The greater the calling
the greater the opposition! But God!!! Don’t be fooled into thinking once you
come over on the Lord’s side, you are going to skip through the tulips until
Jesus comes! NOT!! God called YOU for a purpose; even before you were in your
mother’s womb you were called by God – every person on this planet has a
calling on his or her life – God has a plan and purpose for your life! And it
sure is not to hoard up everything you can get for you and yours; to drive the
best car; have the most money in the bank; have the most expensive house; or
have the best of everything! NO! You got your priorities mixed up!! You need to
shift your focus to the Giver of Life; to the Giver of ALL those things I
mentioned previously! God is the One who gives us power to get wealth – you
CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT HIM – don’t fool yourself and don’t let the devil
fool you either!! EVERY good and perfect gift comes down from the Father – He
is the One who blesses you with ALL good things!!
Stop focusing on YOUR
ability and start thanking God for enabling you to do what you do and to have
what you have – it is not by your strength or might but it is by the Power of
God!! Stop taking credit for what God is and has done in your life! It is
because of God that you live, move, breathe and have your being!! Shake
yourselves!! Wake up and reverence God!!Give God the glory for who you are and
what you have!!
You are not entitled to ANYTHING just because you decided to
accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior; that is a privilege!! If Jesus
would not have died and taken your place you would be lost forever! Jesus did
YOU a favor – He saved YOUR life – you did not save Him and you owe Him your
life (Rom
12:1-2)!
Let’s stop putting the
cart before the horse; stop wanting the benefits of being born again ahead of
serving the Lord and His people; stop thinking we are “entitled” to everything
– we are to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, with ALL our mind, with
our entire being (Deu
6:5); in other words, with everything that is within us and all our
substance and love our neighbors as ourselves – a neighbor is not only the
people you live next door to but everyone you meet!! We are to show the love
and compassion of God to everyone we meet – regardless because we are Disciples
of Christ!!
Live the life you are supposed
to as a born again disciple of Christ by seeking FIRST the Kingdom of God and EVERYTHING
else will be added unto you (Matt
6:33)! After you have done the will of God you shall receive your
promise (Heb
10:36)! How are you going to expect pay BEFORE you have done your part? Yes, God blesses you daily but I am
talking about serving God only for the benefits; that should not be done! Love
God and desire to do the right thing and He will help you do the right thing! God
will give you what you need in His timing; He knows what you need and when you
need it – it is not that God is punishing you but He will not give you anything
until it is time! God knows what is best for us!! I am not sure how many of you
remember the old television show, “Father Knows Best” but to use part of the
title, our Heavenly Father knows best! God is NEVER late coming to our rescue!
Therefore, it is best we
wait on God and not get in a hurry – that is when we get in trouble when we
jump ahead of God to get what we want, THEN
when things back fires on us we cry out to God! If God don’t come to our rescue
when we want Him too or people don’t help us who we think should, we get angry
at God and those people!! When in reality, it is our own fault!! We should have
cried out to God BEFORE we made that move in the wrong direction and waited on
Him to answer!! When we do cry out to God, let’s wait on His answer; we will
save ourselves a lot of pain, headaches, heartaches, depressed moments,
oppressed moments, and as the commercial says on television, “hair pulling
out!”
You all, this year
instead of making all these other resolutions, why not make one to comment
yourselves completely to God – to pursue God and everything concerning Him with
everything within you! Because in the end, all your money, clothes, houses,
cars and everything else temporary is going to fade away – NOTHING is going to
stand but the Word of God!! I am on the Lord’s side and I refuse to allow
material possessions to cause me to miss heaven and go to hell! I have been
there and done that; had to have the best of everything – name brand this and
that – the more expensive it was I thought it meant it was the best and I
bought it – ending up in a bunch of debt – and for what?; for people to say
“You dress really nice.” Yeah, I did, but my bills were plying up (I can laugh
now – I am laughing at myself as I write this – now I see how silly that was:). So that is why I can tell you it is not
worth it – the Bible ask us a question in Mark
8:36, “...what does it profit a man to gain the whole
world, and forfeit his life [in the eternal kingdom of God]?” It is not worth
it you all! It’s not!
I thank God for delivering me from being a slave to
material things and a bunch of debt and I am the happiest now than I have ever
been!! God blesses me to have the best now but I know how to not allow the best
to have me; I have learned to live in moderations – there is no good thing God
keeps from me! God takes care of me very well! There is no lack in my life – as
Ps
23:1, the Lord is MY
Shepherd and I shall NOT WANT!! God
is MY EVERYTHING!! Not only do I
still have the best but I still dress BUT the difference is material things are
NOT my god anymore!!
God
Who is the true and living God is my God! I shifted my focus off stuff (the
creation) and everything that could cause me death, not only natural but
spiritual and put it on Him (the Creator – the Giver of ALL life) and focus it
on Him! Not saying I have arrived yet – not by a long shot but I know Who to
turn to not only when the need arises but in my everyday life – God is ALWAYS faithful to me; it might not
come how I think it will but God provides!!
I
thank God I have never had my lights turned off or water turned off!! And
between the end of the year 2011 and early part of 2012, God delivered me out
of two, yes two foreclosures!! No one helped me BUT God – people I went
to for money, did not have it or would not give it but that is okay because God
wanted to do it His way – He wanted the glory for bringing me out and I give it
to Him then and now!! I thank the people who God put in my life to pray for me,
support me and be in agreement with me. I am single and am not in any
relationship but with Jesus; I have been since God delivered me from the last
abusive marriage in Sept 2006. Therefore, I depend on God and God alone for EVERYTHING (even the people who He choose
for me to connect with – God told me just the other day not to connect with
anyone He does not tell me too!! So right now, there are only three people who
God has me connected with (they know who they are).
Therefore,
I am telling you today, I have been there as I said before, I know what it
means to be rich, to have everything you want, to go in the store and don’t
have to think about looking at the price of what you want to buy. I did not
think anything about spending $500 on a purse, shoes or dress and to have fur
coats galore. I also know what it feels like to be a snob and a spoil brat –
been there and done that too!!
I
use to look at people and think they were beneath me – why? Because I had
everything I wanted and I thought they did not fit in with me! But see, that is
what money will do for you; it will go to your head and make you look down on
people!! No, I was use to money; I grew up getting everything I wanted!! BUT God!! God came in and changed my
heart and gave me love and compassion for people. God gave me a heart to help
people instead of looking down on them – now that is my passion; my calling
from God – He told me in Oct 2006 to heal His women who were abused and that is
what I am doing by His Power!! Jesus is the Healer and He lives on the inside
of me and the Holy Spirit gives me the Power to do what I do – He lives in me too!!
I can do NOTHING without God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit!!
God
loves you; that is why He gave me this message this morning for you!! He chose
me, a person who has been where you are but it was by His grace, mercy and love
that I am set free today!! And God wants you to know it is by His grace, mercy,
and love that YOU are where you are today and you have what you have – it is
because of Him not your abilities! God wants you to give Him the glory for your
life and don’t take credit yourselves!! All you have to do to be able to do
this is take your focus off your entitlements and put them on Jesus and I
promise you, I guarantee you; God will bless you and give you everything you
need to live in this life until Jesus comes!! If you keep your eyes on what you
are entitled to, you cannot line up with God’s will and His timing; you will go
afterward what YOU think you deserve and when you deserve it!!
God is and will
remain faithful to you; He will NEVER
fail you!! Trust God and watch what He will do for you and your family!!
God will do what you were trying to accomplish for years in no time!! But you MUST shift your focus to Him!! NOW!! Time
is winding down!! Do it today!! Rededicate your life to God if you need too; REPENT!! If you don’t know Jesus as
your personal Lord and Savior in the remission of your sins, I invite you to
get to know Him today; by giving your
life to Him!! Turn to Him now!! Fall on your face before God and give
Him YOUR heart completely!! God got you and He will NEVER let you go!! Just
trust Him and you will see His glory like never before!! God has great plans
for you!! Your best is yet to come!!
May
the peace of God rest, rule, and abide you in your hearts and minds!!
Dr.
Dorothy E. Hooks
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