I will bless the Lord at all times; His praises shall continually be in my mouth. It is a great day to serve the Lord; actually every day is a great day to serve the Lord. Because of the great benefits he has toward us, and because of who he is.

It is my pleasure to bring to you the highlights from Sunday, May 2, 2010. Our Executive Pastor James Edwards brought forth a powerful word to us, regardless of the title we may hold. It ministers to each and every one of us. It gives us hope and strength to carry on. The message was entitled “ The Other Side of Ministry” scripture text is Mark 5:1-6, 19.

Here are your Sunday Highlights:

The Church is in a situation were we become accustomed to comfort, such as the padded pews, air conditions and fancy clothes, Some of us come to church just to see what’s going to happen, or what the choir is going to sing, or even what some one is going to wear this week. The church today has become complacent waiting on what’s going to happen next. We wait on having church, but what we fail to realize is that the church is waiting on us. We come into the building but we as people of God forget that we are the building. The church as gotten in the way and has waxed cold. I challenge you by asking…. Where is the fire?! The church folk have gone to sleep while the church outside is going to Hell. Matthew 28:19 says “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” We won’t even invite our kin folk to church. It’s time for the church to wake up… There is another side to ministry.

In Mark 4 the disciples were in the ship going through a storm. Have you ever been in the ship in the middle of a storm and it seems like Jesus does not care about your storm, it seems that Jesus was sleep? What happens when it seems as if God doesn’t care about your storm? Jesus was sleep as the boat filled with water. How could he sleep while your boat is filling with water? The book of Matthew tells us that we must have faith, Luke says “Oh ye of little faith” then when you read the book of Mark it says, “You have no faith”… The definition of faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Do we really know what faith is in our own personal life? Let me give you an example of faith I have two stories to share with you concerning faith:

• My first Story is about A young man who was a tight rope walker…. The crowd “Oooohed!” and “Aaaaahed!” as the man carefully walked across one dangerous step after another — blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow full of 300 pounds of sand. Upon reaching the other side, the young man suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” The crowd enthusiastically shouted, “Yes, yes, yes. You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. You can do anything!” “Okay,” said the young man, “Get in the wheelbarrow…..” If you want to know what faith is……Faith is getting in the wheelbarrow.

• My Second story is about a father and a son out in the field picking beans. They had been picking beans all day long. They began to smell something good coming from their house. It smelled like fat back and collard greens. Soon the smell was so overwhelming that they young man decided to run home to see for sure what was cooking and possibly get a taste of it. When he gets to the house he ran in and surely there it was cooking on the stove, but before he could get to the pot his mother stopped him and warned him that it was not ready. She smacked his hand with a firm loving gesture and told him to wait. As hungry as he was, he could hardly resist the aroma of the fat back coming from the pot on the stove, It over took him so much that he picked up a piece of white bread and took the top off the pot. Then he held the white bread over the steam until it saturated the bread. After that, he wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil, and ran out the door back to the field to take it to his father. When he made it back to the field where his father was still working, the aroma from the saturated bread got his father’s attention. “what have you got there boy, is that fat back and collards?” His father asked. I smell collard greens and fat back…The son replied, “no dad, it’s just the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. God is cooking up something in our lives, and we are right on the brink of it. Can’t you smell it. Allow your faith to kick in and trust God.

In the book of Mark the disciples was following Jesus, they watched him cleanse a man with an unclean spirit. Then they followed him to Peter’s house where Peter’s mother in law was sick with a fever and Jesus healed her. Jesus was delivering, healing and building the prophetic in everyone. When the church gets to the place when we are more concerned about growing and the number of members we have, that’s the time we need to go to the other side of ministry.

What to expect on he other side of ministry:

1. It is not glamorous- The other side of ministry is very uncomfortable it does not smell good or look good. There are times when you may have to minister to someone who is torn up and who looks raggedy. On the other side of ministry there are no fine clothes or perfume.

2. It has a price- The other side of ministry is going to cost you something. It is a difficult place. When you are working on the other side of ministry it will take all your attention. It will change your way of thinking.

3. It will bring you out of your comfort zone- The other side of ministry will bring you out of your comfort zone and challenge you. If you are in a place of comfort and have gotten complacent, you have been there too long; it’s time to go over to the other side of ministry.

4. It will stop you from judging others- When you are working on the other side of ministry you will not be able to judge people by their outer appearance. We judge others by what they look like on the out side; by what they have on and by how they smell. If they don’t’ wear the right clothes we judge them. Man looks on the outer appearance but God looks on the heart.
Mark verse 5 speaks of the man who lived among the tombs day and night cutting him self. He would sit among dead things. How many of us are still dealing with issues and things in our lives that are dead? We continue to dead things that are wasting our time? We waste our time with dead stuff, stuff that no long have life. This man had Jesus come to him, and most of us have to come to Jesus, but Jesus went to him. There are people on the other side who are waiting for us to come to them. They are in need of someone to reach out and help them.

When I was a little boy I use to love the hero called Mighty Mouse. Mighty mouse knew who he was; his favorite saying was “Here I come to save the day!” If his sweetheart Polly would get into trouble he would say, “Hip, hip and away I go!” He was one of the first rappers of all time. Then there was the road runner, when the coyote would be closing in on the Rood Runner, the road runner would not give up he would say “Beep Beep” and take off as fast as he could. Super Man was faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive. Super man and Robin would fight against the bad guys. The reporter Lois Lane loved Superman but did not like the reporter Clark Kent, a note to men- Women don’t like men who are always gossiping and reporting other peoples business. Women like men of vision and men of strength. The man at the tomb could have been a super man on the inside regardless of what he looked like on the inside. He saw God far off. The man began to cut himself because of evil spirits. This reminds me of the story of the prophet Elijah in (I Kings 17) When his enemy could not do what they wanted, they began to cut themselves and copy each other. Beware of those who repeat other peoples business and do what other’s do. We need to go to the other sided of ministry and help those who do not look like us, who do not talk like we talk. The best preaching comes when your mouth is not even opened.

Conclusion:
The man in the tomb was miserable. He was looking for Jesus when he was in his mess. Is there any body here that is looking for Jesus? God saw through all of us when we were in the tomb, when we were in our dead situation or dead place and he came to get us, he came to deliver us. The difference between the Christians, the disciples and the Apostles is that God gave us power. We cannot judge others falsely or judge them by what they have on, what they smell like or their position in life. The man in the tomb was so insignificant that they did not even give him a name. But Jesus knew where he was and who he was and he has a set time and an order in which he will call us to witness. It is the power of God. When he calls us to go, we must go over to the other side of ministry and help someone else! Are you ready to let go of your dead situations? Are you ready to stop judging others? It’s time to trust in the one super hero who can get the job done. Let’s not continue in the place we are in let’s go over to THE OTHER SIDE OF MINISTRY!

© 2010, Elder Alvia Cabbler. All rights reserved. A part of Shekinah Glory Outreach Ministries International

Current Mood: Anointed & Blessed & Delivered & Radical & Still-Standing

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14 NIV

I have no regrets about the things I’ve experienced in 2009, both good and bad, because in every single thing, a lesson was learned and growth emerged.   This year brought a lot of pruning and a lot of crushing; both of which increased the level of humility, thankfulness and determination within me.  With every loss, I gained a clearer perspective and with every crushing I got to see what was really within me: the good, the bad and the ugly.  In all in all, I learned two very important things:

1)      I truly love God with everything I have and everything I am;

2)      I truly trust Him.

Have you ever wondered what was really in your heart?  It’s real easy to say you love the Lord and trust Him when you have your basic needs met, good health and not facing any extreme circumstances; but have you ever wondered would you feel the same if all of these were taken from you?  Would you still bless the Lord if it seemed like serving Him yielded no profit?  Well, for me, I never have to wonder that.  I’ve had a “Job Experience” not too long ago, having several major calamities befall me within a 24 hour span.  I was in a state of shock, then devastation and then that turned into anger and later despair; for What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me (Job 3:25).  What I experienced was the very thing I dreaded most, which used to be the fear that motivated me to becoming an over-achiever.   It was that very thing that I worked so hard to avoid from happening, and now it happened. 

I don’t know if many will admit to this, but I think many people have a “thing” that they wonder if they’ll be able to recover from or maybe it’ll be the one thing that’ll push them over the edge.  Well, it was “that thing” for me that happened, and at first, I was as Job describes in 3:26, “I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”  This happened after the numbness subsided.  Then later, a great anger came with darkness lurking in the background; as it is especially these moments that the enemy hopes to gain influence and advantage over you.  I was fighting for my mind and for my life.  My children were doubly concerned; concerned with the matter as well as concerned for me.   I admit that even I was concerned for me.  You see, the heart of me wanted to get past this with a greater faith and with the attitude of Christ, but I didn’t know how that was going to happen since I had so much anger.  However, something began to shift the atmosphere and my mind around the 7^th day.  I began to feel, sense and see the results from the praying saints.  All of a sudden, my mind began to get clearer and there was no more anger, just gratefulness, reverence and deep-abiding love.  This is why I vehemently tell you that nobody, absolutely nobody, can tell me that the prayers of the righteous doesn’t avail much, because IT DOES!  The prayer of the righteous releases tremendous power and that power begins to change things.  Don’t EVER discount prayer!

So as I look back over 2009 I see how God used circumstances to grow me, stretch me, prune me, crush me and elevate me through humility.  I learned that you NEVER reach “it” because when you think you’re there, God takes you to a higher level and that level challenges what you thought you already knew.  As a result, that will bring about either you giving up or humility, which the latter is the desired result.  I learned that God brings you to different levels; once you’ve passed level one, He then brings you up to the next level—and so on and so on.  It will never stop until the day you’re face to face with Christ.  NO ONE EVER reaches the point where “they’ve arrived”, and if you ever think you have, prepare for a great fall; for the Bible says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).  The best alternative is to fear the Lord and have a spirit of humility, which brings forth God’s grace, wealth, honor and life (Proverbs 3:34, 22:4). 

As I close-out this year and go into the New Year, I will go with a steadfast mindset to actively pursue: 

1)      Immersing myself in the love of God and sharing it with others;

2)      Giving more, blessing more and loving more;

3)      Crucifying my flesh (and even that has levels);

4)      My God-given destiny;

5)      More humility;

6)      God’s glory.

I may leave out of this year with several battle wounds and scars but definitely no regrets!  2010 is the time to win and I will certainly enter the New Year with that mindset.

To God be ALL the Glory!

God bless!

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

With the winter season upon us, have you notice the leaves are falling from the trees, trees that were once in full bloom look dead and lifeless, some trees have no leaves they are bare, many leaves are just blowing down streets and around corners, some trees that should reproduce next spring season appear that they will not make it through the winter.

The trees we see resemble people we know, our family, friends, neighbors and people we bump shoulders with every day. Winter is here many of us are depressed an have no idea how we will make it another day, The joy they once had is gone. We never know when the storms of life will hit us, As Christian it is your job not to let brothers and sister die in the winter season.

Personal witnessing is a trigger that releases power in our lives. Doing your part releases faith. God does the rest.

PSMS 107:2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.

1 John 1: 5-10 (Contemporary English Version)

5. Jesus told us that God is light and doesn’t have any darkness in him, Now we are telling you.

6. If we say that we share life with God and keep on living in dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth.

7. But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other.  And the blood of his Son Jesus  washes all our sins away.

8. If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts.

9. But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.

10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar and his message isn’t in our hearts. Or because we have not accepted his message.

Let us love one another, give a hug ,smile , give a word of encouragement today.  Don’t let your love ones die in winter, be a witness to the glory of God someone needs to hear your testimony. Share your story God gets the glory.

Humbly Submitted,

If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away , behold all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17.

© 2009 – 2010, Elder Berlynda. All rights reserved. A part of Shekinah Glory Outreach Ministries International

Current Mood: Faith-filled & On Fire 4 God! & Still-Standing & Anointed

I know that it may be hard for some people to believe that I’m a super-private person.  When you read things such as my eJournal and many of my other writings, it appears to be as if I am a very open person when it comes down to sharing things about my private life.  To some degree both are true.  By nature, I am a super-private person.  I’ve been this way for as long as I can remember.  However, when the Lord first put it in my spirit to write, one of the things He placed in my spirit was to be transparent; sharing all of my experiences—the good, the bad and the ugly.  My initial response was ‘not so’.  I didn’t want to be judged anymore than I already am.  I didn’t want to be ridiculed, scrutinized, talked about, scorned or anything else that comes with having your business out there; however, what I didn’t realize was that was already happening.  I was already talked about, already ridiculed, already misunderstood and a slew of other things; however, at that particular time, I didn’t see it that way.  Nevertheless, what superseded my concerns of being mocked is the very fact that God designed me to want to help other people.  He’s put something in me that compels me to minister regardless of the pain I may be experiencing at the time.  The truth of the matter is that my life is ministry and a part of that ministry is the ministry of being transparent. 

I remember many years ago, not too long after I had moved to VA, I had experienced one of the darkest moments in my life.  At that time, I had found out my husband had cheated on me with another woman and he had the tendency of choosing alcohol above and beyond me and the children.  As a result of our splitting up, my oldest daughter repeatedly ran away from home and for a while she was nowhere to be found by me or the police.  I remember having panic attacks each time my phone rang past 10PM because I was afraid of receiving a call from the police asking me to come ID a body they believe to be my daughter.  I didn’t know what to expect. 

During that time I was working in corporate America and was enduring constant verbal abuse from my manager who was trying to climb the corporate ladder, but at my expense (that’s a testimony that I’ll share at another time).  I was an Advertising Executive and was the top producer of my team and in my department; however, my self-esteem was so low that I actually dealt with being berated and condescended on a regular basis.  It became “normal” and I tried to become comfortable with it.  Deep down inside I knew that the ‘old Naima’ would never put up with this and I knew that what I had allowed to carry on was unhealthy and not right.  But what prevailed was that overwhelming feeling of being worthless and undeserving of anything good.  I was so tore up inside during that time that people at the office just thought I was a very quiet person, which isn’t true at all.  I’m actually pretty talkative, but during that time I couldn’t speak.  Oftentimes I tried to just be invisible because inside I felt as though I was slowly diminishing. 

Simultaneous to all that was going on, I was the sole bread winner so it was imperative that I kept it all together, at least as best as I could.  I lived in Newport News but worked in Norfolk and I worked traditional business hours so it was inevitable for me to be in tunnel traffic going to and returning from work.  During that time I felt like I was being pulled in so many directions and it seemed like my life was too much for me to bear.  The mindset I had was similar to that of a battered woman, and making matters worse was the fact that my marriage meant the world to me, so when I learned of my husband’s  infidelity, I was devastated.  I had many emotions surge through me, but the most intense one was anger; both at him and at God.  I believe it’s quite obvious why I was angry with my ex-husband, but my short-lived anger with God was because I was faithful to my marriage and I felt this shouldn’t had happened to me.  As I mentioned, that was short-lived, mainly because I knew better than that.   

I said all of that to lead up to this one particular day while I was driving to work; during which time I was feeling pretty homicidal and suicidal.  I felt as though I owed it to myself to have a nervous breakdown because this was too much for one person to bear.  I still didn’t know where my baby (oldest daughter) was and my once stable family was ripped apart before my eyes and I felt like there wasn’t anything I could do.  All I knew is somehow I had to pull it altogether because I had 3 more children at home who needed and depended on me.  I couldn’t afford to lose it though I was so tempted to.  And let’s not even talk about the numerous times I fancied the idea to slam my pedal to the medal and drive myself over the bridge.  I was in a very dark place, and as I was driving to work, I was screaming and crying out loud in my SUV.  I was vexed and broken into countless pieces, but immediately following my ranting were words that flowed right out of my heart, which is this—IF I could save one person from experiencing the enormous pain I was carrying then what I was going through was worth it.  Those words flowed from somewhere within me that I barely knew existed.  I was broken, but indeed very serious.  And please do not misconstrue this as me glorifying myself because that couldn’t be further from the truth.  God gets all of the glory because all that is within me that is good comes from Him.  I cannot (neither do I want to) take credit for something God has done.  He gets all of the glory!

So here I am today.  Right now I am looking at some pretty extreme circumstances and they are in fact extreme.  However, God has shown me a glimpse of my future and what I seen is far greater than what I am battling right now.  Though I can be a lot of things right now, from worried to downright terrified, I choose God and His Word.  I choose His Will for my life.  This doesn’t mean that I have all the answers because I don’t have the answer to even one of many questions.   It doesn’t mean I have a contingency plan or a Plan B because I don’t have that either.  But what I do have is God and I have learned that I can put ALL of my trust in Him.  I believe many say they love the Lord but it’s easy to make such a declaration when you have digits in the bank, a steady income and in good health.  But can you say that while God is turning your world upside down and inside out?  Can you say that you trust Him in the midst of your storm or in the middle of your crisis?  Are you able to say “Lord, I trust You” even when trusting Him doesn’t’ seem profitable?  Is your trust in Him there even when you look like a complete and utter fool to all who know your situation or circumstance? 

I’ve come to a place in my life where I realize that my life is indeed ministry and that a part of that ministry is to be transparent.  People, both saved and unsaved, need to see that the life of a true child of God is not one that is always floating upon the mountain top.  Au contraire!  There are definitely some valley experiences, and it is often through those experiences that your relationship with God deepens and grows to a whole new level.  The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous BUT the Lord delivers them from them all!  Thus, the Christian life does include hardships but the awesome promise God has made to us is that we will NOT go through them alone.  He will be with us, always! 

I cannot tell you how much God has completely changed my life, and even now, He’s bringing me to a higher level of faith and a deeper level of trust in Him.  I can actually say that I am absolutely, head-over-heels in love with the Lord my God.  He is the Lover of my soul and the Keeper of my heart and my life is sold out to Him.  There are several things the Lord will have me do before I leave this earth with the priority being living a life of worship and holiness.  We as children of the Most High are all called to live in a way that glorifies the Father, and His glory doesn’t always mean our comfort.  Quite frankly, God is often glorified in our struggles and pain; but in that we learn that God’s grace is sufficient.  With that being said, my putting my business out there for others to see isn’t something I can say that I love doing; HOWEVER, what greatly supersedes my comfort and prevails in my heart, even above the possibility of being judged, is this — IF my experience or my testimony helps another person or encourages another in some way, shape or form, then a part of my purpose has been fulfilled AND God gets ALL the glory!

Be encouraged!

Be edified!

Be blessed!

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