Does the Devil Know Your Name?

We go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and wednesday....We even have activities through out the week....So the Devil is scared of us...Right? NOT!

We are familiar with the story in Acts 19 where a few men went to cast out demons as Jesus and Paul had done....

Acts 19:11-16 reads:11And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:

12So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

13Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

14And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

15And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

16And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

The evil spirits did not even know the name of these men. They were not afraid of these men, they knew that these men had no power.

We can go to church, attend every outing, sing on the platform, play an instrument, even teach sunday school.....We could be the janitor, the sound person, the youth leader, or even the pastors wife.....None of these scares satan. He does not care what you do or who you are as long as your life is not 100% dedicated to Jesus. If we are not giving bible studies, spending time in a prayer closet, or living in holiness (both inside and out), Then the devil is not scared.

I want to make the devil scared, I want him to know my name. When I go to pray for someone or something, I want authority against satan and his evil spirits.

We have to be careful praying for people and being altar workers, we need to make sure our life is right and that we have spent time with God daily in prayer, or else as the men in this story, the evil spirits could leep on us and we could become a dwelling place for the spirits of the devil.

I want the devil to be scared of me. When I walk down the streets of my city, I want him to be scared that I just might win someones soul over to the Lord. Every time I walk into the house of God, I want him to be scared that we just might pray someone through to the Holy Ghost.

I want the devil to know my name!

Inside Out

This morning in prayer, my mind went back to a song that we use to sing in Sunday School...."Inside out, Inside out, You must serve my Jesus from the inside out. I am your child and I may not know very much, but I know the word of God is true. If you read your bible, you'll find there ain't no room for doubt, cause the word of God is spiritual from the inside out"

Matthew 23:24-26 (King James Version)
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

A lot of times we focus on the outside more then we focus on the inside. Now if you know me, you know that I support holiness, standards and clothing guidelines just as strict as anyone, but we have to start from the inside. Regardless of what we look like on the outside, if our heart is not right with God or if our temple has become unclean, God cannot use us. To be used in His kingdom, we must first be clean on the inside. We must search our hearts. Search our temple. Search our vessel. Clean it out. Go before the Lord for Him to cleanse us. Then the Lord will work on the outside. He will gives us convictions.

Today I pray the Lord starts on the inside. I want to be a clean vessel.

The Tyranny of the Urgent

I started reading the book "Having a Mary heart in a Martha world", a book that I believe EVERY women that wants to serve God to the fullest, but does not seem to find the time, or if you need a book of encouragement to get out there and do what God wants you to do.

There is a part in chapter one that has caught my attention. The book role place what probably takes place in every one of our lives....."Part of me is Mary. I want to worship extravagantly. I want to sit at his feet. But part of me is Martha--and there's just so much to do! So many legitimate needs surround me, compelling me to work. I hear God's tender call to come away, I respond, Yes Lord, I will come. But then the phone rings, I'm reminded of the check I was supposed to deposit--yesterday! Suddenly all of my good intentions about worship disappear, swallowed up by what Charles Hummel calls "the tyranny of the urgent"."

I know that there are many mornings that I have gotten out of bed and looked at my prayer closet, and said "I will be right there" then the next thing I know it is lunch time and my "to do" list has gotten a whole lot longer. I believe that we all should have a "Threshing floor", a place that we fall before God to receive from Him what only He can give.

Threshing Floor:Wikipedia Definition
A threshing floor is a specially flattened surface made either of rock or beaten earth where a farmer would thresh the grain harvest. The threshing floor was either owned by the entire village or by a single family. It was usually located outside the village in a place exposed to the wind. Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain (or other crop) from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain.

In the spiritual since a threshing floor is a place where God can harvest us. Take away the bad and useless, to bring forth our harvest.

We need to make a threshing floor in our lives. I have made my closet a prayer room in my home. It has helped in so many ways. I can, at any point of the day, just walk in and shut the door, then its just me and God.

I know its hard, but we need God in our lives. We need to some times just come and sit at His feet. God wants to help us, and He has things that He wants to tell us....but until we can slow down, calm down, and sit down so that God can speak, we will not here His voice

Women , We can do it!

The Lord has placed many people in my life to help me along the way. He has shown me favor by allowing me to know the following women.....

Thank you to my mom....for all the random day-trips and playing hookie from school/work just to hang out....Thank you for all the late night talks.....thanks for being you!....Thank you for not giving up on me.....for being a father and a mother at the same time.....for showing me how to work hard, and take care of yourself.....Your are an amazing women.

Thank you to my mother-in-law....the best I could have asked for, someone I can talk to.....thank you for all your help.....and for allowing me into your life.

Thank you to my home Pastors wife Sis Paula Watts.....for your amazing advise, example of how a women should act, a prayer warrior and amazing worship leader.

Thank you to my mentor....Cylinda Nickel....you have no idea how I relive a lot of our conversations just to make it through the day...thank you for showing me how to run a crazy house (not that yours is....OK maybe a little sometimes), host a dinner, be a life giver and still have time to be an amazing person.

I think about the difference that these women made/make in my life everyday....and it makes me want to be the best that I can be. Just because we are women, wives, mothers, housewives, or career moms....We can still make a difference....We need to be there for one another. Encourage one another. Don't let time pass by without you lifting up your sisters in prayer. We are each others support system.

My prayer today is that I become a women that changes lives. I want to be someone that people can talk to and I want to be a prayer warrior....I want to intercede on my sisters behalf.

We cannot allow gossip to come into our hearts, we may all be different, but we are all in this together.

I love you all!

Do people know who or what your? Can they tell that you are a Child of God? Has anyone asked you latley if you are a Christian/Pentecostal?

People need to be able to see something different in us. They should want to know where we go to church, or how did we become so happy. This morning while working in the shop, A gentlemen asked me if I was pentecostal....I answered yes and procceded to tell me that he was non-denominational and had just moved near-by.

Immediatley I got happy...."Thank you Lord that I am different....We shouldn't have to go around telling people who we are, what we believe, or where we go to church. They should ask us....They should see something in us that they don't see in everyone else.

I want to stand out, I want be see a difference in me!

A little homesick today

So today has been a little rough on me. I miss my mom, my family, the big city of Charlotte, NC....but the main thing that I miss is my home church! Everyone there, my Pastor Rev Watts and First Lady Sis Watts, and Ashley! They are such amazing examples of who we all should live our lives. Everyday I try to remember all the things that they taught me....things I will never forget.

God has placed men and women of God in our lives for a reason. People are ok with the Pastor telling them to live a certain way as long as it doesn't require change. But I want change! I know it is hard to not become upset with your Pastor or Pastors wife when they correct you, but they do it protect you. They do it because they know what is right for you.

I sit here and think of the times that I sat in a church pew or my Pastors office, and left thinking that I didn't have to obey those rules.....I look back now and wish I would have listened. We have to allow people to speak things into our lives.

God used Noah, Moses, and Paul....they were all "MEN"....If it was good enough for them, then its good enough for me.

Thank you Lord for the men of God that you have placed in my life.

Weeds are taking over!!

So obviously I am new to this whole house wife thing, because I have let the weeds in my flower beds run wild. My sister-in-law came home yesterday from Texas, so cleaning was in the air. We all wanted everything to look like "home" for her. So I had the bright idea of weed eating my flower beds and planting new flowers my self. I began to pull and tug at this weeds that seemed tougher then they looked. After 2 broken nails, I thought, why not just go and buy soil and mulch to cover the entire area and you won't even be able to see them.....

Then I could hear God say, you have to get the root. "Wow" Amen! So I pulled and tugged for hours in this Mississippi heat...(If you have ever been in this area in the summer, you know my pain)....I worked so hard to get down to the root of these weeds. They had been growing so long that they had wrapped themselves in my bushes. But I was the women for the job to get them out!

As I was digging, pulling, and tugging......I thought, "This was crazy to ever let it get this bad! I need to take time everyday and search this flower bed for weeds before they kill my new flowers."

I was quickened in my spirit that this was another one of Gods daily lessons. Here we are, flowers in a flower bed and if we are not careful things will come in and try to kill us. We cannot allow little things of this world to try to creep into our lives. They may start out as something so small, and it looks harmless, but its roots will start to grow longer, stronger, and thicker then we can control. A lot of times we try to cover things up on the outside, by making our lives look perfect, but in reality you have to start from within. I pray that God helps me everyday to stay holy before him, and rid myself of things of this world.

I am so thankful that God still speaks in the garden!