Rebellious Spirits...God's Judgement: Numbers 16: 1-14; 23-35

 Greetings,

Learning from one's mistakes is one of the hardest lessons learned. One lesson is sinning against God and continuing to sin again and again in the same fashion. To do so will undoubtedly get God's attention! Learning and doing requires intentional attention in stopping patterns of disobedience, rebellion, and unbelief from taking up residence in our lives. The narrative journey of the children of Israel is a timely lesson of the importance of learning from their sinful nature and the development of a gracious heart toward God. 

Case in point, Korah's rebellion. Korah was a descendant of the tribe of Levi, the third of Jacob's sons, and a first cousin of Moses and Aaron. According to the Biblical narrative, he experienced the Exodus and the journey through the Red Sea. In fact, he was with the Israelites as they received the Torah (Law) at Mount Sinai (Altein, "Korah: The Rebel of the Bible," chabad.org). 

Despite his personal and intimate fellowship in the experiences shared with the Israelites, Korah decided to incite a rebellion against Moses, the leader of the Israelites. Harboring and acting on actions to derail God's leader and His people never ends well for the inciter of the action and those choosing to follow as well. Critical to analyzing and learning from Korah's decision of insurrection is understanding the word apathy. What is Apathy? According to Mirriam-Webster dictionary, apathy is "the feeling of not having much emotion or interest in things or something." Our decisions, beliefs, and actions point us toward belief or unbelief. The choices one makes in life either suggest confessing Christ entirely or living a life of apathy. Apathy is a word all Christians should familiarize themselves with. 

Matthew 5:37  reminds us to “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

Apathy is rebellion!!!

Remember, Satan used the same rebellious actions to influence a third of Heaven to see him as God. Apathy is one of the most effective tools because it can deceive individuals into believing it is a neutral position they can take. Apathy is not neutral!!! Furthermore, it is a severe offense to place one's desires in things God has not called us to or even equipped us for. Each member of the Body of Christ is essential and plays a vital role in fulfilling the mandate of God.

Point of Wisdom: Be satisfied in where God has planted you, and watch God bless you immediately.

However, go ahead and read what happens as a result of his rebellious spirit in Numbers 16:23-35 (it doesn't end well for him). Hopefully, Korah's story will not be your story.

Blessings and Assuredness,

Minister Sylvia Joyner

Making Sense of Your Stuck Days....

Hello....

Have you ever felt stuck, in a rut, just not feeling it anymore? Some even refer these type of days as Monday Morning Blues or ...but not all stucktiveness began or end on Mondays. They draw themselves out to Tuesday Morning Blues, Wednesday Morning Blues, or nights, or at anytime...you get the picture, rt.?

What about you? What has you stuck? What is your Monday Morning Blues? What are you stuck on?

Well....don't beat yourself up just yet. I"m here to let you know we all have experienced these kind of days. I refer to them as stuckinarutbasementbluesnowayoutwhydoIfeelthisway? Ok, Ok...no its not a typo. Wrote like this to show you this is how I experience the stuck days.

Now that you know, others experience these stuck days too, how to unstuck ourselves? As I mentioned in the title of this post...first make sense of it. What motivates you? How, focus on what it is you like to do. My like to do is writing. On occasions I too get stuck.

I've found if I can remember how writing motivates me to express myself I can began the process of getting back on track. Making sense for me begins with morning meditation or time with God, turning the T.V off, turn radio on my favorite radio station, sit down, listen to my own thoughts, pick up pen, get the paper out, and began to write, and it may not make sense in the beginning, but as I continue to pen my thoughts they become stronger and things, thoughts, ideas began to come together. 

What I've learned consistency is the key to my day and life. If I'm stuck, or just not feeling like me, its usually because I have disconnected myself from my consistency. But not all hope is lost, begin again.

Isn't that the essence of whatever has you stuck is to just begin again...like the Nike commercial says "just do it."

Now you find your making sense of each day...what motivates you-think on these things-your aspirations...journal them...pray about it and began the process, make it your daily routine and watch your day began to turn from stuck in a rut to standing in your purpose.

I agree it is not an easy process, but it is doable. To be successful in any area of one's life requires our presence...we must be willing to show up and participate. Otherwise, nothing ever gets done and we will always find ourselves living our lives in the stuck days.

Remember this word: Be still and know that I'm God (Psalm 46:10).

God Bless,
Sylvia Joyner

Wrong Destinations

Pride will lead you to taking the wrong turn, and produce unfruitful destinations in life.  You in essence cease to see clearly amid all the extra stuff in your way.

The challenge is to live in such a way that you wake up not only the world but yourself to all of the possibilities in your way, instead of the world waking you up. Your decisions do count. 

In order to get from here to there,  we must access our present positions in our move forward to "there." Perhaps that is why God called Adam in the garden by saying, "Where art thou"? Genesis 3:9. In other words, do you know where you are headed? We can surmise that Adam knew where he was hiding; for he later says so.  But does He know that He stepped out of the place called "there"? 

That was all that mattered to God.  Adam had made a move that had compromised his destination.

Pride and it's counterparts. we will refer to them as "great thieves" of life. 

To get back on the right road, redirection is needed, it starts with your admission and then confrontation. It is not until these two things are redirected can we hope to get back on course. 

If you are not sure where you are headed, begin with a heartfelt admission and then be honest in your personal confrontation as to what mishaps brought you to the wrong destinations in your there.  @twitter.com

Esther Excellence Ministries