​I remember it like it was yesterday, I was laying in my bed and my heart was contemplating something that I couldn’t quite articulate. Over a period of weeks, I had been observing a shift in my practice. The weeks turned into months I continued to observe the same pattern. Eventually, the thought came to me that there are so many leaders who were trying to lead from a broken place. I quickly pulled out my phone, got on Facebook, and wrote some inspirational quote about broken leaders and thought no more about it. I often get hit with inspiration, or some kind of quote then I post it. Everything is not meant to be my next teachable moment or book it’s just a line or two of inspiration. My friend replied this seems to be the title of your next book. That’s when the light bulb hit me and I knew that I had to do it.
The truth of the matter is the quote had to do with something deeper that the Holy Spirit was burdening my heart for months prior. Let me explain, it will make sense in a minute.


I am a therapist; I have my own private practice Kingdom Creative Counseling PLLC. I have been in the counseling mental health field for about 13 years. I am known as a trauma therapist. Meaning I work with men, women, and children who have experienced any form of trauma, specifically sexual abuse. So, when I finally opened my private practice, I naturally transitioned to what I already did and was passionate about. I am a Christian based mental health therapist. That means I incorporate biblical principles into mental health treatment. That was that I thought, I had a clear purpose for my practice, a clear target group, and a clear message, but something shifted.

As my business began to grow, I started getting calls from a completely different group that was not my target audience. Don’t get me wrong I am completely capable of seeing whoever comes through the door. When you have been doing this as long as I have you learn a lot along the way, you learn how to treat people you never thought you would. I had previously worked at a community mental health clinic, and the superiors there had very little regard for your target or ideal client. You basically saw who came through the door and however many people your schedule could hold. As a worker, we would try to work with client’s who were in our specialty but most times it didn’t always work out because we always had very high demand and not enough therapist to meet the demand. Eventually, you rolled with the punches, you learned to keep learning, read, grow and treat people who you probably never thought you’d meet. In the end, I am grateful for the experience.

So, in my new role as a private practice owner, I anticipated seeing more of my target audience I never remotely thought or saw myself treating other ministry and business leaders.  I started getting calls back to back from ministry leaders and business leaders. It started with a medical doctor seeking my counseling services. Some may ask were you intimidated? My answer no, you learn to see people as people not as what they do. The calls kept coming from there, next there was a probation officer, who wanted counseling services. I noticed it but again no big deal I was just happy that my business was growing, but it continued. Then I got another call from another accomplished musician who was also a licensed minister. This individual could literally preach me under the table with how well she could speak, yet there she was scheduling with me for counseling services. Then there was a pastor’s wife and the calls just kept coming and coming. Again, I started out wanting to focus my practice on trauma survivors but it started turning into a practice for emotionally wounded ministry and business leaders. I had no hand in it at all.

 I am a bit hard headed I didn’t get it right away that God was shifting my practice to what He wanted it to be, it was not my plan. I still didn’t get it. I noticed it but remember I went from working in community mental health to private practice, with individuals who had private insurance or were private payers. I  assumed that was normal and the calls kept coming. Now my practice is almost 90 % populated with me counseling business leaders and ministry heads, the others are my trauma survivors, that is a big shift.

I didn’t realize that God was shifting my practice, again I was new to the private practice world not to the mental health field. I assumed they were calling me because of the time I offered sessions. Most of my sessions were offered in the late evenings and Saturdays. Many of my client’s don’t have to take PDO to see me. A great strategy to increase your caseload.

God literally had to speak audibly to say that my business would be about transforming leaders. He was shifting my business to address the emotional wounds in leaders. In most things in life, I am not that hard headed, it is just this focus in my business came from left field for me. I do consider myself a leader in my field, as a woman, as an entrepreneur but I never thought of myself as someone God would use to minister to the hurt in leaders. I knew that God had called me to help develop ministry leaders and have spent over a decade studying and preparing for that assignment. I have written many books about the topic, but I never saw myself in the capacity God was showing me.

In my time as a trauma therapist, I saw individuals in the depth of their pain and turmoil. The stories I have heard would make your stomach turn but God used me for that population. The youngest survivor of sexual trauma that I have ever treated was a three-year-old who was sexually assaulted by her mother’s adult boyfriend. The oldest client that I had treated for sexual trauma was 74 years old. The oldest client I have ever had in counseling for mental health was in her early 80’s, the point is I have witnessed and felt the depth of pain in individuals.

What I observed in the leaders was honestly shocking to me. In all the pain that I have observed in trauma survivors, when I began to meet with the leaders the depth of pain, emotional turmoil and pure brokenness was much, much, much, more. Mind you on paper these people are your heroes. These are the people who may drive nice cars, they may have influence, power, positions, what the world envies but the pain was rawer, more real than anything I had ever witnessed in the 13 years I had been counseling trauma clients.

Many of the leaders didn’t have a history of sexual trauma or other traumas but the pain was extreme, I mean beyond extreme. My mind couldn’t comprehend it. I like many had my own stereotype of what broken people looked like. I certainly didn’t think to even consider the pain of a pastor or the pain of  a leader. These are the people that have what most want. They have influence, followers, money, and prestige yet they were broken. Then I started meeting other individuals outside of my counseling practice. I met other pastors in particular who were very broken. Their behavior towards me was odd is the best word I can describe it. I found other pastors who didn’t know me and I didn’t know them yet they had very low self-esteem, and the irony they appeared to be intimidated by me. Now that was a shocker. Call me crazy but there it was. As a disclaimer I don’t walk around as the counselor of the hour. I am just as regular as the next person. I don’t walk around with my head in the clouds, acting stuck up. I am genuinely a nice person.

For someone to be intimidated by me I found that quite odd. Then the Lord reminded me that when people are intimidated by you it really has nothing to do with you, but their own feelings of insecurity and feelings of inferiority within themselves. Intimidation is a symptom of an emotional wound. Sometimes your confidence alone is intimidating to someone who really is broken.  I realized that God had changed my assignment, it took God some time to catch my attention but when He did, boy were my eyes open.

God began to speak and I began to take notes. God began to tell me that many gifted people seek leadership positions not because of their need to fulfill their God assignment but because of the need to fill a broken place. He began to show me how many people covet leadership positions, secretly believing that the position will heal their spirit of rejection or their hurt, not realizing that unhealed emotional wounds and being put in a position of authority is a recipe for disaster.

It is important to note that God didn’t change my strategy he changed my audience. My point is not to make this about me but rather to expose the heart of Father God towards His leaders. Just like God hears the cries of His people, He also hears the cries of His leaders. You can’t effectively lead from a broken place. God wants His leaders healed and whole.

I have a new heart and a new level of compassion to those leaders who God has called me to serve. Although I never knew God would use me in this arena, I now see what God is up to.

The truth is leaders come under great attack, great scrutiny, and pressure. Getting put in a leadership position doesn’t create emotional wounds it only exposes what is already there. Ideally, before being given a position of authority, a title, and a platform one should have been prepared and processed first. The fact is most often that is not the case. In church and in the secular arena people are promoted based upon their gift. We don’t really have a systematic mechanism in place where we deal with the persons emotional hurts and help them heal before we give them positions. In this era and time, people can make their own platforms via social media. You just talk like you may know what you are saying, and then you can have thousands of followers in an instance. I wonder how many leaders are willing to submit to a healed leader who in love says, “I know you are gifted but you are not ready yet.” With the whole church hurt movement, people will leave churches if they are not promoted. I have an acquaintance who said how she started going to a church where she was being fulfilled, taught and loved on. Yet, she decided she wanted to be a part of a particular ministry; well she was turned down. Mind you to my knowledge it was not because she couldn’t do what the ministry required. It simply meant she wasn’t ready. She became offended and left the church, not because it wasn’t ministering to her soul rather because she couldn’t do what she wanted to do in that church.

It is always easier to do what you want in a newly founded ministry. They are not concerned about your mental and emotional capacity, or your inner wounds they need you to go to work to fill a spot. Not being given a promotion within a church is never a reason to leave, that is a strategy we use in business, not in church. Sometimes you simply are not ready for the ministry yet. God has to promote you.

Psalm 75:6-7 KJV)

6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one and setteth up another.

 The point is you should be healed and whole before being promoted to a position of leadership, particularly within the church. Yet the truth of the matter is that is not the case. We promote gifts before capacity. What do I mean by that? A gift is freely given it doesn’t cost you anything. Though there comes a weight to the assignment that your emotional, mental and spiritual vessel must be healed and mature enough to handle the capacity for.  The reason why we see so many broken leaders is that they were never healed from the beginning.

When God spoke this revelation to me, I was glad all the years God told me no and made me wait. Sometimes we think God is holding out on us, but He really is doing what is best for us by preparing us for the position before allowing us to be promoted. I now thank God for all the times I was rejected, overlooked and not chosen, I realized I had the gift but I was also emotionally wounded in my own hurt. God was more concerned about my emotional health than the platform. Now that I am healed, I can be an effective leader and minister.

With this new assignment from God, a great passion and fire for leaders has been ignited in me. God has had me in my cave doing much study and work. He began to open my eyes to greater realms of warfare as it relates to leaders. God began to speak to me even in my dream language about my assignment. All the while I still have to do life. My business continues to grow exponentially, and still, the same demographics continue to come. To reiterate all of them are not ministry leaders, some are business leaders, supervisors, other health care workers, business owners, and all of have emotional wounds.

With this great awakening, God has opened my eyes into the supernatural realm even greater. My discernment has become keener. I literally can be having a conversation about something random and I begin to discern the wound in that person. My prayer life increased, my study life has increased exponentially. God has really had me to prepare for a great increase in my counseling practice as He is preparing me to meet the needs of even more leaders. I am preparing some major moves in my life and business because the need is so great.

The message of healing for the nation’s leaders is the heart of the father. Preparing for the vision God put in me for leaders has been a major undertaking. When God first began to speak to me it felt like such a huge project I remember saying to God, how in the world in I going to be able to do all that? I was thinking about all the other responsibilities I still have including running a business. Before God responded I had to check my own self. Sometimes you just have to have a conversation with yourself to get you together. I rebuked that spirit of doubt and reminded myself how God would never give me a task to complete that He first didn’t give me the capacity to handle.

I have to reiterate this again; God hears and sees the heart of leaders. This is so important because we often hear of God hearing the cries of His people, the oppressed, widowed, orphan or wounded. We don’t picture the leader as someone who is wounded, oppressed or broken-hearted but the truth of the matter is they are. It is time for the healing to take place, it starts with the head and then goes to the body. An emotionally whole leader means a whole church, a whole business, a whole family. Yet, a broken leader means a broken church, a dysfunctional business being led by fear and dysfunctional families.

I have a new heart for leaders if you can’t already tell. God has called me to not only help them through the healing process but to develop those who are called to leadership. Don’t get me wrong I am not just another leadership development guru. Because I have a keen understanding of emotional wounds, my development assignment has a huge component where we work through the emotional wounds first.

Before we go on to the next chapter and begin our journey together, I will give you some basic principles about God’s heart for leaders. Of course, there will be other principles through the chapters of this book, but let’s begin with the basics.
Principle 1: God does not glory in the demise or downfall of a leader people do.
God is full of grace, mercy, and love, that doesn’t mean that He isn’t a God of judgment. Nevertheless, God does not glory when leaders fail or fall from grace. So, when you see people in life or on social media, gossiping about leaders, sharing hurtful information, making Facebook lives about their downfall, know that they are not representing the spirit of God. Rather they are representing the spirit of satan which is witchcraft by the way. Only an evil person would glorify or entertain in the downfall or demise of a leader.

Principle 2: God wants us to honor our leaders. Honor does not imply or mean agreement.  Honor doesn’t mean our leaders are always right and should never be held accountable for their actions. Honor means to show respect regardless of the dispute. There is a way to disagree with someone and still respect them. When God put’s someone in a position of authority they should be honored. That doesn’t mean they have free reign to abuse us, nevertheless that doesn’t mean we have free reign to abuse them.

Putting your mouth negatively on leaders, sowing discord, speaking against their demise releases the judgment of God.

2 Peter 2:10-13 The Message (MSG)

10-11 God is especially incensed against these “teachers” who live by lust, addicted to a filthy existence. They despise interference from true authority, preferring to indulge in self-rule. Insolent egotists, they don’t hesitate to speak evil against the most splendid of creatures. Even angels, their superiors in every way, wouldn’t think of throwing their weight around like that, trying to slander others before God.

12-13 These people are nothing but brute beasts, born in the wild, predators on the prowl. In the very act of bringing down others with their ignorant blasphemies, they themselves will be brought down, losers in the end. Their evil will boomerang on them.

Again, so when you have someone who is always speaking against this pastor, another person’s ministry, another person’s church or business. They are bringing accusations to spread before others know, they are not being led by God. We will talk about this further in a later chapter.

Principle 3: Leaders are targets. I know that is simple but if you don’t remember anything in this book remember, leaders are targets. Say it again, leaders are targets. Let’s say that one more time, so it gets in your spirit leaders, are targets. Every platform or elevation you obtain as a leader triggers a greater level of attack.

Principle 4: Leaders need our prayers. As a leader yes, I should be praying for myself but I also should be praying for other leaders, whether I know them or not.

Principle 5: A godly leader starts with having a heart for God, not a heart for the people first. This is completely opposite than the secular world. The secular world believes that a good leader must have a heart for the people, but not God. In, Christendom you must have a heart for God first. God is the one who has the ear of the people. I know I messed you up on that one but keep reading the book I will explain as we go further on.

Principles 6: It is God who selects His leaders, not man.

Principles 7: Leaders may appear to be untouchable to man but they are never untouchable to God. Therefore, God doesn’t need the assistance of man to bring a leader down or to humble them. Again, I have to go back to social media apostles. God does not give you a ministry to despise other leaders or to bring them down via your social media. These are the people that think leader XYZ   should be stopped so they use social media in an attempt to corrupt their influence and despise their platforms. When you read the scripture, God did send people like prophets to correct leaders but most of the time that was done in private. God hand selected one man to confront kings and priest in their wrong. Again, I am not saying the leader should never confront leaders in public I am saying God’s pattern was always in private first. If you want to understand God’s ways you simply have to understand His pattern. When you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelations God was not messy in how He did things.

So, when your favorite apostle or prophet, evangelist, teacher, preacher whoever takes it as their mission to get on social media to openly speak against another leader and some accusation they have against them whether it be true or not, know that they are not being led by the spirit of God. They are being led by a spirit of competition, and a spirit from the enemy satan which is witchcraft.

As a warning, it is going to get heavy in the text to come. I pull no punches and I always use scripture to justify what I say. The purpose is so that your discernment increases and if you are guilty of any of these tactics you get free.

There is a spirit of dishonor released in the land and we have to deal with that spirit. This book will give you hard truths. Before we close this chapter let me give you a final story from my own life.

Many years ago, I was a member of a different church. The church was very well known, with an international following. One day the leaders made some poor decisions or what I felt like were poor decisions at that time. The decision was not the best and the church gained worldwide news after the decisions the pastors had made. It felt like the world was talking negatively about my pastors. I was very hurt and honestly disappointed.

One day a long-time friend called. She knew I was a member of the church. As we began to talk, the topic of my church came up. I began to talk about my disappointments and what I felt was wrong. The conversation ended and that was that. I didn’t think too much about the conversation and went on with my life.

All chaos started breaking out in my life. I felt the conversation was so minuscule I literally forgot I even had the dialog with my friend. Sometime after that, I remember being under such pressure, it was like the floor came from under me. I remember being in emotional, mental and spiritual turmoil. I remember crying out to God asking Him, “why was this happening to me?” God reminded me of the conversation I had with my friend. I quickly repented and the storm although not over began to ease. God heard my conversation and He had to check me. We should never think it’s okay to speak evil of dignitaries.  A dignitary is a person considered to be important because of high rank or office.

To this day I don’t talk against, speak negatively of or gossip about anyone and definitely not someone in a position of leadership. I had a supervisor who was working on my last nerve, she just didn’t know what she was doing. I didn’t speak against her, but the Lord told me to not disrespect her position of authority. God didn’t tell me my opinion was wrong when I spoke against my leaders, in fact, I believe my perception of how they behaved was right. He said I was wrong to speak against them. God told me in the case of my supervisor I had to honor her even though I technically knew more than she did

The point is God wants us to honor our leaders, it is never okay to dishonor them even when they are wrong. It doesn’t say we have to agree with them. I have scripture to prove it. Before I go there, I have to mention this was way before I ever knew anything about the assignment God had for me. This was probably ten years ago. Since that time God can trust me with the secrets of leaders. Sometimes God will reveal to me the emotional wounds in leaders because He wants me to pray for them. They may never sit in my office for counseling, but they will have someone praying for them whether they know me or not. I believe this is why God can trust me with the assignment He has called me to, He knows I will honor His leaders, while still giving them the truth and holding them to a standard.  That chaos God allowed to be released in my life was a hard place, but I am grateful for the correction it indeed unknowingly to me prepared me for this assignment. An assignment I didn’t know would be mine. We all have a responsibility to honor leaders whether we are assigned to help them heal or not.

As promised, I said I’d prove what I say by scripture so let’s read an example. I am going to give you one example in this chapter but know there are many others we will discuss in our chapters to come.

Numbers 12 Living Bible (TLB)

12 One day Miriam and Aaron were criticizing Moses because his wife was a Cushite woman,[a] 2 and they said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?”

But the Lord heard them. 3-4 Immediately he summoned Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to the Tabernacle: “Come here, you three,” he commanded. So, they stood before the Lord. (Now Moses was the humblest man on earth.)
5 Then the Lord descended in the Cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam, step forward,” he commanded; and they did. 6 And the Lord said to them, “Even with a prophet, I would communicate by visions and dreams;
7-8 but that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is completely at home in my house! With him I speak face-to-face! And he shall see the very form of God! Why then were you not afraid to criticize him?”
9 Then the anger of the Lord grew hot against them, and he departed.
 10 As the Cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, Miriam suddenly became white with leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened,
11 he cried out to Moses, “Oh, sir, do not punish us for this sin; we were fools to do such a thing.
 12 Don’t let her be as one dead, whose body is half rotted away at birth.”
13 And Moses cried out to the Lord, “Heal her, O God, I beg you!”
14 And the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face she would be defiled seven days. Let her be banished from the camp for seven days, and after that she can come back again.”
15 So Miriam was excluded from the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back in before they traveled again.
16 Afterwards they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Let’s make it really plain. Moses was not in the room when Miriam and Aaron were having this conversation about Moses. I believe Miriam and Aaron were jealous of Moses. He is the little brother and there they are having to serve him. He is the leader with the ear to God. Moses never went to God about their gossip. It didn’t even say Moses was offended. They offended God by speaking against Moses. I believe God focused on Miriam because she probably initiated the conversation. I don’t mean to corrupt the text; this is my opinion. The punishment was focused on Miriam, God knew who to punish. That’s why I believe God singled out Miriam.

Have you ever had someone call you out the blue and wanted to gossip about someone else? You don’t have a problem with the person the other wants to gossip about, but you appease the one initiating the conversation as a way to not appear mean or insensitive. That’s what I believe happened here. Aaron had a position of leadership right next to Moses.

The point is don’t talk about leaders, but don’t allow someone else to ingest that poison into you. When you listen to gossip, rumors or sow discord God still holds us accountable as if it were you spreading it. In fact, I had someone to do that recently, they called me up to talk negatively about a church and a pastor that I know, but this person does not. I said it nicely I wouldn’t be entertaining this conversation, they got it however trust me if it continued, I would have shut them down abruptly and unapologetically. I do not play games when it comes to stuff like that. I honor leaders and the heart God has given me for them is just that profound. I aim to be successful as I continue this assignment. Yet, I will hold them accountable as God increases my influence within my private practice but I will never dishonor them. I will walk in integrity in the open and behind closed doors.

There is much more to learn and grow from let’s continue on. Get your copy today. Click the link: 

My first blog ever  I can't believe it's been 10 years.

A Time To Heal
​
To heal or to be healed means to be brought back to a place of wholeness. It means to be at a state of equilibrium, to be cured, to be healthy again or to fix what has previously been broken. To recover means to be at a place where you are no longer controlled by the thing that once held you bound. Recovery could also be defined as a place of balance. For those of us who work in the mental health profession recovery means that the person is at a place where they are able to maintain happy healthy lives, be productive citizens within their families and communities. Coincidentally, recovery and healing can be instant, although many times recovery and healing happen over time.

    Scripture tells us that there is a time to heal. That means that there are times in our lives where we will be sad. There will be times where we experience hurts and pains. There will be times where we feel the comfort of love and times we feel the pain of disappointments or abandonment. No one can argue that they have never had feelings of being broken, abused and even forgotten. Truthfully, we all have. However, when considering what healing means it is important to note what real hurt means. Ever experience the death of someone you love, the abandonment of a lost dream or hope. Something you put your faith in that didn't come through. I have often thought that emotional pain is harder to deal with than physical pain. Think about if I accidentally bruise my arm, I can get bandaged up and proceed with my day. Emotionally hurt it takes a tole on all areas of our lives. Emotional hurt impacts how you interact with others, relationships, and your ability to trust. Emotional hurt can be debilitating at times and can keep us at a state of constant wariness.

     Many people live their lives trying fix what happened in there past. We are living today feeling the hurt of yesterday. I believe that all trials are a great gift that comes to make us strong. Think about it what did you learn? When I went through some of the most tumultuous times in my life I learned that I was really was a lot stronger than I thought I was. I learned that I had nothing to fear and that God really hadn't abandoned me. I learned to go after my goals with everything I had. I would have rather failed at trying something than to have sat around doing nothing for fear that I might fail. I learned that perception is everything and that if I thought myself to be a failure than everything else around me would be. If I thought I'd be successful and a winner, than I started seeing victory in all areas of my life.

     To say it is a time to heal means to make a proclamation to the past that it will no longer control my future and my destiny. It means I know what happened but I have had enough now and am ready to move on. To heal is a decision you make, like forgiveness is. It means to say I am tired of this mess in my yesterday trying to creep up in my today. To begin to heal means I am ready for a change. It is silly to keep doing the same thing expecting different results. You cannot change yesterday, tomorrow is never promised. Regardless of the situation this moment is the best moment to decide to live. It is up to you. God ultimately gives us the supernatural ability to forgive and to heal the broken places that we otherwise couldn't heal ourselves. Healing begins from the inside out not the outside in. Healing ultimately begins with you.

Samaria M. Colbert

     Many of us who are driven to succeed must endure a process. We first begin with a vision. A vision is something you wish to accomplish, a goal, something you work towards with an expectation of reaching the end that you anticipated. Vision gives you a destination and road map to work towards. Think about it, most people don’t get into a car without having in mind where they want to go. You expect that when you start going somewhere you will get to where you had predestined to go. Therefore you have vision. A true vision comes from God. He has a purpose and a destiny for our lives, he begins to reveal to us that purpose by giving us a vision. One could argue that in some instances we can use the words vision and promise interchangeably.
God promises us that he will give us the desire’s of our hearts if we seek him. God has a promise for every one. God has a vision for everyone, it is what we were created to do. Nobody on this earth is created arbitrarily absent from a purpose or vision that God has for us to accomplish. If God did not have a purpose or destiny for you he simply would not allow you the opportunity to be placed on this earth. Everything created has a purpose and destiny to do while here on earth.

     The process is what happens between vision and the manifestation of the fulfillment of the promise. So it looks like this, VISION + PROCESS = PROMISE. They must happen within this order. You can’t have vision without a promise. You can’t have promise without a process. The process will be one of the hardest things that anyone will have to endure. Often times while in the process you have to walk alone. This is were God teaches us how to hear his voice and to tune out all distractions

      While going through my undergrad, I would work part time behind a jewelry counter. I learned a lot about jewelry back then.The thing that I remember most about gold is that it most be purified. Gold naturally has impurities in it, most people don’t want jewelry with blemishes in it. We all want the most perfect piece of jewelry that our money can afford. Gold is purified by having it reduced down to a liquid form. It is then placed into the fire, it is while in the fire that the impurities rise to the top, the merchant then wipes the impurities away, and then the gold is placed back into the fire. This process is repeated several times until the merchant gets the gold to the consistency that he/she wants. Ironically, the less the impurities in the gold, the more expensive it tends

    I used the process of purification to symbolize God’s process, we are his precious jewels. We belong to him, he must take us through the purification process. Everyone has impurities in them. It is in God’s process that our characters, integrity and intentions are made Holy before him. This is were he takes away the pains of our past, and where we learn to forgive. The process is one of the hardest and most arduous things we will every have to endure. The process is not easy. The process is what prepares you for His glory. Please note that things that you have attained but not been processed into will eventually kill you. Instead of being a blessing, it will become a curse. God loves us enough that he has to prepare us for His glory. There are many people that will never do what they were created for because they don’t want to endure the process or they get discouraged. The process is not easy, but well worth it in the end. So for those of US, who are in the process, don’t give up. Keep encouraged. There is a purpose for your pain.


© 2009 Samaria M. Colbert

​A Birthing Place

 

By: Samaria M. Colbert

Freelance writer

 

Have you ever felt like you had potential, but was not quite there yet? Have you ever been at a certain place and at a certain time only to realize that you were at the right place and at the right time where your dreams were to became manifested? Is there a difference between where you long to be versus where you currently are? Have you ever gotten excited because you felt like you had almost arrived, but in actuality you were not quite there, yet you knew that something was on the horizon? It could possibly be that you are at the birthing blace.

 

Scripture describes the manifestation of the promise to a woman giving birth. As you know there is a process for a woman who is getting ready to give birth. At first although the woman may know she is pregnant, she has some signs of pregnancy but to the naked eye or someone else there are no visible signs of a pregnancy. There are 9 stages of pregnancy until the ninth month when the baby is birthed out. Through out the pregnancy process a womans body becomes uncomfortable, the further along she gets the more uncomfortable a woman will get. So I heard, since I don't have any children.

 

However it is at the ninth month were the baby and the mother become so uncomfortable. The baby needs more room and the mother is exhausted from carrying the baby, hence the mother is at the birthing place. At the birthing place there is much suffering, groaning and moaning in anticipation of the release of a baby.

 

Many of us are at the spiritual birthing place. You carried your potential your promise for months maybe even years. During that time God had you in a process. During the process he had to readjust you, you became uncomfortable, people originally could not see the change that was happening but you could. Eventually people around you started noticing a change is happening. As the potential or promise has been growing on the inside, you began to look different. God had to change your environment to a place were you were no longer comfortable with being average or ordinary. God was preparing you. You suffered, you cried, you lamented, and you began to prepare. Now you are spiritually at the birthing place.

 

Romans 8:18-24 (NJKV)

 

18. For I consider that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

 

19. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God.

 

20. For the creation itself was subject to futility not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

 

 

21. because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children ofGod.

 

22. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

 

23. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits ofthe spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly awaiting for the adoption of our body.

 

24. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

 

It is now time for the sons of God to be revealed. (note: sons is not gender specific, it denotes men and women of God who have been led by the spirit). You are getting ready to birth out your purpose, destiny and promise for the Glory of God not your own glory. The vision has waited for an appointed time and this is that appointed time. My potential is no longer potential but it is reality. Wait for it, in just a few days it will be manifested. You are at the birthing place.

 

The thing about the birthing place is that no matter how excited you are, no matter how much you have prepared for it, it will not happened until it is time. When it is time you know it, just as a mother who finally goes into labor knows it. Nobody has to tell her anything. So don't try to make it happen it will happen when it is supposed to happen.

 

Congratulations! It a ?????????????????????

 

 

SamariaM. Colbert © 2009 All Rights Reserved

Heaven Sent

~Dedicated to Grandma Jane 1/7/1933 - 1/20/2010


By: Samaria M Colbert
In the word’s of Shakespeare “Parting is such sweet sorrow
It is never easy to say goodbye. It is hard to watch someone you love say farewell. To leave it all behind for a greater place of dwelling called heaven. I am happy that you are at a place that we all have longed

But parting is such sweet sorrow.

We have heard of it and even read about heaven, but you are there. I am happy for you, but I am sad that this means goodbye for us and hello my child to Him. I am so sad to say goodbye, although I know you are happy.

Knowing someone you love is in a much better place does not make it easier to say goodbye. I know that you are smiling, and that you are in the arms of Jesus, but I most confess I wish you were still here.
What sights are you are seeing? What do the angels look like? What about the streets of gold? What about Jesus, I know I talk to Him all the time, but what is it like to see Him face to face? What does it feel like to rest in His arms? What about the 24 elders that cry holy? And the music, what song did heaven sing to welcome you home?

You are in a beautiful place, but parting is still such sweet sorrow.

Matthew 16: 19 (NKJV)

….and what ever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven

Losing you on earth means releasing you in heaven. So today grandma Jane, I say farewell on earth. We have lost you on earth, but heaven is your home now.
I still have to admit parting is such sweet sorrow.

I want to say goodbye
I love you.

You were always more beautiful than you know.

Your laughter and kind heart will be missed.
Heaven needed and angel so He sent for you.

Goodbye  

 Love Samaria

Note the quote"parting is such sweet sorrow" s from Shakespeare's Romeo and Julie Play. No copyright infringement intended. 

17. Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to Your name."
 
18. And He said to them, "I saw satan fall like lightning from heaven.

19. "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

20. "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."


21. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I thank you father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father so it seemed good in Your sight.

24. "for I tell you that prophets and kings have desired to see what you have seen and have not seen it, and hear what you hear, and have not heard it."

Lately as I have been going through a major transformation process and the Lord has led me to read and study about spiritual authority. I have been studying about spiritual warfare, deliverance ministry, expelling of demons that are indwelling of Christians, territories and regions. The bible clearly states that as spirit filled believers we have the ability to cast out and expel demons we also do not have to be controlled by demons or evil spirits, because as stated in the scripture above they are subject to us we are not subject to them. I have always known these things and have had a keen interest in spiritual warfare for years. God would often speak to me about spiritual warfare through dreams and visions particularly when I first began to discover the ministry God has called me to. However in reading these books my awareness of the demonic and the need for deliverance ministries has been awaked with a new sense of urgency in my spirit that God's people be set free and delivered from the oppression of the enemy. You see even though demons cannot possess Christians (possession denotes having ownership) they can oppress Christians when given permission. And yes Christians can whether unknowing or knowingly invite the demonic in.

But my question still remains as I have been studying is why do we not hear more about spiritual authority in our churches or in our every day lives. We don't hear about the training of ministers for real deliverance (referred to as deliverance ministry which in short means the expelling of demons and evil spirits). When was the last time you heard a teaching on the believer's authority over the demonic or divine deliverance from the demons of sickness and oppression? Scripture clearly tells us that when Jesus walked the earth not only did He expel demons but He also laid His hands on the disciples and told them to go and do the same. Jesus went so far as to say in Matthew 18:18 that you have the power to bind and loose things in heaven and on earth. When Jesus walked the earth He didn't have to say anything and demons began to scream out saying to Him, to leave them alone. You see apparently they knew who Jesus was and the power that He possessed. Yet Jesus said greater works shall you do. Some people Jesus laid hands on and the demons left others He just spoke and they were expelled. The authority in His voice alone was able to rebuke the demonic off of someone. (Mark 5:1-19)

When Jesus walked through out the earth He spent a significant amount of time expelling demons and healing the sick. His intention was that His followers do the same so that the kingdom of God would manifest here on earth. The ability to cast off demons and heal the sick was not for Him and Him alone but for all of us. When you look at the scripture Jesus is clearly saying "I give you this authority." Many believe that because He said "don't rejoice that the spirits were subject to you" that He was not impressed or ambivalent about you having the authority to rebuke demons. But if you look carefully in Luke 10:21 it says Jesus rejoiced in that hour in the spirit. The bible went further to say that this mystery has been revealed to babes no less, not the spiritual elite. He went further to say many prophets and kings meaning great men and women of God have longed to see this but could not but you do. You see Jesus was glad and thankful as scripture said that His people had the ability to rebuke demons. In Luke 11:20 Jesus said you know the Kingdom of God is upon you when you cast out demons.


My question still remains so why we are not taught more about our spiritual authority over the devil and the demonic world? We are taught to shout our troubles over and be nice little Christians who don't cause any harm until God decides to bless us. I am all for the process as you should know from previous post, and my book No Promise Without A Process The Makings of a True Prophet. But there comes a time when we must discern whether this thing that I am going through is God processing me or is it the enemy holding on to my stuff. Spiritual authority releases what belongs to you. If God gave you the authority, He is not going to do it for you when He already gave you authority over that thing. There are people in our lives, work places, and sphere of influence who need deliverance. They go to church everyday, they read their bibles, they pray and yet they are still under a curse. The kingdom minded people are ready to advance His kingdom. Advancing His kingdom is not about wealth. Wealth is a result of the kingdom coming upon you not the entire purpose of the kingdom. It is a result of the blessing not the blessing itself. So if you are the type of person who is always oppressed by something. You keep going around the same mountain over and over again. You keep seeing generational curses being passed down from one generation to the other. Your money is always acting funny no matter what kind of raise you get. You keep crying the same tears as you did yesterday. Maybe you are under a curse. Remember at the name of Jesus demons have to flee and Jesus became a curse on the cross so we would not have to be subject to the curse. Galatians 3:13 But you decide. Don't let the spirit of fear and intimidation stop you from possessing what belongs to you. Cast it out of you. There is so much to write about this subject. Also look at my next post entitled Blessing or Curses. I could not possibly even begin to write in this short post about Deliverance Ministry. I am saying that deliverance is available to you from every oppressive, depressive and perverted demon. Further more you have the power to possess and speak deliverance to someone else. I am recommending some books below that will give you greater understanding.

Note: I am in no way affiliated with the authors and am simply recommended these books that I have read as a personal reference. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate guide.

 
Be set free in the name of Jesus.


Samaria M. Colbert © 2010

Recommended Readings:

- They Shall Expel Demons By Derek Prince

- Witchcraft in the pews By Bishop George Bloomer

- Pigs in a Parlor By Frank and Ida Mae Hammond

- Blessing or Curse You Decide By Derek Prince

- Deliverance From Evil Spirits By Francis Macnutt

- Anything by Apostle Kimberly Daniels (Clean House Strong House, Delivered to Destiny, From a Mess to Miracles, Inside Out etc)

​ 

John 10:1-5 (NKJV)

1. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

 

 

2. "But he who enters by the door is the shepherd to the sheep.

 

 

3. "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and lead them out.

 

 

4. "And he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

 

 

5. "Yet they will by no means (no way whatsoever) follow a stranger, but they will flee him, for they do not know the strangers voice.

 

 

John 10:25-30 (NKJV)

 

 

25. Jesus answered them, "I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness to Me.

 

 

26. "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.

 

 

27. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

 

 

28. "And I will give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

 

 

29. "My father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my hand.

 

 

30. "I and My Father are one."

 

 

Jeremiah 1:9 (NKJV)

 

 

9. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: " Behold I have put My words in your mouth.

 

 

Obedience heeding/submitting to the voice of God means you know His voice and that you belong to Him. Disobedience and rebellion to the voice of God means that you don't know His voice. Not only that it means according to the scripture that you don't belong to Him.

 

 

Hearing the voice of God is not difficult. It is not strange or unusual to hear the voice of God.

 

 

Hearing the voice of God is a common decision that you make once you say you belong to Him.

 

 

I use to take it for granted that the person standing next to me belongs to Him.

I mistakenly thought that if we are crying the same tears, speaking in tongues and dancing to the same music than that meant that we both belongs to God. And the tears were only an indication of passion and obedience towards Him.

 

 

Like wise I thought it strange how the same person can be so quick to walk out of the will of God for their lives and disobey Him, when in my mind He is clearly talking.

 

 

So I asked God about this. Lord why do we say we love God, but are so quick to disobey Him and fall into diverse sin.

 

 

Then the Lord took me to this scripture. First shouting, tongues and crying are not indications of our love for God. Obedience to His voice is.

 

 

If and individual is finding themselves having a hard time, knowing and obeying the voice of God is only means that they do not belong to Him.

 

 

And they are caught up in some kind of sin that prevent them from hearing His voice.

 

 

Romans 8:14

 

 

States that the sons of God are those individuals who are led by the spirit. So if you are being led by the flesh or your sinful nature you are not a son of God nor do you belong to Him.

 

 

Principle of the Kingdom # 1: The reason you can't hear the voice of God is because of sin and disobedience.

 

 

Principle of the Kingdom # 2: Whenever someone sins the first thing that they do is to hide themselves from the voice of God.

 

 

Genesis 3:8-10

 

 

After Adam and Eve have sinned they knew that they were naked and were then ashamed. So they hid themselves. So according to the bible when God came to meet with Adam, he hid himself was afraid.

 

 

Hiding is always an indication of shame. It is an awakening or awareness of sin and a turning away from righteousness.

 

 

It was always God intention to speak with His people face to face and to allow them to hear His voice. Not go through another man but to hear His voice for themselves.

 

 

Exodus 20:18-21

 

 

The people of Israel became afraid of God's voice. In verse 19 of Exodus 20 they say Moses when you speak with us we will hear, but don't let God speak with us, lest we die.

 

 

Matthew 3:3

 

 

The voice crying out in the wildness. God was getting ready to put His voice back into His people so He sent a voice to prepare a way for His voice.

The voice of God always prepares you for the greater reveal (revelation) of His manifestation of earth.

 

 

Principle of the Kingdom # 3

 

 

Fear of hearing the voice of God is always a result of not wanting to hear the voice of God because of sin. Most people who are His, long to hear His voice for themselves. However the people of Israel assumed that they may die if they heard His voice.

 

 

They had committed the sin of constant complaining and speaking against God and His man servant.

 

 

Have you ever tried to give someone Godly sound advice or wisdom that you knew was from God. And they said "I don't want to hear that"? or they disregarded what you had to say.

 

 

Most of the time that is a result of sin.

 

 

Again if you are a child of God you recognize or are not spiteful of correction towards the voice of God.

 

 

Well if you are not in sin, why are you afraid to hear His voice? They were probably afraid of what He might say to them.

 

 

When your heart is right and you are not in sin, even it is in correction you long for God to take out even the things are in you that are not like Him.

 

 

Most people who long to be near Him are like David who said I long to be in your presence.

 

 

You see when you are in the presence of God and fear His voice instead of wanted to be near His voice something is wrong.

 

 

The true fear of the Lord means a Holy reverence towards Him. You aim to follow Him. You long to be lead by Him.

 

 

Deuteronomy 28

 

 

God talks about the blessing of obedience to His voice and the curses of disobedience to His voice.

 

 

So if I am acting in obedience and am following His voice there is no need to fear what God has to say because I am in His will. When He speaks He speaks to bless me.

 

 

But if I disobey Him, I have good reason to fear, because He is proclaiming His curses over me. Which is why disobedience people don't want to hear His voice. They only want to hear what they want to hear. They want to hear others who share their same voice (opinions and compromise) but surely not the voice of God. Lest He curse them.

 

 

 

I Kings 19:11-14

 

 

God speaks to Elijah in a still small voice.

 

 

Principle of the Kingdom # 4

 

 

God will always speak to you in a way you can understand. I once heard a pastor say if you are sitting alone in your house and you hear a big bass voice, with a great sound say "My child come forth" He said run that is not God.

God is not out to scare you. He will test you but He is not out to scare you.

So God will always speak to you in a way that you can understand. He spoke to the Elijah in a still small voice. This is the same God who answered by fire in Mount Carmel.

 

 

Principle of the Kingdom # 5

 

 

God may answer by fire, but He speaks to His people in a still small voice.

 

 

Acts 6 & Act 7:57

 

 

The bible says that when he (Stephen) spoke they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

 

 

So after Stephen kept speaking in Verse 57 it says that they cried with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran at him on one accord.

They stopped their ears.

 

 

What happened hear. They did not want to hear what the voice was saying. They couldn't bear it.

 

 

Again if they weren't wrong why stopp (cover) their ears?

 

 

II Timothy 4:3,4

Says that in the last days they will not endure sound doctrine, according to their own desires and they will turn away from truth.

 

 

That means they will no longer want to hear the voice of God, but would rather believe a lie. So they go where they want to hear what they want to hear.

 

 

God longs to speak to His people. It was always apart of His plan from the beginning, starting in the beginning with Adam and Eve.

 

 

We see God speaking to His people through out the bible. But if you don't want Him to speak to you like the people of Israel He won't

 

 

It is not God's will for you to go here and there and everywhere looking for a prophetic word from the Lord.

 

 

The prophet Joel said that in the last days God would pour out His spirit on all flesh. That is why He came.

 

 

All flesh

 

 

John 16:13

 

 

Says that the spirit of truth will tell you what is yet to come. What is the spirit of truth? The Holy Spirit.

 

 

The Holy Spirit will tell you what is yet to come. So there is a prophetic nature on the inside of you.

 

 

John 14:17

 

 

Says that the world cannot receive the spirit of truth. Meaning sinners/rebellious people because they don't want to know Him or hear His voice.

 

 

But the bible says you know Him and because you know Him, the spirit of truth dwells meaning lives inside of you and he will continue to be with you.

 

 

Tap into the prophetic nature that is on the inside of you.

 

 

Lastly when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was broken. We are no longer under the curse the people of Israel requested being under, where God no longer spoke to them and they God could only relay messages to them from Moses.

You have the spirit of truth on the inside of you.

 

 

It is sad to have the voice of God on the inside of you, and not use it.

 

 

It is just silly to long to hear His voice that is already on the inside of you but go seeking His voice through someone else who has the same Holy Spirit that you have.

 

 

God longs to speak to His people.

 

 

God will always speak to you concerning you.

 

 

I believe that God will not reveal more to a man or woman of God about you than He longs to reveal to you Himself.

 

 

They water, but He plants.

 

 

A prophetic word from others is meant to activate your faith not be the sole provider or be the means by which you hear from God.

 

 

I once heard a minister say that as Jesus was dyeing on the cross, with every lash He took. With every pain He endured. Maybe He was thinking of the words to a song that Barbara Streisand wrote:

 

 

The Way We Were.

 

 

Maybe He was thinking of the way we were and endured the pain to have that relationship with us again like He walked with Adam and Eve before the their rebellion.

 

 

The way we were.

 

 

God longs to speak with us more than we long to speak to Him.

 

 

So much so that He sends people our way to say hey he is trying to talk to you but you won't pick up your phone.

 

 

He longs to have a intimate relationship with us, more than we long to have a relationship with Him.

 

 

He longs to reveal mysterious and secrets to us. But He also longs just to communicate with us. He wants you to tell Him about your day. Talk to Him about things that may seem insignificant.

 

 

Our daddy just want to be with us.

 

 

 

He longs to be with us. That why He said to David "seek my face" meaning seek to get to know Him. But we must respond in our hearts like David. And say Yes Lord "Thy face I will seek".

 

 

Allow the voice to come in. Hear Him, He is waiting, longing and wanting to be with you.

 

 

 

Samaria M. Colbert © 2010

​Read Esther –The entire book

 

 

For our emphasis

Esther 2:7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17

 

 

 

7. And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

 

 

 

9. Now the young woman pleased him, (King Ahasuerus) and she obtained favor in his sight, so he readily gave preparations to her, …..

 

 

 

10. Esther had not revealed her people or her family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.

 

 

 

12. Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months of preparation, according to regulations of women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women,

 

 

 

13. Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king…….

 

 

 

17. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

 

 

 

 

Esther 4: 14, 16

 

 

 

 

14. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether or not you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

 

 

 

16…….And "so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"

 

 

 

Read Matthew 25- the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.

 

 

 

Most of us have been taught the story of the wise and foolish virgins. Basically the wise virgins were the one who had prepared for the bridegroom to come and when He came they were ushered into His presence. But the foolish missed their opportunity, and when He came because they had not prepared they were locked out.

 

 

 

The story if Esther and the bridegroom represent many things to us who are in preparation for our kingdom assignment. Esther represents an intercessor and a godly woman that we all can look up to. She had a heart for God and a love for her people so much so that she basically says "I know what I am about do is against the law, but I most save my people, so If I die, let me die"! She was prepared to face death so that others may live. Esther is a very power story, rich with revelation and mysteries about the kingdom of God. Everyone must read the book of Esther with the ears of discernment by the Holy Spirit. This is not just another story about a beautiful woman. It is not just a story that reads like a romance novel, to make us tear up with love and warm feelings. This is the story of a young woman's preparation for the kingdom. It also describes the preparation that takes place prior to walking in your kingdom assignment. Not a man, your kingdom assignment. You may say I didn’t get that from this story but just hear me out and I will explain.

 

 

 

First I want to propose to you that Esther's preparation began long before she was ever being prepared to be a queen. It did not start where the rest of the virgins started with myrrh and oil. Esther's preparation started with a tragedy and then a divine connection. Esther 2:7 reports that after Esther's parent's died she was raised by her cousin Mordecai. We don’t know how or when Esther parents died, but we know they did die. She was not supposed to be a queen because she was an orphan. Esther should have just been grateful to have been adopted and have someone to love her like her cousin. She was like Gideon, the least called to be the greatest.

 

 

 

Remember you can't walk into your kingdom assignment without preparation. God does nothing unless He prepares you. Esther was the wrong nationality, and orphaned. She certainly did not qualify to be a queen. But her heart was right. Remember Queen Vashti was very beautiful, (Esther chapter 1) but her heart was not right and she was prideful. So it had to be more than Esther's beauty that gave her favor with the king. Remember when you are king or in a power position beautiful women are a dime a dozen. It was Esther's spirit of humility, her heart, her integrity, her grace and her quiet spirit that really made her beautiful. Her true attributes are what gave her favor with those around her including the king.

 

 

 

Remember Joseph in the bible. Often times a separation must take place. It is in the separation place where we become connected to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in an unprecedented way. It is here where we hear His voice clearly and then are put into a position of greatest. We must be alone so we can be clear minded and be away from distractions. Often times God's is calling you, He is speaking to you, but we are to busy trying to bring everyone around us into the Glory, but God is speaking to you. He will speak to them when He is ready, but His finger is pointing at you saying "Come on in, there is much I must tell you" You, not you all.

 

 

 

The first principle of the kingdom is that a separation must take place from those that are closest to you. God will always call you into an alone place sometimes referred to as a wilderness place.

 

 

 

Luke 18:29, 30 (NKJV)

 

 

29. So He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you; there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God.

 

 

30 "who shall not receive many things more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life."

 

 

 

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)

 

 

 

33. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

 

 

 

You see in order to be apart of the true kingdom of God you first must seek after it, not the things. So often we associate the kingdom of God to prosperity or wealth. That is not the kingdom of God they are attributes or the physical manifestation of the blessing but it is not within itself the blessing. Unfortunately in the church today we got it all wrong, we will shout more over the things God is getting ready to bless us with rather than Him. Yes God longs to bless us and yes we will be blessed. But we will never get it when we seek after what is in His hand instead of His heart. God is looking for true worshippers to bless.

 

 

 

You can't seek after the kingdom without a heart for King. You can't really have a heart for the King if He is not in you. You can't truly walk into His kingdom absent from a true relationship with Him. You can't really have a true relationship with the King unless you walk in holiness. Hebrews 12:14 without holiness no man can see God. Meaning you don't have access to the King, His kingdom, His heart, the things He longs to bless you with unless you first walk in Holiness.

 

 

 

It was Esther's heart that was right that gave her access. Esther still had to go through a process for a year. She was first processed with oil. In the spirit oil is representative of the anointing. Then she was processed with perfumes, which is representative of the glory. So even today we must be anointed with oil, but we must be possessors of the glory.

 

 

 

Now we know that the old testament is flesh. The new testament is spirit. So when we read the old testament we must see the spiritual representation of these flesh beings. Queen Vashti is representative of the people of Israel who rejected Christ as our Lord. In Luke 19:44 Jesus was in tears because the people of Jerusalem did not know the hour of visitation. He was rejected by His own people. Isaiah 53:2, Matthew 22:1-14. Mordacai also represents a type of the Holy Spirit who intercedes on our behave. Esther is representative of us the bride of Christ. The story is representative of us the church being the bride of Christ. The church is a woman. The church is being prepared to possess the kingdom and be used mightily for His glory. This is the day when we are being ushered into the hour of the church. Not a building. The remnant, called out body of believer, who have been waiting patiently in preparation to be used for great and mightily exploits for the King.

 

 

 

Haman is representative of the demonic kingdom. Remember in the text Esther 3. Haman was advanced above all in his kingdom. He was only in second command to the king himself. He had great power. He sought to be worshiped (Esther 3:2) but when Mordacai would not worship him he sought to destroy all the Jews. The is representative of the Satan once named Lucifer.

 

 

 

Ezekiel 28: 12, 15 (NKJV)… You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and beauty

 

 

15… Till iniquity was found in you

 

 

 

Isaiah 14:13 (NKJV) 13. " For you have said in you heart: 'I will ascend into heaven.

 

 

 

14. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you;

 

 

 

You see Lucifer was very beautiful and He had been established by God Himself. Yet, He wanted to be worshipped. To this day he still wants to be worshiped. Just like Haman wanted to be worshipped. The reason why the devil hates God's people so much is because we refuse to worship or bow to him. As a matter of fact when he was cast out of heaven he no longer had kingdom authority. God created you in his stead. This is why Matthew 25 reports, we have been given the keys to the kingdom, not only that we have power over the devil. We have power to execute things on earth as it is in heaven. So you see why the devil's jealous and envious of us. He does not want us to know our kingdom assignment. Often times the devil knows our kingdom assignment more so than we do. This is why he is after us so hard. Now he is still trying to destroy God's kingdom and His people but he cannot.

 

 

 

Remember the story of the wise and foolish virgins. If you hadn't already done so go ahead and read it. The foolish virgins are representative of a people who want a position or try to put themselves into position with no process. This is all foolishness. The difference between being great and being good is the process. It is the process that makes you great, it is the lack of process that makes you forgettable. Process is the only way to true wisdom which is representative of the five virgins who prepared. Although all the virgins had a prophetic promise, only the one's who had been prepared made it in.

 

 

 

Yes it is true that you can miss the hour of visitation. The scripture never reports that they had another chance to make it in. They had to be ready when the bridegroom would come or they'd miss it.

 

 

 

I once read a book by Bill Hamon, he reported how he lost a building that he thought God had blessed him with. While in prayer God told him "Son I can give you another building overnight, but I can't give you wisdom overnight" Only process gives you wisdom.

 

 

 

Esther (the church ) was prepared. Haman ( the devil, demonic attempts to demolish God and His people) never even considered Esther.

 

 

 

Esther 4:14 (NKJV) I love this scripture.



Mordecai says: 14: "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and you fathers house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

 

 

 

Esther say 15: And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"

 

 

 

I love Esther response. She knew that it was unlawful for anyone to go into the inner court without being called. One could be put to death for such a thing. But Esther says well "If I die, I die. She represents courage and a Godly fight that said I will do something even if it cost my life. She knew what she was up against the possible consequence but she was willing to move forward anyway, despite the threat of death.


Notice Mordecai said "deliverance will come, but from another place." Please understand that your kingdom assignment and how God will use you IS NOT about you. God will use anyone, it is about the kingdom. That is why if you choose not to obey Him he will take the annoiting that off of you and put in on someone else. His will will be done on earth, but not through you. This is why your heart must be right not focusing on the stuff that is in His hand.

 

 

 

John 12:24-25 (NKJV)

 

 

 

24. "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

 

 

 

25. "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

 

 

 

Another principle of the kingdom is that you must die. Yes that's right you must die. In the order of Christ and His kingdom to be glorified you must die. You die to yourself, your will, way and emotions to be raised to God's glory. Now Esther did not die but she was willing to. Jesus says if they hate me they will hate you if you really belong to me. Many want the kingdom, they want the power to rebuke demons and devils, they want great ministries. But are you willing to give up everything you hold dear? Are you willing to pay the cost? Are you willing to be processed? No there is no such thing as walking into a greater manifestation of the kingdom of God without a process. Within the process there is always a dyeing process, always. Don't look at any great minister and long to be them, because you don't know the cost that they had to go through to get that glory.

 

 

I recently asked God why He had me waiting so long, while others move ahead of me. He responded by saying "Because of the weight". I thought uhhh, what does that mean. Well it means because of the weight of Glory God has called me to walk in, God can't give me what I want easily because of the weight of Glory He has called me to. I can't have it when I want to or I will not be able to handle it.

 

 

 

You see this is what the process is for. God does know the dimensions and weight of Glory we have been called to that is why there is a greater process or preparation. The greater the process the greater the Glory. God's preparing us for the real kingdom of God. Let us let Esther this greater kingdom ambassador be our example of what happens when our heart is right, our motives are pure and we have a vision for our King.

 

 

 

For more information on the process please pick up the latest copy of my book entitled: No Promise Without A Process The Makings of A True Prophet.

 

 

God Bless You

​Autonomy of An Abuser

 

Read it, meditate on this, and don't be deceived. Remember no relationship starts off as abusive.

 

 

• Batterers have a higher incidence of alcohol and drug use than non batters. (The alcohol does not cause the abuse)

 

 

• Batterers tend to have traditional sex-role expectations (male female) and be preoccupied with a "macho" ideal of manhood.

 

 

• Despite their display of bravado, many batters have low self-esteem more so than non batterers. They become emotionally dependent on their mates, consequently, feel threatened by the possibility of their departure. This is often manifested as excessive jealousy, possessiveness, control and isolation from those who are supportive of you. (family, friends, etc)

 

 

• Batterers frequently lack assertive communication skills and come off as alternatively passive or aggressive. They tend to resolve their emotions and problems through violence.

 

 

• Batterers tend to have poor impulse control and show higher levels of hostility than non batterers. Their emotional range tends to be limited to anger, which is expressed through violent behavior.

 

 

• Most male batterers experienced or witnessed childhood violence that has gone unresolved.

 

 

• Batterers tend to externalize responsibility. They usually refuse to accept responsibility for their behavior, including abusive behavior; instead they blame others for making them angry, thereby excusing their actions

 

 

Reference:

 

 

Battered Women As Survivors An Alternative To Treating Helplessness by: Edward W. Gongolf & Ellen Fisher Lexington Books

 

 

Please also refer to my previous post entitled: Domestic Violence In Faith Communities

​ 
I thought it befitting this time of year to talk about how not to spend so much money. I know, I know we all have been once again shouting in church. We hear God is going to make us successful so we aught to shout right now for it to happen. If you are like me you naively shouted and are still waiting for the return on your praise investment. Yes there is sarcasm in my writing by the way. Anyway after being raised in church I believe in asking God to increase me in wisdom not stuff. I have found that if I ask God for wisdom the stuff will eventually come. By the way you don’t seek the kingdom for things or with secret motives anyway. You seek the King to advance His kingdom. Somehow the things eventually find you but by the time you get the things it doesn’t satisfy because it is the King that you love.
 
 
The point is as stated before I do not in anyway believe that being a Christian and shouting about God’s ability to prosper gives us a license to live foolishly because God is going to bless us anyhow. In fact it works at the complete opposite. If you are faithful over what you have and take care of what you have then God will bless you. I know what you hear in church, “just sow your last, give a sacrificial seed and then Lord will increase you”. So we give our last and are still waiting for the 100 fold return. Don’t get me wrong it is a sin not to sow your tithes and offerings so you must if you want to be blessed. But don’t allow the emotionalism of church to cause you to be foolish.
 
 
Yes I have given my last bit of money knowing that I still had to buy groceries, get gas back and forth from work till the end of the month but the emotional aspect kicked in. There was a man of God preaching and I gave my last. The next day I was still broke and yes I did have to call my parents for money. I embarrassingly told them I gave it all in church. They didn’t make me feel bad but I hate to ask them for money. Again this was not my regular tithes and offering. This was also almost two years ago and yes I am still waiting on my prayers to be answered. So yes maybe there are people who quote, “gave and were never broke another day in their life”. I have never met such people and never experienced such. This was foolish because I am miles away from my family and have no support. As a single woman who lives on her own. It is not in my best interest to be in a city all by myself with no money in case of an emergency. This is foolish. For all my critics I do have a bible scripture to prove my point.
 
 
Corinthians 9:7 (Amplified Bible)
 
 
7Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He [a]takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, "prompt to do it") giver [whose heart is in his giving].
 
 
So yes according to the scripture it is okay to purpose in your heart what to give. (Again this does not apply to your tithe which is set based upon any income or increase you receive not your decision). You should not give compulsively or in my owns words, some preacher is pulling on your emotions and prophelying to you. You know when the organ is playing and God supposedly so conveniently speaks to the preacher at the same time every Sunday about what you should give and then promises you that you will be an instant millionaire. You should take pride in giving and not with impure motives. Remember what you give is stored up in heaven. Like a bank account but the interest that the bank of heaven gives back to you is not the same interest that the earthly bank gives you. The point is you still can’t beat God giving no matter how you try. But we still have a responsibility to spend our money wisely. God will increase you but more than likely it won’t be immediately. It doesn’t mean that because you spend your monely wisely that you don’t have faith. God will release to you what belongs to you in the most appropriate time. Your ability to be elevated to the next level in all areas of your life is dependent upon your ability to make wise choices where you are. (I know I am repeating myself but I am not referring to your tithes and offering) You will not be blessed when you rob God. So yes increase is coming. God will bless your finances but why would God give you an increase in any area when you are not faithful where you are? So I have compiled my own list of money saving techniques that I use for those who are like me in process.
 
 
1. Don’t eat out. I almost never eat out anymore now that I eat healthier. This year I can count maybe eating out three times or so. You save a lot of money. This is coming from someone who almost never cooked and always ate out especially while in graduate school. My excuse was that I am to busy to cook. The reality is you can find away. No one is to busy to save money. I usually cook extra food at dinner. I set aside my lunch for the next day and I always take my lunch to work. Believe it or not I eat very healthy but it takes me all of 15 minutes or less to cook.
 
 
2. Do your own hair but if you can’t it is perfectly okay to go to the shop. I usually do my own hair. Growing up in a house full of women we didn’t have any money to spend at the shops. That was considered a luxury not a necessity. My mom and sisters would do my braids, my older sister was good at doing my hair and now I can do it on my own. In Maryland to have everything done it would cost a good 85.00. Since I moved to North Carolina I still do my own hair and believe it or not my hair is really healthy. However there are times when I want the luxury of having my hair done at the shop. It doesn’t mean that you have to spend an arm and a leg to get your hair done. A few months ago I found two great places in Durham, NC that are great and cheap. Both places are Lillians and Studio 10. At both places for a wash and roller set it is 10 dollars. For a relaxer and rollers set it is 35 dollars that is quite a change from the 85 I was use to spending in Maryland. I have heard of people doing their own perms and going to the shop with their hair wet for the stylist to do the set, not for me but it would certainly save money. There is less to be said about how it looks but I have no complaints their work is great. P.S. I tend to go to Lillians just because you have to wait a long time at Studio 10 to be seen. At Lillians there is almost no waiting.
 
 
3. Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart Wal-Mart God Bless You Wal-Mart. I love the Wal-Mart Supercenter. This is where I buy my groceries. The food is plentiful and cheap. I usually buy in bulk at the beginning of the month that way I do not keep going back and forth to the grocery store. Wal-mart in my opinion out weighs all the other grocery stores when it comes to their prices. A few months back I was attempting to eat only organic in hopes of taking my healthier lifestyle to the next level. I started shopping at places like whole foods and traders joes. I quickly found out that neither store was in my budget, it is more expensive and they do not sell the bulk items that prevents me from having to keep going to the grocery store every week. I haven’t given up on this lifestyle but it is more on the to be continued list for when my finances increase. Besides did I tell you that I really can’t forsake my first love the super Wal-mart. (sighs)
 
 
4. GCF (Goodwill Community Foundation) the other love of my life. That is the Goodwill. I know I know I sound desperate. When I was a little girl I was so embarrassed to ever set foot inside of Goodwill even through we were broker than broke. Having to pay your own bills changes ones perspective. A couple of weeks ago I needed some new clothes. I have lost so much weight that I was walking around looking a hot mess. I didn’t have much money so I decided to at least check out the Goodwill in Raleigh to see what they had plus I needed a winter coat. OMG, I fell in love. Goodwill is not the same frumpy store it was back in the day. They are really on the come up. I got basically got a whole new wardrobe including a winter coat for about 65 dollars. No one would even know that my clothes were from the Goodwill. Believe it or not they do have name brands, shoes and purses for cheap. I was so excited. I get so many complements on my clothes. I am not ashamed to say I am a bit of a shopping feen for the Goodwill. In NC they are starting to pop up all over the place. In fact I was driving home from work yesterday and saw a new one that just opened in Morrisville. Apparently I am not the only one who has the same idea because the place was packed out. Besides everyone wears second hand clothes. Celebrities pay ridiculous prices for vintage stuff they call them vintage stores but where I am from we call them consignment shops. You can still get your shopping fix without spending a whole lot of money.
 
Another positive about the Goodwill is that when you spend money there you are contributing back to your community. For every item purchase a portion of the money goes back to job training and community development. Not to sound cheesy but as a person who works in the human services field I love that. This is well needed particularly with all the stuff going on in our world. My hats off to Goodwill.
 
 
They only down side of Goodwill is that the clothes are separated by color and not sizes so you have to keep pulling up every piece of clothes that you like to check the size instead of just going to the rack with your size on it. I think it contributes to the fun of it. You find one of a kind pieces instead of a rack full of the same sweaters.
 
 
 
 
 
I also found out recently after going out of town for a few days that all Goodwills are not created equally. If you in NC you have a better chance. I went to one while out of town and found almost nothing. I couldn't find my size or anything remotely cute. Just so you know if you go to Goodwill that is close to more afluent areas you are definately more likely to find better up to date clothes. I love the ones in Morrisville, Raleigh, Cary and Durham. So if you are in the NC area try them.
 
 
5. Roses in Durham. The Roses in Durham is another great place. The clothes are pretty cheap. You can get jeans for little to nothing.
 
 
6. Considering looking at your monthly bills and negotiating them down. I had another line on my cell phone for the internet that had expired so I canceled it. This month my cell phone bill was a good 100 dollars less than it usually is. Who doesn’t want to save 100 dollars a month? That is almost 1,200 over a year.
 
 
7. Amazon.com or go to the library. I love to read books. If you are a college student go to amazon.com and buy used books. FYI: Even though your professors may require you to buy the latest volume of the text they can’t force you to get the latest version and in my experience there is very little changes from the last version. I would only recommend going down one version. For example if you are required to get a text book that is version 5 I wouldn’t get version 3 because that is when you are running the risk of having out of date information. Always buy used. Sell your books back at the end of the semester. If your like me and you just love to read when I go to amazon I never buy a book new unless I have to have it and there are no alternatives. Buy it used. For me if it is just a text that I want I don’t worry about buying the latest version. That is saying a lot since I am an author and would prefer you buy my books new, but here is the truth to save money. The library is a great place to get free books, free wi-fi etc. You can’t beat free. I just picked up a copy of Bishop Jakes book: Before You Do from the library. Although I love Bishop Jakes and would love to support him by buying his book new. It is not in my budget but that doesn’t mean I can’t read the book I will rent it from the library. Same with DVDs and CDs.
 
By the way more and more libraries are starting to have more Christian books; they will be in your religious section.
 
 
8. 1.50 movie. If you really want to go to the movies and live in the Raleigh area there is a great movie theatre in Raleigh that only cost 1.50 per movie. I don’t eat popcorn but some people bring their own. Google whatever city you are in to find dollar movie theatres.
 
 
9. Know when to shop: I use to work at retail stores while working my way through undergrad. The best time to shop is after Christmas when they are trying to get rid of their inventory. That would be around January or so. You can get stuff for little to nothing. Buy off seasons on off seasons. For example you buy your summer clothes during the winter when they are trying to get rid of their summer inventory in preparation for the winter. And vice versa.
 
 
10. Clip coupons: Coupons are a great money saver.
 
 
 
 
I could go on but the point is you can still do pretty much what you want, but without spending a whole lot of money. The best way to save money is to not spend it at all. Like I said before there is nothing wrong with making wise decisions with your money. Don’t let anyone pull on your emotions, give you empty promises. You are just as anointed as the next person. Be confident in your ability to hear God. If God wants you to give sacrificially He will tell you Himself and the preacher is confirming the word God already spoken to you. Remember that if you are faithful where you are then you will be elevated higher.
 
 
Respect God, respect yourself, take care of your finances. This is from someone who is not perfect but trying my best to make better choices.
 
 
Remember you can have a millionaire mind set wherever you are. I am not a millionaire yet but I will be.
 
 
P.S. One last thing I forgot. I am not really into Christmas so this is not hard for me. Please do not get yourself into debt and depression over one day. Jesus wasn’t really born on Christmas anyway this is a pagan holiday instituted by Constantine who created the holiday to appease folks from different religions. Some scholars believe that Christ was actually born sometime in May. So remember what really counts. Spending time with your family, loving Jesus. If you don’t have it you don’t have it. That doesn’t mean it is a bad Christmas. Back in the day when I was into Christmas as a little girl my favorite thing about Christmas was going out the night before and looking at the lights. Last Christmas I spent the day watching the cheesy movies that always play on Christmas day it was great. All the other stores mentioned can also serve as great places to buy gifts if you have to.
 
 
Love you much
 
 
Samaria Maria Colbert
 
 
Samaria Colbert © 2010

​1. I Samuel 16:7 But the Lord told Samuel, “Don’t look at his appearance… for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

 

 

2. Because often times the main person that does not look the part is the chosen one of God. It is the people who are forgotten by man that are chosen by God. Isaiah 49:14,15

 

 

3. Mark 10:27 With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.

 

 

4. God is not limited like man. It is not based upon man’s ability but God’s.

 

 

5. I Corinthians 1:27 God has chosen the weak things of this world to put to shame the things that are mighty. II Corinthians 2:3,4

 

6. Because our weaknesses are not His. It is the main one who doesn’t have the experience, the know how etc that God will use.

 

7. Even Jesus was rejected by His own people because He didn’t look the part. So those that belong to Him will at some point in their life go through the same. John 1:11

 

8. Because everyone has an appointed time for their reveal. I Corinthians 4:5

 

9. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

10. Because it is not about ability it is about obedience. Only obedient people meet the requirements for a blessing not ability. Deuteronomy 28:1-7 If you obey

 

I can't stand  arrogance it is so unattractive. It is sad to build yourself up at the expense of other people. There is something to be said about someone who walks in humility. Not false humility or low self esteem. You can be confident while having a spirit of humility at the same time.

 

 

Remeber it doesn't cost you anything to treat people nicely. Be kind. The same person that you are being ugly to today is the same person God is calling to greatness tomorrow.

 

So from a woman who is destined to greatness be kind.

​Faith and Obedience
Samaria M. Colbert
 
 
Hebrews 11: 1 (NKJV)
 
 
1.Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
James 2:14, 19, 26 (NKJV)
 
 
14. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
 
 
19. Yes believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble!
 
 
26. For as the body without a spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Hebrews 11:8-10 (NKJV)
 
 
8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive his inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
 
 
9. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
 
 
10. for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
 
 
I have said it repeatedly in other post. There is a difference between what is being required of you and what is being asked of you. Requirements are always attached to blessings. You can’t have one without the other. If you want the promise you have to meet the requirements. If someone is asking you something, they are giving you a choice or are inquiring of some information from you in order to gain your knowledge. In others words to ask a question it usually goes like, “Can you?, Will you?, Do you mind?, What do you think about? etc”. You can respond in whatever way you choose. If someone asks you to borrow something and you say no for the most part there are no repercussions for that other than maybe hurt feeling. Or if someone inquires of some information from you and you don’t know and state so. You can either find out or they move on. Again no repercussions for not knowing the answer to a question.
 
 
 
Although the bible says people perish for lack of knowledge so there are consequences for not knowing the word, praying and not knowing the will and ways of God. But that is another matter in which we will not discuss today.
 
 
 
Requirement is another matter. You again can choose not to meet the requirements but you will reap the consequences of disobedience. Often times consequences are not necessarily punishments they are more denials into the promise God has for us. For example in the scripture above Abraham left his home after receiving a word from God. Had he not obeyed God to leave he would not have received God’s blessing. We wouldn’t be talking about Abraham to this day. His obedience would not have equated to his righteousness. He would not have been given his son Isaac who was the promise. Meeting the requirements releases you to the promise. Isaac was the promise. Sarah would have still been barren and they would have passed away having never received the promise. You think not, just remember the people of Israel who had the promise to go to the land God had promised Abraham. On your own time I won’t give you this one research how many left Egypt and how many actually made it to the promise land. Most of them died in the wilderness because of their own disobedience even though the promise was for all of them. So again just because you have a promise from God doesn’t mean it will manifest. You have a responsibility. No God’s people we don’t serve Santa Claus we serve a true and living God. He is not deaf, dumb or stupid. He is merciful and kind He won’t release what belongs to you absent from your active and willing participation. Should you decide not be an active and willing participant He will decide not to actively and willingly release you into His promise.
 
 
 
So how does it relate to our topic faith and obedience? First things first what is faith?
Faith in it’s simplest form means to believe. It means to have hope, and to believe something will be even though you do not see how or see it manifestation. Faith. It means to believe that it will come to pass even though you have no physical evidence that it will. I grew up in non-denominational pentecostal, charismatic church where we are taught to have faith. Have faith for your miracle. Have faith for your healing. Have faith for your promotion. Have faith for you promise. We are taught to have faith for just about everything. Nothing is wrong with faith. In fact that is all we hear, talk about is faith. You would think we’d see more faith healings we hear so much about faith. I suspect that if you are Christian you probably can’t go a whole week with hearing, seeing or reading something about faith. Just turn on Christian television. Go to bible study or your regular Sunday morning service at some point whether it be during some worship song or a message you are going to hear something about faith.
 
 
 
All it takes is faith right? Ummm
 
 
 
 
Well……
 
 
 
 
If I could be candid what happens after you have faith. You believe with all your might something is going to happen. You sowed your seed. You pray. You call those things that are not as though they were. You rebuke every demon in high and low places. You fast, get together with the prayer partners to believe, because you are going to touch and agree and it shall be. You shout for your blessing and run around the church. You cry and lament. You make statements while in prayer like, “Oh Jesus”, Yes, YESSSSSSS LOOORRRRD” “Come Jesus come” with some tongues in between. All this to show God you have faith. You go lay your hands on something you are having faith for. (i.e a wayward child, the home your believing God for) You are faithful to pay your tithes and offerings so there is nothing blocking your blessing. You went to the alter and fell out.
 
 
 
Yet still no manifestation.
 
 
 
But I thought all it took is faith?
 
 
 
Well there is more to it than just having faith. Scriptures says faith without works is dead. What does scripture mean when it says faith and works? Works simply means obedience to what God has required of you. Or aggressively working towards what He has you told you to do, how He told you to do it, when and where He told you to do. During the specific time and course He told you to do. Hence the title. The simplest definition of works is exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil. To achieve or win by work or effort in the works, in preparation or being planned to bring about (any result) by or as by work or effort: to work towards a change. Retrieved 2-17-11 from www.dictionary.com
 
 
 
 
Obedience means to adhere to a set of norms, rules, discipline and governing laws than either prevent negative consequences or bring about a desired result. For example obedience to the law means not going to jail. But say someone is training out for the Olympics. They are following a disciplined regimen, and transforming their bodies the end result being the accomplishment of a dream to make it to the Olympics or to be able to compete competitively on that level. When you are in obedience to God and have faith you are giving Him full on access and permission to transform and change you to what He wants you to be. Metamorphosis means a marked change in form, or metamorphosis, from immature to adult. From a immature childlike Christian into a full grown vessel of the most High God. In metamorphosis you have been transformed and construed in such a way that the end result is that you are now in the likeness and image of our father in heaven.
 
 
 
So God according to the scripture God not only requires faith He requires works (obedience). Now that does not mean try to manifest His promise on your own. That is dead works. It does mean after God has given you the promise, you must be obedient to His law, rules, and specific requirements that He has set before you in order to get to the desired result. The desired result is the manifestation of His promise in our lives. No we don’t do works on our own. After God has given you the promise you still have to seek God for the path He has for you to take.
 
 
 
There are God’s universal laws that govern His kingdom. Such as thou shall not commit fornication or adultery, thou shall kill or covet and so on. These are universal laws that everyone who claims to be a Christian should be following. If you don’t follow the laws of God, you can claim to be a Christian all day long, you simply are not. But there are requirements that are specific to our development individually. God requires different things based upon your specific purpose within the kingdom. Most Christians know the universal laws of God. They don’t know specifically what God is requiring of them but they are not necessarily in sin. For example it is not a sin to marry someone. However if you marry someone who God has not ordained for your life even though that is not a sin you have still disobeyed God. The sin is that you didn’t obey His voice. You will still reap the consequences of disobedience. Abraham’s requirement was that he leave everything including his father’s house to a land that he didn’t know about. Abraham was obedient to God’s specific requirement for his life. It is not a sin should Abraham had stayed in his father’s house. There is no commandment saying thou shall not stay on thine father’s property. In fact the law during Abraham’s time was so that Abraham would have inherited his father’s stuff. It is actually crazy to leave all that behind for someplace you don’t even know and have never seen. Abraham must have heard from God that was the specific requirement for Abraham.
 
 
 
The point is Christians are good at faith. They are not so good at obedience to the specific requirement to get the blessing. Consequently we pay our tithes, shout, speak in tongues and fall out. Yet we don’t see the manifestation of what God required of us. You need faith and obedience to the plan and purpose. God has already preset the plan and the purpose for what He wants to happen throughout the earth. We must be obedient. We must know His voice.
 
 
 
I sound like a broken record I say this on every post. But is amazing to me how Christians will shout, speak in tongues, run, jump and shout and not meet the requirements yet still expect God to manifest His glory in them. Seriously folks this is delusional thinking at its best. In therapist terms many Christians are delusional because they are believing things that are not, doing things they shouldn’t yet still expecting something from God. That is not faith. Scriptures says faith without works is dead. News flash believing without obedience is just plain silly. Scripture says in Romans 10:9,10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart then you shall be saved. Even salvation looks like this:
 
 
 
Works (confess with your mouth) + Faith (believe in your heart) = Salvation
 
 
 
The scripture above says that even demons believe and tremble. SO WHAT IF YOU BELIEVE! If demons believe and are still guaranteed eternal damnation what makes us think that somehow believing will get us something from God. A demon is still a demon no matter how much they believe. Believing is just believing if there are no works. Works without God’s direction is just purposeless. It doesn’t get you any closer to the manifestation than doing nothing. So purposeless works and doing nothing are the same both get you nowhere.
 
 
 
The point is it is not enough to sit around doing nothing waiting on something to fall from the sky. You must be obedient to the specific plan that God has for you in order to reap the benefits. I have composed a few things to know about faith and manifesting the promise. Some things maybe repeats but they are important to the manifestation of the promise thereby worthy of repeating.
Faith and Obedience:
 
 
 
-Faith and Obedience go hand and hand. They are never separated they never come apart. One must come with the other. They are always intertwined. If you have faith but no obedience you won’t manifest the glory and you won’t be obedience if you don’t have faith.
 
 
 
Faith and Obedience / Obedience and Faith
 
 
 
-Works is not going about trying to put yourself on. For example just because God called you to preach doesn’t mean you start the effort, getting your business cards together in an attempt to birth yourself out into your prophetic promise. Remember if God has given you the promise it is His responsibility to bring you to it. So works is not the same as the world’s definition of works where they work hard to get to the end result. Our (Kingdom) works means to allow God to process us for it to manifest. Manifestation is when God makes it show up.
 
 
 
-Seek God for further instructions. God will always tell you what you should do next. But be aware He doesn’t give you step 1, then 2, then 3. He’ll give you step 1, then step 4, then back to 3. Because God speaks in part sometimes like Abraham you don’t know why or how or what. You just should know yes. Sometimes all you have is a word from God. Sometimes you are doing something God told you to do not knowing why. That is a part of faith and obedience as well. Having faith that it will manifest and being obedience to whatever God has told you to do even though you don’t know how they relate. A big part of faith is simply not knowing but trusting.
 
 
 
-Disobedience equals denials. I know I say this a lot. Let me explain. Yes God will deny you. Remember Saul, God removed him and put David in his place. Moses was replaced with Joshua. New Testament examples include the story of the virgins. Matthew 25:1-13, Matthew 15:14-30 the story of the parable of talents. Mark 11:12-14 Jesus cursed the fig tree after it was not bearing fruit. Matthew 20:1-16, Matthew 22;1-14 There are other examples but this should get you started.
 
 
 
-Yep there is no indication that disobedience will always result in delays. Often times disobedience can result in denials. Now God is merciful God. He doesn’t deny us as soon as we make a poor choice or sin. God’s denial is dependent upon your level of maturity and disobedience. Most times when a person is in rebellion He will keep warning them over and over again. The warning could be repetitive over years of time. God will keep saying, “Don’t do that, leave that alone, stay away, move away from, I see what you’re doing, stop it, don’t go there”. He’ll keep speaking to you over and over again. He’ll send a prophet and people of spiritual maturity to warn you. But God always repeats Himself. He doesn’t just up and deny you. He also looks at the heart, if you’re caught in a stronghold but your heart is right He won’t deny you. For example maybe you suffer with low self-esteem that prevents you from moving forward but your actively praying and asking God for deliverance. Remember there are some deliverances that happen overnight and there are some that happen over time but come in the process of getting to know God. It is when you don’t heed to the God’s warnings, which He then will say, okay I am taking the mantle off of you and putting it on another. He is so merciful He will still let you stay alive but deaf to the purpose and plan God intended for your life. His will will come forth just not to whom it was intended. So when you hear the voice of God obey. When David heard from the prophet He repented. When Saul heard from the prophet he denied any wrong doing. Even up until the last minute before He says time up I am moving the mantle He will still give you time to repent. Literally up until the very end He will say to you or use someone to warn you saying. “You’re getting ready to lose the mantle God has called you to walk into, if you don’t make a decision etc”. Up until the very last hour! This is how merciful God is. Right before He gets ready to expose you He will warn you. A person who is still in disobedience and rebellion is in a bad place. This is where their heart have really turned from God to serve some kind of idol(sin). God is a just God and gets no pleasure in embarrassing anyone or not releasing anyone into their prophetic destiny especially when He before the beginning of time planned your life out. This is not a decision He takes likely but it is a decision He will and DOES make.
 
 
 
-Your level of obedience on one level releases you to increase to another level. (Note: I am using the word level to bring about understanding God deals in dimensions and spheres of influence. But for now to bring about clarity we will use the word level) When God can trust you He will release more to you.
 
 
-You have to know His voice in order to obey. So if you are having faith, but not having faith over God’s words that He spoke to you, you are still wasting your time. For example if someone prophesies to you, thus sayeth the Lord XYZ and you have all kinds of faith towards that word but the prophetic word was not from God then your faith means nothing. God will not sign off on what He never started.






-Faith and Obedience is not the same as positive thinking to bring something to pass. The world uses this all the time. There some basics truths if you believe something positive it will happen. But that is not the same as faith and obedience. Positive thinking doesn’t really require anything of you. It doesn’t require holiness, or the building of character. There is a woman who believed that she should would win the lottery. She wrote down the number of millions she wanted to win and shortly after that she won with the exact amount she wrote down. But she didn’t have to obey God. God would not have told her to play the lottery which is wrong. He is so rich He has multiples ways to make you rich other than sin.
 
 
 
-Faith and Obedience means being willing to allow God to perfect your character, heal you from your past, develop your character. Turn you from being Jacob the trickster to Israel the mighty man of God. After faith and obedience to God you can then handle what He releases to you. It’s not about money it about blessing. This is why you have celebrities who have fame and fortune but still have drug demons and depression spirits. Because they have fame and fortune without the character building that only Christ can do. There is a difference between fame and fortune that the world gives and fame and fortune that our Lord and Savior releases us to.
 
 
-So in simple terms what will God require of you. How do you know the specifics? The only way you know the specifics is to seek God. He will give you a plan. Again He will only give you parts of the plan. It is your obedience to one part of the plan that will get you another piece to that plan. I encourage you to pick my book entitled: No Promise Without A Process The Makings Of A True Prophet. Depending on the specific plan God has for your life, will determine what He requires of you. For prophets He requires them to have seasons of intense aloneness. For people called to healing ministry He may require pain. For some He will require school. He will require from everyone holiness, separating from people He has not ordained for your life. One of my requirements like Abrahams was to move from my home of origin. Another one of my requirements was to be healthy and so on.
 
 
Remember there is an already set appointed time for your reveal. It is your passing of the test that releases you to the ministry. There is a difference between your assignment and your ministry. Your assignment may change but your ministry will not. For example when you are in school you professor gives you specific assignments that are related to the class you are taking. It is not until you graduate and are working in our field of study that you can implement what you did in the classes although you completed many assignments throughout your matriculation. That is what your ministry is when you have finally completed the work and have graduated and are now working in your field of study otherwise known as your ministry. While in college you must pass the test and turn in your assignments in order to be able to take the next class, have the next test and completed the next assignment. Although you are taking a difference class, have a different assignment and have a different test your major or course of study is the same. You are studying and preparing with a specific goal in mind.
 
 
 
Remember there is a beginning, middle and end prior to graduation (your manifestation into your ministry). In college you can change your course of study(major) prior to graduation in the kingdom you do not. Your assignment is based upon the specific task God has you working on in this season that can and will change with the next season He has you in. Your ministry is when you are released and are working in the area that you have been processed into (studied, prepared, tested and tried) graduated from and are doing what God has specifically assigned (prepared) for you to do. Your ministry is not going to happen until God releases you; you have to complete the assignments and pass (ALL) the test. Your specific assignment will change, you will have an assignment as long as you are in Christ. Even before your ministry and during your ministry you will have a specific assignment. The assignment before God releases you is for your preparation into your ministry. The assignment you have after God releases you into ministry is for you to begin to develop and be used to bring healing, deliverance and restoration to someone else. He will use you to act as a midwife to someone else who is waiting on the manifestation of their promise.
 
 
Remember Faith and Obedience go hand in hand. No matter how hard you shout. No matter how much scripture you know. No matter how many spiritual experiences you have had. No matter how God has spoken to you. Faith and Obedience are requirements to fulfilling your prophetic promise. I am convinced that if the saint’s had true faith understood the real consequences of disobedience they wouldn’t be so quick to disobey God. That is why I believe God has me talking about requirements and process in this season. He wants to see His saints develop into mature and honorable vessels so that He can manifest His glory on the earth. Remember our assignments and divine purposes are not about us. We have nothing to do with it. That’s why God will use another if you decide you don’t want to be faithful and obedient. Our divine assignment is not about how we will be blessed is it about how we will be a blessing and advance His kingdom for His (not our) glory.
 
 
Remember:
 
 
James 2:22-24 (NKJV)
 
 
22. Do see that faith working together with his (Abraham) works, and by works faith was made perfect?
 
 
23. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
 
 
24. You see then that a man is justified by works, NOT by faith only.
God Bless
 
 
Samaria Maria Colbert
 
 
Samaria Colbert © 2011