Current Mood: Anointed & Blessed & Faith-driven & Still-Standing

Our Bishop Elect started the morning with a wonderful heartfelt Merry Christmas greeting. He dared to preach from an unfamiliar Christmas passage, teaching us the humility of the birth of Jesus as a lamb. “Where lambs are born” is a message that explains in a brilliant way how God has a habit of hiding his glory. Coming from I Corinthians 1:26-29 and Luke 2:4-7. Bishop Rouson explained how God’s glory is found in insecurity and lowly situations. God gets ticked or upset when we try to take the glory that is due only to him. God does things in a unique way that when the task is complete you will know that it came straight from God. There will be no question.

We may wonder about some of the things we have been through, and how it just doesn’t make sense. When you look at it, what you are called to do and called to be may not make sense. You see, greatness comes out of weakness.
Our Lord of Lords was born in a low state that he may relate to those of low estate.

• He was rejected and had no place to go.
• They had to find hay that was not soiled to lay baby Jesus upon,
• He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Swaddling clothes were rags, the farmer used to milk the cows.
This was a true state of humility, and greatness comes out of weakness and humility.

He was born in the most humble state that he may relate to the most humiliating situations in our life.

In order for him to relate to having a child out of wedlock, he had to relate to the pain of rejection, ridicule and being talked about. The things that God does may not make sense but God does not have to make sense, because “He is God”. How can He be born the way he was being who he was? Can you imagine the environment that surrounded him? The smell, the situation? Let us remember that he had to be born that way because of what he represented “a lamb” he had to be born where lambs where born.
I Corinthians 1:27:29 (NIV) says he chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one would boast before him.

Our life is made up of different things that may not make sense. You go through what you go through so God can use you. He has a particular task just for you and he will not share the glory with anyone. Others may try to get you drunk off of phony praise, allowing them selves to think that it was them who got you started. All glory belongs to no one but God. If I may use a quilt for example, a quilt is put together by different rags and held by one thread. When a person owns a garment they may not know what it will mean in the future. It’s just a garment, but it takes a master to sit down and piece it together. Your life is like that; no one can praise or appreciate God like you do.

The quilt is made up of things that others may not see as valuable, but the one who made it knows the value and memoirs of each piece. It was made to be used.

Every raggedy piece tells a different story and put together makes something beautiful. God was there in each piece of your life and he brought you through so that you may be used by him. He brought you through for a purpose. You had to come where lambs were born in order to prove that it was nothing short of the Glory of God that brought you out.

The Lamb is a beast of burden. A king of kings born where lambs were born, meek and humble born in a stable. It was the right path for him because of the Glory. Your path, may seem strange, it may seem unfair. You may experience rejection or you may be in situations that do not seem normal. Your surroundings may be hard, but this is the right path for you because of what he has called you to do. You must go where lambs are born until he brings you forward. When he comes back, he comes where kings reign because he is a king. God gets the glory!

© 2009, Elder Alvia Cabbler. All rights reserved. A part of Shekinah Glory Outreach Ministries International

Joy eludes me and anger is trying to consume me;

Nothing is coming up roses;

Everything is coming up thorns;

Yet You still say, “Trust Me”

But I am angry with You, Lord;

When You told me to leave all that I knew to follow You, I obeyed;

When You told me to forsake my evil ways and give up my lustful desires, though I at times fell in the process, I obeyed;

When You told me to resign leaving my only source of income, as terrifying as it was, I still obeyed;

When You told me to speak no matter how hard the message or how high the cost, I cried then I obeyed;

When I was confronted with persecution and accusations, You told me to keep on going, and I obeyed;

When all seemed lost You still said, “My child, there is more that I require of you”, and I said, “Yea, Lord” and I obeyed.

But now Lord, look at my heart as it bleeds and see how everything and everyone has fallen down around me;

There are some who think I’ve caused these calamities upon myself, while others simply question the level of my sanity;

The good name I worked so hard to establish has been utterly destroyed;

And the only means of transportation I had has been repossessed;

My home, the beautiful home You blessed me with has been foreclosed, and now homelessness awaits me;

I turn to the left just to find that I’ve lost a child and to my right are the remaining children seeking my strength and direction;

But I have nothing to give but pain and despair, yet, through it all You tell me to trust and follow You.

Burdens and hardship continues to mount up on every side;

The brook has dried up and You no longer command the ravens to feed me;

I cry to You, “Lord, what’s next?  Where is the provision?” Yet Your answer is deafening silence;

All the while the devourer lurks in the shadows seeking to do more than just destroy me;

He wants to use me to hurt You;

He uses soothing words to entice me and makes all kinds of promises in hopes of seducing me;

He even says he can give me beauty for ashes and gladness instead of the aching pain I feel inside;

All of these are mine, he says, if only I serve him.

But who can stand against the Lord and live?  And though I am broken, I am not ignorant of the enemy’s schemes and lies;

I know that no matter what, You are still God and there is NO ONE, including all of hell, who can stand against You;

Great and Mighty is Your Name, You are the Lord of hosts, the Great I Am, the great King of Glory;

You are everlasting to everlasting and there is NO wisdom, NO insight or NO plan that can succeed against You;

Though I am cast down, my heart still burns for You and aches for You, and I so seek Your glory, Oh Lord;

If You say You will never forsake me, then it is that which is true; therefore, somewhere provision lies and awaits me;

Arise, Oh Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered; renew my joy which is my strength; anoint me afresh with Your Spirit and bring me higher in You;

Restore me, Oh God, so that I may war for You, and through all of this mayhem, show me Your glory.

Your Word says the prayers of the righteous avails much and I know it is these prayers that brings me strength on this day;

While I continue to walk through this valley of death, continue to press their hearts to pray for me;

And let their words be not their own words but the words of the Greater One within them;

And help me, Holy Spirit, to keep my eyes steadfast on the Father and not on the place of isolation and desolation;

Forgive me for any and all sin, and even in my suffering be magnified and glorified, let the people of God be edified and the body of Christ purified;

And let me be healed now in Jesus’ Name, let my mind not wander to dark places but let it be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work and Word of the Lord;

You say in Your Word to let the weak say they are strong, so in Jesus’ name I confess now that I am strong!

Thank You, Lord, for rescuing your servant and for leading me down the path that brings a greater glory to Your wondrous and sovereign Name.

Real talk. 

Amen.

© 2009, Ms. Lady Nai. All rights reserved. A part of Shekinah Glory Outreach Ministries International