Janina B.

  “ Before I formed you in the womb knew you”            (Jeremiah 5a NKJV). Dough must get really exhausted. It has to be combined with other ingredients, kneaded, beat on, oiled down to rest after the beating, stuffed into a pan, and then baked. The process is gruesome, but the result is one that everyone loves. People admire the variety that bread comes in, but what about its process of becoming the very thing that many of us love so much. “So, I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot” (Jeremiah 18:3-4 MSG). First things first, listen to God, and do not follow the voice of the enemy. You are in a process, and it’s hot. God is getting rid of all the things that you asked Him to. You said that you wanted a cle...

“But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service]” (1 Corinthians 9:27 AMP). If you need to be told that you did a good job, “You did a good job. You gave, and you submitted to man. You showed up and did what they asked. Good job.” “But I have this [charge] against you, that you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]” (Revelation 2:4 AMP). Gut Check:  Don’t love the applause of men more than you love God.  Why do you show up?  What do you gain from that, and what happens when the way that they applaud  you does not meet your need of this kind of fulfillment?   Beat your body into submission to God. Serve Him well. Become an early riser and seek the Father to release the strategy for the day to you. Sit in His presence and bask in His love. Thank Him for what He has a...

“Jesus said to her,  “Go, call your husband, and come here.”   The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”   Jesus said to her,  “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’   for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly”                         (John 4:17-18 NKJV). Over the last few days, I’ve missed someone. You may wonder why I would even start things off in this way, but this type of stuff has to be confronted because it’s how people get caught up and entangled in what God loosed them from already.  As I was thinking what I was thinking, each time I heard, “What part of toxic do you miss?” I can’t argue with the question. The situation was beyond toxic, but with this being so, what causes me to miss something that left me so shattered? The answer: the familiarity.   Being familiar with a thing will cause you to run ...

“But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail”   (Luke 22:32a). For a time, I didn’t ask people for prayer . I became protective of ‘my stuff,’ and I backed away from needing people because I had me-the army of one. I felt alone, misunderstood; all the things that I wanted no one to know about because  I got me . This mindset created offense and functional depression. I backed away so that no one would see it; no one knew me enough to recognize what it looked like.  “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:32b).   What does it look like when you are being sifted? The sifting starts early in life and can be a continuous pattern if the devil feels like his tactics are working against you. I asked a friend recently, “Why am I so emotional? Did God give me these emotions?” I tend to feel deeply because I am an intercessor, but the emotions have to be stewarded properly. You have to master them by submit...

“ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path” (Proverbs 3:5-6). “ Before  I formed you  in the womb in the womb  I knew you ; Before you were born  I sanctified  you;  I ordained   you   a prophet to the nations ”(Jeremiah 1:10 NKJV). What do you see? What showed you what you are seeing?  Whose report will you believe, God or the devil’s? In Jeremiah 1, God called Jeremiah up. He was no longer just a priest. He was a priest and a prophet, sent with a message to those whom God loves-Isreal. Jeremiah didn’t want to do it.  A prophet? Me? You called me to be a prophet? Get somebody else to do it.   I know, Jeremiah did not say it like that, but we do. God called this man up higher, closer to His mouth to hear His decrees, but Jeremiah had some reservations. He said that he was to young, and I know that he had some fear because if we are bei...

  “In the beginning God created” (Genesis 1:1a). As I sat in my car, I found myself being sad. I have no reason to be sad, and I was thinking that I needed prayer to help me through that moment. I picked up my Bible, and I asked God what He had to say to me today. I recalled His beauty and His creativity, and I heard, “Go back to the beginning.”   When God created everything within 6 days, sadness was no where to be found. It was not on His agenda or in the plans that He has for us. He created light and life; even the darkness was a place of rest.   “Then God said, ‘Let there be’” (Genesis 1:3a NKJV).   “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences” (Proverbs 18:21 NLT).   What are you saying? What are you allowing to  be ? I didn’t call anyone on my contact list within my phone. I called God. He is speaking to me in this moment and producing light in a place that I gave a testimony on recently.   “Then God said...

  “ Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them” ( Mark 9:2  NKJV). Jesus is taking you somewhere. Will you go, and can He trust you  with the assignment that He is sending you forth with?   Jesus could’ve chosen anyone to see Him in the  secret  place, but He choose Peter, James, John, and you. We saw Jesus being both human and God in a uniquely divine manner. We saw the type of encounter that caused Moses’ face to shine in  Exodus 34:29 , and we saw that God is calling us all up higher in Him. This is not about just getting a prayer through, this about getting into a deeper place with Father God and seeing Him in a way that many of you are praying to see Him in if you are reading this.  God wants for us to see Him. His divine glory is all around us, but the secret place is where the mysteries of the Kingdom of God are revealed.   “   N...

“And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” ( Luke 1:1-20 NKJV).   Zacharias’ prayer was not answered in the way that he thought that it would be. During his prayer time with the Lord, he asked God to allow him and his wife to have a baby, but years passed, and they got older. Zacharias’ went on with his life until his season changed, and it was time. Time for what you may ask; it was time for the blessing of the Lord over this man and wife to come to pass. The issue was that Zacharias had allowed this prayer to leave his heart, and unbelief took its place. Wha...