The Answer to the World's Problems Given to a Girl

I recently watched a video that featured Mrs. Michelle Obama sharing about the Girls Opportunity Alliance, an organization to empower girls by providing them with opportunities to be educated and to develop leadership skills. Mrs. Obama referred to a round table discussion she had at a summit in Chicago, "if you were a person of faith of any kind, depending on what you believe in, wouldn't it be just like that faith to put the answer to all of our problems in the mind of a girl?...Wouldn't that be how God would work?"

Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash

As I took a few seconds to take in her statement the thought came to my mind, "That is exactly what God did." God put the answer to all the problems in the world not only in the mind of a young girl, but in the womb of a young girl named Mary. He put the answer in her mind as she was told that the power of the Most High would overshadow her and that she would conceive a son and that he would be  great and called the son of the Most High, and receive the throne of David reigning over Jacobs descendent's with a never-ending kingdom. (Luke 1:32-33). He put the answer to the world's problem in her womb. The answer to the world's problem was inside a girl given to her to nourish, to carry and to deliver to the world. 

The answer for the penalty of sin...inside a girl.
The answer for overcoming the power of sin...inside a girl.
The answer for being delivered from the presence of sin...inside a girl.
The answer for the poor...inside a girl.
The answer for the brokenhearted...inside a girl.
The answer for the captives...inside a girl.
The answer for those who mourn...inside a girl.
The answer for rebuilding the ancient ruins...inside a girl.
The answer for restoring places devastated...inside a girl.
The answer for renewing the ruined cities...inside a girl.
The answer for shame...inside a girl.

The answer for the the hungry...inside a girl.

The answer for the thirsty...inside a girl.
The answer for the sick...inside a girl.

The answer for the weary...inside a girl.

The answer for overcoming death...inside a girl.
The answer for suffering...inside a girl.

Every single problem that the world would face the answer to that problem was inside a girl.

God chose a young girl to carry and deliver the world's problem when he was knitting her in her mother's womb. She was chosen. 

This should encourage every girl and every woman that God wants girls and women to be a part of bringing the answers to the world's problems to the world. Only a female can give birth and a womb is required. The Lord has need of those who are female. There are specific solutions to the world's problems that only you can carry and deliver.  You are blessed and highly favored BECAUSE you are female!

What about Joseph?

Mrs. Obama stated that if we believe the answers to the world's problems are inside the mind of girls that we would need to invest in them in order to get those answers. This is what I believe Joseph did. Joseph initially wanted to divorce Mary. Separate from her. Because her pregnancy was against the law. It was assumed that she had done something wrong. This is no different than many mindsets in the church today. 

When a woman begins to "show" that God has placed gifts inside of her that are to be used to bring glory to God there are some churches that want to divorce her because they have a limited view of God's power to overshadow a woman in supernatural ways. 

Once Joseph heard from the Lord that Mary was indeed carrying the answer to the world's problem inside of her, he invested in her. He committed to her and became devoted to her. 

What's the invitation for Joseph?

The invitation is to be still and listen for the Lord to reveal the Truth about Mary's condition and invest in Mary.

Mary needed Joseph. Joseph protected and was a guide and a covering for Mary. We are never called into ministry to the Father alone. Mary and Joseph were in ministry to the Father together.

The pattern of scripture is that God uses couples. Two are better than one. (Eccl. 4:9-12). 

Joseph pray and be open to hearing and seeing God reveal Himself in ways that you have never experienced before. Don't focus on the law, focus on the voice of the Lord. Invest in Mary. What are ways that you can create and hold space for the girls and women in your life to nourish and deliver what God has placed inside of her?

What about the innkeeper?

There are some people who have been given the privilege of having space that could provide the opportunity for Mary to give birth. Unfortunately, it is overcrowded. There is no room. 

If you are unwilling to make room for Mary do not be offended or critical when you hear that Mary has gone to an unlikely place to give birth. 

What's the invitation for the innkeeper?

The invitation is to make room for Mary

Although it is true that it appears that it wasn't the will of God that Mary deliver the answer to the world's problem in the inn. This should cause a bit of concern. Who would not want miracles, signs, wonders, blessings, and the answer to the world's problems in their midst? 

Be careful who you are unwilling to make room for innkeepers. You will be missing out on a blessing. Make room for Mary.

What's the invitation for Mary? 

The invitation is to be sober and vigilant. 

The angel is about to appear in your life and reveal to you what the Holy Spirit has placed inside of you that needs to be born. Perhaps you have already had your visitation. Did you say yes? Are you hesitating because the culture of the church has made you believe the lie that the Lord has no need of you? Don't believe the lie. 

You have a spiritual womb that holds the answer to a problem in the world. The Lord has need of you. When the angel appears follow Mary's example and simply say, "I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled." (Luke 1:38). 

Mary did not seek permission from anyone. She just simply surrendered her whole body to the Lord Most High for the purpose of carrying and delivering the answer to the world's problems to the world.  And God brought to her the people and the space she needed to deliver that answer to the world. Be patient, wait and surrender your whole self to the Most High. 

Therefore I urge you...sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1 KJV)

A Special Invitation

Contact me to discuss ways I can support you when you say yes.
E-mail me at: joycelyn@joycelynlewis.com
www.joycelynlewis.com

Wanted! Leaders! Part 1

If you have made the commitment to receive the salvation that comes through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross the body of Christ needs you!  If you are committed to being led by the Holy Spirit; the body of Christ needs, you! If you know or have a desire to discern and discover your spiritual gifts the body of Christ needs, you! 

How confident are you that Jesus is returning?  How confident are you that there are millions of people who do not have a personal relationship with Christ?  How confident are you that there are people in our nation, in your state, in your city, in your community on your job, at your school, in your household who have never been reconciled to God through His son Jesus Christ?  How confident are you that there are people who have never experienced the thirst quenching power of the Word of God?  What about people who have never experienced the manifested presence and power of Christ through you, a believer?  There are too many people in the world who are still in the "never" category regarding these very personal encounters to limit the idea of leadership in the body of Christ to positions and titles.   

When I talk about leadership I am defining leadership as one who has been given influence.  Every person in the body of Christ has influence.  We must shift our thoughts of leadership from the idea of title and position to one who has influence and who has the heart to be influential.  I believe every person who is a believer in Christ has a call to be an influencer.  The problem is we have put leadership in a small box and only define leaders as people who hold titles and positions.  All believers have been given a position of influence.  The Triune voice of God is clear in 1 Peter 2:9 when he says those of us who are believers are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession to declare the praises of him who called [us] to declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into the light” what this says to me is that believers are to be influencers, a people who are willing to be the example to others.  That’s leadership; that’s influence.  If you are a believer, you are a leader!  If you have excluded yourself and have only limited the idea of leadership in the body of Christ based on the number of followers you have, who has the title, the position or the ear of the “leaders” in the body of Christ then you may be contributing to what I call a leadership crisis in the church. This frame of thought is Satan's way of preventing believers in the church from answering the call of God on their lives to be leaders!  Stop believing the lie that you are not a leader!  You are!!

I believe that I have discovered how the body of Christ can move from a leadership crisis to a leadership movement.  My experience as a believer in various leadership positions and non leadership positions in numerous settings both inside and outside of the church has given me great insight for how to overcome this leadership crisis. 

I invite ALL believers who have never viewed yourself as a leader to read part two of this blog.  If you are currently a leader who is open to reading a perspective about leadership that may be different from your own.   I invite you to read part two of this blog or if you are a believer who is willing to lead in the body of Christ and to be led by the Holy Spirit, I invite you to go to part two of this blog.  Coming Soon!  

The Wrong Question

Lately I have been in situations where I have walked away and asked the question, "What is wrong with me?"  I am a very self- reflective person who does not enjoy discomfort of any kind and so therefore when I have a negative experience or interaction with someone I first ask the question, "What did I do wrong?"  There have been numerous times when I have found that I could have done something better, said something a different way or behaved in a different manner.

Over the past couple of years I have been in a few similar circumstances where it seems I find myself on the other side of a locked door after I thought I was given the key to freely come and go.  This has been mind boggling and it has also been very wounding emotionally, spiritually and I have even found physically harmful because the stress of it begins to impact my health.

There have been days when I wreck my brain, spend time in prayer trying to discover the answer to the question "What's wrong with me? What is my problem?"  And I don't come up with an answer.  I am a sincere woman who desires to see people become spiritually transformed.  It is my hearts desire to help other people flow in their gifts and calling.  However I can't seem to find someone for myself with that same desire for me.  Just when I think I have. Just when it seems I have been handed a key that leads me out of the prison of being locked into just making other peoples dreams come true and having the opportunity of freely flowing in my gifts and my calling?  I find out that the locks have been changed.  My key no longer works.  And I stand outside the door asking the question, "What did I do wrong?"  No answer.

This time I pondered and I discovered perhaps regarding this pattern of experiences I was asking the wrong question.  The question could be, "What is wrong with them?"  This isn't a prideful question, I have done the work of reflecting on my attitudes and my actions however I have found that when insecurity holds the keys I will always find myself holding a key that no longer unlocks the doors that were promised to me.  What's wrong with them?  Insecurity.  Not able to see the gift in me or the gift of me and therefore while I think I am standing outside of the place where I was once free?  I realize that it was not a place of freedom after all.  It's when I am locked out that I discover I am the one standing in the place of freedom.

What's the invitation?  The Spirit asks, "How do you respond when it's not you?" My response, I move forward, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and I practice gratitude for the Spirit's grace of preventing me from being a slave to insecurity.

Using Your Voice

Most recently I had my thyroid removed and a couple of the side effects is hoarseness and not being able to project my voice.  You can imagine this is quite difficult for me because I am a talker and I am a teacher and these side effects have made it difficult to do both.  The fact that I am a former speech therapist doesn't even guard me against my feelings of frustration when I notice that I have been talking too much and it is resulting in my voice becoming weaker.

Today while I was praying about this area of frustration in my life I asked the Lord what was He trying to reveal to me through this experience. I asked because I had discovered that I was picking and choosing who I would text and who I would talk to.  This led me to discover several principles that I am taking away from this experience.  Perhaps it will help you to discern when you should use your voice.

The definition of value:  to consider with respect to worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance; to regard or esteem highly:(taken from Webster's Dictionary)

The primary revelation:  

“Don’t use your voice to talk with people who do not value what you have to say. When you are silent with those people (the ones who do not value your voice) your voice will be stronger when those who value your words need to hear you speak.”  This “valuing” of your voice is not about agreeing with what you say, but a willingness to consider what you’ve said.”

other revelations:  

• Your voice is never wasted when you are speaking with someone who is willing to listen.  Even if you disagree. 

• Choose wisely to whom you give the strength of your voice to.  

• Being silent is oftentimes the best way to give strength to your voice so that when you speak, your voice is strong.  

• People who value your voice will help you protect your voice when necessary.  

What is the invitation?  The invitation is to only speak when you are in the company of someone who values what you have to say.  This requires you to wait and to listen to the Holy Spirit say, "you can use your voice now". 

How Do You Gauge Whether or Not You Have Forgiven A Person?

   
I woke up this morning with another revelation about forgiveness.  Most recently I have been struggling with dealing with some folk who require my forgiveness.  If you read my previous posts you will see what God has already spoken to me about forgiveness.


     This morning I was wondering how do I know when I am walking in forgiveness?  I needed to know this because I knew that sooner than later I would be face to face with those individual(s).  How was I suppose to respond?  How was I suppose to feel?  I sincerely believe that the Holy Spirit gave me the answer.  The Holy Spirit said, "You don't gauge whether or not you have forgiven the person based on whether or not you are still experiencing the pain of the offense.  You gauge whether or not you have forgiven the person(s) based on whether or not you are penalizing them for the offense."  It takes me back to Jesus, on the cross saying, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34).    He was still experiencing the pain yet he forgave me AND removed the penalty for my offenses!  This is what forgiveness really is.  It's not about becoming "pain free" over the offense.  It's about being aware of those moments when you want to penalize your offender and then overcoming the temptation to do it.   Do I need to add that you will need the power of the Holy Spirit?  You cannot forgive on your own.  It is in our nature to want to punish someone who hurt us.  Forgiveness removes the punishment but it might not remove the pain.  As a matter of fact, it can be painful to us not to punish the offender.  Wasn't it painful for Jesus?   Perhaps this is what we really mean when we say "I can forgive, but I can't forget."  Sometimes the pain reminds us of the offense even when we have chosen not to penalize the person.  But if we are remembering the offense so we can penalize that person then we have not forgiven that person.

Remember God can heal you from the pain that you have experienced if you are willing to work through it with the help of the Holy Spirit.  You may also need to get the support of other people.  I believe that overcoming the temptation to penalize that individual helps us to heal.

What's the invitation?  Say YES to Forgiveness

Ask God to make you aware of those times when you want to penalize someone who has caused you pain.

How are you being tempted to penalize that person? Giving them the "cold shoulder", gossiping about them behind their backs? Finding ways to push their hot buttons?  Being passive aggressive etc.,?

Once you are aware of your temptation to penalize choose the way out. Which is to forgive; not penalizing the person for the offense.

When you have overcome the temptation to penalize a person who has offended you, that person knowingly or unknowingly has been a recipient of your forgiveness! That's extending unconditionally love.  Isn't that what Jesus did for me and for you?

 

Hang in There and Forgive

Forgiving others the way Jesus forgave us requires us to hang in there commend our spirits into the hands of God and await resurrection power. Forgiving someone the way Jesus did will require you to give up your life so that someone can experience God's unconditional love through you.

We think that because God requires us to forgive those who hurt us that it means He is overlooking the fact that we were hurt by someone, but the fact that He is requiring us to forgive indicates that He sees how deeply we are hurt. Someone else needs to know that God doesn't overlook your pain even though He asks you to overlook an offense. 

 Forgiveness comes while we are still wounded (He was wounded on the cross). We aren't suppose to wait for the wounds to heal to forgive we must forgive in spite of our woundedness. It's a beautiful picture of what Jesus did on the cross. Forgiving someone while the wounds of the pain they have caused are still healing is a picture of unconditional love that brings about an opportunity of reconciliation. (God is really dealing with me about this forgiveness issue! If I tell ya'll I want my wounds to heal before I forgive would I have some folk who would say me too!) We gotta hang in there and do it God's way! OUCH!

GET YOUR ENEMIES BACK!

      Do you have any enemies?  Are there people who never have anything good to say about you?  What about people who are bold enough to let you and others know they just don't like you?  Unfortunately this has been a pattern in my life. There have been times when I have racked my brain asking myself and God "What was my problem?"  What had I done?  There were times when I would just go to God and tell Him I felt I had been misjudged and mistreated by others all my life and I wanted Him to do something about it.  I wanted Him to get my enemies back for me.
     One morning during my meditation times, the Lord told me that He would get my enemies back for me, but He wanted to use me to get them back.  He reminded me that the people who were misjudging me where His children.  He was their Creator and He told me that His son Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead for them, just as he had for me.  He let me know that I had a great responsibility toward the very people that made it their business to hurt me.  God said, "When people slander your name and misjudge your character they are furthest from me because I have nothing to do with sin."
       People who seek to steal our joy have stepped out of the comfort zone of God-God's will- and into the danger zone with the devil.  That's a dangerous place to be and it's our responsibility to get them back into the safety zone (God's will).         We must not let them remain in the danger zone of jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness or other problems that they may have.  We must get them back.  How do we do that?  God's Word gives us the formula.  We must forgive, love, bless and pray for our enemies (Mark 11:25, 1 Cor. 13: 4-8, Matt. 5:44 and Romans 12:14).  If we present our request to God He will answer and there is no greater blessing than to be a blessing to someone else.  It's not easy to forgive, love, bless and pray for those whose intentions are to cause us pain but we must remember that we must stay in the safety zone with Christ.  We can't allow ourselves to become bitter and angry towards our enemies because if we do, then we will be defeated and destroyed.
     WHAT's THE INVITATION?  Get your enemies back- in the will of God by forgiving them, loving them and praying for them to have an encounter with God that will reveal the length width and depth of God's love for them.

1.  Get a piece of paper and a pen.  Ask God to bring the names of the people that have been         persecuting you, that you believe are intentionally trying to hurt you. Ask God if your perception regarding your experiences with them are correct?  They may not be your enemies, it could just be a simple misunderstanding.  If God reveals that you do have someone intentionally trying to cause you pain then go to #2.
2.  Pray and ask God would give you the willingness to forgive, love, bless and pray for them. Ask     God to let you see them from His perspective.  Ask God to give you a heart of compassion towards
them.
3.  Pray that they be reconciled back into the safety zone-God's will by asking God to remove their ill   will towards you.  Then ask that the two of you be reconciled.
4.  Ask God to provide opportunities for you to be a blessing to those individuals or that person.

Getting your enemies back-with Christ- is sweeter than revenge.

(I wrote this article in July 1998 when I was creating a monthly newsletter

and thought I would tweak it a little and share it with you, I am going to put more 

of those articles on this blog check back and see!)