Journey Note
149Today’s Gem
So you say you want to know what love is? Well God wants to show you. I Corinthians 13 says that love endures long. Love is patient and kind. It’s not envious, jealous, or haughty. Love is not conceited, arrogant rude, or inflated with pride. Love gives and gives and gives—until you are consumed and compelled to submit to its authority! Love is not self-seeking or resentful. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes. Love endures without weakening. Love never fails. Now, in order to detect the counterfeit, you must have a thorough understanding of the real thing. Is it love? Compare what you see, hear and perceive to God’s definition. Then, you decide.
Journey Note
150 Today’s Gem
It’s time to take off the mask! It’s time to stop pretending like we are superwoman—no problems, no struggles, no pain, no skeletons, no past! Who is the real you? Do you like her? Do you know her? Have you seen her lately? Can you look in the mirror and say “I love you”? God’s desire is that you increase. Ephesians 5:17 tells us to “firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God for your life—cling to it.” The way you see yourself “in Christ” sets the boundary for increase in your life. Stop looking at what you are not, what you don’t have, and begin to appreciate who you are. Stop dwelling on your failures long enough to catch a glimpse of the possibilities God is revealing. You determine how high you go in God.
Journey Note
151 Today’s Gem
God wants to speak of hope and healing today. Specifically to you who have experienced the loss of a child through the tragedy of abortion. The foundation of hope, amid any human dilemma or human disobedience, will always be drawn from God’s Word, not human reasoning. If you have ever made the decision to abort a child, Christ’s death for our sins is complete payment for that choice, and complete forgiveness is available to you today. God’s provisions for our past are sufficient and His promise for our future is incredibly bright. Your child is sitting in the presence of God. What an awesome motivation to live holy so that you can see them again. If comfort is what you need, then receive the peace of God in your heart right now.
Journey Note
152 Today’s Gem
God is calling you to confront any feelings of guilt right now. Put guilt in its place. God wants you to deal with guilt head-on so that you might gain freedom from it. Don’t allow the enemy to prey on your vulnerability and your pain. Rest your guilt-driven grief on God’s grace. Refuse to allow it to regain any place in tormenting your mind or you feelings. There is no decision or choice that you can make that is powerful enough to keep you from the cleansing power of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. Don’t carry you pain away from Jesus—bring it to Him for His strength is perfect when our strength is gone.
Journey Note
153 Today’s Gem
It’s time for confrontation and this conflict is worth the risk. It’s time for the new you to confront the old you. You’re not that woman anymore! You’re not shattered, aching, browbeaten or oppressed anymore! You are God’s woman! You are every woman! You are who you need to be when you need to be it to the glory of God. You are intelligent and capable! You are phenomenal and you are supposed to be here. Your mistakes did not delete your destiny. You have been empowered by God to live beyond your circumstances. What God has spoken over your life will come to pass. Confrontation brings closure. Close the door and walk away from the darkness of your past—turn the key and unlock the door to your bright future!
Journey Note
154 Today’s Gem
Today is “love on yourself” day! Women are nurturers by nature! We get so busy giving to others that we often neglect ourselves. Make an appointment to pamper yourself! Have a heart-to-heart with another sister you haven’t spoken to in a while. Look in the mirror and speak words of life to yourself! Declare that today is the first day of the best days of your life. You are loveable. You are full of compassion and gifted with passion. You are accepted in the beloved and you have value! One last thing, at some point today, wrap your arms around your shoulders and give yourself a hug. “I love you”—that’s from Christ in you—the hope of glory!
Journey Note
155Today’s Gem
To look at you is to see a woman who is independent enough to overcome any obstacles that stand between her and a goal, yet sensitive enough to be open-minded and caring. To look at you is to see a woman who knows when her help is needed and when it’s better to let others figure things out for themselves. You have patience born of compassion, strength born of determination and caring born of real love. To look at you is to see a woman who’s faced challenges and always survived. You are a woman who is respected and admired, and a reflection of God’s grace and glory in the earth. You are a woman who is loved!
Journey Note
156 Today’s Gem
Hungry people make poor grocery shoppers because they make impulsive decisions. Hunger has forced some to desperation and ultimately looking for food in places full of disease, waste and pestilence. Women who are hungry for love likewise make bad choices. Your deepest need for attention and emotional security can only be met through an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. He wants to restore your soul. Jesus wants to heal that “little girl” in you that is longing to be loved! You don’t have to perform for His love! You don’t have to compromise for His love! You can’t win His love. Like the woman at the well, you’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places…Jesus is waiting to give you what you need.
Journey Note
157Today’s Gem
Grief has many faces. Whether it’s divorce, the loss of a job, a home, friends, our health, our dreams, or even our sense of who we are, grief is a part of life. It’s also painful and as unique as the individual who has experienced the loss. The healing process is at best chaotic. You go back and forth through phases. From shock to denial to anger, to sadness to depression and finally into acceptance. It’s not a matter of getting over it, but of integrating the loss into who you are and into who you must now become. Hebrews 4:15–16 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet, without sin. Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of need.”
Journey Note
158 Today’s Gem
Take a moment and reflect on what you have survived. Is it sexual abuse, rape, abortion, divorce, lesbianism, promiscuity, substance abuse, poverty, depression, confusion or betrayal? It’s not important “what” it was. What is important is that you are still here. The place where the devil thought he destroyed you is the place where God starts to use you. Stop hiding behind the shame of your past. Stop allowing the enemy to cripple you with fear of others finding out what you used to do—that is not who you are. You are the righteousness of God! You are the praise of His glory! You are a joint heir with Christ! That place of pain has produced power. You are a vessel of honor with a lamp inside. What you survived was the process God used to crack you open for His glory to be revealed! Tell your story so that God can get the glory! Do you want to see God today? Look in the mirror!
Journey Note
159 Today’s Gem
Today is a good day to celebrate! It’s a good day to celebrate your strength. It’s a good day to recognize that anything the devil sent your way to kill you no longer has power over you—because you are still here. It’s a good day to square your shoulders, hold your head up high and stand up straight. You’re not bent over anymore! Whose report will you believe? It doesn’t matter what “they” say! God says you are more than a conqueror! That means for every struggle in your life, God has developed something in your character. You haven’t made it this far for it to end like this. Don’t let Destiny’s Child celebrate alone—grab hold of faith and celebrate your survival!
Journey Note
160Today�
��s Gem
What’s in your box? Your alabaster box. What has you so tied to yesterday that you can’t perceive your future? Is it guilt over an abortion you had? Or maybe it’s an extramarital affair that you can’t seem to end because you’ve convinced yourself that you can’t live without it. Is it bitterness from an old boyfriend that has caused you to turn to other women? Or maybe it’s an addiction to alcohol or drugs that still torments you. Is it the fear of being alone that causes you to endure abuse in a relationship? I have a message for you from our Father—break open that box today and pour out the contents at His feet. Holy is your status, even when it’s not your behavior. His love is waiting to heal you, to give you hope, to make you whole.
Journey Note
161 Today’s Gem
The song says I’m every woman—it’s all in me. Well, just what is it that’s in you? Is it disobedience? Is it lust? Is it jealousy? Is it anger? Is it unforgiveness? Is it bitterness? Is it regret? If any of these or other ungodly traits occupy space in your life, then it’s time for them to be evicted. God wants to replace your bitterness with compassion; your lust with self-control. God wants to replace your unforgiveness with forgiveness; your jealousy with contentment; and your regret with hope. Colossians 2:10 tells us that we are complete in Christ Jesus. So today, purpose in your heart to become all that God says you are. Kick the devil out of that space that belongs to God. The devil has taken residence simply because you have not commanded him to leave! Let today be the first day of a new you!
Journey Note
162 Today’s Gem
Are you addicted to your story? Do you relive your pain over and over again so that you can be reinfected with your guilt, shame and humiliation? God had thrown those things into the sea of forgetfulness. Why do you continue to go fishing? God picks you up and carries you forward, and as soon as He puts you down for you to walk, you turn and run backward, afraid of what lies ahead. Sis, the worst is over now and what lies ahead is gonna bless your socks off. Don’t worry about how God is going to do it—just know He plans to prosper you and not harm you.
Journey Note
163Today’s Gem
Your soul never gets saved. Renewal comes by way of your spirit being in control. We are in a season where women are in a battle between “the head” and “the heart.” We are in a season where our “emotions” battle “our spirit.” An appropriate response to this struggle is that when you sense a lack in what you feel, you must will an increase in your knowing. Even when you don’t feel saved, you must rely on what you know. To be saved means you are by faith set free, healed and delivered! Now settle yourself, be still and know!
Journey Note
164 Today’s Gem
The spirit of discouragement is running rampant in the Body of Christ. Most of us are in a place where we love God more than we ever have. Yet, we feel further away from Him than ever. I submit to you today—don’t be fooled by what you don’t feel. Be persuaded and know that Philippians 1:6 is still true—if God started it, He will perform it. Discouragement is the war between where your spirit wants to go and your soul wants to stay. There’s a stretching going on and you can’t explain it. That’s how you know it’s Him. Know this, too—you are the redeemed of the Lord and after you come through this valley of emptiness, you will be full of Him!
Journey Note
165Today’s Gem
God created us for intimacy. Intimacy is the ability to be yourself with another person without fear of rejection or intimidation. Intimacy creates an atmosphere of honesty, purity and love. Intimacy is sweetness, tenderness, gentleness and security. Intimacy produces power, life, joy and fulfillment. Intimacy requires private moments that add to you, not take away from or drain you. True intimacy is passionate and unforgettable. God is calling us to intimacy with Him—for in this secret place with Him, you are fortified, you are fulfilled and you are faith-filled.
Journey Note
166 Today’s Gem
Girl, haven’t you had enough yet? No, you really haven’t—that’s why things haven’t changed. When you have really had enough, things change. You change! God wants you to know that there is so much more He has for you. You’ll never be free until you despise the shackles that have you bound. Anything you keep feeding grows. Yet, if you starve a thing it dies. Quit breastfeeding what God wants you to starve to death. Start feeding what needs to survive. Start acting like you know and believe that your future is potent and full of purpose. Get up and do something different—I promise, you’ll get different results.
Journey Note
167Today’s Gem
Is anger controlling your life? It is if you spend more time frowning than smiling. Anger controls your life if the glass is always half-empty and not half-full. Anger rules your life if it’s always “the other person’s” fault. Anger tells you that no matter what is going right, focus on what’s wrong. Anger is deceptive and causes you to focus on things that won’t resolve your suffering. Proverbs 25:28 states, “He who has no rule over her own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.” Give your anger to God and leave it there. Trust Him to take the sting away, heal your hurt, heal your life, and heal your mind. Remember, sis, patience in one moment of anger will help you escape 100 days of sorrow.
Journey Note
168 Today’s Gem
Are you off to see the wizard? Sis, wake up and live in the real world. This is not Oz and your name is not Judy Garland playing the role of Dorothy. Snap out of denial and face yourself—the good, the bad and the ugly. Desperate people do desperate things. Stop! Stand still! Surround yourself with wise women and listen for a change. If you knew better your life would be better. Any lack in your life is actually a call to worship the only essence that can fill that void anyway. Girl, get yourself together and move on—there is so much life ahead of you!
Journey Note
169Today’s Gem
Often, we get in trouble, end up in trauma, endure tribulation and trials because we want to help God do His job. Psalms 37:23 states, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” Therefore, you cannot map out your journey and tell God which way you are going. The Bible tells us in Galatians 6:9, “Do not be weary in well doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not.” Listen, sis, accomplishment without achievement is empty—it takes time to achieve anything of lasting value.
Journey Note
170 Today’s Gem
Pain and suffering quite frequently are the precursors to change if we respond with Godly wisdom and not human logic. Further, the person in crisis must be the one to implement change. God’s grace is always sufficient to guide us through the transition. It’s not always the devil that is the adversary. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Get out of your way! Get out of God’s way! What’s happening in your life right now is to shift you higher up the mountain. Remember, the higher you go, the greater the revelation. The greater the revelation in your life, the greater the refreshing of the Lord in your life. I see all of us in the future and I still say: things are looking so much brighter!!! It’s not over until God says so.
Journey Note
171 Today’s Gem
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? When you really get to this point, you’ll change! When you get truly disgusted with the guilt of waking up in the wrong bed, you’ll change. When you get tired of picking up the pieces of your heart again, you’ll change. When your head keeps chasing your heart through the same game—just a different name—and you discover it’s not them, it’s me—you’ll change. When Peter runs out of money to give you to pay Paul, and unnecessary debt is about to give you a nervous breakdown, you will change. Bishop Noel Jones said, “Sometimes you have to almost lose your mind to change your mind.” Psalms 119:133 says, “Direct my steps by your word and let no iniquity have dominion over me.” Get your life back!
Journey Note
172Today’s Gem
Hey, precious woman of God�
�you are worth more than a fortune. You are a gift. You are a work of art. One of my coworkers walks around reminding us that as women, we are the prize. A gift doesn’t ask to be bought and given. A diamond doesn’t flag you down as you admire it manipulating you into buying it. It just is. If you really want it, you do what you have to do to secure it. It’s the same way with a man. Ladies, just be the prize that you are. Focus on you, your life, your family, your dreams and your goals. The aroma of your fragrance of virtue will attract what and who belongs in your life.
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