Fence Straddlers

Happy Sunday everyone! 

Thinking of this today...

Stop straddling the fence! Some people are professional fence straddlers... Constantly in a state of neither here nor there. You can't be on the fence between grace and law, love and hate, God and the world! 

Joshua 24:15 puts it this way, "choose for your seek his day whom you shall serve..." And then he went on the make a choice for him and his family. Here's the thing, God had chosen the Israelites but they were straddling the fence between him and other gods. 

Today examine your heart and ask yourself what are you straddling the fence on in your life? Why? Because God has already chosen and while you're on the fence you miss out on what it is to be fully invested in the things he's chosen for you! He's chosen life, love, freedom, peace, grace and so much more! 

Walk the Talk

Walking the Talk!

Ruth lost her entire safety net when she lost her husband and was left with just her mother in law. And many of us in a moment of passion and excitement have told the Lord what she said to Noemi. 

“But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.””

Ruth 1:16-17 NIV

We say I'll go but what do we do when God actually says '"GO" or better yet, "LEAVE"? Go and leave your comfort zone, the things and the people that you so love. 

See I'm convinced that some just talk the talk, and others walk the walk. I'm determined to see this new season in my life through the eyes of Ruth...

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit, walking upon the conviction that just like Ruth, I'm going where He goes and that will lead me to my prophetic destiny. It will lead me to the land and the descendants that he has promised me!

How about you? 

Are you read to walk the talk?  

Stay In Your Post

There's confusion and frustration in the body of Christ when people don't understand biblically what their calling is.

For example if you are a prophet and don't understand your role as a prophet you can make the mistake of thinking you're an armor bearer. 

If your role as a prophet is to be at the watch tower and keep guard then your role is at the top of that tower. Stop trying to be an armor bearer who covers from up close. That's not your role! And worst is the fact that while you're so busy trying to stay close you are actually putting those you are called to protect in danger because you are not at your post! 

That's like Samuel trying to be David to King Saul! Prophet of God let David fight for the king and Armor Bearer let Samuel prophecy! You can't be both!!! 

“David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.””

1 Samuel 16:21-22 NIV

““Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied.”...

1 Samuel 15:16

Venting vs Self Pity

There's venting and then there's self pity... There's a fine line between both! #meditatinginGod #selfreflecting #notpersonal #justprocessing 

The key is in the definition... 

My prayer is: Lord help me to not exaggerate or be self indulgent to the point that I believe I have done no wrong and deserve everyone's condolences! 

Quality Control

A lot of what I do at my job is to ensure quality control. I take temperatures, taste beverages, taste food and time things to ensure there quality. 

Ministry and pastoral work is not much different. There are safety nets and check points that are established in order to ensure the quality of what we are producing. When a pastor asks you questions, they are simply taking your temperature and ensuring that you are producing quality. 

A few times I've come into my job and while taking temperatures have discovered refrigerators that have been off all night and have dumped dozens of gallons of product. All to prevent that even one person would get sick from our product! 

Jesus was the master of quality control. He asked Peter three times "do you love me?" And with each response Jesus would give him another command (feed my sheep, shepherd my sheep, follow me John 21: 17-19) ensuring that Peter would be a good shepherd! 

So don't resent when in ministry and life others seem to pry... They aren't prying, they are doing quality control, ensuring that what you produce is only the best!!! 

Dont Flatter Yourself!!!

In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. 

(Psalm 36:2 NIV) 

The saying "don't flatter yourself" makes total sense in light of this verse. Sometimes we just believe our own nonsense to the point that we don't know what's what in our own lives! Isn't that crazy? We're so busy hearing our own words that we can't hear Gods!

We should all say this to ourselves today... 

Don't flatter yourself! 

We should all pray this today... 

Lord help me to see myself as I truly am so that I may detect and hate the sin in my life! 

Are We There Yet?

This weekend my husband Jerameel had the privilege of going to Florida to spend time with his family. On his last day he took his nephew to The Rainforest Cafe to eat and see the animals. On the way there he sent me a text message saying they Ethan had already asked him five times, "Are we there yet?" And on that last time he told him to stop asking if not he was going to turn around and take him home. Five minutes later they arrived at Downtown Disney and had a great time. 

When I read the text message I felt God say that I'm just like that 4 year old little kid on a car ride asking, "are we there yet?" How many times have we been on a journey with God and when it seems that He is taking too long to arrive at the final destination we begin to question him? 

I have struggled with this in the past few months. I had begun to feel like Sarah must have felt when she convinced Abraham to sleep with the servant and have a child with her. Yet that detour that Sarah and Abraham took trying to find a short cut on the journey to the promise God had given, came at a cost. 

How many times have we taken what seems to be a short cut but it has taken us longer to arrive to our destination? 

God is never late, he's always on time, faithful to his word and has a perfect plan. The bible says that our steps are ordered, still we try to map our own course many times. 

Today I want to encourage someone who like me at times has grown weary while waiting to arrive to the place of there promise! Even if you're a hundred years old, when the promise comes to pass the Lord will be gracious as He said and do for you what he promised! 

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 21:1-7 NIV)

Don't Cry For Me Argentina

During a conversation recently, someone asked me the following question... How do you feel about not having a family yet? 

(What a loaded question right?)

Then this person said that there desire to have a family causes them to think of my journey to have one and literally makes them cry. 

Today I woke up with the song "don't cry for me Argentina in my mind". No I don't think I'm Eva Peron and it may seem odd but I know it was God. 

So don't cry for me please and here's why...

I've learned many lessons since that day we found out about our angel being promoted to heaven. 

Here are just a few: 

Let me premise this with this; I used to tell my husband that I couldn't wait to start a family and he would always stop me and say, "we're already a family"! Wow!!! So it took losing what in my mind was the definition of a "family" in order to really become a "family with him. So, God redefined my definition of family! 

Here we go...

1. Hold on to the promise. If you have a prophetic word, bind it to your heart like the Word so that you never forget it. That promise becomes a beacon of light in the darkness of fear and doubt. 

2. Declare the word: The word is what sustains the promise and the hope that you will see it come to pass.

3. Testimony: connect with others that have lived what you are living. There journey inspires faith and hope throughout your own journey. For me that's people like singers Natalie Grant, Chril Quilala and writer Christa Black Gifford.

4. Release: Find people that will encourage you when you are triggered emotionally in that area. Share with them and release that internal battle so that others can pray with and support you. You don't have to go through it alone. 

5. Celebrate! 

True freedom is when you can celebrate others that have what you are waiting to have for yourself. So you have to go to that baby shower, that birthday party, that wedding...

Time has helped me to be able to recognize much quicker when I am triggered so that I can begin to apply these to my life. And in that way I avoid boughts of depression. 

So say it with me... Don't cry for me Argentina!!!

 

Reserves or Overflow?

When you are saturated by the Holy Spirit what flows out of you comes from the overflow. There have been times that I have known that I have ministered from my spiritual reserves. That's the water that is stored up for times of drought. 

My question for you today is, are you in a season of spiritual drought? When was the last time you spent alone time in the presence of God. The type of alone time where he replenishes your sprit with fresh living waters? 

When you minister you give of what is in your spiritual tank. So, what is flowing from you? Is it fresh, or is it stagnant waters? 

Stagnant waters have been proven to contain bacteria and parasites that can be life threatening! Don't allow poison to dwell in you any longer!!! 

Today the Holy Spirit calls you to draw near to him for a time of refreshing. Allow him to come replenish your spiritual wells and his life will flow in you once again!!! 

~Heidi Lugo~

Take That Step of Faith

Yesterday I had to look for something in the attic of the church. The attic has an old wood ladder that goes up towards where our steeple is. The ladder is very high and very old, two things that shouldn't be paired together. 

I didn't have a problem climbing the ladder, I had a problem coming down it. Why? 

Because the ladder being on such a vertical angle didn't allow me to see the first step! 

As I tried to take the first step I felt my body begin to tremble in fear. Once I realized that I would have to come down without seeing the step I crouched down to just get it over with.

As I began to take first step I felt God say, "That's a what a step of faith is!" Once I took the first one he said, "If it doesn't scare you, it's not faith! Once you take the step I'll always be there!" 

The bible says...

For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance. (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV)

Martin Luther King Jr said, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole ladder!"

Today God challenges us to begin walking in faith. Don't fear because he'll be there and you won't fall. So take that step of Faith that God has been telling you to take! 

Your Time of Harvest Has Arrived!

Sometimes it feels as if a mass exodus is happening all around us. People we once loved and trusted all of a sudden turn there backs on us, co-laborers in the ministry leave without warning & suddenly our world shifts. Why does this happen? 

Jesus explained it this way... 

He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.

“The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’ “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’ “The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’ “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30 MSG)

This is what I call the math of God. When God subtracts from your life he then doesn't just add, he multiplies things in your life. 

Put it this way, without those people you wouldn't be where you are today. Had God removed them from the start you might have died in the process as the wheat would die if the weed is pulled too soon. Yes it hurts to have the weeds of your life pulled out, but that grooming that God does is the signal that harvest time has arrived!

So next time you feel betrayed, abandoned or used by those that leave you, wait because that just means your time of Harvest has arrived!!! 

~Heidi Lugo~

3 Things the Righteousness of God Does

Three things the rightousness judge does: 

God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows. (Psalm 7:11-13 NIV)

 

1. Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. 

Psalm 7: 14

2. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. 

Psalm 7:15

3.  The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads. 

Psalm 7:15

So rejoice when others plot against you because the righteousness of God will go before you!!! 

Have you Plateaued?

I was stuck at a specific weight for two weeks. I was so frustrated but I stuck to the plan and kept going. Everyone told me not to weigh myself for a week and when I finally did I had broken through the plateau and lost 3 pounds.

I think that happens to us in life. We come to Christ and our lives begin to change then all of a sudden things just plateau. So we have a choice to make... Either we give up and go back or we keep moving forward no matter what the "scale" may say.

I learned this about the body;

When you are about to reach your ideal weight it becomes harder to lose the last of it. That's when you need to eat less calories and do more exercise. 

So if you are at a plateau in life right now, get to work. Push a little harder. Shedding that weight (your past, different struggles, addictions) may seem impossible but your break through is coming!!! 

Loving with a guarded heart!

"There are no shortcuts to authentic friendship. Relationships are messy and unpredictable. We can't fake love just to get someone to come to church. That's manipulation and hypocrisy, and sooner or later it will backfire." Judah smith 

I've been struggling with the reality if this statement, "There are no shortcuts to authentic friendship. Relationships are messy and unpredictable."

The struggle begins when you love people and then get hurt by them. People hide things, they lie to your face, you open up in a time of vulnerably and then they divulge that with malice in there hearts. And there begins the conflict between being open and genuine and guarding your heart. 

My prayer today was quite honestly, "Lord what do I do with this desire to truly love but the reality if being hurt?" And God brought these two verses to my mind. 

1. Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. (Ephesians 4:2 AMP)

2. Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves. [Gen. 3:1.] (Matthew 10:16 AMP)

Why these seemingly two opposite scriptures? 

Ah yes the word "Boundaries" came to mind!!! Boundaries are necessary in order to have healthy loving relationships that don't violate the principles of God! 

My prayer today is: God help me love like you love, always being genuine in all my relationships. That the hurt and betrayals I've experience don't make me callus. God help me to protect my own heart by standing on you word and not allowing others to cross my boundaries.

Make Jesus famous

After posting in Facebook last night I wanted to expand on my thoughts...

Only one time in scripture does Jesus tell anyone to go and tell what he has done (Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: (Matthew 11:4 NKJV) but over and over you see that Jesus told other not to tell anyone what he had done. 

( Matthew 12:16 and Mark 3:12 after healing many people.

Matthew 16:20, Mark 8:30, and Luke 9:21 after Peter’s proclamation that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah)

Mark 7:36 after healing a mute and deaf man.

Mark 9:9 after the transfiguration.

Luke 8:56 after raising a girl from the dead. & more) 

(From The Berean Call)

People made Jesus famous, through the sharing of what he had done, who he was and that drew people to him...

Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. (Matthew 4:24 NKJV)

He didn't make himself famous, people did! We have to continue it by doing just that "telling others about his love". 

But more than that, showing them his love. 

We need to tell the world everyday about the crazy love, mercy and grace of God! It's radical but it's what the world needs. We have the remedy so let's share it!!! 

The House Built on a Snakes Den

The House Built on a Snakes Den

"Shortly after buying their dream home, Sessions and his wife discovered it was infested with thousands of garter snakes. Their growing family lived as if in a horror movie for three months. They abandoned the property, but the home briefly went back on the market more than a year later, and they fear it could attract another unsuspecting buyer.

The five-bedroom house is on nearly two pastoral acres in rural Idaho, about 125 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park. Priced at less than $180,000, it seemed like a steal to the young couple.

But they soon learned they would be sharing the home with reptiles at least two feet long that had crawled into seemingly every crevice. At times, there were so many in the yard that the grass seemed to move.

If he rapped a stick against the roof overhang, he could hear dozens scatter, their scales sliding against the aluminum. Dozens of snakes popped out after he removed panels of siding. When he made his way through the crawl space to investigate further, he found snakes everywhere.

That's when he realized his family probably was living atop a garter snake den where the nonpoisonous reptiles gather in fall and winter." Seattletimes.com

~Just as specific as God was in the Old Testament with the instructions on how to build his temple he was with how the modern, New Covenant church was to be built. Built upon Jesus as the cornerstone, on solid rock with the design of a master builder aka an apostle and the construction crew being prophets, pastors, evangelist and teachers.~

"built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord." (Ephesians 2:20, 21 NIV)

~Just like the house infested with snakes, any church that builds upon anything other than the perfect design of God will eventually fall.~ 

As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:47-49 NIV)

Reflection: 

If you aim to build then build right! Do not take short cuts and follow the blue print! Because if you take a short cut you might just find one day that your house is infested with snakes! 

Hear the voice of The Lord today...

You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel. You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes!...

(Matthew 23:24, 33 CEVUK00)

P. Heidi Lugo

Leeches & You!

Seven facts about the behaviors of leeches and how it affects you...

1.Most leech species do not feed on human blood, but instead prey on small invertebrates, which they eat whole. 

2. To feed on their hosts, leeches use their anterior suckers to connect to hosts for feeding, and also release an anesthetic to prevent the hosts from feeling them. 

3. Once attached, leeches use a combination of mucus and suction to stay attached and secrete an anticoagulant enzyme, hirudin, into the hosts' blood streams. 

4. Though certain species of leeches feed on blood, not all species can bite; 90% of them feed solely on decomposing bodies and open wounds of amphibians, reptiles, waterfowl, fish, and mammals (including humans).

5. A leech attaches itself when it bites, and it will stay attached until it becomes full, at which point it falls off to digest. 

6. Due to the hirudin that leeches secrete, bites may bleed more than a normal wound after the leech is removed. The effect of the anticoagulant will wear off several hours after the leech is removed and the wound is cleaned. 

7. The bite of a leech is painless because they inject anesthetic so they go unnoticed when they attach.

Facts found in Wikipedia 

Application...

Beware of the spiritual leeches that surround you! 

1.They attach themselves to the weeker/baby Christians.

2. They are so sneaky that you don't feel when they attach themselves to you.

3. They will poison your spirit!

4. They will prey on any weeknesss to feed there own egos/agendas/deficiencies

5. After they are done with you they'll toss you like yesterday's news and find someone else to prey on. 

6. You will be left wounded and hurt.

The Spirit of God is warning some of you so beware!!! 

A leech has two daughters, and both are named “Give me!”... (Proverbs 30:15 GNTD)

Where is your heart?

       

In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.” Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel. 

(2 Samuel 15:1-6 NIV)

I would describe myself as a jealous person. I'm jealous over my family, my husband and my church. But what really drives me is the passion that I have for the vision of the spiritual house that I am in. When ever I've been hired to work at a church I've engulfed myself in the vision if that house and submitted myself to that. I can't remember the vision & mission of every church I've been a part of. 

In his book "God's Armor Bearer" Terry Nance discusses how it is that by dying to himself and his desires and serving his pastor God made all of his dreams come true.

Meditating on this today I was led to the story of Absolom...

As leaders in the church we need to constantly put our motivations, dreams and desires under the submission and authority of our pastors and there vision. Anything other than that causes division.

As the sheep we need to make sure that we hear the voice of "our" pastor & shepherd. Never forgetting that the vision flows from the head, not the arms or legs of the body. See, pastors place others to help lead the flock under one vision. But the moment we start looking at those people as our pastor, we are in danger of being led astray. 

If you are a leader and you aspire to have a greater ministry than what you are currently fulfilling, place it in the hands of The Lord, don't try to build your own kingdom in someone else's! 

And if you are a sheep and the leaders you are confiding in aren't speaking the same vocabulary as the senior pastor of your church, be careful what they may be imparting into your life. They could be planting the seed of division in your heart. 

Point is ... We need to check our hearts today! ❤🙏

What Do Feelings Have To Do With It?

What Do Feelings Have To Do With It?

So this is my first blog and its fitting that I do it about worship.
As a worship pastor I get all types of excuses as to why people aren't going to sing, play or dance on any particular day. Today it was, "oh, I need to leave to get a haircut" lol and "my feet hurt" (that one was new) but most often what I hear is that "I don't feel like it".

The Psalmist David said, "Praise the Lord, my soul;all my inmost being, praise his holy name."
It was a command that he gave to himself.

We live in times where all we hear is, "If it feels right, it has to be right" or "Follow your heart, it'll never steer you wrong". We are so accustomed to allowing ourselves to be led by our emotions that we rob ourselves from blessings that are just beyond our feelings.

The Israelites felt like going to back to Egypt when things got tough in the desert. Yet because they pushed on beyond that they reached the promise land.

So next time you don't feel like worshipping as yourself... what do feelings have to do with you?
Because the answer will always be... Nothing!

Praise because God deserves your praise, because he's been good to you, because he paid the ultimate price for you. Worship God for all he is and what he has done. And none of that has to do with you, it has to do with Him!

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