Grace & Peace!

A few years ago, God impacted me with another truth.  He told me that He is able to bless me: past, present or future.  I didn’t get the fullness of what He meant but I knew it was Him and I received that promise in my spirit.  Shortly after, it was time to file my income tax.  I had become a little weary when it came to filing taxes because I didn’t receive all the education necessary on how to prepare for filing, so God would bless every year and every year I’d have to pay taxes.  I filed my income taxes and followed the leading of the Lord and spoke a word to my past.  That one word was GREATER!  My faith and my praise were red hot.  That year, for the first time in years, I received several thousand dollars in a tax refund.  Wow!  For me, this was unheard of.  Then my tax accountant told me to bring him my files for the previous two years.  I did ask he asked and found out that he was able to go back in my past and cause a refund (I call it a blessing) for those those years, again, several thousand dollars each.  I thought, if a man can go back into your past and change some circumstances and cause you to be blessed, God has got to be able to do that and more.

Years have passed and this year I experienced one of the greatest tragedies of my life.  My pastor passed away!  For me, this was a man who was a spiritual force in my life.  He literally taught everything I now know about God, Worship and spiritual living with power.  This took me for a loop.  I sat for days wondering what would now become of my life, how would I support my family.  I work at my church so things just looked questionable.  BUT GOD!  God came to me and told me that He has my future covered.  And, in order for me to know that He’s got me covered, He was going to cause blessings to come out of my past to cause me to believe that if He could make my past bless me then the future (in its purity, free from circumstances, situations and mistakes), is no problem at all.  Immediately I recieved blessings from things I did in the 80′s and 90′s!  Who would have thought?!

God told me that to me my past is a was, but to Him my past is an is, because He stands present in my past, present and future at the same time.  He told me it is but a light thing for Him.  He could make my past, present or future bless me because He is God!

So, I wanted to encourage you who feel like your past is only a memory of misery, mistakes and other circumstances you wish you could change.  There is a God and His Name is Jesus.  He wants to bless you.  Don’t limit Him.  Give Him your past, your present and your future.  You will probably find out just as I did–there’s a BLESSING BEHIND YOU!

Time is moving swiftly.  The year 2010 is here and before you know it, time will have carried us through half of the year without us actualizing all that God told us to do at the inception of the year.  As many of you may know by now, my pastor, mentor and teacher, The Honorable Bishop Norman L. Wagner was recently translated from this life to our final destination which is the face of God.  Before God took him, he proclaimed that 2010 was indeed The Year of The Open Door.  For this cause, I live everyday of my life in pursuit of the fulfillment of those prophetic words.  For this purpose I write, “Rise Above It.”

The scripture declares in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:”  What must first be understood is that your blessings are in heavenly places in Christ.  This gives you your destination.  Be careful not to live this year aimlessly without a defined and declared destination.  Originally the utopia of blessing was in the earth in the Garden of Eden where the first Adam found all sufficiency.  After the Fall of Adam, God repositioned the Eden of Christ (The Last Adam) in heavenly places.  The first Eden was in Satan’s reach, however, the Eden of The Last Adam was placed outside of Satan’s reach as declared in Ephesians 1:21, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”  This is the reason you must rise above it.

It is without a doubt that you and I have already experienced hardship, disappointment, tragedy and other forms of opposition even though the promise of God has been declared and therefore must come to pass.  However, the key to receiving the promise of God is to rise above it.    Rise above what?  You and I must rise above what appears to the reality of this terra firma to true reality which is God and His promises for us in heavenly places.  You may be in a storm right now but take your cue from those who pilot aircrafts who know that for a given set of circumstances there is always an ideal altitude at which a flight will use the least amount of fuel.  Pilots know that flying too low can cause you to use too much fuel.  The lower the altitude the thicker the air which serves as an opposition to mobility, the higher the altitude the thinner the air.  Also, the longer the flight, the higher the altitude.  Flying high lets you avoid the majority of bad weather.  The closer you are to the ground the more violent the weather and the greater the turbulence.

You, as the pilot must first know your destination and then choose your altitude based upon your destination.  There is an ideal altitude for the situation you are in right now.  Remember the lower you are to the ground the more power you give to the storm.  The higher you are in altitude the more power you give to yourself.  We must learn from the prophet Habakkuk 3:19 which states, “The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.”  The hind or deer for simplistic understanding, was nimble and sure footed even at very high altitudes.  How do we rise?  We rise in the worship of Jesus which allows us to make an ascent into heavenly places.  Use your God-given gift of worship and make your ascent into heavenly places far above the adversary’s reach.  Your blessings and the next phase of your destiny are waiting for you there.  You must move beyond your present circumstances and RISE ABOVE IT!