3 Keys For Automatic Success

 Moving forward requires three things: preparation, dedication and revelation. To succeed, you must depend upon God for direction daily. - Thomas Dexter Jakes

If there's anything that guarantees you automatic success in life, it's these three things. You may not naturally have joy and peace all the time, but if anything will make you successful on your journey and get you back to them it's your preparation, dedication, and revelation.

Who's Dream Are You Living? 

God created each of us and gave us purpose. Within purpose, there are dreams, goals, and aspirations. It's easy to see the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and think that's something to aspire to, but is it right for you? The blueprint and the details for our unique situations are directly tied to our Divine revelation.

The main way for us to know what's right for us as individuals is to acknowledge and connect with the Most High Creator. 

Daily time spent to pray and communicate with God increases the chances that we'll do that which were created for. It's in the diligence.

Prayer is the best thing to do regularly, it also builds a habit of consistency in other areas. The things that drive us, what we go after, and why we go after them will affect what we produce as well as the outcome we receive.

"Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."(Psa. 127.1)

When we intentionally seek God first and go about our day in the spirit we reap all that comes with it. The manifestation of our divine dream is promising. Often we fail to realize that the spiritual world is even more real than the physical one we see.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6.33) 

"All these things" include abundance on a greater level than we can imagine, even greater than the selfish desires we may envision. God's dream for us is better than any dream we could ever imagine by ourselves, and when we stand behind that vision it becomes the motivating force that empowers and keeps pushing us to achieve them. 

It's faith that makes our "in the meantime" moments so powerful.

Christ said: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10.10) yes this likely includes financial wealth, but having emotional intelligence, peace, and personal G.P.S for our soul is a type of bag that's unmatched.

It's putting God first that helps us stay motivated. Living The dream is not the one the world has in mind. It's a vision by the Master of creation. There's no road map to life, but there is a guide to living "the real dream". Scripture which is God breathed helps the chosen tap into our destiny, daily. 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer. 29.11)

Heavy On The "Thank You God"

In 2020, There was a meme circulating around the internet that said "Heavy on The Thank You GOD" My immediate thought was: "I know that's right!"

In 2020 we were in a worldwide pandemic. So many lives were lost, and to have survived that, and be alive and blessed today, the weight of the "thank you GOD" is immeasurable. 

At the start of this year various sources stated there would be a total blackout at some point in the year, many people thought it would be earlier around April, however, Prophetess Tiphani Montgomery has recently been sharing content to warn God's people to start preparing. 

While biblically the world is only set to get worse, remember that El Gibor always wins!

 While we watch, pray and prepare . . . may we also praise:

"O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: For His mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: For His mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: For His mercy endureth for ever. To Him who alone doeth great wonders: For His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that by wisdom made the heavens: For His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters: For His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that made great lights: For His mercy endureth for ever: The sun to rule by day: For His mercy endureth for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night: For His mercy endureth for ever." ~ Psalm 136: 1-9

 

Here's some motivational music to aid in your praise today:  

Who Is The Secret Of The Lord With? | Psalm 25:14

"The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant."

- Psalm 25:14

GOD Delights In You

You will be fed 🌿

As believers, we have spiritual food. 

GOD's word gives us vitality. 

The Word says obeying GOD literally gives "life to our bones and health to our body"*

The food we get isn’t just talking about natural food, it's talking about GOD being the Provider of everything we need.

Our Heavenly Father waters us. We are the planted and the "branches" of The Lord. By streams of still, but living waters we get the peace and energy we need for divine productivity.

We've heard "delight yourself in The Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart."

We should also note: our praise and obedience to The Most High is a delight to Him✨️

As royal priests, when we bring our praise and worship before GOD we become fruitful and fed, then it spreads:

". . . And all nations will call you blessed: for you will be a delightsome land, says The Lord of hosts."

Let The Redeemed Come

If The Lord is our GOD, Leader, King and True Shepard, but we're not seeking Him to lead, not even paying attention to what he's doing, but instead doing our own thing, this makes for a dysfunctional relationship.

Fully belonging to the Redeemer, means fully following Him.

Do you claim The Lord as your redeemer? More importantly do you know Him to be that?

If so, then you're invited to come. Come into His presence with thanksgiving, come making a joyful noise, come with true worship, with your *whole heart in it. 

Let us seek, worship, and pray to The Lord *in Spirit and in truth. 

As His children, as His beloved and redeemed let's make sure we're listening for His voice.

May we seek and obey The Divine Shepard we belong to*, today and everyday.

Don't hide, don't be afraid of the power of GOD, come in.

*Jeremiah 29:13, John 4:24, John 10:27

Your Vindication Is From The Lord

No weapon formed against you shall prevail. It won't be effective. It won't get through if you're a servant of The Lord. 

The enemy may try to smash you, but when you lift up your voice to The Lord . . . protection happens, safety happens. 

This is the heritage of the servants of The Lord.

Our tongues are lifted up against every tongue that rises against us in judgement, when our heart is turned toward The Lord.

Being surrendered to The Lord is a place that's sacred. It's impenetrable. 

As we hide in the shadow of GOD's wings. * The Lord can put words in our mouths to speak against the enemy. Even targeted, specific and intentional words that speak to our specific situation. 

The promise here in this scripture doesn't end with "No weapon formed will prosper". It also says "Vindication is from The Lord." If The Lord lifts up His voice and declares a word, it is. That's it. 

As The Lord declares a thing, we as His servants can declare it. We should declare it. We can speak what we heard from GOD. We can speak what The Lord's word says.

Nothing can stand against anything that The Lord declares. It's up to us to be in service to The Lord.

* Psalm 17:8, Psalm 91:4

Delight Yourself In The Lord | Psalm 37:4

 

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. - Psalm 37:4

Hodaya - "Splendor of The Lord", Praise, Thanksgiving.

Today give The Lord a Hodaya Praise!!

GOD is worthy! All The Time The Lord is good.

As we praise our Resplendent GOD, we become resplendent.

Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow, Praise GOD who IS the blessing. Who is always with us.

Seek trust and praise The Lord!

Hear and be obedient to His will.

Those Who Look To The Lord Are Radiant | Psalm 34:5

 

Have some face time with The Lord today!

Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. - Psalm 34:5

The Hebrew word Paniym means: Face, Presence, Person. May The Lord cause His face to shine upon you!

May the presence of The Lord continually be with you. May you continually look to The Lord so your face can continue to shine and radiate with His brightness. 

May we look to The Lord, the "lifter of our heads" forever. 

Amen.

- - -

photo credit: Suad Kamardeen

GOD's Word Is Trustworthy

GOD's word is trustworthy! it's at the framework and foundation of the world and the universe.

If nothing else stands, GOD's word stands. Be encouraged to communicate with the creator today. The Lord has your best in mind, now and forevermore.

Peace,

April D. Byrd
@BOLDJournal

I Am Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

"You possessed my reins: you covered me in my mother's womb.  I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are your works; and that my soul knows well.

- Psalms 139:13‭-‬14

Strength In My Soul

This is the truth on so many levels. GOD is always there for us when we cry out. The strength that comes from the word and the relationship is incredible. An Incredible GOD deserves incredible praise.

Let The Redeemed Of The Lord Say So

If you've been redeemed. Say so!

One Thing That I Desire. . . *Marvin Sapp Voice*

I'm kinda ambitious . . . well very ambitious. As a result I'm always whether consciously sometimes even unconsciously trying to formulate a plan to get to that "next level" whatever that looks like in my head and in my own thoughts.

What I'm grateful for is that the more I go into the direction of GOD's leading, the unnecessary within the excess of bright ideas fall off easily. I woke up this morning and my brain was formulating it's own thoughts and opinions, but my spirit wasn't here for it.

In addition to the conviction to focus on what I actually need to be focused on at this moment, like the GOD ordained tasks I already need to be working on, my spirit rose up with a familiar declaration from scripture:

"One thing that I Desire of the LORD, (and) that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD . . . . . " (Psalm 27:4)

Although this isn't the full original verse, it's the Marvin Sapp version from his album "Diary Of A Psalmist". It's the one that came to mind.

Yes, I may have played the song and got up and danced a little bit. . . (lol). I Did, but in this I'm inspired to stay focused on the singular will of GOD and not my own thoughts.

Do you ever have thoughts and ideas that you think are good, but in essence they don't really serve you or your purpose? Hopefully, if you're like me and sometimes your bright ideas get the best of you, you can reference this psalm and consider GOD's will first. Consistent, productive focus is attainable. It's important to entertain what's worthy.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:5

 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. - Matthew 6:33

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Mississippi Put Prayer Back In School

"MISSISSIPPI NOW HAS PRAYER BACK IN IT'S SCHOOLS!!!" the post going viral across Facebook, however, the thing about this news is, IT'S A MAJOR VICTORY!! (smile) America in it's current state of affairs could definitely use a lot more divine guidance. Pledging allegiance to a flag representing states united under God is a definite plus!!

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. Psalm 33:12

Pray without Ceasing.

Mississippi lawmakers have passed legislation that would legalize student-led prayer in the state's public schools. Senate Bill 2633, which went to Gov. Phil Bryant March 6 for his signature, would also allow students to talk about their faith in the classroom and organize school Bible clubs, as well as pray at football games, graduation ceremonies, and during morning announcements.

Sponsors of the bill said that secular groups have intimidated and confused school administrators about the legality of religious expression in schools, and the law is meant to bring clarity. According to those on both sides of the issue, “Organized school prayer remains widespread in Mississippi, despite opponents’ efforts to curtail it,” reported the Associated Press. “In October, for example, the ACLU sent a letter to the Lincoln County school system demanding a halt to routine prayer at West Lincoln High School.”

The bill's proponents insist it will not force students to pray, but will enable them to do so voluntarily. But Bear Atwood, director of Mississippi's ACLU chapter, argued that students who do not wish to pray would still be a captive audience. Christianity Today quoted Atwood as saying that the new law could also lead to procedural issues and unwanted favoritism, such as with “school administrators selecting which students lead prayer in announcements or before a basketball game.”

One of the leaders in the campaign for school prayer over the past several years has been Republican State Rep. Mark Formby, who has introduced a school prayer bill every year since 2009. He said the measure is meant to dispel all confusion about what students can and cannot do in school relative to religious expression, including wearing religious-themed clothing, discussing their faith in the classroom, and voluntarily praying at school-sponsored events. “I'm not so much worried about what's allowed as what's disallowed,” Formby told Fox News. He added that he has had many conversations with parents concerned about the issue, and the bill is meant to clear the air. Formby explained that the measure “doesn't have to restore school prayer,” but it “will allow children, on a voluntary basis, to pray or not to pray.”

read more at: The New American
photo credits: the new american, the word network

Declaring God's Glory through Nature

Daylight Savings Time totally got me this year. Although I'm an early riser by nature, on Sunday, I drowsily awoke to the shock that I had overslept and wouldn't make it to church. Instead, I took my one year old daughter Zoe to a nearby park.

Pushing Zoe in her bright red stroller down a paved path, I stopped to show her the buds growing on the cherry blossom trees. In a few weeks, they'll open to much delight. But I was smiling early. The whole park had that whole early spring vibe. It had snowed a few days earlier and giant, glistening puddles were left behind, making the path alternately shimmery in the sun and brown from mud, The weather was nice enough to skip the heavy coats, but still cool enough to warrant layers. Spring- and Easter- is almost here.

Me and Zoe on Sunday, checking out the fuzzy buds.

Nice days spent outdoors bring to my mind various passages from the book of Psalms. David (and the other writers) saw reasons to praise God for creating the beauty found in nature. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

"How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small.
There the ships go to and fro,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied with good things.
When you hide your face,
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.
When you send your Spirit,
    they are created,    and you renew the face of the ground."

Psalm 104:24-30

"When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord,    how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Psalm 8:3-9

 That last passage makes me think of one of my favorite Praise and Worship songs, "I Am A Friend of God" by Israel Houghton.

I missed church Sunday, but not God. Do you have any favorite nature Scriptures? Or praise songs that deal with nature? Share in the comments!