And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. –Ezekial 34:26-27 KJV
Good Morning Friend!
Are you ready for a shower?
"A shower, Reverend?"
Yes a shower my friend! And I'm not talking about a lil sprinkle here and there BUT rather a steady down-flow of God's blessings! One that is going to remove all hurt, pain, doubt and fear and cause you to step into your wealthy place. You have planted your seeds, watered and tilled the ground and have not seen any significant growth or fruit come forth from your labor. I've come to let you know that your season is near and God is sending a torrential outpour of his love, blessings and manifested power your way. Get ready because your seed is budding even now and soon it will be bearing the fruit that you have been praying for!
Have you ever been at a place in your life where it seems like the [bad] rain wouldn't stop? It seemed like one [bad] thing after another happened (or is happening) leaving you wondering if you would (or will) eventually drown in the midst of all the trouble, problems, bills, disappointments, financial woes, family and love life falling a part, failed relationships/business ventures and the dog eating your favorite pair of shoes (smile), etc., etc. You will even find yourself saying during these times "when it rains it sure does pour". I've come with a message from the Lord for you and that is, you will not go out like this! I smell rain right in the dead of your winter! And with this rain is coming newness, wholeness, prosperity, healing, deliverance, whatever you need—this rain is coming to wash away everything and every issue that has been a concern and/or a hindrance in you getting to your next dimension is God and in life! Unlike times before these showers are showers of blessings—for those who sow in tears the Lord guaranteed that you would reap in joy (Psalms 126:5)! Moreover just as the Lord sent a rainbow as a promise or a covenant to the people that they (and we) would never face another flood as the one Noah and the people of his time did (or that He would never destroy the Earth or existence again by water/flood)—so is God placing a rainbow over you and your life. Signifying that things won't always be like this, that you will never have to experience this again and that a brighter day is coming your way!
I'm not even going to front, when in the midst of a flood of problems it can seem like someone has literally taken a size 15 boot and kicked you right in the gut and knocked the wind out of you! I've even had times in my life where I have said, "I'm doing the best I can at this point in my life and no matter what I do, I can never seem to get ahead" (does this sound familiar?). These types of experiences often times wear on us and turns us into individuals covered with the soot of anger, doubt, let-downs, etc. Thus, we become as a wounded animal—attacking (and/or distancing ourselves from) anything and everything that tries to get close to us or that remotely looks, smells and/or acts like what hurt us before. I remember one time when my eldest brother was alive we were playing and kidding around as we usually did when we were together. He was pushing me around like big brothers do sometimes and in the midst of us wrestling he kicked me so hard in my stomach that it literally brought me to my knees gasping for air. At that point I remember not being able to say a word and without any effort tears started rolling down my face and all I could hear was my brothers taunting laugh and rhetoric. I remember everything going black and when I "came to myself" (lol) my brother had a busted lip, bruises everywhere and had locked himself in a closet because by this time I had started chasing him with a sharp object. (We were cool again in a few hours and were able to laugh about it years later, but at the time it wasn't funny [to me]…I was hurt and I wanted him to hurt like he had hurt me.) Life can be like that at times. You are going along with the flow and enjoying life only to get a swift kick in the gut and it hurts the most when it's from the foot of someone you love, had let all guards down for and didn't expect to hurt you like that. Likewise, most of us respond to the little kicks of life just like I did and we become bitter, angry individuals who attack everything and anyone in our paths and harbor these emotions and feelings of rage and anger which ultimately leave us suffering all the way around while others distance themselves from us and take cover when they see us coming because of the stench of bitterness that follows us. But friend, I speak to every bit of anger, resentment and fear that has taken hold of you in the midst of your dark seasons. God is sending a shower that is going to heal your heart and restore you as if the hit never came.
Recently I read in Ezekial 34 where it deals with a prophecy that God gave to the prophet concerning the Shepards who didn't serve, protect and take care of the sheep (or souls) that they had charge over and how God would deal accordingly with those who scattered the sheep. It was ironic that this is where my devotional reading time would lead me but within reading the scripture the Lord began to deal with my heart concerning certain people and leaders who at one point or another had charge over my soul and instead of nurturing me and protecting me like the bible instructs they sought to kill the destiny and promises over my life; leaving me to have to protect myself from the thing that was supposed to be covering and protecting me. Can I just talk with you for a minute….now your whole life goes into survival mode because if you can't trust them who can you trust? Ironically I saw a pattern where I had developed great distrust for every pastor I came in contact with or met (if I verbalized it or not) I distrusted them all because of what I had experienced from a couple of "not so good" pastors (can't say what I felt there…LOL! How is that for positive terminology Kevin? God is still working on me…pray saints! SMILE!).
Now after my experiences with such leaders, when I saw a pastor I didn't see someone who would protect and serve with their life but rather someone who would desert you when they were presented with gossip or lies about you in efforts to protect their own little ego or image. When I saw a pastor I didn't see someone who would bring the word with power and clarification and lead as God said to lead but rather a man (or woman) who's main goal was to create disciples unto themselves rather than unto God and who would use his/her pulpit to bully people and emotionally prostitute those in attendance instead of empowering and truly showing the way to freedom. Moreover, in the place of the whole truth—distributing just enough to get you happy, get your money and keep you coming back for more. When I saw a pastor I didn't see one who would stand with you in the good and bad times but rather someone who would change the way they felt about and towards you if you were to get laid off and they were no longer receiving your tithe and the occasional "here is a couple hundred dollars just because." Even some of you have experienced these and worst situations at the hand of a pastor, friend, loved one, a spouse or even a man/woman you were involved with. And honestly it's hard to get over hurt and pain when it's at the hand of someone you love and trust so dearly. But what do you gain when you hold on to these ill feelings? Most of the time you miss out on getting to know some wonderful people and partaking in some wonderful opportunities—and all because we decide to hold on to "it" instead of letting God accomplish what he was trying to accomplish through the test or trial.
One thing that I have come to know is that the enemy [the devil] is very cunning! He often times will take the avenue that is eventually supposed to be a blessing to us and tries to pervert and distort our thinking and/or interactions with that avenue (or one similar to it) so that when we actually get to the one that is supposed to ultimately be a blessing to us we have cut our blessings from that avenue because we allowed past experiences to keep us from what was to be our bridge to our destiny. In my case, I experienced corrupt pastors at a very early age because ultimately the Lord would bless me to be a blessing to leaders and pastors which would in return become a source of blessings for me, my ministry and businesses. For you it may have been a bad relationship which now makes you look at the opposite sex with ill feelings which causes you to eventually pass up your "Mr. Right" or your "Ms. Wonderful." Remember that whatever God allows us to face is already predestined by Him. So if He [God] allowed it, it was designed for you to come out with the victory. Now instead of having the mindset and attitude of a victim I live and display a life of victory because "God has made me safe in my own land" and I know come what may (because I'm sure I will face similar situations again but) God has my back! Who shall (or what shall) I fear (Psalms 27)? Furthermore, he has set me free. And whom the son sets free is free indeed (John
Friend, it is so possible to recover from the storm and I'm glad to announce that God will drive every bit of bitterness out caused by your processes. I'm free today and no longer hold everybody accountable for what a couple of imposters did to me in my past. That's not fair to myself, those who did nothing wrong to me at all or anyone new that I may meet in the future. As a matter of fact I thank God for those experiences now because they made me better and now I can say I'm no longer bitter! You see, I was saying that I wanted God to shower blessings on me but he couldn't bless me like he wanted to because of all the bitterness that I had allowed to harden my heart. God cannot move on our behalf when we allow ourselves to become this way because he knows we will eventually start to fight him because we are wounded. So he just loves and keeps us together until we get it together! He's such a gentleman! It wasn't until I began to chip away at the dark dirt that had caked up around my heart that God began to really show me His face. God will never pour out His blessings on corrupted soil, only for us and everything around us to turn into mud. He wouldn't put us into deeper ditches by giving us the desires of our hearts when our hearts are still full of hurt…only for us to take the blessing and turn it wicked or for us to say "now look at me I made it anyway." No! I believe that we really walk into the blessings of the Lord when we can see or remember our hurt from the past and still love our trespassers and remain integral when God elevates us. (Not saying that you have to be buddy-buddy with your enemy but we still have to pray for and love them with the love of the Lord…a tough pill to swallow…I know…but you can do it!) Moreover, I'm so glad the scripture didn't stop there, in Ezekial 34 the prophet goes on to expose these various types of "not so good" leaders and down in the 26-27th verses he exclaims the promises to vindicate those who experienced these types of situations at the hand of these "not so good" leaders or people.
Just as the prophet Ezekial stood and prophesied in the midst of these who were scattering their flocks or the people (as well as the people themselves) I prophesy to you today that the Lord is sending showers of blessings your way and is delivering you out of the hand of your enemy. (Oh boy I know I'm going to get some nasty letters on this one…) Woman you don't have to stay there and let that man depredate you and beat you down! Man you don't have to stand there and let the fact that you didn't graduate from High School stop you from pursuing your destiny. Young person you don't have to stand under leadership that refuse to be the way that God has instructed them to. When the showers come will you be ready to be drenched by the overflow of the Lord or will you continue to let the hand of oppression stop the flow of God's blessings from getting to you?
Its time to live that life of freedom my friend. Life is too short and my God has promised us too many great things for us to just stand by and allow ourselves to miss out on what God has promised us because we choose to harbor resentment and the such. Its time to step out of the hurt and reposition yourself to receive from the Lord! Its time to take a shower and receive the blessings of the Lord!
Much Love,
