Who I Am (Part 2)

It has been established that God is good. He is a promise keeper, and He is faithful.

Did you know that God is terrible? Yes, God is terrible! He is to be reverenced for the Great King that He is and He is to be feared for the Great King that He is.

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. (Psalm 47:1-2 KJV)

Here is why you want a dreadful God:

When your enemies come in like a flood, God will give them a beat down.

So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. (Isaiah 59:19 NKJV)

When the anger of the Lord is aroused, you better watch out! No one understood this more than King David. His psalms are filled with thanks to God for smiting his enemies, as well as him entreating God to act on his behalf. David prayed dangerous prayers because David had faith! He knew that when he called upon the name of the Lord, He would fight every battle for him and win.

One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 35. It is a wonderful psalm to pray when you are experiencing spiritual warfare because it acknowledges God as the Avenger.

35 Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for my help.
3 Also draw out the spear,
And stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
4 Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor
Who seek after my life;
Let those be turned back and brought to confusion
Who plot my hurt.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
And let the angel[a] of the Lord chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
And let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
7 For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit,
Which they have dug without cause for my life.
8 Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly,
And let his net that he has hidden catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord;
It shall rejoice in His salvation.
10 All my bones shall say,
“Lord, who is like You,
Delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him,
Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?”. Psalm 35:1-10

Let me tell you that Marvel’s Avengers do not compare to what God will do on your behalf beloved. As a poet, I love that David did not simple say, “Lord make my enemies flee before me seven ways.” No, David offered seven ways they could be destroyed (shame them, dishonor them, confuse them, make them like chaff, put them in the dark, cause them to slip and fall, catch them in their own nets).

Houston: The enemy has literally come in like a flood, but the Great King will fight every enemy that has come against you! God will leave your enemies beaten down. 

Will you call upon the name of the Lord?

The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. Deuteronomy 28:7

Read the psalms of David. Remember that God is good and merciful, but God is terrible, the Great King who wars on your behalf.

Agape,

Crystal Monae’

Who I Am (Part 1)

God is faithful.

At times like these, when destruction and mass devastation is all around, there is a tendency for some to question God’s role in the occurrence and God’s goodness. Your relationship with God has a direct correlation to how you determine who He is. If you acknowledge Him as Lord, but you are not under His lordship, your frame of reference is limited. You allow context clues from your life and the world around you to become the basis for forming opinions about God’s character. In other words, if you are unfaithful or you are exposed to unfaithful people, because we are made in the image of God, you begin to believe that God is unfaithful too. It is subconscious but a reality. You must truly know who God is in order to fully trust Him, putting all doubts aside.

During the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, the Israelites quickly abandoned their good and faithful God, who delivered them from Pharoah and parted the Red Sea, for a golden calf. They murmured and complained daily during their wilderness experience. Although God’s sure word to them was that they would live in the wonderful, He said nothing of the process to learn trust along the way. Instead of trusting God, they were filled with mistrust and depended on their Egyptian framework in a difficult time.

By the time they arrived to the Promised Land, they forgot that God told them who He was, what He would do, and who inhabited the land already.

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ – Exodus 3:13-17

And now they were faced with war with the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites to contend for the promise, but they did not fully trust God to help them face the opposition. You must study the book of Joshua to learn more about our faithful God during this season of battle in the Promised Land. Pay close attention to what God says throughout this book, the response of Joshua and Caleb, and the response of the children of Israel as they embark upon battle after battle while God takes them a way that they have never been before. In the meantime:

When God puts a battle before you, know that you have already won!

Do you feel hard hit? Is this a way you have never gone before? Do you feel as if you are in one attack after the other? Dear ones, let me remind you that life comes with difficult times, but you must learn to navigate them. God promised that in this life there would be trials, but be of good cheer because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). You have already won! You are fighting on a winning team. So when God gives you a promise (and He has already given you one of victory), come hell or high water (Harvey), you must trust Him. Only “be strong and of good courage” for God will fight with you and for you (Joshua 1:6). Right now, find the Joshua in you.

Undoubtedly, God is good. God is faithful, and God is a promise keeper.

Fight the good fight,

Crystal Monae’

Come back for part 2. You will be reminded (or maybe you have never heard it before) of a side of God that you need right now.

You Can Trust God

I’ll give you two reasons to why you can trust God:

1. He has been God for a very long time. He was before we were – before the foundation of the world. (How old and wise are you?)

2. When your world crumbles, He knows where all the crumbs are. His kingdom is unshakable. (Can you locate 1 grain of salt in sand?)

You can trust God.

You can trust him with your yesterday, your today, and your tomorrow. Then begin again. Life is a forever cycle of yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows, and God is a forevermore God.

Have faith.

Crystal Monae’

A Warning for America

God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and applies restraint to His power because of repentance. He loves us will with an everlasting love that many cannot fully comprehend. Yet, God is a jealous God and His fury is certain to fall upon the wicked.

Yesterday, I shared with you God’s mercy on Nineveh. Shortly after I finished the post, the Holy Spirit said to tell you the rest of the story as a warning to you, America (His words, not mine).

Nineveh accepted the mercy that God extended toward them for a little while, but they returned to their wicked ways with pride, idolatry, whoredom,  lies, robbery, oppression of the poor, and other evil plots. Because of this, God turned against them as He planned to do before they repented a century earlier (go read it in Nahum).

Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him.

The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him. But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies.

What do you conspire against the LORD? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. -Nahum 1:6-9

Therefore, I admonish you to make peace. Do not attempt to undo what God has graciously done. Pursue peace! Be at peace with God and all men. Are you a friend of God or a foe?

Do not contend with God! You are no match for Him.

In His name,

Crystal Monae’

 

 

Are You Angry?

Is it right for you to be angry about the outcome of the election? The answer is NO! God can do whatever pleases Him. God can relent, even when it comes to the popular vote.

Major apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and priestly citizens have been fasting and praying all over the world for a president who will honor God and Christian principles-for a president who would not take this nation farther away from God. Those prayers were fervent and effectual, and the answer came with amazement. When people fast and pray, our sovereign God can change His mind.

Do not be angry! To be angry at the outcome, is to be prideful and idolatrous.

The Holy Spirit led me to the book of Jonah to confirm the word that I give to you today. Jonah, a prophet of God, was commanded to deliver a message to the people of Nineveh that they would be overthrown in forty days because of their wicked ways. After Jonah delivered the message, the people of Nineveh cried out to God in repentance, everyone from the king to the least of them. For the king of Nineveh said, “Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?”

God heard their cries, and He did relent!

Jonah was furious; after all he had been through to get the message to Nineveh (the well known story), God changed his mind. Did I say that Jonah was furious? He was indeed! He left the city, sulked in the hot sun, and asked God to take his life.

Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry.”- Jonah 4:4

With the use of a plant, God went on to teach  Jonah a lesson about being angry because of His sovereignty (go read it for yourself). Jonah was angry because God had mercy, and Jonah was angry because of how he looked as a prophet of God, giving a word that would not come immediately to fruition.

Likewise, we want mercy, but we do not want to extend it. Extend mercy to Trump!

Instead of thanking God for His mercy on this nation, people are actually protesting. I have warned you before about protesting.

Do not let your carnal minds have rule over the Spirit that lives in you!

God can do what He wills. First, you must acknowledge that God is in control, and that your voice is weak compared to His (so is your vote). You may not like His choice or the person that He uses to accomplish His will, but you should respect it.

Will you be angry with God?

Trust God,

Crystal Monae’

 

 

Peace on Earth

His Government

I woke up this morning to these words whispered by the Holy Spirit:

The government will be upon His shoulders.

Yes, “and the government will be upon His shoulders.” It is written!

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. – Isaiah 9:6-7

We know that this is true. Jesus was sent to be the light of the world-to reign and rule forever, so do not walk in darkness. See the great light! God and government go together, and we must stop pushing Him out! It is His government. He established it, and without Him, we make plans by the hands of prideful men. When this happens, judgement is sure to come.

Everything that is built without God is sure to fall down!

God will send a word against it, and it will crumble. And it will be God who causes it to fail (remember the Tower of Babel).  If we are to make America great again, we must give the government to God. We must humble ourselves, and put God back into government. Cry out to God. His mercy endures forever!

For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.-Isaiah 9:12b

Abundant peace,

Crystal Monae’

Daily Devotion

Our commitment to God is not as it should be, but we are a committed people. We commit to things, causes, people, and ideas. So committing is not the problem. Choosing what to commit to, and how much, is. How do we divide our attention or time on a daily basis reveals what, and to whom, we are devoted to.

If you find yourself sitting in a long line waiting for a cup of coffee each morning, you are devoted. If you go to the gym daily or 3-5 times a week? You are devoted. Do you show up for work as required? You are devoted. Do you intentionally call a friend on a regular basis? That’s devotion.  In essence, you are devoted to coffee, your body, your job, and a person.

Or maybe you read a devotional each morning to center yourself? That too is devotion, and it is a great way to begin your day, focusing on God. However, devotion is not simply a perfunctory task or relative to time. It is about having a sustaining loyalty and honor for God with reverence. And this is incredibly important, mainly so that you are not deceived and tossed by every wind and doctrine. Paul wrote this to the Corinthians:

But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. – 2 Corinthians 11:3

 

For us, this means that we do not to come into agreement with every movement, with every law/policy made by man, or with all advice/counsel that we receive. We miss God because we jump on the bandwagon of others. Being devoted to God in Spirit and in truth will help to guard against deception that will take you far from Him.

Friends,

God wants all of you. He wants you to come to Him with the issues of life. Do you need to recommit? Make God your daily bread.

Crystal Monae’

Return to God

I stopped to visit a lady every day at the same time. She was dear to me – a very lovely lady. Every time I asked how she was doing, her response was: “blessed and highly favored.” I found this particularly strange on days that she said it without a smile; indeed, sometimes there were three deep lines in the shape of a v stacked between her eyebrows. Something was on her mind, but she remained “blessed and highly favored” with conversation that was always sweet and full of grace. I felt such a peace when in her presence that I looked forward to our appointments each day. For an hour I would ask her questions about herself, discovering more about myself at every meeting. Those days were definitely special. Week after week and then month after month our appointments continued, but one day I could not meet with her because I had lunch with a friend. I felt bad. I knew that she would be disappointed, but I could see her the next day. Tomorrow came. We talked and it was a delight as usually, but I could only stay for thirty minutes. I felt cheated. The next day I could not meet with her because my child was sick. The sickness continued for a week, and that week my hours at work changed. I would not be able to meet at that time any longer, so I called to tell her I would see her later in the evenings. I did for a few days, but then I was unable to keep the new schedule because I had to cook dinner and help the children with their homework. Then, Bible Study, community service, a concert, the gym, my hair done, basketball practice for the boys, working late, game days, and on and on. I didn’t see her again for a full month. Things were not the same. Instead of finding out about her, I began talking all about me. We continued on this way. Days would go by, sometimes weeks or months. Our relationship was strained, but I always went back. I just never knew when I would be able to. I missed my time with her and she constantly told me that she missed me.

Dear Friends,

God is longing to meet with you. Having face-to-face time with God helps us to remember who we are. His presence brings peace and blessing. Spending time with our creator should be a priority because our need for Him is greater than our need for or to do anything else. Return to God.

Agape,

Crystal Monae’

 

Just Wait

Are you moved by current events in our nation? America is in a state of unrest, and the people of God are agitated. Among the violence, natural disasters, and widespread corruption is uncertainty about the future of our country. If you are anything like me, you may be in anticipation of what God will do concerning these things that we see with our natural eyes.  Much like the prophet Habakkuk, who wrote this concerning the burdens that he saw:

O Lord, how long shall I cry,
And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, “Violence!”
And You will not save.
Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me;
There is strife, and contention arises.
Therefore the law is powerless,
And justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore perverse judgment proceeds. – Habakkuk 1:2-4

I watch. I pray. I stir the gifts in me, and I wait with my trust fully in God. It is God’s glory that I want displayed. God replied to Habakkuk that the answer will come with amazement; likewise, I know that it will. Just wait and see!

In the meantime, stir up the gift of God in you. Spread the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Find out where can you make a difference, and act now.

In His name,

Crystal Monae’