When I say I love God, to me it means I love Him with unconditional love. That  (Unconditional) love means I will never stop loving Him, even if He does not do what I want Him to do or anything else. I should still love Him and I DO. That’s what love means to me when I say I Love God.

Twania Wade

Jeremiah was a prophet, sent by God to speak to the house of Israel during a time when they had begun to make a lifestyle of worshipping idols and all the while they were turning their backs on the Lord and all the blessings that God had promised them. Jeremiah was instructed in chapter 18, to go down to the potter’s house. Once he got there and began to watch the potter work, the Lord began to speak to him concerning the work the potter was doing. I believe God gave Jeremiah the demonstration in hopes that he would be able to relay His message to the house of Israel more clearly so that they would truly understand what it was the Lord was trying the say to them. God wanted to get His point across but I imagine He had to first get Jeremiah to see it as well. Chapter 18, verses 1 through 6 reads… “¹The words which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. ³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. ⁴And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. ⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁶O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as the potter saith the Lord, Behold as the clay is in the potter’s hand,  so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah went as the Lord commanded and was ultimately rejected by the House of Israel because they didn’t see anything wrong with what they were doing. They felt that it was okay for them to worship their idols and to do their own thing but all they while they had turned their backs on the one True and Living God who loved and cared for them. In Chapter 19, God told Jeremiah to go buy a piece of pottery and to give the house of Israel a demonstration. He was instructed to go back into the midst of them in verses 10 and 11 and to break the vessel…”that it cannot be made whole again” to warn them of the destruction that would come if they continued to disregard the voice of the Lord. In this passage of scripture, as saints of God we are likened unto the clay in the potter’s hand. In order to make pottery, it takes a wheel, a mixture of clay, and plenty of water.  As the wheel is turning, the potter places this mixture of clay and water on the wheel and uses his hands to mold the mixture into whatever shape or form he needs it to be. He takes his time, continues to add plenty of water to keep the mixture moldable, and continuously uses his hands to form the mold. If he finds a blemish or unsmooth place, he can add more water and reshape, reform, or smooth out even some of the roughest places until he is satisfied with the vessel and feels the vessel will be suitable for use. As long as the wheel keeps turning, his hands are on it, and water is being applied, he can work with the vessel until it is perfect in his eyes. If the wheel stops, there is no water, and the potter removes his hands, the mold begins to dry and becomes brittle and if any imperfections remain, it makes the vessel’s use less effective than it was first intended. God loved the House of Israel enough to send them a warning and to them an opportunity to get it right. In order for us to be all that God intended us to be we must understand that we are the work of our Father and it is not His intention that we remain the same. He does not intend for us to carry the same blemishes and imperfections that make us less effective that what He has purposed for us since the beginning. It is His intention that we stay on the wheel where there is plenty of water being applied to our lives (The word of God) and where His hands can mold us into the people He called us to be. We should be sensitive to the fact that if the Lord allows us to see the rough places in our individual lives, whether He reveals them to us or sends a messenger, it is not for us to justify or ignore it is for us to make sure that we are still on the wheel where the water is being applied and where the potter’s hands can smooth out the rough places and make us beautiful. Philippians 1:6 tells us that “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” This should make it even more evident that the wheel should never stop turning, the water should always be applied, and God’s hands should always be on our lives. We must stay humble and allow God to continuously mold our hearts so that we are transformed into the servants that He has called us to be. Stay on the wheel Saints of God, Stay on the wheel. Twania Wade, August 2011

Minister Rashad Preston

Matthew 25

¹Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.²And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.³They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:⁴But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.⁵While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.⁶And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.⁸And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.⁹But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.¹⁰And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.¹¹Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.¹²But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.¹³Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh

I lift to you as in this parable (an earthly story with a heavenly meaning) we see that we can be found as one of the wise or foolish virgins or we could have even felt like both. You see the wise have took the time to build a relationship with God they come to Bible Study, Sunday school, Church, and everything else they can along the week. While still doing there weekly fasting and praying. So when trouble comes or the Lord returns no matter what time it is they will be ready. Now, on the other hand we have the foolish virgins they do all the same as the wise except they don’t fast and pray as they should on the own. You see they had the outer part down for what people saw it was the real deal for there lamp was trimmed and burning. When you only do when someone is watching then you have a lack somewhere so they had no oil stored up in vessels.

As I read this the Lord dropped this in my spirit, that if I am doing all the things I know to do to have a personal relationship with God. So that in tells that the oil I have can only effectively work for me and my situations in life to keep we ready for Jesus return. Therefore you can’t use mine! I can pray for you, I can love you, but this is personal and no matter how much I pray and try it wont work in your lamp. My oil cannot suffice for you. I have oil, but you can’t use it!!

Before truly live we have to die.

~the youth minister

~the youth minister

Kristen Washington

                           1Samuel 1-19

God spoke to me about this subject when I was listening to Forever Jones sing it. Giving God your all is not an easy task but a necessary one. Some people get that statement confused. Giving God your all doesn’t mean just on Sunday, but everyday. Total ‘s surrenderance  and obedience to God is the key.

I know its easier said than done but it is a requirement if you want to see God’s hand move. An example of this was in Samuel. Hannah’s womb had been shut up and she was tormented all the time by and told other wife, Peninnah because she could not have kids Now, Hannah could have gotten upset and told Eli but she didn’t. What she did was got on her knees and gave her all to God….. every spiritual , emotional, and physical piece of her! So that Eli thought she was drunk. Hannah was so desperate that she gave her all to God so He would honor her. It was because of this that God honored her with a son.

We have to be so desperate for God that we surrender all to Him. God is not going to hold up his hand because someone doesn’t want to surrender. He will find the very one that “people” look over to raise up because of their surrenderance. Too many people think things can’t get done without them but

If they don’t hear God and fully surrender , they are going to look up and be replaced. God is about His business right now!! No longer will the move og God be held up. God is taking this church to a higher level because there is a higher work to be done.

Services are not going to be the same because God is doing it His way. Don’t look to the program because God is moving the program to the side. This is a crucial time for the church. The anointing rests here. God’s  will in this place will be done. He’s calling this church higher. Accountability is going to start showing. We have to be accountability for what we do. In this process, God is going to start moving in ways this church has never seen. It all depends on your surrenderance to God.

“HE WANTS IT ALL”

GET UP FROM THE TABLE!!!

written by Marcie Hairston

John 13:2-4 (King James Version)

²And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; ³Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; ⁴He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

On last Sunday, as I was reading the bulletin, I told Minister Debbie that First was all in my exhortation. So, I may need to change it, because I did not want people to think I was using what First had written.  Then, I thought about it and said it was just conformation.

Like many of us at the first of the year, make that dreadful resolution.  Which is “I’m going to lose weight or I’m going to tone up.  In order for us to either lose weight or tone, we must first “Get up from the Table”.  At the table is where your troubles start, but it is really at the end of our supper or dinner where all the chaos and weight gain comes.

This is where the devil comes in as well.  When supper is over what do we? We sit there with the table still set trying to let some of our food digest  because we are to full to move or we are trying to get our second wind to eat more food.  So as we are sitting there, we strike up a conversation and we start it with: “Well did you know or Did you hear”, well guess what we just let the devil in and we started putting on the weight.

We need to know when supper is over or when to get up from the table.  When we start to fill yourself getting full or when the gossip starts.  We need to get up from the table and realize your supper is over.

Now if we look at Jesus, when he finished he got up.  As long as we sit still and not get up from the table we are going to gain weight.  If we are about our Father’s business we are moving, we are not sitting at the table gossiping, we are not overeating.   We are helping those who can’t help themselves; we are feeding the hungry not only in the natural but in the spiritual.  We will never tone up or lose weight as long as we are sitting at the table.

Don’t get me wrong it is good to fellowship one with another, but make sure you are in Love and fellowship not Love to Gossip.  The reason we don’t lay aside our garments or get up from the table because we want to know what’s going in someone else’s life, so we can go and tell someone else what we heard, but when it comes to our lives or business we are not willing to reveal our true weight.  So we put on girdles, restraints, controllers, or clothes to camouflage or hide the weight, but all we really need to do is Get up from the Table.

We will never lose weight or tone if we stay at the table and not change our habits or get up and get moving, to be about our Father’s business.  If we get up from the table and start to move, someone else will get up and follow, but as long as we continue to sit on our do nothing and talk about what needs to change or how you need to change your eating habits the weight will continue.  But just as soon as we get up from the table we will notice a weight loss.  It may not be a physical change but we will notice a Spiritual Change, so all we need to do is “Get up from the Table.”

“I GOT SOMETHING TO SAY”

Just When I Thought All Was Good…I’m Used to Dialysis–Been In Anticipation of making a possible move Next Year that would enable me to do dialysis at home. I Basically run my own machine now when I go to the Center…So It was suggested by my doctors as well as staff,  that I take my INDEPENDENCE home…LOL..I Guess My “Funny Ways” taught to me over the years have rubbed off–Thanks Mom…Thanks Grandma…I Am Real “Picky” about how things are done—Plus, I Don’t like Germs!! And I like KNOWING** Knowledge Is Power–

Recently, I Began To Have Troubles with my Legs…Lots Of Pain–I Have dealt with this for months without saying anything. You know how we tend to contribute things to “Getting Old” or The Weather or Maybe I Did something to cause the pain. Finally, I couldn’t endure any longer and my suspicion rose up more that something was wrong. I Had developed places that were hard patches on my legs. Long Story Short, I was sent to A Dermatologist 2 weeks ago and a biopsy was done—

On December 6, 2010…I Was diagnosed with having a Rare disease called..Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis—It is caused by dye exposure AND IT IS INCURABLE—So THEY Say–I Was Devastated!! Of Course, I Asked God..Why?? I Cried!!! I Had My “Woe Is Me” moments throughout the day but then..I Began to Think about the LAST 5 1/2 yrs of My Life..I Reminisced about the Hospitalizations….I Thought About the over 100 plus Surgeries…I Thought about the “Close to Death” experiences…I Thought about when I relied on a Walker for weeks or longer because I could barely stand up for long periods…I Thought about when they told my mom that I probably needed to go into a Nursing Home… I Thought about when Friends stopped befriending me because they thought I was going to die…I Thought about so…so…so Much—And Guess What??

THIS TOO SHALL PASS–I BELIEVE I CAN MAKE IT–JESUS HAS NEVER LEFT ME–I DONT FEEL NO WAYS TIRED..I COME TO FAR FROM WHERE I STARTED FROM—IT AINT OVER TIL THE FAT LADY SINGS–DEFEAT IS NOT AN OPTION (Rashad P) I FEEL LIKE GOING ON……………………

Yes..I Called Auntie Carolyn and Had My Cry! Yes..I Laid In my bed and Thought and Cried–Cried and Thought! Yes..I Needed To Hear “Mom” say “IT WILL BE OKAY”! I Needed all of that But Until I Actually Said..GOD!!! YOU GOT ME???? Right??!!…………RIGHT?????

I Don’t Fully understand My Role at Greater Love and Why The Issues  I am Going Through Is So Important and INSPIREs Some People but I Do Know I wear the Church on my shoulder….I See So much dwindling and A lot of The Members Morale leaving…I Wonder what is going on and What Its going to take to get US Back to where we used to be–Our Church Wears a SPECIAL NAME that bounds US to SPECIAL TERMS–We Are To SHOW “GREATER LOVE” in Every Situation…Every Ministry….Every Department…Each and Every MEMBER—We Are Bound!!

If You Look Around..All Of US Has something that We Need From God BUT I Strongly Feel…UNTIL WE ARE ON A STRONG FOUNDATION—WITH DISCIPLINE IN “EVERY” MINISTRY—-We are not Going Forth With My Healing…Your Healing…Your Family Members Deliverance…..Your Breakthroughs…ETC.

I Am Surprising Myself at Sharing This Information BUT I’m Learning Min. Debbie that My “Testimony” just might Get some of the TV watchers out of their seats ONE DAY and Give God A Sho’ Nuff Praise—Let Them Realize That “Wow…It Coulda Been Me”….Really…In All of This, I Have Learned—If YOU Don’t Praise God–Eventually, He Will Allow Experiences To Take Place that Will Bring Out The Praise–Hmmm…Think About That, Will Ya??

PLEASE….Let’s STRIVE To Be What We’re Supposed To Be–Walk In Our Rows–Minister In Every Department–I Challenge You–I Challenge YOU To Challenge YOURSELF**

I WANT MY HEALING!!!

~INSPIREd~

Psalm 91:1-2

Do you ever find yourself asking God why? Why do I have to go through so much, why so much pain, or just simply why me? As we all know we are not really supposed to question God and his works. Sometimes God leads us the hard way  instead of the easy way because he is doing a special work in us. How will we ever learn to lean on him if everything in our lives is easy enough for us to handle by ourselves?

God led the children of Israel the long, difficult way through the wilderness to prepare them for the battles they would face in possessing the Promise Land. He was concerned that when they saw the enemy they might run back to Egypt and become enslaved again in their former bondage. God wanted to teach them who he was and that they could depend on him to fight any of their battles. Many of us think that when we enter into our Promised Land we will have no more spiritual battles. Not So! After the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and went in to posses the land of promise, they fought one battle after another. But as they learned to fight in God’s strength and under his direction, they won their battles. We know ­­­­­­­­­­­that he would never put more on us than we can bare.

I myself must admit I often question God.  You may feel like you have nobody to turn to or talk to about your situations or the people that you THINK you can count on are the ones that are stabbing you in the back. That’s when encouraging yourself takes place. In the bible David had to encourage his own self.  There might not always be somebody there for you to talk to because that’s when God is trying to gain your attention and get you to talk to him and spend some time with him. Then you might say, well I have prayed to God and asked him to help me with this situation and it just keeps getting worse.

I am tired of worrying about it and being stressed about it. But the one thing we got to remember is that when you ask God for something we have to make sure we are in right standing with God to receive what we have asked for. You may need a light bill paid or your rent paid and you say Lord I have prayed but nothing is coming through. While you are praying and worrying, God is asking you when you DID have money and were living on top of the world were you still talking and praying to me then. Did you spend time with me? Did you give in the church offering like you should have? In order for God to bless us we must first bless him.

We must come into the church house expecting something. You can’t just come to church just to say you came. You must come in ready to Praise and Worship God. When the praise is going on do you just sit there and say I wish he or she would sit down, or how many more songs is the praise team going to sing. That’s when God is giving you a chance to talk to him and mediate on him. Sitting in church with a sour look on your face and watching the clock is not helping to get God’s attention but is helping you get the devils attention. That’s exactly what the devil wants is for you not to even spend 3 hours on Sunday with God because we all know that’s the only time some of us even have time for God and we leaving early then or going to the bathroom 3 and 4 times.

Even when your sky’s are grey you must praise God so when he takes away those dark clouds you will still have the same praise you had when your sky’s were gray. I know” in one of the from the pastors desk” Pastor stated that only some people praise God when their circumstances are good. But we must remember to praise God when they are bad in expectation of them turning out for our good. Don’t lose your praise or joy because of what you are going through. Praise confuses the enemy. As you face challenges in life, beware of thoughts that say, I can’t do this it’s just too hard. Don’t let your mind give up! Satan knows that if he can defeat you in your mind, he can defeat you in your experience.

You can be sure that wherever God leads you, he is able to keep you. And people that know your story might say how in the world is she or he praising God after all they have been through. Your test and trails come to make you strong and have a stronger faith in God. The more you praise the more blessings will come your way. The more you pray the more blessing will come your way.  If you have God in your heart when test and trails come you can look down at the devil and say, “I WILL over come this.”