Janina B.

Sometimes we see and go through things so that we can give an account. Yes other accounts of the same situation may exist, but nobody can give an account like you. Your testimony will be different because you went through it. Some people may even receive it better from you because they know you personally. Perhaps Theophilus had heard the story about Elizabeth and Mary many times, but his faith might have increased when he heard it from Luke. Maybe Theophilus was in a place in his life where he needed the faith to believe God because each person discussed in this chapter came to a point where they had to take God at His word. In this chapter we see what happens when we trust God and we see what can happen if we question and or limit His promises to us. God loved Elizabeth and her husband so much that they were counted worthy to be mentioned in the bible! We all know what it’s like to want something so bad and not get it. Imagine how Elizabeth must have felt. She may have prayed d

On the day that the Lord commanded Moses to send 12 spies into the Land of Canaan, I wonder if any of them grumbled about the opportunity and wondered within themselves “Why do I have to go ?” or “why is God sending me ?”. It’s the craziest thing, God wants to bless us, but we don’t wanna go through nothing. God wants to wow us by sending us on field trips to spy out our destiny, but we yet find a way to miss the abundance and instead come back with a bad report about what God has allowed us to see. You need to fix your vision. Your field trip to spy out destiny is not meant to discourage you, but it is meant to encourage you. When God shows you the land and the better our come that he wants to give you, look past the impossibilities and look to your God for which nothing is impossible. God can’t bless us effectively with an Egypt mentality. We would never be happy because we are still comparing the gifts of God to the scraps we received in that old place that God has delivered u

A question that I once asked, that I am still asking, and that I have been asked is, “what is next after I say yes to God?” The truth is that every day has to continue to be yes. The thing that irritated me most about asking the above question was that people would always tell me to pray. I felt like I was dying and all they had to say to me was pray!!!!!   Looking back, that was the best answer that they could have given me because I was in fact dying. You will go through a phase where God has to burn up all your old ideals and introduce His way of thinking and living to you. I’m still going through this phase. Like a fine car, you have to continue to maintain the lessons and delivery that God wants to and is going to give you. You have to listen to the Holy Spirit. This can be hard because even as a born again believer, the world and its ways are still attractive. Every day I am challenged to change my response to life’s situations, my mind set, and the things I like because th

One of things that I ask God for in my prayer time is the ability to be able to hear Him. I want to hear God clearly when He speaks to me. I don’t want to drown out His voice which is easy for me to do because I have a tendency to be easily distracted. When God has shown us something, we cannot allow ourselves to get off task. We have to be able to listen to God and we have to be able to envision what He is saying to us. For the past few nights, the word see has been jumping out to me as I read my bible. Before God gave certain people instructions, He told them to see first. Sometimes the personal words that God has for me can be  hard to believe because they are things that I don’t see in myself. Life can sometimes have a way of making us not believe the things that God is saying to us, but we have to be able to see His promises mentally before we actually see them tangibly. Despite what may be going on around you, all you need to do is see . Sometimes you have to see whatever

I pray against the dream crushers in your life. Don’t allow your dreams to die because you lack resources. I pray that God provides you with everything that you need according to His will. I pray for an increase in your faith. Don’t give up on your ideas, or business plans. Keep drawing or singing. Whatever God has placed on the inside of you to accomplish, protect it. Don’t abort your destiny because people don’t like it. Cover that thing that God has placed on the inside of you and give it back to Him. If God gave you the idea or the desire, He will make it come to pass. People came against Joseph’s dream. He was an unlikely candidate to be over his brothers because he was younger. David was also youngest of his siblings. Don’t allow age to hinder your destiny. God can use whoever He wants to. Who is anyone to tell you that you are too young or to old. Look at the lives of Sarah and Elizabeth. Society and Anatomy said that they were too old to bear children, but yet they conceive

It is easy to condemn Moses. How could he, out of all people be insecure? I mean, He talked to God in a burning bush that was not consumed by fire! God even protected him in a snake and alligator infested river! Wouldn’t you trust God if He continuously showed up on your behalf? Wouldn’t your war cry be Jehovah Nissi? God was always with Moses. Moses was never allowed to be a normal Hebrew baby because he was called out to be used for the glory of the Lord. He wasn’t allowed to be murdered. He wasn’t even allowed to be a slave. What has God shielded you from because of your calling? What had God allowed you to endure because of your calling? Do you realize that what you’re going through is because of your calling? No, Moses may not have endured what his brothers and sisters endured, but that does not mean that his life was peaches and cream. He may have been in the palace, but that does not mean that people treated him like a prince. If you look at the life of Moses, no one was

Growing up I heard the word of God in a general sense. God loves us. We all know that God loves us right? He hears our prayers, He is a divine being, and we should go to church every Sunday. These beliefs are pretty general. I remember sitting in church and not really being penetrated by the word. I respected God. I believed in God, but I would not allow Him to have full access to me. I saw the older people around me being what I have come to know as being “transformed”. I did not understand the word transformed because it had not happened to me. I did not know, or rather I did not pay attention to the presence of God in my life. I mean His true presence. I did not really understand the realness of God until I got saved for the first time at the age of 16. I used to feel this tugging of what I now know to be the Holy Spirit pulling on my heart during the alter call but I would never go. Well, one Sunday I went. I almost felt a holy push to get up. You need to know that God can

Who told you everything that you believe about yourself? Don’t you know how precious you are in the eye sight of God? He created you along with all the other wonders of the world and gave you dominion over it. He allowed you to name the name the animals and the plants of the earth. God cares about your thoughts and your emotions. He allowed you to have them right? You have to be mindful of the things that you allow into your space. The moment that Eve allowed the serpent to come into her space, he got into her ear. Be careful what you listen to. When the serpent had Eve’s ear he began to come against what she knew was true. Be careful about what you believe. We cannot allow anything that is not of God to rob us of who He is, what He has taught us, or who we are to Him. The serpent wanted to confuse Eve. The devil wants to confuse us and make us believe that we are equal to God. We try to play God when we don’t consult Him in any area of our lives. We think that we have things under

Every time I see a woman after God’s own heart walking in her anointing, I am reminded that it’s not about the husband, the accolades, or the rewards. It is the journey that will make you. All you have to do is stay in His presence. It is the journey that will inspire people, not your stuff. My bishop posted a question in his devotional that asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” That answer for me is that I want to be a woman that is found in God's presence, I want to be a woman walking in her God given assignment, and I want to be a woman after God’s own heart. I have to actually be reminded that life is not about stuff. I look at people and I measure myself and my success to them but God has a different journey for me. Life is about the journey. What have you learned? Are you teachable? Don’t you see the testimonies and the revelations that are being given to you at each phase of your process? Don’t miss it. Don’t miss the hand prints of God all over your life

You have to want to step into a leadership position not because of what God can do for you, but because of what you can do for God. Being an effective leader requires discipline because you now have people looking up to you. When you lead people where are you leading them to and who is your leader? I see and learn many things from the people who are and have been leaders in my life. Some of the things that I have learned have been positive and other things have been negative. Be an inspiration who lives in right standing before God. You cannot be trusted if you do not practice what you preach. You cannot tell me to be faithful in a marriage if you are a cheater. You cannot tell me to treat people with respect when you as a leader curse every time you turn around. As a leader, you have to live a life that shows the fact that God is watching you and you understand that He is your boss. Yes, we have bosses on our jobs, but the position of leadership under Christ creates a standard tha

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeramiah 29:11 ). I often wonder how it will all happen. God’s plan for my life. How will it come to pass? I’ve been told so many awesome things, but I wonder how it will happen. This process is teaching me to trust God and depend on him instead of my own reasoning. Is this lesson easy? No! I want all of these amazing experiences, but I am challenged to ask myself if I am really ready to take on the assignment that I am called to. Everything happens for a reason. Even when we don’t understand tough situations and pray that trouble will leave us, we go through so that others can learn from the lessons that God desires to teach us. I have to learn to listen and to spend time with God. I know that I am easily distracted and my purpose requires me to be focused on Him. Everything is about Him. My life, my talent, even my salvation is a gift

“Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:7). The thing that I have come to appreciate about God is His attention to and His eye for detail. I mean, look at the world around us. We have water falls, the sun, and the stars in the sky to admire. I especially admire waterfalls because I like to believe that man can’t recreate them. Look at your life and notice the special details that God is using to form you into the man or woman that he has called you to be. Sure, some of the edges of your life are not smooth and yes you have had some sharp and painful experiences, but what have you learned? Your unsmooth edges and those painful experiences are all a part of your process of becoming. That beautiful water fall or that masterful painting goes through a process before it is truly complete in the eye of the creator. Some people may pass by you and think that you are beautiful in the midst of your proc

Sometimes the hard part about serving God is that people you love and care about get left in the dust of your purpose. Sometimes you have to choose which one is more important to you; serving God or being in the same location that he found you in. You may move spiritually. You may get blessed along the way, but not everyone can actually move with you. This is a hard pill to swallow. Sometimes people that you love can be a hindrance to where God is taking you and what he is telling you. You have to be able to forsake everything for the price of Christ. Your destiny depends on your obedience. It’s hurtful, you may drag your feet, and they may question your motives, but what is the word of God saying to you. You have to be able to WALK into your destiny and into your anointing. Faith requires you to MOVE. You want so much from God, but you refuse to move. You get to a point in your walk where only you and him matter. We want to get everybody saved, but what about where God is trying

The journey to purpose can be tiresome. It’s bumpy, there are a lot of lessons to learn, but the lessons are intended to keep you for when you reach the promise. You may want to quite, but I encourage you not to. Trust God. Like Israel, every day you are traveling with an intended purpose to a place that you don’t know the way to on your own. That is because you have never been there. All Israel knew was Egypt. When you enter into the life that God wants you to have, you have to learn and listen because all you know is that old way of life. Those customs and those beliefs have to die. You won’t need them for the new land, but you should remember them (not dwell or miss them) because they help you remember how far the Lord has brought you. The Lord will fight your battles for you. Listen and be still. When people talked about Moses, God handled that. When Egypt came after Israel, God handled that also. Stop trying to fight your own battles and know that God has got you. Stop worryi

YOU HAVE GOT TO WAR FOR YOUR DESTINY!!!! The devil wants to get you to the point of depression. He wants you to give up. He wants you to forfeit your destiny, but you have got to fight. Today, I actually thought the words,” What am I doing this for?” I felt left out, I left behind, but I have to know that I am where God wants me to be. I remember being at a point of actually asking my mother to admit me to mental institution. I was that un-happy. I believed that I would find peace in a place like that. DO NOT EVER ALLOW YOUR SELF TO GET SO CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF LIFE THAT YOU WANT TO JUMP. This does not have to mean suicide. It can mean giving up on living for God, or giving up on caring about people, or even caring about yourself. The journey to purpose has bumps in the road. I believe that God does not expect us to be perfect, but He requires us to strive for perfection. He requires us to try. He requires us to seek him. If we were perfect we would not need Him. I encourage you and

Not only is there a war for your destiny, but YOU have to war for your destiny. Disadvantages and hardships came against Moses when he was a baby because of the size of his purpose. The level that the devil fights you gives an indication of the multitude that God wants to use you. God has placed such awesomeness on the inside of you that you don’t even know about. You are a threat to the devil’s kingdom.   He wants you to not know who you really are. He wants you to believe that you are not special. Your destiny is why you go through so much. I met a young girl today that blowed me away with her talent. She could not only sing, but she could also play the piano. What impressed me most about this young girl is that she talked about grace. This let me know that she knew something about God. Where I work, I hear about God, but not his grace. In the midst of every emotion, set back, and battle that we encounter, we have to know that God is graceful. The enemy attempts to come against ma

" Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, " I  tell you, not seven times, but seventy- seven times" (Matthew 18: 21-22). God’s word is a treasure box.  Although you feel as if you have looked through it a million times, when you go back to search through it again, you will always find new things. My heart is on Moses right now because my desire is to have the relationship that he had with Christ. He faced a lot of opposition on his journey to the promise, but he understood the power of knowing  who he was in Jesus and spending time in his presence. You have to know how to keep your peace in the midst of opposition. You have to understand that even when God tells you to hold your peace, that does not make you a punk. That simply means that he will fight your battles for you<3   God is such a source of peace. You have to know how to keep your peace when the d