the Israelites to stop sitting on the fence. Elijah went before the people and asked them, “How long are you going to waver between two opinions? Either God is God, and follow him, or Baal is God.” And the people said nothing.

They were content to stay where they were atop the fence. Silent. Not taking a stand. Refusing to make a choice.  Now some may argue that sitting on the fence is not necessarily a bad thing — that it’s good to look at both sides of an argument, and that choosing sides can lead to division, confrontation, and general messiness. But sitting on the fence has never been an option for the people of God. I’m sorry to bust that bubble or shatter that frame of mind.

Our God demands that we make a choice. Yeap, you have to decide to decide. Are you with him or not? In Moses’ closing words to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land, he challenged the people: “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” (Deuteronomy 30: 15) Choose! And Joshua in his farewell address to the leaders of Israel issued a similar exhortation, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

Every day we have opportunities to make a choice to represent God where we live, where we work, and where we go to school. It could be standing up for someone who is being mistreated or refusing to participate in a business practice you consider unethical. It may mean taking an unpopular stand or speaking out against injustice in your community.But for the people of God, silence — remaining atop the fence — is not a choice. As the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Where might you take a stand today? What do you need to speak out against? Remember, sometimes taking a stand, exercising your voice does not have to be with your mouth but with your action. So what will you decide today? Is He God in your life or isn’t He? Whatever you do,  don’t sit on the fence any longer. As the graphic above states, the only thing that will cause is splinters!

Yeah I’m on my soapbox again. Been thinking alot lately about words.  About a year ago I read a book by Robert Morris, the pastor who wrote the Blessed Life, a book my church was studying last month. The book I read was The Power of Your Words: How God Can Bless Your Life Through the Words You Speak. I remember reading this quote “remember, every time you open your mouth, your mind walks out and parades up and down those words.” With this in mind, maybe that is why some people are viewed as evil, superficial, insecure or un-Christlike!  Here is a simple truth folks, your mouth is a loaded gun but many of us have never been trained on how to use it!

Matthew 12:34  says “…It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words.” (The Message)

You can tell a lot about a person by the words they speak.   Wrong hearts bring discouragement, deceit and death.  A right heart speaks words of life, liberty and love. I mentioned in my post yesterday that words matter. YES… words matter. While many of us speak ineffectively and shallowly, there are no throw-away words. Every word communicates something, be it our biases, our ideas, or our ignorance. Words talk. Someone’s listening.

A friend shared in her blog today about being balcony people, who are encouragers. Sometimes I wonder why it is so hard for people to step outside themselves and their ’stuff’ to send good words, uplifting words into the atmosphere. It doesn’t cost anything. Thankfully words are free, however, how we use them can cost us something. It can cost us friends, it can cost us the loss of respect, it can cost us our credibility and it definitely costs us a good reputation. Funny thing about these words is that once tossed, they can’t be taken back. I believe that is why many marriages and friendships are in a cold state because there has been either no words, which at times can be just as bad as wrong words!

Words matter and they cut like a knife! So please tame your tongue! People the Word of God tells us in James 1:26 “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless” YIKES!  Hello, that means that this Christ you proclaim, this life-transforming message you speak of is deemed useless because if it hasn’t changed the way you talk and how you treat others with your tongue, what hope can a person have this Christ turning their life around?

If the people you hang with (yes I went there!) or you yourself can’t ever seem to be positive for yourself or others, it could be an indication that you are lacking some serious face time with God. There is no way you can spend time with God and not have a more compassionate, caring, uplifting heart. And since everything flows from the heart, your words will be kinder, gentler words. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that you can’t speak truth to someone but the word tells us to speak the truth in LOVE (Eph 4:15). Love will compel us to watch how we say what we need to say.

So today, think before you speak! Your words have the power to connect! Connect people with and to you but more importantly, connect people to the God YOU serve! Today your words can change a frown to a smile, tears into laughter and discouragement to encouragement. I can’t think of a better way to use words…now that matters!

A friend of mine is having a party soon and she asked me if I was going. I asked her, who did you invite? Yeap, I’m that careful about who I spend my time with. As a pastor, I have to go to events and I’m around people who I will never allow into my personal life. Why? Simply because what they do, how they talk, how they “live” is contrary to what I want around me. Some people have a mask that is very obvious, others are more careful yet their actions betray them. I look at all of that. But I write this post because I want to make you think about this as well. God actually wants us to choose wisely. I know, I know so people are so lonely that they will hang out with anyone. That stems from another issue I don’t have time to address here. But for those who literally try to be a follower vs. fan of Jesus, it is crucial that you watch who you hang out with.

As I write this, the song by Whodini “Friends” plays in my head. It’s an old school song, here it is :

This friend in the song isn’t so much of a friend right? Well, there are many of those around us as well. Let me introduce you to a verse that guides my life whether people like it or not…“The righteous should CHOOSE HIS FRIENDS CAREFULLY, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Proverbs 12:26). I think believers think they have to be “friends” with everyone because that is the “christian” thing to do. Actually the “christian” thing to do is not be friends with everyone because the word tells us to CHOOSE carefully, even those who go to “church” can be bad influences in our life.

Sometimes God nudges us about a particular person but again because we have a mixed up theology, we stay in a unhealthy friendship. But you see, the main reason that God will start to nudge you and try to take out the friends in your life that He does not want you to have is because some of these people may be negative influences in your life. They may not be open to growing and maturing in the Lord like you will be, and all they will do is try and hold you back when you start your own spiritual journey and growth in the Lord. They will start criticizing and making fun of you and all they will end up doing is stunting your growth in the Lord. They have nothing good to say about the people you believe in, your leadership, your church, your dreams, etc. They are moody…today they love you, tomorrow it’s like “who are you again?” Why do you put up with all this drama folks? God is coming back soon, we really have no time for this!

For those of you who are married and have children – it is the same thing when you do not want your children hanging out with other children who you know would be a bad and negative influence on your child. You know that if your children start hanging out with the wrong type of crowd, they can become very easily corrupted in a very short period of time. As a result, you will become very protective with your children, and you will watch them very closely when they are old enough to start choosing who their friends are going to be.

It is the exact same way with God the Father! If you will allow God to prune out the people that He does not want you to have in your life – then what He will start to do is to bring in the people that He will want to have in your life. I call these types of friends “God-friends.” These people will be other good, godly, Spirit-filled Christians who are truly walking in good stead with the Lord and they will now be the people that He will want you to share your walk with!

How many of these types of God-friends can you expect God to bring into your life? Only God will be able to answer that for each and every one of you. Some may only get one or two to start off with, others may get 5 or 10. Let God make the decision as to how many and when they will be brought into your life. What I have learned is that it is not the quantity or amount that comes in – it is the quality. You are much better off having just one or two good, solid, quality friends as versus 10 or 15 that are not as good quality friends as the one or two may be.

Every Christian is operating at different levels of spiritual development with the Lord. God knows best as to who would be best suited for you at the level of spiritual development that you are currently operating at with Him. When God does bring in these types of special God-friends to share your journey with – they will be real treasures! These God-friendships will be anointed by God Himself due to the quality feedings and interaction that will occur in them.

A quote I once read in Essence Magazine by the then Editor, Susan Taylor stated “not everyone is healthy enough for a front row seat in my life!” I think that states it very clearly. So please choose wisely!

Life is difficult. Life is awesome. It’s a paradox we have to learn to live with. As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You’ll have your heart broken and you’ll break others’ hearts. You’ll fight with your best friend or maybe lose the friendship, and you’ll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you’ve never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, the only second chances you get are the ones God gives you, so take advantage of them but there is no way of knowing if another human being will give you those chances. So you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and if someone hurts you confront them, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone’s hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, and smile until your face hurts. Don’t be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.

As I wait for my meatloaf to be done and read my July/August 2009 issue of Outreach Magazine, a few thoughts came to mind like…

Its good to reflect on how people in your life left an imprint on you: I think alot of us zoom through life sometimes forgetting what the last experience with a person did to us…intentionally but sometimes more of denial or wishful forgetfulness.

I recently returned from NYC where I met up with people from my college days and it was an experience that left me more lifted than I even imagined. Some of the people were sorority sisters, others were fraternity men who I partied with in college but most were people who had in one way or another touched my life and I hope vice versa. That Saturday in NYC was a moment that mattered for me. It mattered because I remembered how important our experiences are in our DNA; it was important because I connected with people that I was very tight with but for reasons that were not even good ones, stopped connecting with them. Finally it was important because we got to share the great things that life has given us and even the not so great. We grew up, we were happy to see each other and wish each other a better tomorrow and some of us promised to keep the connection going.

That was a moment that mattered because those people had an imprint on my life however brief our connection was in school. I’ve learned something from my connections with them and I can’t make believe that it wasn’t influential in my life. If we are honest, all the people who have crossed our paths left their mark. I guess this weekend for me I realized just how much and I hope that there were some there that felt the same about me.

In a very real way, we should remember that as we interact with people today. Its not about first impressions its about being a positive force in someone’s life. And no, don’t get crazy, you don’t have to make an investment of days, months or years, some people impact you in a few seconds, by their actions or the words that they say or even the spirit that they bring to the atmosphere.

I’m reflective right now because that moment mattered to me. It was supposed to be just a simple reunion, but it turned out to be a time where I looked in people’s faces and remembered how connected we were at one time. I am sure when you look at your life you will find moments that matter like this as well. Sure, they would be in different settings and with different people but the moment would still be the same…no one crosses our path without leaving their imprint on our life…good or bad.

To those of you who know who you are I am so glad we connected, I am so glad we are making an effort to stay connected and I am so glad you were in my life back in the day. A part of you stayed with me and I have no regrets. I am who I am because of the sum total of my experiences and you are too. Love who you have become and let’s continue to make moments that matter.

Paz!

Today my hubby preached at our church’s Weds service and I have to say he left me with this big nugget from the Word…He preached on the “crumb” aspect but he briefly touched a part that jumped out at me.

Matthew 15:21-28 (The Message) 

21-22From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”  23Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.”  24Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.”  25Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.”  26He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.”  27She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.”  28Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.

I thought to myself. Wow, God I want to have that something else kind of faith, the one that makes you say, wow, girl, “what you want is what you get!” The Word tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God”. That means we could be busy doing a whole load of other things but without faith we can’t please him and without this something else kind of faith, we won’t get what we so desire.

He said Oh, Woman! I don’t know but that hit me hard in a good way. In this time of economic crisis, turmoil every which way we turn, we need to hold on to God and to His Word and not give in no matter what!! This verse is officially the next one I would love to hear Jesus tell me along with “Well done my good and faithful servant! My ghettoized Jesus would say ….Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaag Liz, you got that stu————pid kind of faith!

Yeah, I want my faith to impress God! Don’t you?

Ok so just in case you missed it…the first night of the Democratic Convention wasn’t looking too good, alot of the speakers were not saying much at all and most were there as a “thank you” for supporting Obama early on but then Kennedy took the post and things started to look up. Then, Michelle Obama spoke and well she rocked. It’s not that her speech was over the top exhilirating or informational, it was that she connected to what matters to the people…to me. My children’s future, dreaming of a better world and actually believing in that improbable dream…where the unlikely could happen if you work and try hard enough. Yeah, I liked the speech alot, there was even a point, she could have started to “hoop” what black preachers do as she started sharing on “it was strong enough…” towards the end of the speech.

I believe in team leadership. There are many, many models of team leadership. Leadership Magazine had an article about a church that really took a very different approach to team leadership. There are no Sr, Associate or Assistant pastors. There is a pastor of each function important in the church. I’d love to revisit them in a few years and see how it went. Of course, sometimes we want to try something because it “worked in Philly or Miami” or something but soon realize that it sounds better on paper.

Read this, what’s your take? Have you seen good team leadership?

Are you one of the folks highly addicted to Twitter? Are you a ministry leader as well? Well, check this out, yet another creative use of this new technology has popped up. Read about it here.