Category: Inspirational

The Secret Of Prayer…

Like many people, I used to struggle in my prayer life. I would feel guilty, condemn myself and even evade the topic of prayer with others because I felt like a failure. I thought that my good work, faithful church attendance and tithing would offset the fact that my prayer life wasn’t what it should be for someone like me who professed an undying faith in Jesus. I would try to have devotions before I’d pray and fall asleep while reading scriptures. I’d engage in corporate prayer at church, but that didn’t satisfy the intimacy I needed with the Lord that comes through personal, private prayer.

I know that prayer is one of three powerful tools we have as believers. The other tools of fasting and studying the word are only complemented by having a strong, consistent prayer life. The bible says in the book of James 5:16 “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” This declaration that James makes reminds us that God hears and responds to prayer. He loves when we seek Him, worship Him and acknowledge Him. He loves to bless us! He wants us to know Him in a personal way and prayer offers us that. Prayer gives us a calming peace coupled with security that only the Father can provide for us. This peace that surpasses all understanding that is mentioned in Phillipians 4:7 is given to us freely by a God who loves us unconditionally.

I wanted to seek God about my prayer life and in order to do so I felt I had to make some declarations. The first one I made was that I needed a spiritual overhaul. The second was that I needed to repent to God for avoiding prayer and making excuses for not praying consistently. Next I wanted to learn how to pray so that my prayers were effective.

I needed to re-examine the scripture in James 5:16. It cites that the prayers of the righteous carry weight with the Lord, however it also states that we must “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but I needed to be honest with fellow believers that I was struggling with finding quality time to cultivate my prayer life. I needed their support, their prayers and their love to help me get through the dry season I was experiencing with prayer. The times of pretending, hiding and borderline lying about how much time I was spending with God needed to stop. Immediately!

Next I wanted God to teach me how to pray. I searched the word and took a new look at the Lord’s prayer. In Matthew 6:9 Jesus tells the disciples how NOT to pray. He talked in the previous verses about “vain repetitions”. In other words, I shouldn’t try to impress God with selfish, distant prayers that petition Him over and over for the same things. I needed to be honest with God about whatever I needed at that moment. The next thing God revealed to me was that I needed to have conversations with the Lord, not feel like prayer is a forced, painful ritual that requires me to ‘put in time’. When I thought of prayer this way, as a duty it created a bondage for me and therefore I’d avoid it. When I re-read the Lord’s prayer I learned to dialogue with God which is what praying really is. This type of prayer teaches me to simply acknowledge God by telling Him his name is “hallowed”, sacred and holy. It tells me to ask God to make His will known in my life (thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven). It reminds me to ask God for provision or daily bread, to forgive me for anything I’ve done amiss and to have mercy on people that sin against me. This passage told me to always ask God to keep temptations from me while keeping delivered from evil. Then the closing acknowledges His sovereign power.

God used this prayer to give me a revelation. My spirit was illuminated after reading this passage! Why I never saw this before I can’t answer but I will never forget the day I’d received this revelation concerning prayer. The Lord showed me that I was simply making too much of a production of prayer. When I used to do this, it would make praying a burdensome task and I’d feel bondage not freedom. I couldn’t feel God’s love because I felt the bondage of obligation. The Lord showed me that praying isn’t a prison. It’s a way to simply talk to my best friend~Jesus! I didn’t have to have a structured prayer time every day. I could pray to the Father ANYTIME of day, any day of the week. Tradition taught me to set aside a prayer time daily begin and end. The Lord showed me that I could pray in my car, in class, at work or even in the kitchen when preparing dinner for the family. I could pray when washing dishes or while I’m cleaning the bathroom. I learned that my prayers to God don’t have to have be formal, they just need to be sincere.

I learned that God loves when we talk to Him. He loves when we are honest with Him and tell Him our vulnerabilities so He can fix what ails us. He wants us to cast all of our cares on Him. I’m so glad I sought the Lord about prayer because it freed me from the man made traditions that I was taught concerning prayer. Yes I could still have a set time daily to meet the Lord in prayer if I choose however if I miss that time, I could still talk to the Father and He will honor my prayer. The reason why I love the Lord so much is because when we struggle with issues, He speaks the answers. If we continue to listen we will hear Him. He loves us too much to allow us to feel any oppression because whom Jesus set free is free indeed.

Talk to the Father where ever you are so you too can begin to have honest conversations with the Lord. Make Him your best friend. That is the secret of prayer…..

Be encouraged child of the most high God~!

What Is Your Issue?

God has been dealing with me of late about the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25, Lev. 15:19 & Matt 14:34-36). I used these scriptures to examine her issues. God was showing me that this story illustrates the modern church. The wounded women are people in the church who believe in God but are not delivered from pain and hurt in their lives. They want to serve and be whole, but just don’t know how to get free. In this passage, the bible talks about doctors who tried or promised repeatedly to heal this woman but had no power to help her. Instead she ended up spending all that she had trying to find a true balm for her ailments.

This is what seems to have happened in our churches today. Believers are going from church to church looking to leadership for a true connection to God. They need someone who can get a prayer through so they can find peace in their spirit and healing in their bodies. They are like birds struggling to fly with a broken wing in spite of their very noticeable dysfunction.

The problem lies in that there is an obvious wound that needs to heal in order for them to soar. The disciples were operating in the traditions of church law in regard to this woman. Even though they were supposed to see her need and show compassion, they instead chose to cling to rules that deemed she was unclean. Their desire was for Jesus to just dismiss her, ignore her need and send her on her way. They felt Jesus had more important things to do and she didn’t qualify in their minds as one with a legitimate need. Our churches perform the same ritual weekly. People who are in dire straights seem to EMBARRASS many self righteous believers! They want ministry but don’t want to deal with people who have desperate needs in their lives. They say they want to fight as soldiers in the army but not really sold out enough to get dirty in the trenches. Real ministry means you have to get your hands dirty in order to pull someone out of the very real pit in their life.

Thank God for GRACE! This woman is an icon for the church and those that God wants to deliver from despair, abuse, oppression, fear and anything else that hinders victorious living. It grieves God I believe, because this is the face of modern day churches. We don’t seek God anymore with passion or consistency; therefore leaders are pitifully weak and profoundly ineffective. There isn’t enough fasting or prayer on a consistent basis so in effect; the church has learned to tie God’s hands. He can’t show up to heal if the atmosphere isn’t right nor will He move if there is no true worship. God didn’t fail us but it is we who have lost faith. Compromise in our walk has led us to witnessing more lukewarm believers that are nursing old wounds.

Jesus saw the heart of this woman and her desire to be free. The compassion of the Lord didn’t fail which compelled Him to stop and bless her on His journey.

In light of this act, we too need to see if we actually qualify to minister to the Lord’s people. We need to take a minute and see if someone else has a need that is pressing because it’s always about us! It’s all about God’s agenda. It’s about being in position to be used for His service.

We all have issues. We all need help to get healed and we’re unable to do it on our own. We need each other because we were designed for relationship and we need God because we can’t heal ourselves. We need the ministry of intercession back in the church. We need the ministry of the prophet back in the church for confirmation, correction and order. We need the wisdom of church mothers, mentors, spiritual fathers and missionaries to provide direction.

The woman with the issue of blood was unable to heal. Her blood didn’t clot properly so that she could put her painful past behind her. The bleeding was a constant reminder that her issue was not yet resolved. Her issue was painful and impacted her present life. It also threatened her future as she grew weaker from the blood loss with each passing day. Blood is binding and represents covenant. This is why Christ’s shed blood is so precious because in its’ shed state it offered us a covenant with Him. Blood has iron in it. When detectives apply Luminol to blood at a crime scene, it bonds with the iron component forcing it to illuminate. The blood of Christ once applied to our lives, our past and illuminates our hurt. Once the wound is identified, complete healing commences. There is no residue of the past or any other emotional pain. It’s been washed away forever and our slate cleansed.

Be encouraged child of the most high God~!

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Dr. Denise J. Williams was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and has over twenty-two years of ministry experience. The author’s first book “The Healing Of A Broken Vessel” can be found on http://www.amazon.com. She’s currently penning her second book and resides in Jacksonville, FL with her husband.

Every Place You Hurt

There she is alone at the well… Then a man shows up saying “give me to drink“. She wonders why because the Jews have no dealings with Samaritians. He’s different though and talks to her because He can see she’s in pain. He questions her about who she is. She tells Him the story about the well, Jacob their father and the worship that took place on that very mountain. He gets more personal by wanting to know about her husband. She says I’ve had five. Each of her  husbands represented a church, a covering that failed her in some way. Each covering has let her down, abuse in one, lied to in another, manipulated in the third one, abandoned in the fourth one and put out in the fifth one. She’s saddened discussing it all. Five husbands. Five coverings. Five failures. She was done. She was finished with coverings, husbands, churches the whole lot of it. No earthly covering understood her needs.

If you can relate to this woman it is probably because at some time in your life, the church has failed you. This woman has been talked about because she went from one covering/marriage to another. Some of us get talked about for going from church to church but can’t help it because some of us have pain the church can’t fix or won’t address so we search. Some of us need counseling that the church didn’t want to do because it might require a commitment from the leadership to meet with us weekly. Someone may have to miss their favorite TV show to help! Every deliverance doesn’t happen on Sunday and every healing doesn’t happen in the bible study. Some pain, some heartache, some emotional devastation needs to be tended to when others are home eating dinner or chatting on the phone with friends. Her pain was real just like it is for some of us. She was shunned among people of notoriety because of her past. Even in modern circles people still judge us for what we may have done in our past. The bondage this brings is crippling. Some people never forgive our mistakes even if we did repent and some choose to hold it over our heads. The loving church people wouldn’t reach out beyond their comfort zone. The thing is, this woman could have been any of us or possibly she is us?! She was someone with a hurting heart and needed the love of God manifested in a person that would help her heal. She was looking for love with each husband/church/covering and was unable to find it. Like many of us today she felt broken, isolated and ashamed.

But wait….Jesus is the sixth man. He is the sixth covering in the life of this woman who is at this well. Five is the number of grace however six is the number of mankind. Jesus redeemed, healed and offered Himself as her church. He was her covering and her husband. She found that in Him she is truly complete! That day she was the one that got a drink. It was a drink of deliverance! She received living water and she found renewed hope for her life. The gift of the GOOD NEWS was hers that day. She met Jesus! The promised one. The messiah. The only one that can heal every single place she hurt.

Be encouraged child of the most high God~!

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Dr. Denise J. Williams is the founder of Broken Vessel Outreach Ministries International. She has just completed her first book entitled “The Healing Of A Broken Vessel”  in early 2009. She and her husband reside in Jacksonville, Fl. http://www.thebrokenvessel.com/heal 

GIVE HIM YOUR ISAAC

 

Last night, my husband and I enjoyed the symphony with friends. As we watched, I was mesmerized by the melodious sounds resonating from the stage. Each musician was precise, accurate and totally engaged in their work. Every ounce of their discipline was evident as their offering of harmony delivered to our audience one perfected piece after another. In our lives we can see a mirrored scenario. We each harbor thFreeWomane potential to offer beauty in any endeavor we pursue. God offers us success, but after our journey in Christ commences we have to grow spiritually in order to wisely manage it. Without maturation we become a stagnant, useless carcass unable to fully manifest His glory among men in the earth. There are many zealous believers that desire to be used mightily of the Lord but in order for this to occur, there is a process of preparedness that has to be completed. In Genesis 22, Abraham was in the process of being re-constructed. He was on the cusp of being spiritually challenged in a way he never expected. In this look at Abraham, most believe God only wanted him to offer his son Isaac as a test of loyalty. The passage illustrates obedience to God in the midst of what human discerning may deem illogical direction. While this is definitely one perspective, God revealed something deeper concerning this conundrum to me.

In order to remain in a place of spiritual flexibility, we need to regularly be made uncomfortable! The reality that God places us in such situations may not be popular but is indeed a fact. Abraham fell into a place many of us find ourselves amidst. He was complacent. He served God, observed the holy days and offered the appropriate sacrifices when he was required to do so. He trusted his “safe” spiritual place yet his routine actually worked against him. Oh how we are more like him than we realize! We attend the worship service, pay the tithe, hear the sermon, wonder what restaurant has a dinner special and repeat the process the following week. Our God is a God of progressive change yet believers desire an ordinary seasonal predictability that offers false security. When God directed Abraham to offer his son Isaac for the sacrifice, he was shaken from his place of comfort and catapulted to an area he’d never known. Extreme faith! Abraham knew that the law of Moses offered him only judgment if he didn’t obey. However his blind obedience didn’t challenge his faith. Committing scripture to memory didn’t’ do it either. He needed something more. More than ritual, he needed a relationship with the Lamb.

Genesis 22 presents us with the ideal that the body of Christ has to endure a periodic agitation. If we are looking for the miraculous in our daily lives, we have to submit to an abrupt, sudden and permanent change in our spiritual thinking which is orchestrated by the Father. Our “Unknowing” will lead us as it did Abraham to a place of abundant faith. Abraham moved in his extreme faith when he said in verse five that he and the lad will go worship then return. He didn’t know if God would resurrect Isaac or continue to require his son to remain the sacrifice. All he could comprehend was that his humanity which is representative of wood is fallible. He knew somehow, someway that God would not let him down in relation to his son which he now perceived as the sacrifice. His child was the perfect offering before the Lord at that moment. This type represented Jesus’ death for all of humanities sins. Even more perfect than Isaac’s child. Isaac, in his quest to find the spiritual perfecting he needed, he had to give God his Isaac so he could discover the Lamb.

In verse six the question arose, “Where is the Lamb?” If we desire God’s perfect will we have to surrender our Isaac and find the Lamb. Just as the musicians who performed for me sought perfection through repetition, we too must repeatedly seek God in the realm of massive, unwavering faith. This will only come through allowing Him to place us in uncomfortable situations so that we can believe for more than we ever dreamed possible. This can only occur for us once we’ve attained grace from God through His Lamb.

If the church is to make a broader impact in the world and persuade the lost, we need to be ready to give up our safe places that offer us monotony. These are our Isaac’s. It encompasses those spiritual hiding places of hindrances or feat that challenge our growth. We can not continue to forsake the initiation of intimacy if we desire mammoth faith in Jesus. Any other misplaced confidence in our ability only encourages us to depend on ourselves instead of God.

As the symphony drew to a close the question again resonated within me. What is your Isaac? What is that sure thing, that carnal connection which I always know will come through for me? What do I always depend on that is not Christ? The body of Christ needs to realize a new dispensation is here just as Abraham had. The miraculous will not happen with believers hiding in the shadows with the fear they will offend someone with their salvation. It will not happen if we keep pacifying ourselves with church work nor will it happen through pretending to be full of wisdom. Our goal as believers is to show the world a more radical place of belief; not hide in the pews. We should be able to illustrate to the unbeliever that we have all power on earth to fulfill our prophetic assignment. Just as the musicians, we must be precise, strategic and totally engaged in the work of the Lord for the perfecting of the saints. Every ounce of our disciplined living should be evident in all the areas of our lives offering harmony to those around us.

What is your Isaac? If you yearn for more out of your relationship with God, let Him exacerbate your circumstances to propel you to a broader place of faith. Give Him your Isaac and watch God use you in a mighty way in the body of Christ.

Be encouraged child of the most high God~!

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Dr. Denise Joyce Williams lives in Florida with her husband who is a career soldier. Her articles have been featured in CALLED and WOW magazine. Her book entitled, “The Healing Of A Broken Vessel” was released by Publish America in March 2009. The book can be found: http://www.publishamerica.com. She can be reached via her ministry website http://www.thebrokenvessel.com. She’s currently penning her next book entitled “The Chambers Of The Heart”.

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What Time Is It For Believers?

Recently the body of Christ has been inundated with prophetic words concerning the immediate future. These messages have been released to identify the spiritual climate of our day to a weary church. Our dispensation is probably the most unique and the most active than any previous era. In examining the signs of our times several questions have emerged. What identifies the modern day believer? What is the spiritual temperature of the church? And lastly, why does the church seem to be complacent?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 explains there is a time for every purpose in our individual TimePiecelives but also as a corporate body. The church is poised for another tremendous prophetic move. Our generation is witnessing a surge of new converts, physical healings, dreams and visions like never before. God’s mandate is to equip the veteran while recruiting the lost in this season. Every event in our social structure that signifies stability is failing and many are being challenged to re-examine their relationship with God. Position or wealth are no longer enough to quell the false sense of security the world has duped itself into believing is real.

Our prophetic climate isn’t for naught. God is readying His church to address real concerns for those whose need is deeper than a weekly thirty minute pep talk topped with a “God bless, see you next week” We now understand as Jesus’ return becomes more imminent, spiritual warfare will become much more common place. God’s message to us is that we must get in position to deal with this kind of combat. The modern day believer must be completely engulfed in whatever directive God has ordained. Submission is key to not only acquire personal blessings but also to comprehend every strategy of the enemy. In exposing demonic schemes we are able to edify the body of Christ as a whole.

Our worship must exude a purity that hasn’t been infected with even a hint of compromise or worldly itineraries. This is essential in this season of exploiters who look for opportunities to deceive even seasoned saints. In order to identify the authentic pearls from the costume jewelry we must strengthen our relationship with the Father. The tools of study, fasting and intercessory prayer must DOMINATE our time if we are to overcome in this season.

We have to embrace serving Him as an honor; a relationship that must be tended daily. God’s eyes are scanning to and fro (II Chronicles 16:9) searching the heart of His bride. He peers into hearts that are innocent, willing and self sacrificing. Many in this dispensation believe the church should keep the unsaved as their top priority. While this is clearly important, there is an even more pressing need. More and more the church is constantly called upon to minister to believers! There are God fearing people who love Him yet are bound with spirits of oppression, depression, obsession, addictions, suicidal tendencies and many other bondages. Many pastors are burned out, churches are closing and false teaching is leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of the un-churched. God is calling the church to awake from its’ slumber by responding to the direction of the Holy Ghost! We ARE NOT washed up, powerless weaklings! It’s time for us to take authority over evil!

Now is the time to offer healing to the faithful who are wounded. Our time of complacency and fear must be put behind us. It is now our time to shine while offering the healing power of the gospel to a dying world. Let us seek out those needing to renew their faith to assist them in realizing their divine purpose. The impending move of the prophetic is contingent upon the people of God responding to His call. We can no longer shrink into the background! We are needed to carry out the agenda of Christ until His physical return. We must solicit the Lord concerning the ills of our culture. It is believers who require the balm of deliverance in order to forge ahead to offer healing. It is the modern day believer who is about to be restored, strengthened and poised to evangelize the nations.

What time is it? It is time dear friend for us to return to our first love. It’s time for all of us to serve the Lord with our entire heart.

Be encouraged child of the most high God~!

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Dr. Denise Joyce Williams lives in Florida with her husband who is a career soldier. Her articles have been featured in CALLED and WOW magazine. Her book entitled, “The Healing Of A Broken Vessel” was released by Publish America in March 2009. The book can be found: http://www.publishamerica.com. She can be reached via her ministry website http://www.thebrokenvessel.com. She’s currently penning her next book entitled “The Chambers Of The Heart”.

Strength Inside Out!

I’ve been an Army National Guard wife for three years. In many ways, it’s been a sheer adventure, filled with memorable times. Most times, it’s been an easy ride and if I had the chance to choose it again, I would. In embracing all of the blessings, there were some things that occurred that challenged me in my relationship with God. I faced an adversity in the early days of our marriage that forced me to change. I thought the commitment my husband made to be a soldier really didn’t affect my life too much at all. I believed all I had to do was support his military endeavors and be a great wife. “Piece of cake” I mused. After we married in September 2007, he was immediately sent orders to do a three year tour at LetterKenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, PA. He had to report in December just three months into our marriage. I was so excited that our early years together would take us to a new place and welcomed the move from Florida for a season. We left in November right after Thanksgiving and I was overjoyed to be back in a northern city, not far from New York where I’d grown up. Chambersburg is a picturesque town that was small, friendly and full of charming residents. We rented a three bedroom, three bathroom townhouse and furnished it modestly. In just one month after our move, I landed a job working as a contractor at LetterKenny Depot. I would see my husband around the base during the day. How cool is that for a newlywed! I thought I was set for the next three years blessed with a new city, a new marriage and a new job. I was over the moon with joy.

In October of the following year the news I feared the most was delivered to our home. We were informed that my husband’s tour would be shortened. His Army National Guard unit was being activated to go to Iraq and immediate terror filled my soul. His orders directed us to begin packing for relocation back to Florida so that he could be reunited with his unit. I thought I was going to pass out from the idea of him leaving for the war torn region. I couldn’t believe this was happening to us and thought since I was a believer God shouldn’t let MY husband have go to such an unstable place. I was sure we had much to do in our lives together and that this new assignment wasn’t in God’s plan at all. I became convinced that this was the enemy (devil) whose goal was to not only separate me from my beloved, but also delay our ministry together. How can this be God? I thought. I began to cry privately and pray until I nearly passed out. I prayed that his orders would change. I prayed that the conflict in Iraq would end before his unit deployed. I even prayed that my husband wouldn’t pass his PT (physical training) test so that he could miss deploying altogether. I thought I wasn’t emotionally strong enough to survive a deployment. How could I live with the thought he could die at any time in Iraq for twelve months! The wives who seemed to do this successfully were like heroes to me but I didn’t want to join their ranks in this exclusive club. I sought God in fear for my husband’s life. I was half angry and half pleading with Him to change the fate of my husband’s unit. I didn’t want to be a widow and the thought terrified me. Since none of my friends or associates were military wives, all I felt was alone in my fear.

I imagine the same is true in the lives of most people. We all have something in our life that makes us confront God with a “why?” People ask why did my marriage fail, why did I get laid off, why did my child fall ill? Why, when I’m a believer would God allow such an unspeakable tragedy befall me? I’m one that loves God, pay my tithes and shares His love. However, I learned something valuable from that experience with my husband’s deployment. God wanted to show me how He uses daily circumstances as a backdrop for the massive blessing He had in store for us. He wanted to show me what real strength really was and from where it spawns. He wanted to teach me that the strength I took credit for was weak, ineffective and not steeped in faith. As a matter of fact, He showed me that even the drop in the bucket strength I relied upon was all His too. The Lord showed me that I can endure the hard days in Him and be victorious. My strength was just a modified version of my own selfish pride which led me to believe God wouldn’t let “certain things” happen to me. I thought by thinking this way, I could manipulate God. I thought God wouldn’t let me down if I embraced this belief. In reality, He was furious with me and needed to show me who was God and who needed God.

God wanted me to snap out of the false sense of security I’d created in my mind so I could focus on Him. Period..not on my new city, marriage or job. He showed me that I had to constantly keep Him and His will the center of my existence. I needed to be challenged so that I would seek God more but not for my desires which included my husband’s deployment being averted but for His will in my life. Many times we seek God only for our small circle of people. When we’re happy, blessed and healthy it’s easy to take God for granted. We tend to forget to pray for strangers, volunteer to help others or intercede prayerfully for the ailing. God wants to show us that we should trust Him with everything, even with the lives of our loved ones and the things we can’t control. This faith that I kept telling everyone I had was being tested in a way I never believed would happen. I thought God was being very unfair to my husband and me. We’d just married and I felt like God wasn’t giving us a chance. People tend to think that when adversity arises, God isn’t protecting them or answering their prayers. God always responds to us, it just may not be the way we may have envisioned.

God wants us to trust Him with everything because He knows how much we truly need Him. He wants to cultivate real strength in the life of every believer. In order for God to accomplish this objective, opposition has to present itself in our lives, sometimes in the most extreme way. In those perilous times we have to look to the word of God for comfort. He reminds us in Romans that all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28). We may not believe at the onset that negative or dangerous situations are for our perfecting but the reality is they are.

Adversity sharpens our sense of resiliency! We find out just how much of our resolve to serve Him is due to our own reasoning or a cultivated relationship. It confronts our belief system and compels us to live up to our faith or realize the lack thereof. We learn to engage God more and humbly ask for our faith to rise in order to respond to the challenge we’re faced with. When we’ve allowed God to cultivate our faith, it erases our fears. Adversity is a stark reminder that we are not in complete control of anything. My arrogance led me to believe that God wouldn’t allow my husband to be deployed. My wanting to control life events forced the Lord address my pride reminding me that no matter who I thought I was, I still needed Him. Looking back on my experience, I can now see the hand of God at every turn. My ability to trust God is solid. I have a deeper walk with the Lord and my prayer life is the most important aspect of my spiritual life now. My faith is rooted in strength that comes from the Father, not a prideful litany of memorized scriptures.

The lesson shared here is to trust the Father with your whole heart. In order to freely worship, know and appreciate our salvation, God has to be in complete control of our entire lives. So give your heart to the Father today so that He can unlock your potential by giving you true strength from the inside out.

Be encouraged child of the most high God!

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Dr. Denise Joyce Williams lives in Florida with her husband who is a career soldier. Her articles have been featured in CALLED and WOW magazine. Her book entitled, “The Healing Of A Broken Vessel” was released by Publish America in March 2009. The book can be found: http://www.publishamerica.com. She can be reached via her ministry website http://www.thebrokenvessel.com. She’s currently penning her next book entitled “The Chambers Of The Heart”.

His Tragic Death Spawned Our Magnificent Life!

Anyone would be in agreement that the crucifixion of Jesus was a horrific event. Many believers choose to not even discuss the details because one can’t separate the gory portion of those circumstances without an array of emotions sweeping over them. Jesus was an innocent, spotless lamb whose assignment was to reconcile a spiritually dying world with the Father. Jesus knew His work would give all mankind the opportunity to take part in an inheritance that would be eternal (Hebrews 9:15). His completed work was the catalyst for all humanity to engage in a transformation should they choose. He gave humans the ability, the power if you will to morph into the beautiful, empowered and anointed beings that God the Father originally designed them to be. Jesus’ ultimate act of love made us new by renovating our filthy hearts. Our righteousness that is equivalent to filthy rags cannot be trusted to fulfill God’s agenda. Our own righteous behavior would never be worthy enough to keep our hearts clean. This is because our carnal nature seeks to cling to traditional, legal views or rituals that fail us. We should be aware of the fact that our lives, once we know Him is no longer our own. After we confess Christ, it is imperative that we reinforce the reality of being blood bought. There is no higher price to pay than death on the cross yet Christ willingly journeyed there for our souls. There was no worthy offering that God could accept to redeem humanity from the bondage of sin. Without Him, we’re just useless items in a pawn shop window held hostage by corruption. It was Christ who breathed on us, saw our value and brought us home to God. This wasn’t because we were redeemable but because we needed to be redeemed. The constant enmity between the unGodly desires lying in our flesh and the truth that is exposed is tangible through the anointing. Our salvation keeps us ever mindful that we indeed needed a savior.

God the Father is so loving and gracious, allowing us to build a small empire that we call our lives. He allows us the blessings of marriage, children, rewarding careers, education and a measure of prosperity. His desire is for us to prosper in all of our endeavors and be in the best of health. Because Jesus stood in the gap and entreated God on our behalf, we now have a promise of eternal life. All He truly desires is that we adore Him not only when all is well but every single day in our lives. He wants a lover that truly comprehends the magnitude of the crucifixion because most believers take the cross for granted. This event was more than just salvation for the lost. It changed the world forever. It started when He took the power of death over us away and insured us a glorified body that will thrive with Him in glory forever! In addition to redemption, the anointing of God was released upon all who believed. We in effect became “little Jesus'”. He promised that we’d do greater works, see manifested miracles and impact the entire world. He has given each of us a life’s mission or mandate that will completely eradicate spiritual lack if carried out carefully.

Who wouldn’t want to serve a God like our God?! He looked down from glory and saw us struggling to serve. We were toiling, trying to live holy, challenged with physical illnesses and had no spiritual revelation on how to properly apply His word. But because of grace, He loved us so much He offered Himself as a final, once and for all, forever gift to His Father on our behalf. We don’t have to struggle to live righteously or compete for His grace. It’s free and available to each of us.

We are all His favorite!

We are all His MASTERPIECES!

Our new life in Christ offers gives us the choice to die to who we formerly were to embrace a quickening of our spirit. When we repent, the previous life agendas we once entertained are radically changed and our heart is now primed to hear God’s voice. Through worship we learn to make His desire our own and seek to keep our ear to the ground in order to feel His heartbeat for the body. In this dispensation, we can’t afford the luxury of missing His word. We must stay ready and focused so as not to be tricked by false witnesses. If we are to spot the counterfeit we need to keep our heart before Him for instruction. This is the only way we can properly strategize to reach those who require true ministry. We need to stay reminded that the pleasures of our current lives are for naught unless we make it secondary to our relationship with Jesus. He came so that He can know us personally. We’re not judged corporately as the nation of Israel once was, but we each can reach Him anytime of the day or night.

Take time today to re-evaluate your worth in God. Seek Him in your prayer time for instruction. Let Him remind you of how deeply He loves you. Tell Him how much you need Him. He’s a tall glass of ice water for the desert of our soul. Let us never forget that it was His tragic death that spawned our magnificent lives offered to us through Him.

Be blessed child of the MOST HIGH GOD…

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Dr. Denise Joyce Williams lives in Florida with her husband who is a career soldier. Her articles have been featured in CALLED and WOW magazine. Her book entitled, “The Healing Of A Broken Vessel” was released by Publish America in March 2009. The book can be found: http://www.publishamerica.com. She can be reached via her ministry website http://www.thebrokenvessel.com. She’s currently penning her next book entitled “The Chambers Of The Heart”.

Healing Through Forgiveness

Recently, I was thinking about forgiveness and have come to understand several important things surrounding this issue. First, forgiveness starts within. It starts with individuals making the choice to  be free from the bondage that can accompany unforgiveness. We can triumph by recognizing there are very real components to forgiveness and forgiving. They go hand in hand and each is enhanced by the other. In order to appreciated the gift of forgiveness one needs to forgive. In order to understand forgiving others from the heart we would have to at one time stand in desperate need of forgiveness ourselves. It humbles us so that we can let go of our past no matter how messy it was.

When we can encompass this kind of freedom, we face our reality and accept the consequences of our actions. It’s not bad to make a mistake. However, it’s bad to cover it up, stick our head in the sand and hope it will go away. Bad decisions breed experience, setting the stage for a testimony of how god brought us out of an uncomfortable situation. God loves when we are accountable because it cancels out reproach. Condemnation creates an atmosphere of low self-worth, fear and guilt. God sees the aftermath of our actions before we take them but the good news is this: HE STILL LOVES US AND WANTS US TO BE FREE! I truly thank God for grace.

After we learn to acknowledge, accept and extend forgiveness we need to make restitution whenever we can. If possible we should desire to restore and make peace if we have knowingly hurt another person (Hebrews 12:4). We sometimes have to confess out loud that we’re sorry but we missed the mark. We need to actually say the humbling word “I’m sorry for hurting you”. We all deserve to have someone say that to us and return the sentiment as well. It validates us in our pain and gives us the tool of healing in order to truly move on. Lastly, we need to believe there is a place of peace, love and wholeness in God. When we doubt that God will forgive us it’s an indicator that we don’t completely trust Him. God will not violate our will and force us to trust Him. We have to yield our pride to God and rest in His love and forgiveness.

The valley of forgiveness can be a catalyst to initiate lasting change that heals. corrects and impacts those around us. We can walk in righteousness and be righteous even in the flesh. This can be done by putting on the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:22) in love. With that said,let the healing begin.

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Denise J. Williams is the founder of Broken Vessel Outreach Ministries International http://www.thebrokenvessel.com. Her first book “The Healing of A Broken Vessel” can be found on http://www.publishamerica.com. She is currently completing her second literary effort entitled “The Chambers of the Heart”. She and her husband reside in Jacksonville, FL