...Plain Upon Tablets

One of my favorite singers is contemporary gospel vocalist and evangelist Beverly Crawford. When she sings, she ministers. When she sings, you can feel through her words, her voice. One of my favorite performances of hers is "Breakthrough." When I heard it a few years ago, it moved me. It still moves me, and several times a month, I make sure I get in a quiet space and listen to it. Let the words minister to you. It's a song that reminds us of God's promises and our need to hold onto faith, believe God's word, and wait until we see those words come to fruition in our BREAKTHROUGHS. They are coming.

Tuesday, I talked about Karen Clark Sheard's " Authority ." Another song that I listen to in the morning is KCS's "Hallelujah." If you need a spark, if you need to be shaken, if you need that holy ghost dance... this is the song for you. In this video below, KCS gives a good preach and delivers a rousing performance of "Hallelujah." For me (and I know for others), it is so important to wake up and say... and declare positives for the day. To thank the Father for allowing us to live to see another day, to thank him for giving us another opportunity to shine in our lives for his benefit and our testimony. This song will usher you into those moments of thankfulness. Hallelujah!

Sometimes, it sure doesn't feel like it, right? Bills stacked to the ceiling. Everywhere you turn, it seems a mishap, mistake, or missed opportunity presents itself. It's easy to fall into a space where you can't see the light, can't see that a miracle can even happen to us. Believe me, I know. I fight this, too. One song that makes me smile, keeps my heart and mind focused when negativity threatens to overtake them is Mama Shirley Caesar's "You're Next in Line for a Miracle." Take a listen...

Music often saves me. Even when I'm dead-center into some depression, anxiety, and fearful thoughts... even when I say that I'm mad at God or feel my faith waning, it is often music that helps to release those toxins. When I'm in those periods stated above, I can often be heard walking around humming. What am I humming? Gospel music. Christian music. When this happens, and I catch myself, I often laugh, shake my head, look up to the heavens, and say, "You surely got jokes, Father." Because he does. Even in the middle of the crazy here on earth, there is still -- even if we don't feel it, see it, or believe it -- a still small voice within us, there is still the Father that's providing our push, giving us our strength, filling us with faith so that we can be mended, righted, and placed back on our path to move forward. One song that I find myself humming every day (and one that I play just about every morning as I get ready for work) is Karen C

Day 12 of Andrew Murray's The Secret of Intercession poses the following question: Why must all our prayers of intercession be based on Christ's prayer, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10)? Murray lays out the answer to this in a few short pages, but we get the answer in the first paragraph: "When He made man in His image, it was, above all, that man's desires were to be in perfect accord with the desires of God" .... "in the human flesh man was to be the embodiment and fulfillment of God's desires" (48). In short order, Murray tells us that man's fall set God in doing "the great work of winning man back to make the desires of God his own" so that man could once again be in perfect accord with God (48). Through Christ, that opportunity for perfect accord is at hand. "The Son, as man, said in agony and blood, ' Thy will be done ,' and made the surrender even to the point of being f

I have to say that I come to Day 11 of Andrew Murray's The Secret of Intercession with some major trepidation. And it's all for fleshy reasons. With some of the heartbreaking goings on in the world these days, it's been hard for me to think Christlike. It's been hard for me to pray for some transgressors. And that's unfortunate considering this is a vital staple of being an intercessor. It's easy to pray for those we love, those who aim to do right and walk good, giving, loving paths. It's not so easy to do that for those who commit heinous crimes, those who might do any number of things we deem wrong . A few months ago, a major altercation presented itself directly where I live, and it left me shaken, scared, angry, and full of rage. After the tears washed away some of the fear, what was left was this vigilante that wanted to rip and run the streets, find the person that had shaken my world terribly, and take. him. down. Sometimes, even now, wh

In day 10 of Andrew Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession , he concludes with the following question: Why is it essential to be filled with the Holy Spirit before you can be an intercessor? Day 10 speaks specifically about this question. Murray starts the day with the words "Abba, Father," using them to tell us what the words meant when coming from Christ's mouth while in Gethsemane: "it was the entire surrender of Himself, even to death, so that the holy will of God's love in redemption of sinners might be accomplished" (40). Through his total surrender, through this short, yet poignant prayer, Christ "exercises the wonderful power of intercession and the power to pour down the Holy Spirit" (40). So, from the start, we see that "The Holy Spirit has been bestowed by the Father to breathe the very spirit of His Son into our hearts" (40). Christ surrendered his all, even his life, for our lives, our souls. And, as intercess

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full....At that day ye shall ask in my name. - John 16:24, 26 Day 9 of Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession , focuses on the importance of our connection to Jesus Christ and the power that resides in that connection. Murray asserts that many Christians do not see the full understanding of what Christ says in the passage above: ... there is such a lack of knowledge of their oneness with Christ Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, that they do not even attempt to claim the wonderful promises Christ gives here. (36-37) But what brings that understanding is FAITH, "faith in the power of Jesus' name and in our right to use it that will give us the courage to follow on when God invites us to the holy office of intercessor" (37). In this short chapter, Murray concludes by saying that when Christians have this faith and understanding, when they know

I received some news today. The stage was set for it three weeks ago, and today confirmed it. I have diabetes. Out of all illnesses you can get, diabetes has been #1 on my Please, Dear God, not that  list my whole life. I've had great aunts and uncles that had it and saw some of the more extreme effects of it, and wanted nothing to do with it, ever. Three weeks ago, blood work results came back. Sugar was pretty high. My doctor decided to schedule more blood work within a two to three-week span of time. I had that done this past Friday. Today, after smiling and talking with my bestie about my good talk with my dissertation chair, after declaring the completion of my dissertation, after excitedly telling bestie of new writing project; the call came. About the norm in a roller coaster life in which at 1:59 you can be on Cloudy Infinity and at 1:59:10, you can hear the thud and the crack of bones as you fall back to earth. Doctor told me the number was lower, but that

In Day 8 of Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession , he seems ready to take us to school on what we need to give if we are to be the partners of Christ on earth in intercession. What are we to give? He shows us what Jesus gave up by quoting Isaiah 53:10-12: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed....He shall see of the travail of his soul....Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great...because he hath poured out his soul unto death." In this passage, we see soul  mentioned three times. This is important to note because for Murray, "the pouring out of the soul -- that is the divine meaning of intercession" (33), and because Jesus gave "Himself over to live and die that He might save the perishing was a revelation of the spirit that has power to prevail with God" (34). Because Jesus is the  example for us, and he poured out his soul, gave of himself for others, as intercessors, this is what we are to

In Day 7 of Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession , he compares watchmen to intercessors. The watchmen warn men of impending danger... and call to God when they need his help with a threatening enemy. In tying the watchmen to the intercessor, he says, "The great mark of the intercessors is that they are not to hold their peace day or night, are to take no rest, and are to give God no rest, until the deliverance comes" (29). "Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him" (Luke 18:7). After a short commentary about the need for more intercessors, the need to have a united, fervent community of intercessors to ignite the power of the Holy Spirit, Murray asks, "Will you not, dear reader, offer yourself to God for this blessed work of intercession and learn to count it as the highest privilege of your life to be a channel through whose prayers God's blessing can be brought down to earth?" (30) With every "day,

Some time ago, I began posting on Andrew Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession . The book contains 31 chapters, each chapter constituting a "day." In each day, Murray highlights a facet of intercession: what it is, why it's important, and how we are to come to it, among others. I posted on days one through five previously, and those links are below. Today, I'm talking on Day 6, "Christ as Intercessor." In this short chapter, Christ is called the true Intercessor as "God Himself would provide the true Intercessor, in Christ His Son, of whom it had already been said, ' He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors '" (Isa. 53:12; Murray 25). Murray provides other places in the bible where Jesus intercedes for man (John 17; Luke 22:32) before concluding with the most poignant prayer from Jesus to God - "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34) as Jesus was on the cross (Murray 26). With Jesus &qu

Dear Lord, continue to prune me so that I can continue to grow stronger, so that I can bear sweeter fruits. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples

From Joel Osteen: Don't live off temporary provision. ... Continually be willing to make adjustments.

From Joel Osteen: God never gives a vision without making provision .

Lord God, I will remember that the battle is not mine; it belongs to you. I will have faith in all your ways and what you will do in my life, and as troubles arise, I will look to you for guidance, give you the troubles, and continue to move forward in the path you set before me.

Lord God, I will not put you in a box. I trust your ways and know that they are not my ways. From Joel Osteen's "Finished with Fear" Collection: If the only way you're going to be happy is if it happens your way, you're setting yourself up for disappointment .

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. 18:21). If this is so, then it would seem we'd want to say all things life-affirming, right? Yet, we often do more complaining and lamenting than praising and speaking of positive things. People often tell me to be careful with what I say because "You'll speak things into existence." Well, I want to speak things into existence; I want to speak all the wonderful things that God has done for me and all the things he will  do for me. We should want to do this, right? NEED to do this if our words have power. If we talk about all the great things the Lord has done for us, then more great things will occur. Peter and John, in Acts 4, refused to stop saying all the wonderful things that the Lord had done for them and was arrested for it. But that didn't deter them; they continued speaking of the Lord, his wonderful blessings and goodness.  18 So they called them and commanded them n

I know what it's like to be in the fire, to be in those harrowing situations where you just know that nothing will ever be right again, and for a long time, I continued to believe that nothing would ever be right. But the Lord meets us in the fire. He's always with us, so why wouldn't he be in the fire, too? Nothing's too hot for him. Some of our most fiery moments come when we hold fast to our faith and our beliefs and find ourselves condemned for it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are great examples of how the Lord not only comforts but also rewards those who stay steadfast to their faith. When they refused to worship a gold image that Nebuchadnezzar created, they were put in a fire seven times hotter than any fires created to burn those who refused to worship. But they did not burn. No. "Look!" he [Nebuchadnezzar] answered, "I see four men, too, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the fourth is like the Son of God

When a group of lepers came upon Jesus, they asked him to have mercy on them. Instead of fixing them right on the spot, he wanted them to do something to show their faith. He told them to go to a priest and they would be healed. As they turned and began their trek to a priest, the healing process began. By the time they reached a priest, they were completely healed.

Lord God, I choose to keep my eyes on YOU and not my circumstances! The paralytic man from Mark 2 could have accepted his perceived fate and stayed in his bed all the days of his life, but instead, he did not dwell on his circumstances; he stayed focus on getting himself to the Lord, and "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you'" (Mark 2:5) . . . "He said to the paralytic, 'I say to you arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' Immediately, he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this!'" (Mark 2:10-12).

One of my favorite lines from the bible comes from James 2:14-26, NKJV : "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." We need to have faith, the belief, the trust, the confidence, that God has us and is and will provide for us, but we also need to demonstrate that faith. It's wonderful to pray, but God wants to SEE us in action, too. If you've been struggling to lose weight and have been praying to God for the strength to do so, what are you doing to show your faith in the issue? You might cut your portions for one meal a day for starters, eventually cutting portions in all meals. You might start exercising ten minutes, three times a week for a week or two; then move to 15 minutes, three times a week; eventually moving up to 30 minutes for more than three times a week. The point is by doing so, you are saying, I have faith in you and because I do, I am doing my part in this agreement between us. In Mark 2:5, a paralyzed ma

About Annie Brown Annie Brown is the mother of four adult children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild. She is a licensed minister and social worker. As a social worker, Annie works the terminally ill, providing emotional support at the most critical time in an individual's life. It is Annie's desire that Christians work through their pervasive issues before the end of life, so that the transition between death and eternity can be smooth, and not cluttered with unresolved conflicts. You can learning more about Annie through Outskirts Press Website , Twitter page , and Facebook page ; you can also e-mail her if you'd like to share your thoughts on her book! About Christians with Pervasive Issues [Purchase Christians with Pervasive Issues  at Amazon and Outskirts Press ] Even as a faithful Christian, there may be times when you feel that there is no hope of escaping issues and themes in your life that ensnare and trip you up time and time aga

(even if my brain needs to get on board): release fear. release worry. release every negative thing (physical and mental) that threatens to drown you, and rest, rest fully, rest completely on the father because he never fails, and he will fight the battles as long as you keep moving forward and keep doing what HE tells you, not the world, not your mind, not your emotions, not your circumstances.