Day 40 – To Be Continued….

June 9th, 2016   •   no comments   

Wow, we have reached Day 40. It has been an experience and an adventure; for some a roller coaster ride of emotions or smooth sailing; it has given some focus and new ideas. For me it has been good.

401It really does not end today. The foundation has been laid. Affirmations have been committed to memory; scriptures have been lifted and are lifting and most importantly: God loves up on us as only God can, but now, hopefully you are aware.

Look around you and embrace your life; Release any faults and/or fears that you find in it and Love Your Life; Express Gratitude, Appreciate every aspect of it and Rejoice that this is God in You.

402.jpgYou are not a broken vessel in need of fixing in human eyes. You are, instead, a Vessel of Honor created and molded by the creative genius, the master of all things, God who created each and every one of us uniquely with His DNA within us. You are releasing, peeling, removing all those things that have not served you in the promises that God has made to you. WHAT? ” Do you not know you are the temple of the Holy Ghost?” 1 Cor 6:19. You are a joint heir with Jesus Christ and that is something you can deposit and withdraw from in the bank of life!

Continue to Affirm YOU!:
I AM happy.
I AM abundant.
I AM at peace.
I AM healthy.
I AM loved.
I AM healthy.
I AM respected.
I AM successful.
I AM confident.
I AM positive.

This is your journey. When we know, we do better – we have spent 40 days together and now walk in Joy because our journey is To Be Continued!.

–Rev. Jacki Rooths

Day 39 – Pray

June 8th, 2016   •   no comments   

What a joy it is today. We have been working on ourselves inside out. We have found that we must first love ourselves before we can love others. We can care, be concerned, but truly until we experience self-love, the triggers, barriers that we have will be lifted and we then, will be able to provide that AGAPE love for our sisters and brothers.

As we love ourselves, we begin to see people with different eyes – without judgments just as Christ sees us. We are peaceful in time of trouble, we take action to help preserve life, and we empower and make disciples. We do that now, but we are selective – not all is because of us not loving ourselves; it is cultural, social economic, gender based and community.

With the availability of social technology, we are allowed to peek into the lives of others in real time and use our value system to determine what their values should be.

39.jpgMy heart has been broken. I have seen as well as you, so many tragedies in just this decade than I have seen in my entire lifetime and I was born in the 50’s. Look at the world -Family on family crime, atrocities against children, anguish amongst races, anger and dissension within our Christian community, and God help us with other faith traditions.

Today, I ask you to designate this day as a day of Prayer for all people. Start within your circle, using no judgments; if there is someone you want to come to Jesus, please pray for them for just that; not that they have sinned and fallen short as we all have, not because they have hurt you, but because you earnestly want them to experience the gifts and blessings that God has for them as reported and promised in Jeremiah 29 (MSG):

“This is GOD’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “

After those prayers move out of your circle and pray. Pray when you see trash on the street that we learn to love and care for our planet; pray as you are in traffic and you see people around you; Pray today like you have never prayed before and watch God – watch God!

Rev. Jacki

Day 38 – Given that God is God

June 7th, 2016   •   no comments   

Given that God is God – God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, Omnipotence, truth and omniscience.

Today’s focus is “Omniscience” – God possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn. God has never learned and cannot learn.” Omniscience means all-knowing. God knows everything, and His knowledge is infinite. It is impossible to hide anything from God.

38.jpgMy pray has been throughout these writing that I touch just one. Funny, I have been the one touched. God knows everything about us, even those things that we brush aside, that we store up, those things that we have forgotten and most importantly God know our future, our gifts and our dreams.

I have dreams that were and some still are buried. In many aspects of my life, I settled for less than the blessings that God had purposed for my life. I did some things, but many, I did not. I got use to being complacent. Please be mindful, complacently is not really comfortable because there will always be an unmet need and a feeling of “want to but can’t”. It is the thing that keeps up from opening and examining those dreams and instead feeling all kinds of ways from depression to rage.

Last night I was given a new chance for change, actually I was changed. The way I had previously viewed a person – let me be real – judged a person was swept apart, broken into pieces, shattered and I repented right then. I was so amazed to know that in my own selfish head and with my thoughts, I was in a prison that I built from my triggers, from my thoughts, my insecurities, fears and just my neediness.

Yes, neediness – to be right, to explain, to make determinations, to humanize God to go along with my thoughts. God is ever present and God’s Omniscience did not allow me to die in my winter, but to give me strength to grow and bud, sprout and flower.

I pray for you today, my friend that you and I begin to view those whom we have judged with new eyes and then use those eyes to remove our judgments upon ourselves.

Take one deferred or buried dream and examine it today. Write it out and make it plain. Begin to visualize that dream and meditate on it. Create action steps. Remember that we are our Sister’s Keeper and do not be afraid to ask for help – we are living stones.

Come to Him [the risen Lord] as to a living Stone which men rejected and threw away, but which is choice and precious in the sight of God. You [believers], like living stones, are [a]being built up into a spiritual house for a holy and dedicated priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture:

“BEHOLD, I AM LAYING IN ZION A CHOSEN STONE, A PRECIOUS (honored) CORNERSTONE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] WILL NEVER BE DISAPPOINTED [in his expectations].” 1 Peter 2:4-6 (AMP)

Rev. Jacki

Day 37 – Fresh Start Monday

June 6th, 2016   •   no comments   

I am raw and wide open today. Anyone else like that? I have stepped over the threshold and I will not turn back.

361What does that mean – where I have placed a period [.], I am now committed to “being continued”. Whatever is comfortable, I am now willing to shake up and shake loose, and I am working hard on turning anxiety into excitement. With those changes comes emotions. I am filled with expectation of what is possible.

I have no clue how I am going to be moving forward, but I am going to trust God – and this is how it is going to look:

362.jpgPraying, reading and committing to God’s word with intimacy – I want scripture to be real; That my friends is the logical, methodical me. However, the rest of my facets, are going to be white knuckling, walking the floor, being quite, releasing tears, staring into space, fighting the elevator music that the enemy slips in, talking aloud and screaming, begging God, pain from growth, remembering I am not running anything, trying to quit, placing and the removing the periods. You get the picture (smile).
And guess what, I am still filled with expectation of what is possible.

Today, I will begin to add this to my daily pray and unbelief: Lord, help me in my unbelief! I know that you are here and you lead me and guide me.

What will you do today?

Rev. Jacki

 

Day 36 – Aww Shucks

June 5th, 2016   •   no comments   

Aww shucks now Day 36 and the tapes started playing. Anyone else had that experience lately?
This scripture is so important during this journey and we use it all the time, BUT God. I am going to give you two versions today because both are so incredibly powerful that it is needed.

1 John 4:4 (KJV) Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:4-6 (MSG)

4-6 My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.

36.jpg

Understand the trigger can be anything and it can manifest any way. You can be alert and vigilant, tracking your every move, and the tapes will start to play in the background and suggestions can become reality. As women, I do hope you can relate to this.

Yesterday, I decided to weigh myself and why? I can go months without doing that. Let see, I only just got back in action with working out and eating what is right for my body this week and already blood sugar and blood pressure are in check, swelling (inflammation) is null and void. So I weigh and eek no change.

I thought I processed it but I did not and emotional eating [EGO] was the agenda, except there is a different outcome than usual:

1. I went to yoga with intent of visiting a restaurant that sells sushi – now nothing is wrong with veggie sushi, but I had already justified in my head that I was going to get something fried. Mind you, I was out of control and unaware of the tape that was playing. Went to go, and I couldn’t find it – It has not moved; It is not a new town, it is in the same shopping center, but I did not see it. Further, after I did not see it, I did not turn and go look for it. But I was not done.

2. Then decided to go buy some potato wedges as I passed a store on the way home, because the elevator music that we really don’t pay attention to was playing, saying you need something. Paid for them, took them to dress them and they were lukewarm and not appetizing, so I returned them; At the same time, bought a cup of coffee and got in the car, took a sip and thought, your sugar and blood pressure are great – this will throw them off, so out it went.

CAUTION: There are old tapes that have previous behaviors embedded in the mind and they are astute in how to play in your mind to render you helpless. Think on that – we have done things and wondered why.

BUT GOD, I had prayed and live with daily, this affirmation: I will not dig up what I planted in faith, because Greater is He that is within me. God is in me, God has me and God will keep me in perfect peace!

It is laid out in God’s word for us: Eph 2:4-10
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

I went home – mouth had an acid taste from the coffee. I was safe in my home with the food I purchased to prepare for this evening, which had nothing to do with those two places and guess what I was not hungry when I got home.

Curative: Pray, be mindful of the emotional things that pull my triggers and use my clothes from here on out to determine my changes – weigh when I go to the doctor, which will be in July and keep working. I have to shut the tapes down. Blessing to you.

What curatives are you going to put in place? God bless you. Have a wonderful communion Sunday and give it to God.

Rev. Jacki

Day 35 – A Day of Celebration and Gratitude!

June 4th, 2016   •   no comments   

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the transition of Muhammad Ali, who graced himself with the title ” The Greatest”.

351.jpgHis journey was one of the most colorful tapestries of life that this world has ever seen. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville Ky during the Jim Crow era, American Hero when he won the 1960 Olympics and continued to fight and win 6 times as a professional. And then quickly villianized in 1967 when he converted to Islam, became an conscientious objector and refused to go to Vietnam, stripped of his boxing title, convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison.

Was he a broken man? shamed or disgraced? No, by no means. He stood for his convictions; He used his anger and turned it into strengths – strength of character to encourage and empower the world to grow, to think on their own, to become ” The Greatest” and then he once again becomes the world’s Hero.

352.jpgIn 2009, his wife read an essay of his personal philosophy of life, which is the focus this morning and for our time together:
“I never thought of the possibility of failing, only of the fame and glory I was going to get when I won,” Ali wrote. “I could see it. I could almost feel it. When I proclaimed that I was the greatest of all time, I believed in myself, and I still do.”

In spite of his personal triumphs, trials, tribulations, regrets and victories, he remain steadfast in believing in himself and his faith tradition.

Within you is that flame, that light of greatness. You are God’s daughter, no longer bound by the limitations that we often feel are placed on us by others, but most importantly by ourselves.

Take today and Celebrate the life of this man and express Gratitude to God for you. I celebrate you, my sisters. When I am with you, there is so much beauty and energy that you infuse me with. You bring me life; Today bring you life and BELIEVE in you. No more dreams deferred – Yes, these bones are alive!

Rev. Jacki

Day 34 – My Lovely Daughter

June 3rd, 2016   •   no comments   

Day 34

My Lovely Daughter,

We have been together for such a long time. I knew you long before. I have seen you grow in so many ways. I have seen your pain, your joys, your starts and your stops. I have seen times when you have been a victim and celebrated you as a victor.

341.jpgI am proud of you and I love you for your very being. You are my joy, you are my smile, and you are my strength. You would not be here today had you not invested and been invested in. Your family, your friends, mentors, colleagues, and even those who have done unthinkable things, they are all part of your victory and should be thanked as well as celebrated.

You have never been alone, I have been with you like the pictures that we have seen in the footprints – ours are bit different – you see there are times when there were just my foot prints, I carried you; times when we walked side by side; times when there were groups of footprints, which were happy joyful times, when all was good and perfect and then very painful times, where you did not faint and have not died. Then there are times, when you walked ahead in another direction, away from me or you just stood still thinking you were shutting all out but I stood just a call away.

342.jpgThis is our journey, it is our love story, it is our beginning and it is never ending. I loved you first; it has been continuous, contiguous and it is a complete love. I know you have searched in others for love, that fairy tale image of love, where there are always wonderful music and no problems. I felt you heart break, as did mine for you and I offered me as solace. I saw you seek love in all types of things, place and people and sent my helpers to surround you to keep you. I saw you doubt yourself and felt unlovable. Those thoughts were deception, designed to steal, kill and destroy your very essence, your soul and that I would not allow – I always found a way to give you light as I collected your tears.

343.jpgNow I see you on this Spirit Woman journey and you are learning finally what I have known. It is not easy and you have work ahead of you, because my voice is not the only voice you still hear, but you are embracing change and that is the very first step. Fear not my love, you are mine, I love you and you are my Vessel of Honor. You are taking the step to fall in love with your face, your body, your mind and your soul. You will see the love, our deep friendship, and understand that my love is longstanding.

God

 

Day 33 – Love Others as You Love Yourself

June 2nd, 2016   •   no comments   

Love Others as You Love Yourself. Reflection. This is such a powerful moment for us to catch our breathe and breath.

How did that make you feel? Elated, anxious, angry, confused, excited, happy, joyful or even sad.

First, let’s have a moment – we are taught that it is selfish to think of ourselves especially as women – we are wombs of life, whether we bear children or not -we are expected to give care above all things.

331.jpgI have heard that when a woman takes care of her self, terms such as narcissistic, selfish, prideful, conceited are attached to her and yes, those people do exist. But many times a person who loves themselves are none of those things, they practice self care, they don’t get caught up in drama, they mind their business, they don’t complain and actually they are excellent in guarding their tongues. They value themselves and subsequently they value all others.

It is not to say that life has been a crystal stair for them; by no means NO. It has been filled with sorrows, disappointments, pain but somehow, someway they have been able to obtain a peace that exceeds understanding – they are anchored and I will say in their relationship with the creator of them. I say that because it is universal – it transcends all faith traditions, circumstances and even in cultures where women are not treated well; it is in the Social Service offices, or even in prisons. It is not the one who is the loudest or the most seen, it is the woman, who holds her countenance with movements of a ballerina, grace and beauty, no matter what her size, age, race or circumstance.

332.jpgThere are women in the Bible who exude confidence – obviously, we think of Deborah – she was fierce, amazing, wife, mother, judge I applaud her and of course; Vashti, regal, beautiful and made a decision to forego her comforts and was banished – confident and loving of herself; We recognize Priscilla and Tryphena and Tryphos – women of means who followed and supported Jesus. These are woman who took a stand, but what about those women in the bible, who through their trials and tribulations also show us with their connection to our source, they too achieved Love of self to give Love to others – Manoah’s wife – Samson’s mother; Rizpah (Saul’s concubine) she sacrificed everything even death by standing until her sons and their cousins were given a proper burial; Jarius’s Daughter, Sara, Leah, Esther, the woman at the well, just to name a few and all of the unnamed women who have helped shape life.

333.jpgYou, my sister are one of those women who have helped shape life. Today, count the ways that you love yourself. Tape on your mirror, “I am in love with me.” say it throughout the day for at least 500 times ( yup)! This may prove to be difficult and I understand, but it is not conceited.

If your paper is blank or you find it difficult to say, perhaps the following will give you the shove to think about you differently:

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. [write something on that paper because the Devil does not get any victory]

1 John 4:16

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. [ you have confessed your sins, received salvation; you believe in God, now believe God]

1 John 4:19

We love because he first loved us [ you are worthy of love and let it begin within]

Mark 12:29-31 (MSG)

Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.” [Do you love others?]

When is the last time that you hugged yourself and gave you a kiss of love – Try it!!

Rev Jacki

Day 32 – Winding Down

June 1st, 2016   •   no comments   

Good Day! Wow, we have come a ways and now we are winding down. We have discussed our relationships with parts of ourselves, with others and with God. In that we have dealt with the mind and the soul.

Today, we are going to go forward and discuss our body – our Temples, our Vessels of Honor.

I don’t know about any of you, but when I got active in church, I gained weight. Was it that I thought being ‘Holy’ was enough, did I get lazy because I was always at bible study or on my knees ( really not true, just an example)- what was the cause?

Okay, let me unpack this a bit – so I stopped clubbing, didn’t drink much, and eventually let that go, we do not eat at bible study
( but I betcha, if food was served, the church might be full 🙂 ), So what was it.321.jpg

The church has been said to be a hospital – where sick people come to be healed; we bring all of our stuff with us – remember God’s Witness Protection Program? And to be frankly honest, we keep it, we stuff, and we add new stuff, because now we are in a body of believers who can and have affected us and not always in a positive way.

We meet ourselves in the people whom we encounter- the self that we don’t care for within us, and we take that home and feed it and we get sick, and we get tired and we hurt, and we have pain and…. whatever the reason, emphasis is not as a whole is placed on Temple Maintenance, being Godly Stewards over our bodies.

322.jpgI feel that this is such a sensitive issue. Clergy does not always address this because it might offend. Frankly as clergy, it will require a change within some of us as well, because we must be the change that we want to see and preach about. It is so easy to say, “you need to fellowship among believers, you need to tithe, but let a preacher tell you that you need to lose/gain weight, eat better, don’t eat any more chocolate and we will no longer serve any fried food or sweets at the church dinners,” then all hell is going to break loose, so we dance around it and say in a very Holy ethereal voice ” You know your Temple is the Temple of the Holy Ghost” and leave it with that.

On this first day of June, think about your body, then about your body systems and how they are functioning, think about the blood that Jesus shed and His declaration that He is within us. Is Jesus’ blood able to flow through each body system, respiratory, digestive, circulatory, etc freely – has those triggers prohibited complete healing so that the SON shines brightly within? Is Jesus comfortable in your body? Are you? Transparent – I am not comfortable in mine at this time.

Today remember this:

323.jpgPray, talk to God and asked Him for His comfort, which He gives, freely. You may still be in pain, go back over these past 31 days for comfort.

Understand that our flesh has defeated us so many times, but God’s strength never runs out. So borrow His. Today, ask God for guidance on anything that is going on within your temple from an ache to disease and lean on Him for ” For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” ( Matt 11:30 NLT)
Picture it – the yoke, the shackle that the enemy attacks us with is weighted down, we cannot hold our heads up, we constantly bend our shoulders,to the point where we almost crawl and slither and we are in pain. Choose today – not tomorrow or later – TODAY!

God will do these things:

Show us how to do with Him what we can not do alone.
Help us to disengage the self-limiting thinking in our heads.
Help us to find the strength to keep going when we feel like giving up on ourselves and feel there is no hope .

This is your permanent and unshakable identity: You are God’s beloved. Matthew 3:17 – “We are the beloved sons and daughters of God just as Jesus is the Beloved Son” (Henri Nouwen)

Psalm 16:11

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Rev. Jacki