GOD MADE YOU THAT WAY!

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalms 139:14)

I find that there are a great many women once they become single later in life somehow feel threatened by younger women.  It's somewhat baffling and entirely ridiculous to me personally.  However, I will spend today addressing it.  As we grow older and become single it puts us out there and with men having so many other choices, some older women fall prey to feeling the need to change themselves in an effort to compete with younger women.  Clearly in my mind, it is not a competition.  I am way too wonderful to loser myself to the level of thinking that puts me out of what God thinks of me and who I am.  I would have to disregard everything God says about me in order to fall in that line of thinking.

Psalms 139:14 starts off with "I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made!"  Is there anything left to say after that?  We need to acknowledge God's creation is wonderful and there is nothing that is not wonderful about it.  We need to give him thanks for the wonderful works of his hands!  It's beautiful in his sight!  Then it goes on to say that your works are wonderful and adds a little attitude at the end, with "I know full well".  You better know this today.  This aint no amateur show, this is the real deal.  You are fly because God made you that way. 

You are fearfully and wonderfully made and there is nothing that is inadequate about you.  You are seasoned with experience, wisdom, and maturity.  As far as I am concerned that is not a liability, but an asset.  You do not have child support drama, baby daddy drama because your children are adults.  There is no fear that you want to start a family at this stage in your life, you can focus all your attention on your man.  Why are you tripping because a younger woman walks into the room?  She doesn't have the wisdom, experience, or freedom that you do, to do all that you do.  She is still figuring it out, running behind her kids, and coming into her own.  She cannot get and will not get what God has clearly ordained for you.  She might get the counterfeit.  If the counterfeit wants her, he can have her.  Your focus should be on the things God has put on your plate to do and the connections God has placed before you that he desires you to connect with.  Sometimes we go after things that are not in line with the will of God for our lives.  So what happens is we end up losing our focus, getting off track and in situations that we were not originally slated to walk through.

There is no need to be threatened by another woman or person.  You do not have to change who you are or anything about you to obtain what God has promised you.  Why would what God has ordained reject his clear blessing.  If there is a doubt or question in his mind about who you are, what you are to him, and whether God has orchestrated the relationship, pick your feet up and keep it moving.  No time for counterfeits.  God's blessings are sure and not strained.

Strut yourself this week and let somebody know you are fabulous because God made you that way!

IN A HURRY?

For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. (Psalms 37:9)

There were many scriptures I could have used that contained the word "wait" in them, but I purposely choose this particular scripture as it relates to some issues some of us have encountered this year.  I believe this word is not just for you single ladies, but also for those who have experienced some abrasion this year.  Let's look at the first part of the scripture so that we can draw something from that.  It addresses our adversaries and those who oppose us.  I'm not speaking of those who oppose us in the flesh or the natural.  But I speak rather to those who oppose us in who we are and all that God has destined us in this life.  If I can fallback on my own personal situation for a moment, I was directly opposed by many and God supernaturally cut me off from everything that was familiar to me so that he could teach and speak some things into me.

Evildoers are not some wicked witch, but the word evil means: causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful.  Those who set out to injure you and hurt you, those who have speak against you with deliberate malice to cause harm to you, your character, etc.  This can be anyone, even people in the church, those who are close to us.  Evildoers work to obtain things that they feel will make them feel important.  They work to gain the approval of man so that they can appear important and elevated.  Evildoers like to be recognized and applauded for whatever they do.  They want the credit, they are glory seekers.  They are puffed up, arrogant, they think highly of themselves.  They will literally step on others to get acclaim for themselves.

But what I like about this scripture is, the Lord lets us know that those who walk in this spirit have an expiration date.  Those of you who have been battered, belittled, and put down, cursed at, laughed at, cheated on.  There is an expiration date for those who have not repented and turned from this behavior.  Some of you all couldn't even stay in your own houses, but had to leave, but there's an expiration date.  You are taking the bus and had to leave your cars behind, but there is an expiration date women of God.  Hear me in the spirit this afternoon.  You don't have to worry about those who injured and hurt you.  Don't worry about how you got kicked when you were down, your bank account got emptied out, and the repo man got your ride.  If you wait, says the Lord, you will inherit the earth. 

"The meek shall inherit the earth" (Matt 5:5).  That means those who are patient and wait on God to do what he wants to do is who is going to get the blessing.  Eccl 9:11 says, "The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all."  So it is not how quickly, how smart, how you feel, how strong you think you are, but Eccl, "but time" in other words wait a minute.  What I like in this too is that wealth doesn't come to the brilliant nor favor to the learned.  In other words, the inheritance is not coming because of something you've got to do, but it's coming because of who you know.  You've got stock in the right corporation and it only cost you your heart.

You don't have to do anything to show your haters how God is going to bless you or how God has blessed you, the blessing will be apparent.  It will speak for itself.  I'm speaking to some of you that have been crushed this morning.  Don't rejoice in the fact the evildoers will be cut off, but rejoice in the blessing that's coming your way.

Symintha Radford, Pastor/Apostle of Breakforth Ministries International
http://www.breakforthministries.org/

ARE YOU READY?

You might have decided that you are ready for a serious relationship and/or are ready for marriage.  Back some months I shared with all that I didn't know when I would be emotionally ready because there is no time line in how you will heal and how you feel emotionally.  Sometimes it takes months and some people it may take years before they are ready to move on.  Then there are those who never get over what they've gone through so they torture everybody who wants to pursue them.  I decided I definitely did not want to be one of those people who held on to things in my heart and became bitter. There is nothing more difficult for a man than having to peel through layers of the past trying to get to the real woman and many of them do not have the patience, time, or tolerance for a woman who is still dealing with unresolved issues from her past.  Can we say that we cannot blame him for feeling this way and eventually moving on because he does not want to deal with that drama.  That's why I always say, while you have an opportunity work through those feelings, close doors, let go of some things so you will not take baggage into the next relationship.

I had an opportunity to go to a Christian counselor, which I do advise for people who feel they might need to talk to someone to help them sort through their feelings.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  Whether it's your pastor, senior person in ministry, or a professional, it's good to work through what you are feeling so that you can come to a point of closure on the past and put things in perspective.  This will also help you gauge exactly where you are in terms of whether you are emotionally ready to move on or you need more time.

When we do not let go of our past, we leave the door open for the enemy to wreak havoc on our vulnerabilities.  When we are at an emotional place in our lives, we are like an open womb.  This place of vulnerability is a door that can be penetrated very easily if we do not intend to the areas that need to be addressed.  This can lead down a path of doing, saying, and behaving in ways that compromise our character.  This is why I impressed upon you to ensure that attend to those areas of vulnerability and do not assume that they are gone simply because what you perceived as the problem is no longer in your life.  You still have residue from that thing that you considered the problem that should and needs to be attended to.  It is essential to your spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being.

Unless you have taken the time to address those areas, you cannot truly say that you are even ready for something new.  God will not send him until you are ready.  Work on your spirit man, your emotional man, your physical man so that you are complete.  I know that I've mentioned in times past one of the worst things a woman can be is insecure.  Insecurity breeds familiar spirits.  The commonality that you will find with someone when you are insecure will not be from a good place.  The draw will be from the spirit that is drawing you both together and not because it is a connection that God has placed together.  So be careful that you address areas that need attention so that you will feel your very best and really be ready.  Then the Lord can release whomever he has slated just for you!

Selah!

Pastor/Apostle of Breakforth Ministries International

http://www.breakforthministries.org/

WHAT AM I DOING?

Have you ever asked yourself the question: "What am I doing?"  You thought you were doing what you needed to do and were supposed to be doing, but somehow the more you did, the less you accomplished.  Some reluctance in your spirit about various areas in your life has really been the thing that has stalled some of the very things that you have been working on.  The reluctance has been that you believed that your life would play out differently than what it actually has, so you've had to regroup, reassess and come from a different angle than what you originally planned. You find yourself being angry at God for all the things that you thought he was going to do, work out within a specific time frame, the people you thought he would deliver, the places you thought he was going to take you.  So now, you are uncomfortable in the place you've landed and trying to figure what do I do now with myself?

Some of you are mothers, have been wives, in the ministry or serving in a ministry and things have not quite panned out like you thought.  Now you are single and feel as if you are undirected in your purpose because you thought your purpose was tied to who you were connected with.  I certainly can and do identify with all of that.  Believing that your purpose is tied to the person you were connected with is common with married, now single women and it sometimes stalls our lives for many years and some of us never quite can get it together because we believe that it is over with the marriage. 

I have been talking about purpose and destiny in my last couple of post because I'm in a season of transition.  When transition occurs in our lives and we are in a holding pattern waiting on God to give instructions because so many things in our lives have shifted, it can be and is a difficult place.  Nobody likes to wait and we all want answers right now.  Unfortunately, they do not always come when we would like to hear them.  When you call he will answer, but it may not be when you are expecting or wanting to hear an answer.  The word of the Lord tells us that Daniel prayed for an answer and was persistent before God for 21 days before receiving a word from the Lord.  Although, God heard him the first time that he called, the answer did not come right away.  Sometimes when we are waiting on an answer and it does not come when we want, we either give up or we decide we know what's best.  That's a mistake.  Persistence and faith go hand in hand.  If you are to obtain anything from the Lord you must believe that he is God and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him.  In other words, God will answer and give you what you need and want when he says its time.

You remember the old song, "You can't hurry God, you just have to wait, trust him and give him time, no matter how long it takes".  We found that Daniel's situation was not that God was hard of hearing or refused to give him an answer, not even that God withheld the answer from him, but that there was a war in the heavenlies with Arc Angel Michael and one of the princes of this world which delayed the word that God wanted to deliver to Daniel.  We can trust that God will always give us a response whether it's yes or no concerning a matter. 

If you are in a holding pattern right now and trying to figure out what you are doing, then just wait upon the Lord.  Don't jump into anything until he does give you an answer.  Be guided by your spirit.  You cannot make decisions with your heart, your emotions, or your flesh.  All of that will lead you down a path that you don't want to be on.  There is a small voice inside of you, the Holyghost, who will lead you into all truth and tell you all things that is in the mind and heart of the Father.  If we would learn to trust that and not our own intellect, then we will certainly be walking in the path that God has carved out for us.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

How I wish I could preach this today to some of you.  This is revelation that we need to walk in daily.  There is nothing worse than a woman who does not understand who she is.  It is so critical.  A woman who does not know who she is needs validation.  When she does not get that validation, she seeks it from where she believes she can receive it.  Although outwardly she may not communicate that need, but her actions, her body language and behavior speak to that need for validation.  This is why often women end up in relationships that do not pour into them.  But they find that they are the ones pouring into a vessel that does not have the capacity or grace to handle what God has put in her.

I just taught a lesson on Saturday and spoke to the women of God concerning intercession.  But one of the things that the Lord had me share was that daughters need validation from a Father.  Often when you grow up without one, such as me, you are uncertain and needful in many areas for the lack of having a man pour into you.  You seek out what you've missed.  I had an awesome man of God, a chief apostle, walk right up to me during a meeting and say to me, "Daughter I validate you".  He didn't know anything about me, my history, or what was going on in my life.  But it changed me.  I didn't know I needed that, but I did.  He spoke some things into my life and encouraged me that helped begin to birth my destiny. 

It is certain that many of us are not walking into what God has ordained for our lives because we are waiting on somebody to push us into our purpose.  Although the man of God spoke that into me, that same validation can come from the Father for you in your time of prayer.  He will speak to you concerning who you are.  You do not need to seek it from other sources.  God can give that to you.

Before the earth was formed, before the sperm was committed to the egg, the Lord had already designated your assignment.  It is not contingent upon who you're married to or not married to.  Did you hear me?  Some of you don't believe that you can do what God has told you unless you have a husband, but I'm telling you today, that God has already predestined you and knew who you were and what he appointed you to be before you were born.  You can rest assured that if he has placed his hand on you to do something it doesn't matter if you have to walk it out by yourself right now, you still have the grace, authority, and provision to do it!

You may lack the confidence to proceed, but I want to encourage you today to not worry about what you're lacking, because God will make up the difference.  If you've got 80 cents, he will give you 20 so that you can make a dollar.  Don't worry about what you don't have and who you don't have, because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you and if God be for you, it doesn't matter if the whole world is against you.  I use to worry about that non stop.  But we have to learn to put to rest what the enemy wants us to focus on.  That's all that is, is a train ride down unbelief.  Know who you are in him.  Somebody doesn't make you.  For God has already put his stamp of approval on you.  Some daughters such as me require something extra.  If you are extra like me, the Lord will indeed do all that he needs to, to propel you into the place he has assigned to you.  Whether you are one or two, God is going to do what he said and you WILL do what he told you.

The Lord can and will affirm you.  If the man of God has not presented himself yet, occupy till he comes.  You do what the Lord told you!

Senior Pastor/Apostle of Breakforth Ministries International

Visit us at: http://www.breakforthministries.org/

GIVE GOD A LITTLE MORE TIME

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Psalms 40:1

We do not need to rush to get to what or where God wants us to be.  When we try to rush we undoubtedly make mistakes which can cost us both time, compromise our anointing, ministry, progress in God.  Allow me to share some nuggests with you that could possibly save you from making some of the same mistakes that I have made in my past.  I allowed lonliness to lead me into a marriage that was ordained by God.  God allowed it for a season, and when I came to myself I was so wrapped up in the thing that it took a move of God to get my mind back where it needed to be and come back around to who I really was.  I had to change who I was to stay in the relationship and that required me to step back from who God called me to be.

My impatience created my situation.  The glory of God cannot be manifested in our lives when will not allow him to be Lord over our lives.  I did not allow the Lord to be Lord over my life and so I ended up being somewhere God didn't want me, God didn't put me, and God wasn't in.

The scripture says patiently I waited on the Lord and he inclined unto me or in other words, he turned to me and heard what I was saying to him.  He heard my heart when I waited on him and then he acted upon my cry to him.  If we look at verse 2, David talks about what the Lord did as a result of him waiting patiently on God to act on his behalf.  Women of God there is a blessing in waiting to hear what God wants to do and what God wants to say.  So, verse 2 says "He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps."  So, in other words, he brought me up out of the mess I was in, the state I was in.  He changed my circumstances when I learned to wait on him and not rush to do something because I want results right now.  Alot of times what we do is say that I'm going to fix it myself and find him myself instead of waiting on God.  And yes, I have been guilty women of God. 

But David say that after God brings you out of the condition, then he's going to establish you and make you stable by making everything fall in line with what he had planned out for you.  So, though it seems like things are not coming into place and that you've waited a long time, if you just give God a little more time, he's going to make good on his promises to you.  Give God a little more time!

Tell somebody today, "Give God a little more time!"  Trust me when the wash comes out, everything is going to be just as he promised.  God knows how to fix it up just right to make you satisfied.  Wait upon the Lord, he will strengthen you for this season of walking by yourself.  Trust in the Lord that he knows who you are, where you are, and what you need.  He is establishing you and making you ready for what is to come.  At the appointed time his will, will be manifest in your life.

Be Blessed Great Women of God!

CAN I OR CAN'T I?

I used to be one of those women who was very vocal about women who said they would never date or marry someone with children.  I told one sister she was selfish and that she expected someone to accept and raise her child but she was unwilling to do the same. 

Well, my friends having lived through a marriage with a great many conflicts surrounding both children and many other areas, I had to reevaluate my position on that.  Honestly, there is more to it than whether you have enough love in your heart to share.  That was my only consideration initially.  I knew I loved children, I knew I had the capacity to mother them and treat them well.  I did not consider all of the other things that come along with it at the time.  There is so much more than you just loving them. 

You know you can love them.  What you don't know if they will love you.  You don't know if you have the patience and long suffering to accept that they may never love you but you still have to love them and treat them well while they're living in your house.  That's a hard pill to swallow.  Then you have to factor in the other out-side parent who may or may not give you grief, interfer, and dilberately set out to cause conflict and drama in your household.  Of course, you may or may not have finances leaving your house as well for child support.  Those are all things that could happen, more often than not, do happen within a mixed family environment.

I can certainly speak from experience and say, that it is much easier to believe happily ever after, than it is to live it.  You have to know the kind of man that you're dealing with.  That will make a major difference in your decision to pursue a relationship with a man who has children or not.  If its the kind of man who likes to throw responsibility off on others and checks out, that is definitely not someone who you could make a successful union with.  You will find yourself without support and quickly becoming the resented step-parent.  Or as some refer, "the wicked step-mother". 

Really, this is an individual thing for you to decide if it's something that you can or cannot do.  People are having children later in life now and you might find that people in their 40s and even 50s have small children.  It further limits the possibility of connections of those who might not be open to dating or marrying someone with small children.  Whatever your decision in what is best for you make sure you know what you're going to be dealing with.  You do not want surprises down the road. Ensure you know the kind of man you are dealing with, his character, whether he's praying man with Godly values.  Having the same beliefs in how you raise children will and can make or break a relationship.

Don't think that you will be happy with Daddy and reject the children.  That is not going happen.  It's a package deal.  You cannot say you love someone but do not love what has been birthed out of them.  The children are a part of the person you say you love, then you will love them even if you don't like their ways.  If you don't think that's possible, then perhaps you should rethink your position on whether you can and switch teams to the "I can't".