Afraid to go to God

Yesterday as I was ministering to some young women in a youth detention center, the main thing I kept hearing these young women say was…

“I’m afraid to go to God, it’s been so long since I’ve talked to Him, and I’ve done so many things since then.”

More then anything I believe they were afraid of being rejected by God, they’ve done so many things and their families have rejected them, their friends have rejected them, and they’ve been rejected by society. After all of that they don’t want to be rejected by God also. They think He will be even more angry at them then everyone else was. Some of you might feel this way, or some of you might minister to people and encounter those who feel this way. Either way I have a word for you to take in for yourself, or to share with someone else…

“The one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me].”~ John 6:37

God wants us just as we are, and He will never reject us! He already sees us and what we’ve done and been involved in. Of course He doesn’t like it, but we are each His children, and more then what we’ve done wrong, His love for us is bigger then any of that. He desires for us to run into His arms just the way we are…

Luke 15:11-24
11Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

As you can see the son, left his father and did what he wanted to do. After he realized he was doing wrong he wanted to go back to his father, he still felt unworthy to do so because of what he had done, so he tried to come back as a servant. And look what happened, the father didn’t care what his son had done, because he loved him so much and he was happy that he had came home. He took his son in and restored him back to the place when he first left! His son came back to him as a servant, but the father restored him to a place of royalty.

I’m telling you all of this to encourage those of you that are afraid to come to God, and to encourage those who minister, to keep instilling in the lost that God desires for them to be back home, no matter when they have done, He will welcome them in with open arms. God bless!

Tracy Willey

Take time to soak in God

So many times when we spend our time with God we are praying and talking to God, or singing Him a song of praise and adoration, and those are all things that we should do, but we also need to take time to stop and listen to what He has to say. Sometimes we just talk too much. For example, what if you needed an answer to a question you had for someone, but you just kept talking and talking and talking, but never gave that person a chance to respond to you. It would be really hard for you to get the answer that you need wouldn’t it. God desires to give us the answers we are searching for; God desires to reveal the plans and purposed He has for us. God desires to spend time talking to us, and ministering to us, just as we do with others, but we must take time to STOP, and LISTEN. In Psalm 46:10 it says, “Be still and know that I am God.” He desires to be God in your life. He knows your beginning and He knows your end. He says in Jeremiah 29:11, “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.” He wants to reveal those plans to you but you have to listen. I am encouraging each of you to spend quiet time with God. To take time out of your busy schedules and put on some worship music, and sit without speaking before the Lord, show Him that you are there and you would like to spend time with Him and hear what He has to say. At first it might be hard for you to do, but I encourage you to keep doing it, even if you aren’t “feeling” anything, or “hearing” anything from God, just know that He is there with you, enveloping you with everything that He is, and in time you will be able to tune in to what He is saying to you. God bless!

Tracy Willey

In times of famine…

“Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness, To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” ~Psalm 33:18-19 (AMP)

Right now with our economy on a downward spiral, a lot of us have looked at the gas prices, the rise in food prices, the jobs that are being irradiated, etc., and some of us have started to fear what was going to happen with jobs, or how you are going to afford food for your family, or even how you are going to get from place to place because the gas prices are so high. Right now what we see surrounding our nation is lack and deficiency. But we have to remember as it says in the Word, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

I’m here to encourage you all that God has given you a promise! He said for those who fear him, which means to revere and worship Him with awe, and who wait for Him, and Hope in Him, it is those that will be delivered from death and will be kept alive in famine, which is defined in Webster’s 1828 as…A general want of provisions sufficient for the inhabitants of a country or besieged place.

God’s people know that as long as you trust in the Word of God, and know about your covenant rights, no matter what happens in the world around you, God has promised that He will deliver you and keep you alive in these scarce times. So worry not about what you see and only focus on the Word and the promises of God. God bless!!

Tracy Willey

Starving in the midst of plenty...

Have you ever wished about 10:00 in the morning that you hadn’t eaten that doughnut for breakfast, but something a little more nourishing instead? We believers can be filled up with the wrong things in our hearts as well. There can be a disparity between our outward profession and inward confession which produces pretense, moralism, a lot of saying the right things, smiling the right smiles, but inward starvation. Unfortunately the starving often rush to junk food, to satisfy the appetite. Many of us believers eat sweet rolls all morning and then are not ready to eat the banquet that is laid before us in worship and the Word.

We know something is wrong. We believe in the gospel, but we don’t live by it. there is not much contagious about us. We have glimpses of the spiritual life, but we’re actually feeling our way through a fog, catching only occasional shimmers of light as the sun breaks through. Most of the time we feel anxious and discouraged. Our lives are stagnant. The ancients called it sloth. They did not mean laziness but spiritual dejection…an inward deep laziness of our souls where the things of God cannot get a hold. What grips those of us with lazy hearts are the things of the world, but not God. This is actually a very old problem. It goes all the way back to the Garden and to Eve when she saw that the fruit was good for food (which is lust of the flesh), delightful to look at (which is lust of the eyes), and desirable to make her wise (which is the pride of life).

Those three massive categories of imagination…capturing realities are there for us every day of our living. But we can change! Not all at once, but over time, as we do three things: first get honest with what truly is in our hearts without rationalizing or blame shifting; second remind ourselves of the gospel every day, that Jesus poured out His lifeblood to wash our hearts. Our sin made His death necessary; and third focus on the wonder and beauty of what God did in His plan of salvation for us and let it grip us with joy and thanksgiving. Meditate on the cross, not just for forgiveness but for strength, confidence, and the assurance of Christ’s victory.

The root of a transformed life is that we become able to warm ourselves at the fire of the love of Christ rather than having to steal love and acceptance from idols. Draw near to that fire today in honesty of confession and hunger for the Bread of Life that always satisfies. You will never go away hungry.

Tracy Willey

You were never designed to bear the burden of your own provision

My Pastor said something interesting today…

“You were never designed to bear the burden of your own provision.”

That really got into my Spirit! Isn’t that amazing! So why do so many of us think we have to toil to get what we need out of this life. Let’s go to Genesis 1… On the 1^st day God created light and darkness. On day 2 God made the sky. On the 3^rd day God created land, and vegetation to produce after its own kind. On the 4^th day God created the sun and the moon. On the 5^th day God created the fish and the birds and called them to multiply. Then on the 6^th day first God created animals and livestock and called them to multiply, and then He created man…

26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

As you can see from this passage God created everything man would ever need and placed it on the earth before He put man there. This is showing us that our provision is not based upon our work; our provision has already been provided to us by God and was put before us before we were ever born. Now don’t get me wrong this doesn’t mean we don’t have to work. Let’s go to Genesis 2:15...

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

This verse shows that God created us to work because He placed man in the Garden to work on it and take care of it. So we have to work, but we are not working for our provision, we are working to care for that place of employment, we are working there because it’s our assignment from God, just like working and keeping the garden was Adam’s assignment from God.

So I want each of you to really get this in your Spirit and break that “lack” mentality, or that “toiling” mentality because God has already provided you everything you need, all you have to do is change your mindset, and let God take care of you! God bless!!

Tracy Willey

Manifest...

For the last week I’ve been playing this song over and over again called “Manifest” by Jonathan Nelson. This song is amazing and has really gotten in my Spirit. Today the Holy Spirit moved me to share the lyrics with you all, but He told me to personalize it for you. As you read the lyrics I want you to receive what He is saying to you through this song. I really believe it is a word in due season. God is raising up people for such a time as this to do mighty things. It’s time to manifest everything God has placed on the inside of us! God bless!

Manifest…

Pregnant possibilities

Now birth anew

Travailing to obtain it

For it must come to pass

I decree it!

I declare it!

And call it in the Spirit!

To become what God’s designed you to be!

Your future

Your promises shall be fulfilled

Yes, you shall obtain it

For it must come to pass!

I decree it!

I declare it!

And call it in the Spirit!

Manifest!

Manifest!

Manifest!

Manifest!

Become what God’s designed you to be!

Tracy Willey

In the morning…

“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” ~Psalm 5:3

Many times when we wake up we are on a mission. We have a lot to do in a short period of time. We have to get ourselves ready for school or work, and some of you have to get the kids up, fed, dressed, and out the door. But as the Holy Spirit led me to this scripture I know God was saying something through His Word.

As you can see every morning the Psalmist spent time with God, he speaks to God, and he sends up his prayers and petitions and expects God to move. God is showing us through this scripture how important it is that we get up and we spend some time with him in the morning. I’m sure the Psalmist was tired sometimes, or busy with whatever he had to do for that day, but he took time every morning to spend with God. God is asking us to do the same. He wants to be the first one we speak to in the morning. He’s right there when we wake up saying, “Good morning my son/daughter,” but do we speak back to Him, or do we ignore Him because we have too much to do?

God knows that we are going out into the busy, hectic world each day, He desires for us to stop and spend time with Him before we step out into it, so that He can reveal some things to us that we need to know before hand. Maybe He’ll give you a word of encouragement for because something might come your way later that day. Maybe He’ll give you a word of wisdom because you will have to make an important decision that day. Whatever it may be God desires to conversate with you before you go out into the world.

Let’s use an analogy to show God’s desire to spend time with you…If you were/are married and you woke up in the morning beside your spouse and didn’t say anything to them because you were to busy or to tired how do you think that would make them feel? It is the same for God, He desires to spend that time with us right away, He is waiting to hear from us, and to speak to us.

I just wanted to encourage you all (and myself), tomorrow when you wake up say “Good morning Father! I love you Father! Thank you for this new day! What are we going to do today? Etc…” God wants me to tell each of you reading this, that as you do this you are going to see something new manifest, and He wanted me to give you this scripture in closing. God bless…

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”~ Revelations 22:13

Tracy Willey

Words...

Words are something we all throw around, we say this and we say that, but do we ever stop and think about what we are saying? And I’m not talking about cussing or saying something foul. I’m talking about in ever day situations do we really listen to ourselves, or even know sometimes what we are saying? This past Sunday we learned one such lesson. There is a word we all throw around pretty loosely because we think it means something that it really doesn’t. That word is “want”. When most people say the word “want” they think that it means “desire” but it doesn’t. If you study the Word, when the bible (King James version) uses the word “want” it does not mean desire. Some examples you can look up are…Deuteronomy 28:48, Judges 18:10, Psalm 23:1, Psalm 34:10, etc. In many of this passages it will say the word “no” or “not” before the word “want” letting you know that “want” is something that is not desirable. If you look up the definition of “want” in the 1828 Websters dictionary (which has the origins of the word, mostly as they pertain to the bible) you get the following definitions…

-Deficiency; defect; the absence of that which is necessary or useful;
-Need; necessity; the effect of deficiency.
-Poverty; penury; indigence.
-The state of not having.
-To fall short; not to contain or have.
-To be without.
-To fail; to be deficient; to be lacking.

I also went to a program called E-sword, and found the Hebrew and Greek definitions of “want”…
-a deficit; specifically poverty
-deficiency; hence impoverishment: – lack, need, penury, poor, poverty, want.
-poverty: – in want of.
-To lack; by implication to fail, want, lessen: be abated, bereave, decrease (cause to) fail, (have) lack, make lower, want.
-To fail; by implication to ware out, decay.
-Lack; hence destitution: poverty, want.
-Lacking; hence without: – destitute, fail, lack, have need, void, want.
-A primitive root; to cut (off, down or asunder); by implication to destroy or consume; specifically to covenant (that is, make an alliance or bargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces): – be chewed, be con- [feder-] ate, covenant, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hew (down), make a league ([covenant]), lose, perish, utterly, want.
-To be inferior, to fall short: come behind, be destitute, fall, lack, suffer need, (be in) want, be the worse.

As you can see all of these definitions have a negative connotation. Many of you might be saying WOW, I never looked at it that way, but I say that all the time. Don’t get down on yourself over it. It something we’ve all done, but from this point on we can change what we say. So I looked up the word “desire” to see what the actual meaning was, and this is what I found in Websters 1828…

-An emotion or excitement of the mind, directed to the attainment or possession of an object from which pleasure, sensual, intellectual or spiritual, is expected;
-To express a wish to obtain; to ask; to request; to petition.
-A prayer or request to obtain:
-The object of desire; that which is desired.
-Love; affection.
-To require.

In the Hebrew and Greek some of the definitions are…

-Stretching out after; a longing: – desire.
-To run after or over, that is, overflow
-A primitive root; to search out (by any method; specifically in worship or prayer); by implication to strive after: – ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for).
-To delight in: – beauty, greatly beloved, covet, delectable thing, (great) delight, desire, goodly, lust, (be) pleasant (thing), precious (thing).
-Longing: – desire, lust after, pleasure.
-To wish for: covet, (greatly) desire, be desirous, long, lust (after).
-To cling, that is, join (figuratively) to love, delight in;
-To inquire; by implication to request; by extension to demand: – ask (counsel, on), beg, borrow, lay to charge, consult, demand, desire, earnestly, enquire, + greet, obtain leave, lend, pray, request, require, salute, straitly, surely, wish.
-Desire, goodly, pleasant, precious.

This sounds more like it…”desire”. That’s what we are all really looking for. Just something to think about. Something that makes you go…Hmmm. So next time you are carrying on a conversation or you are in prayer, make sure you are saying what you mean, and you are meaning what you say. God bless!

Tracy Willey

Prayer and fasting…

“However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
~Matthew 17:21 NKJV

In life we all have things we go through, things we are believing for, or important decisions we have to make. I have an issue I’m dealing with right now, and I was seeking God on what I should do in the situation. The word “fast” dropped in my spirit, and then Matthew 17:21 came. I started thinking about it, then about 3 hours later a friend of mine was texting me and I was telling her a little about what was happening. She asked me if I had thought about fasting. This was confirmation of the Word I had been given earlier, so she offered to fast with me twice a week for this situation for however long we need to get this situation resolved. We also know as the scripture says we need to pray, so we send up prayers concerning the situation, and prayers of thanksgiving and praise, because we already know we have the victory, all while we go through the fast.

I’m sharing all of this with you because some of you might have situations or circumstances you are going through, big decisions you need to make, or you might need a breakthrough in an area of your life, this is one way the Holy Spirit might lead you to deal with the situation. I know sometimes when the thought to fast comes to us we brush it off because most of us are not going to honestly say we love to fast, but fasting can be that last push you need to get that thing moving. Remember the scripture says…this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. Also when you get moved to do a fast ask the Holy Spirit how and what He wants you to fast. It might be no food or drink, it might be a liquid fast, maybe he will have you fast sweets if that is something that you really love, maybe he will have you fast from television or the computer, it could be different things He asks you to do. Just make sure you hear from Him concerning it. God bless!!!

Tracy Willey