Maturity…

When I was a college student, we always knew the difference between a freshman and an upperclassmen.

It wasn’t necessarily from their clothes, their speech, or any other superficial aspect.

Simply put, it was how they treated their college experience.

This is not a blanket statement, but many times, freshmen would not see the need to study past what was required. They didn’t really hang around the department, and they measured how well they did something by the applause of their peers, and not the wisdom of their professors.

They had the title of a “student”, but not always the heart posture of one.

Then there was the upperclassmen/graduating seniors.

There was this work ethic that wasn’t always about grades, but a true passion to understand and grow comfortable in that knowledge.

Seniors stay late hours in the lab, working on projects for class and projects for personal satisfaction.

At some point in their journey, the upperclassmen got a revelation that they don’t need to just pass a class, they actually need the class for their career.

They realized just how much they didn’t know, and how much there was to learn even after college was over.

I remember, as a Graduating senior, not just listening intentionally in my classes, but going to my teachers other classes and listening in on the lectures during my free period.

How does this relate to us?

As son’s we can, at times, have two different heart postures.

One of knowing it all, and one of a scholar.

The truth of the matter is, if we knew all there was to know about God, The Gospel, and even our Sonship we could just float up to heaven!

But we don’t. I always say the difference between a Son and a Mature Son is the heart posture to be a phenomenal student.

A Mature Son is always going to be more confident; better yet “Godfident.”

A Mature Son gets the opportunity to walk free, even if they don’t understand all the “ins and outs” of that freedom yet.

Why?

The bible say’s, “lean not on your own understanding.”

Maturity say’s, “I don’t need to understand all the ‘ins and outs’ RIGHT NOW in order to walk this out, because my confidence is not in what I said, but in what HE said.

My Confidence is not in my own ability to uphold it, it’s in HIS!

As you grow in the understanding of something, it grows more alive and more powerful on the inside of you!

But is was true and you could walk in it the day the Father declared it.

A phenomenal student, has a great ability to follow the leading of the teacher.

Maturity in the Kingdom starts with following HIM.

Dear, Called One…..

When I first accepted my 5 fold office as a Prophet, I was midway through college.

I ignored this truth for a while. I tried to talk myself out of this truth for months.

Then after many back and forth conversations with the Lord, I finally gave God a yes.

But here is the thing, when I gave God a yes I expected fireworks, I thought all the prophetic people in the world were going to pick up on it, and give me direction for this path.

Not so!

In fact, the whole ordeal was quite secretive!

I remember going to various church services and conferences, feeling like I had this bomb-like secret sitting on the inside of me.

I remember prophets prophesying around me, but never to me.

Or if I did receive a word, It was never concerning that!

My leaders had not yet affirmed me; it was just this thing that only God and I discussed for a minute.

So, ready for some truth?

Just because I gave God a yes didn’t mean I was truly convinced, myself.

Just because I gave God a yes didn’t mean I was ready to go public.

Just because I gave God a yes didn’t mean I wasn’t still afraid of it.

Just because I gave God a yes didn’t mean I was willing to obey God, no matter the cost.

Just because I gave God a yes didn’t mean I was walking in the character and the humility needed to sustain the potential magnitude of a gifting.

I learned this much later, but giving God a yes in the beginning was giving me access to go into hiding.

I needed to be prepared, refined, and poured into privately.

I needed the affirmation and the voice of God to be enough before I was introduced to the public.

Being publicly recognized had tests attached to it that I simply was not ready for at the time.

The more I sat with God in the secret place, and just allowed Him to teach me the prophetic from the place of sonship, the less afraid I became, and the more honored and grateful I had become.

Eventually, WHEN GOD WAS READY, I was seen and affirmed by my leaders, and little by little it started to be revealed to others.

There were so many moments my gift wasn’t able to be prostituted because of the privacy of the secret place.

So, let me encourage you — I’m sure there are many things God has spoken and revealed, that your leaders or the general public has not picked up on yet.

I want to tell you, it just may not be time.

Allow this season to build confidence and endurance on the inside of you.

You are what He says you are, even if everyone can’t see it yet.

Daddy God….

This past weekend I drove to Atlanta, Ga with my husband and 2 year old daughter for my mother’s installation service.

If any of you have ever had kids you are aware of the toddler years, they can be unique and require your full attention as a parent.

My toddler did not sleep the entire drive down, not to mention she was coming in contact with some good ole HOT LANTA SUN!

Not happy is in understatement, about halfway through the service my little one cried hard fighting sleep and her discomfort.

We ended up having to remove her from the service and take her to the back office to try and sooth and lull her to sleep.

It was so funny, in the midst of her crying and fighting, I felt this overwhelming feeling of gratefulness.

I was so grateful to be this little girl’s mommy, and so blessed that I wasn’t just her mama in title, but her mama in deed.

She was crying and I was so grateful for the opportunity to rock her to sleep.

Mind you my husband and I have done this a million times, yet that day I was overwhelmingly aware, of the honor of it all and just how much I enjoyed being able to just be there for her.

Fast forward to the next morning, and as I’m journaling I remembered that moment and that feeling.

Very swiftly I immediately knew.. this is How God feels concerning us.

I’m confident, He loves the title of ABBA.

But I know He loves being able to do the dad stuff even more.

How many time has God wanted to heal, save, teach, impart, or wanted to stop the business of our world to remind us that we are deeply loved and chosen by him?

How many times have we let him?

I believe what made that moment with my daughter so special was that she let me be her mommy and love on her in her sad state.

But SHE ALLOWED ME.

She wasn’t tussling with me.

Children are so okay with the fact that they need there parents.

Its not overly complicated, they are just free.

The bible says, “Whom the son sets free is free indeed.”- John 8:36

I believe we as sons and daughter’s are so free, we can without perfectionism, fear, or overly defining everything…Just need and enjoy our Father.

We are empowered to accept that fact that we are deeply and uniquely loved based upon the simple fact that we belong to him.

We are free to enjoy the depths of that, without limits!

I believe we have the ability to truly taste and see that the Lord is good.

When we just let Him be good.

Truth….

In the book of Esther, King Ahasuerus had all the power and held all the cards.

If he made a decree and sealed it with his signet ring it was completely irreversible.

Whether the people of the nation liked it, understood it, or could be potentially hurt by it didn’t really matter. No one and nothing could change it.

Not necessarily because of the power of the ink or even the power of the ring. But because of the authority of the king.

This aspect of the story always reminds me of the power and authority of our King!

When the Lord makes a decree in our lives; when he speaks something over us that doesn’t match our feelings or our lifestyle choices, its easy to wonder if God is quite seeing right.

“Do you not see I’m struggling?”

“Do you not see that nobody believes?”

“No one has ever prophesied this over me.”

“It doesn’t necessarily feel true!”

One thing I have learned over the years about truth, is that it doesn’t need a baby sitter.

No matter what happens, who says or doesn’t not say what, when the king spoke the decree over our story, He also hard wired that truth with the endurance to stand in the midst of flaky feelings, lies, and lack of affirmation.

Our confidence in our truth is not rooted in anything man made, but the authority behind our Kings signet ring!

He spoke it, that alone makes it irreversible.

As long as He is on the throne, this truth can and is alive in our story.

God didn’t call you to understand, figure out, or make sense of what He spoke over you.

He called you to simply to stand in it by the grace of God.

FOUND…..

Maybe six years ago, I was in what I believed at the time was the worse season of my life.

I had just ended an incredibly abusive relationship, and I was heading to my parents home for the holidays. I didn’t have a car back then, so I would hop on the train 1 way, from Alabama to Atlanta, Ga.

I was so grateful for this break, I wanted to get away from the emotional anguish of what I was just beginning to walk through. Its so funny, how we believe leaving the state or sometimes even the country can make us believe the inward problem is going to just go away because we are in a different area code. I absolutely believe in the power of a change of scenery to help you deal. But a new location doesn’t necessarily help you avoid.

Anyway, when I got to the train station, there was this woman who literally kept following me around. She would sit next to me, kept talking to me, and I was aware she really wanted to connect.

The thing is this, I was freshly broken! I was running from my issues and I was ashamed of the ways I had fallen in this season. I flat out did not feel worthy of my assignment , yet my assignment kept finding me!

This was no different. This woman followed me onto the train and even lied to one of the conductors and said that we were sisters so she could sit next to me.

I felt that inward burning that this woman saw who I was and who I was called to be in the spirit.

She new I had what she needed, even if she didn’t have the language for what she was seeing. I knew this was an assignment from the Lord! I could feel it, and all that ran through my mind was, “NO! I AM NOT WORTHY!!!!”

I’m hurting too!!!

But Holy Spirit very lovingly kept nudging me to engage with this woman.

I put down that book that I was only reading to avoid my assignment, and turned to this woman and asked her how she was doing.

She began to literally vomit her story to me.

This woman was currently working as an escort. She was traveling for “work.” She told me about how she grew up in an old school church, but never truly had the gospel explained to her and never truly knew about Jesus.

For the next 2 hours we talked, we laughed, we cried, and in the midst of my brokenness, I preached the healing gospel of Jesus Christ to her!

In the midst of ministering, I felt the healing hand of the Lord on me!

I needed that conversation just as much as she did.

In between testimonies and scriptures I came to this daunting reality that whatever I was walking though, right now, I still have more peace and grace than an unbeliever. I knew (like I knew my last name) that I was going to heal and overcome because I had JESUS!

I was in a place where I could give that good news to someone else, who was in a seemingly darker place than I ever was.

That made me grateful!

Who God has called an ordained you to be can’t be erased by your imperfection!

In the midst of the overwhelming feeling of unworthiness, the Lord was still singing His song over me.

His promises were still Yes and Amen… and He was still using ME!!!!!!

I led this woman to Christ that day, and I left her encounter full of hope!

Not because I was deserving, but because I wasn’t!

That took all the pressure off of me, as I put all of my chips in His basket!

I can heal now. I can overcome now. I can believe for better…because I have the Source of all of that in my life.

I have Jesus.

Resistance….

Back in high school, the first day of 10th grade, I encountered this girl that I already knew from middle school years before.

She was an outright BULLY!

While I was sitting and waiting for the teacher to come in and start class, she stood up and literally called me out by name!

She yelled across the room, challenging me to a fight right then and there.

Confused I asked, ” Why do you want to fight?”

Her response: Because you’re a ” B”

Me: Why am I that?

Her : Just Because!

Her reasoning didn’t make much sense to me, so I did something that I at the time had no idea was spiritual warfare.

I turned my back to her and started to chat with this new guy and 2 friends.

She got louder and louder!

Yelling at me from across the room, calling me the B word over and over!

Trying to get me to get up and prove myself by fighting her.

I just continued to laugh and talk with my friends.

Eventually other people in the class, got annoyed with her and started yelling at her to ” SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!”

and eventually she stopped….

This without knowledge or salvation at the time was the word of God in action.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you” – James 4:7

The Bible also says in Phillippians 4:8 ” Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.”

When we ” Submit to God” it is healthy and holy to meditate on scripture! To think on the rhema and the logos is always healthy and fruitful.

But in the story, I believe Phillippians 4 was being put into action as well, I put my focus on what was good and lovely. Friends, happy conversation, things that brought me joy and excitement.

But the BIG thing was I took my mind off of a pending worry and or threat,

I think one of the biggest issues we have is, we desire to solve the problem then move on.

So as long as the enemy makes you feel like there is still something to worry about.

YOU MUST WORRY!

But in reality, when we allow God in and submit to him solving the problem now become his jurisdiction.

Isn’t that sweet!!!!!!

We get to cast our care and move on, and let God fight our battles, Let God bring revelation, and let God be God in our situation.

God dealt with my bully while I enjoyed His goodness!

I have to say, that resistance takes an authentic measure of faith!

Not faith in we ourselves, faith in the one we are submitting to.

The heavier the resistance, the heavier the submission!

The more we submit, the stronger our faith!

A walk of Faith…

” Faith is what allows you to move forward, not fear”- Samantha Grimes

I think one of the greatest lies I seem to run into often, is fear masquerading itself as wisdom.

I have definitely been here before, I’m confident we all have!

Understand, protecting your peace, waiting on the green light from the Holy Spirt, setting boundaries, and being intentional is ALL REAL!

Its also very necessary!

But then there is this daunting reality, we serve a God that will LEAD US INTO THE WILDERNESS sometimes.

The one place you don’t want to go, you have spoken to a lot of mountains but this is the one you seemingly keep avoiding.

That mountain may very well be the one He is deeply interested in helping you face.

the Bible says in Proverbs 28:1 ” The wicked flee when no one pursues ,but the righteous are as bold as a lion”

Read that a few times. The wicked are “runners.” They run even when they have no one chasing them. They carry the fear attached to a wicked life.

But the righteous never have to be afraid! We have the beautiful opportunity to be bold and courageous even if we feel THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE.

This is not because of who we are, but because the undefeated champion is living on the inside.

We may have knowledge of this already, but really meditate on that truth.

How differently would we approach life if we truly believed , and got in constant agreement with this?

How many times would we have stepped out or stepped on the devils head vs running away?

I think our prayer is simple.

Lord, let this scripture become alive in us, empower us to walk instead of run!

Blessings

Samantha Grimes

Cookies & Milk….

What do you usually associate with cookies?

For me, its’s MILK!

What do you usually associate with Ice cream?

For me, its CAKE!

What do you usually associate with forgiveness?

No, this is not a trick question!

For many of us, when we think about forgiveness, it is a little cut and dry.

I either forgive you or I don’t.

Its not that this statement isnt truth. But just like cookies and milk or ice-cream and cake, it’s not that they can’t stand and be delicious on their own, but the other makes it easier to enjoy!

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:32:

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”

You don’t have to be saved very long to know that there is NOTHING pointless in the Bible.

This scripture is talking about forgiveness!

But there is this BIG SHINY world dead in the middle that serves as a precursor to the word forgiveness.

It’s the word, “Compassion”

To me, this goes with forgiveness like water goes with wet!

Sometimes, in our efforts to forgive, this is the ingredient that seems to be missing.

I once heard a testimony by Amanda Ferguson.

She shared a testimony of being molested as a girl.

The woman interviewing asked, “How do you feel about that now?”

Amanda said, “When I think about the situation or even pray about the situation, I see him as a little baby!

A baby is innocent and you immediately see Gods love for them.

Hearing this testimony made me think about the compassion of God — through her genuine desire to forgive her abuser.

The Lord gave her a perspective that opened the door to compassion, and compassion opened the door to authentic forgiveness.

All in all, it’s never about what they did to you.

It’s about allowing God to give you His eyes so you may see it the way a son should.

And if you can get God’s perspective, you can absolutely adopt Gods heart and forgive.

Commitment…..

In any relationship if its friendship, or romantic there is this unspoken agreement.

When you enter a relationship, there is this automatic expectation that the other party is agreeing to be faithful.

That faithfulness is expressed in living a life that is now in consideration of them.

Often times, when you hear the word “faithful” we go immediately to another word; “infidelity.”

As long as Im not having sex, flirting, or engaging in any type of physical activity with another, Then I. AM. FAITHFUL.

But much like health and wellness, faithfulness is not just about what you’re not doing, but also about what you ARE doing.

One day in my devotion time with the Lord, He cornered me about my faithfulness to Him.

No, I wasn’t serving any other gods — He was truly LORD OF MY LIFE.

However, He showed me how unfaithful I had been in being WITH him daily.

In a romantic relationship, if we only talk once a week, only chat about one person’s needs and desires then move on, not consider the other party in any way, is that even a “relationship?”

The same rings true about God. Have I been faithful to Him in spending time with Him daily?

Have I included him, or even considered Him in my daily life choices?

Was He a Geanie or Santa Clause?

Or was He the One I claimed to love?

In the book of Amos, God is talking to Israel about their lack of faithfulness.

He starts of with (Amos 3:2) “I have been intimate with you alone.”

Expressing how faithful He had been to them.

Then, He follows it up with (Amos 3:3) “ How can two people walk together, without agreeing on the direction.”

Teaching that true faithfulness in a relationship can’t be one sided. God can be consistently faithful to us, but if we are not faithful in return, then what are we doing?

I found myself praying a prayer that I now pray often.

Daddy, teach me faithfulness to you.

Help me be faithful!

The reality is, we don’t have the ability to walk out true faithfulness in any relationship without Christ.

He is the one who empowers us, guides, and convicts us to do the things we did when love was new and fresh.

I encourage you to ask the Lord for help today.

Redeemed…..

“Blessed is the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today”- Ruth 4:14

So, if you have ever been to college you understand out of the gate, you are paying money for an education.

You do this either through loans given to you by the government based upon how much or how little your parents income is, or you could pay for school out of pocket. Either way, in order to access your Pin #’s and passcodes needed to register for classes, your balance must be payed in full.

Almost every semester of college I witnessed a miracle!!!!

No matter how much I tried to pre- calculate, “maybe I could take one less class and put it off for the next semester”, I would sit down with the Finacial aid counselor and she would say, “Ms. Bernard (my maiden name), you owe $$$$$$$$$$$$ this amount. Your balance would need to be paid before you can access you pin for class registration.

Y’all, every semester I thought to myself, “This is it!!!! This is the year I’m forced to DROP OUT!!!!!

I would love to tell you all that I had this amazing, unshakable faith at this point in my life; that I walked confident and knew Gos was an 11th hour God!

But, NOPE!

I would be in my head preparing my, “yea I had to take a semester off speech.”

Emotional!

Walking up and down the campus thinking about all the things I was going to miss out on…..Yall it would be so DRAMATIC!

So, any who, God is faithful, even when we dont think He is. Literally every semester at the last minute (like 1-2 days before registration closed), somehow, the money would come — usually from an unexpected source.

Or, I would receive an uncanny amount of favor from the finacial aid representative, and be able to register for classes.

This story, however, looks very different in the sprit realm.

As believers, we literally are walking out our freedom in Christ simply because of the redemption of Christ.

Simply put, Jesus’, through His blood payed the ultimate tuition bill that gave us access to our pin # in Him.

What does that look like?

Imagine a Christmas tree.

Under it is peace, joy, freedom, deliverance, breakthrough, security, rest etc. All of these gifts have your name on them.

You just came into the knowledge that everything has been payed for.

No Strings attached!!!!

You have been officially given access to go and get what belongs to you.

Well, thats what the blood of Jesus has done for us!

For many, it’s not that you don’t believe this is true. It’s just a matter of you actually getting up and going to get them.

Just like in school, I was given my PIN number. (the access), but I still had to go to the computer and use that PIN number to get to what I needed to graduate.

When the revelation of redemption truly comes alive on the inside of us, it’s no longer a question if you can have peace, or rest, or joy.

We simply tap into the presence of God and grab what already has our name on it.

So.

Go. Get. Your. Stuff