By: LaTrice Ryan
LaTrice Ryan Ministries

​Last week, I stayed in several Hilton brand hotels. I usually return my room key at check out. I guess I was rushing when I left one city and I overlooked returning the key. When I arrived at my new hotel, as always I placed my room key in my bag. When I got to the door of my new room, I accidentally pulled out my old key to open my new door. 

That's when God gave me the revelation....

You cannot open new doors using old keys!!!! 

Insanity for me was trying to tackle new things with old approaches. I had to learn the hard way that when God allows me to walk into a new place, the new place may require me to challenge myself. We remain limited, stuck, and lackadaisical behind old doors simply because we do not want to face the challenge of change. Change can be intimidating. Change can be unpredictable. However, when we trust God during the change, He will make it worth our while. Isaiah 43:18-19 reads, "“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:18-19‬ ‭KJVA‬‬

The children of Israel were in Babylonian exile. God releases a word of redemption and release through the prophet Isaiah. God is telling them, " I know you have been exiled in captivity for over 70 years now. You maybe institutionalize or you may feel forgotten about. This time when I release you do not remember the former things. Don't even think about using your old keys in your new place because where I am taking you the old keys won't work. I am doing a NEW thing right now and you don't even know it!"

Beloved may I encourage you as the word of The Lord encouraged the children of Israel? 

You are on the edge of a new season.  This new season will require new strategies, new methods, new modalities, and new networks. God is stretching you in this new season. Which is why putting new wine in old wine skins won't work. Your old door cannot accommodate your new season. The Holy Spirit is releasing you to walk fully in your new season. You have been content with the old ways long enough. Throw away your old keys; they won't work in your new doors. I decree in the name of Jesus, you will never walk through that old door again. BEHOLD, God is doing a new thing; now it shall spring forth!! 

By: Dr. Naim Collins

 
"Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will SEND a FAMINE on the land, not a famine of BREAD, nor a thirst for WATER, but of HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD...they shall run to and fro to SEEK the WORD of the LORD, but they shall not FIND IT (Amos 8:11-12)"
 
Many believers in the body especially prophetic people go through seasons where it seems as if the heavens are shut up over them. When they pray, the heavens are like brass, the earth is like iron, and there prayers are playing pin-pong between heaven and earth. There is no outpouring of fresh revelation and insights from the realm of God. When this happens, it is not a bad thing. In fact, it is the Father repositioning you, which is necessary for His people. I believe it is to cause a NEW hunger and a NEW thirst for NEW REVELATIONS. It’s a sign that God desires to put a NEW SEEK down within you to want more of His direction, wisdom, insight, foresight and hindsight. I believe there is a cry within the hearts of the prophets and apostles for the NEW!!! However, when there is a complacency in preaching and teaching heavily from books in lieu of seeking fresh words, prophetic insights and revelations from heaven, then God will send a famine upon them to cause not a hunger for bread (doctrines from the flesh), nor a thirst for water (another man's revelation from the spirit), but of HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD. There MUST be an insatiable hunger and thirst to receive active prophetic words from the Lord. People have gotten comfortable with the words from their political leaders, church leaders, leaders over their nations and etc but more IMPORTANTLY WHERE IS THE WORDS OF THE LORD. God is raising up prophets, prophetic voices, prophetic churches, prophetic ministries, prophetic cultures and a prophetic generation who will release and prophesy the words of the Lord when God sends them in times of prophetic relief. Kingdom Prophets are ARISING in the nations of the world.
 
God promised us that His prophetic spirit will come upon ALL flesh and there will be a prophetic generation (Joel 2:28-32 & Acts 2:17-18). As I was praying, the Spirit of God said, “I am raising up a prophetic generation and My people shall NOT only be a kingdom of priests”. He is raising up a KINGDOM OF PROPHETS. We all will speak words from the Lord to all nations. This movement will not happen through an elitist group of prophets, but through the corporate man, the Church. God is raising up a Kingdom of prophetic voices who will minister the heart, mind, intent and counsel of the Lord to the nations of this world. For surely the nation will know that God STILL SPEAKS!! God is sending His prophets apostolically to nations where there is NO WORD FROM THE LORD!!! For surely it will be at the word of the prophets, even as the Lord spoke to Ahab through Elijah. God will send an Elijah type prophetic ministry who has prayed earnestly to God to release them to prophesy to the kings of the earth. When God shuts the mouth of the prophets, there will be seasons of prophetic drought or famine. HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD O NATIONS OF THE EARTH. God wants to bless you and establish His word in the soil of your earth in order to prosper you. 
 
Now prophetic droughts and famines are not intended to kill but to SHARPEN YOUR HEARING AFTER CLEARER WORDS FROM HEAVEN. In season of famine, God typically raises up PROPHETS AND PROPHETIC VOICES. I believe prophetically that God is sharpening the ear of the prophets in this hour. Those who feel like the heavens are shut up and God is not SPEAKING. God is SPEAKING, but what God is having a problem with  prophets and prophetic voice who are NOT HEARING. For every season there is a RHEMA or clear words that God wants to utter out of heaven to His servants the prophets. He has words that He was to birth in the ear of His prophetic church but God has to send (apostolically) a famine not of bread or of water but of HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD. I believe God is using this famine for some in the body to realign your ear to stir your hearts to SEEK God like never before. Seasons are changing and there needs to be an INCLINATION OF HEARING in order to hear words that is for specific seasons.
 
Some can change their season when they make a conscious decision to stop wandering and set their ear on hearing what God wants to speak in their hearing. No more aimless seeking. Target your hearing so that God can began to speak again in your season. Those who are prophet junkies are those who demonstrates a lack of hearing God for themselves prophetically. God wants to break the spirit of a wanderer off of you and know that your seek have to be after Him. AIM YOUR HEARING TOWARDS HEAVEN AND WAIT FOR AN OUTPOUR OF THE WORD OF THE LORD. Seasons of prophetic famine is to stir within you a NEW HUNGER & THIRST AFTER NEW WORDS DIRECTLY OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD. Understand that God declared EVERYONE (not ONLY your apostle) who asks, seeks and knocks in prayer to God will receive, find and things are opened to them  Luke 11:9.  People of prayer are those who receives from heaven, discoveries new revelations and insights from God and walk under an OPEN heaven.
 
​

 LET IT GO

While I was visiting my nieces and nephews, we decided to have a family movie night and the first movie chosen was the Disney award winning movie, “Frozen”. Disney introduced a character named Elsa, who was isolated first by her parents and then she isolated herself. Elsa was locked in a room and hidden as a young child because of her unique power to freeze things. She learned how to hide and run instead of learning how to control her power and operate effectively in her gift. However, Elsa could not hide herself for long, because she soon inherited the queen-ship of her town. Her worst nightmare came true and her powers were exposed to the town. As a result, the town ostracized her and sought to kill her because of her uniqueness. Yet, Elsa was able to cause a snowstorm in the town and flee away from the adversaries momentarily. She fled, hid, and sung the award winning original song “Let It Go”. The song embodies Elsa’s struggle to hid from us, hold her powers in, and finally letting go embracing all that she is.

As I listened to Elsa, I realized that she settled and masked her whole life because of the opinions of her parents, fear of the opinions of others, and lack of understanding her uniqueness and the purpose of her gift. Just like Elsa, many of us have spent our lives running, ducking, and hiding so people won’t see your peculiar gifts. Some of us have held back, settled for less, and wore masks to shield from the opinions of others as well as our personal opinions that rose from past experiences.

STOP SETTLING FOR LESS

God never intended to bless and favor you so that you can settle for less and conceal your gifts. Let go of every naysayer that spoke against you, every personal opinion that tricks you out of fully being you, and every lie that has been forced on you due to societal views. In this season, it is time to stop settling for anything less than your full potential. The two things we must realize to stop settling are:
 

1. Recognize who you are
2. Recognize your resources

 
The “I AM” is apart of you

Elsa powers were so strong as a child that she could have killed someone on accident. To protect her she isolated and placed in a room, then she was discovered as a queen, and drawn out of a snowstorm. Elsa’s story reminded me of Moses, who was supposed to be killed at death because of his gender. Yet, he was isolated with his mother for three months and placed in the river to be kept as a child. Moses was rescued and kept by the Pharaoh’s daughter, but he too had to flee because people knew he was a murderer. Moses wanted to lay low and remain hidden, but God called him to be a prophet. Moses had excuses and worried about the opinions of others as well as held onto many lies about his ability to fulfill the task. But in Exodus 3:14   it reads, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” “I AM has sent you”. The "I AM" is God who has blessed you with power, purpose, and gifts. Today the "I AM" is still working in the same capacity as he was working in Moses. The same I AM that was with Moses and sent Moses is the same I AM that has given you your unique gifts. He is with you and he has sent you to fully operate in your potential.

Today we have been blessed to have the spirit of the “I AM” inside of us. In Ezekiel 36: 26 – 27, the Lord says, “I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways”. Therefore, the “I AM” trust our bodies to be the residence of his holy spirit and he trusts us to be a representation of him, the “I AM” in the natural. Your salvation and as a representative of God are sufficient reasons not to settle. Because we are representatives of God, we are equipped to move mountains, cast out demons, defeat strongholds, persevere through any obstacle, and commit ourselves to his will in the face of adversity. You must stop shrinking less than your possibility, and recognize who you are in order to walk into your true divine potential.

THE TOOLS ARE AROUND YOU, OPEN YOUR EYES

Consider the eye infection Conjunctivitis also known as “Pinkeye” that causes the eye to turn red, swell, and forms pus due to viruses, bacteria, and exposure to wind and allergies. Spiritual pinkeye forms from life situations such as confusion, heartaches and financial hardships, which hinders your foresight into the future. The redness, itchiness, swelling, and pus in Moses eyes came from his past actions and speech. He did not believe he could accomplish the purpose God spoke to him and was willing to settle for less. The pinkeye infection caused Moses to beg for a partner, not realizing nor trusting that God already knew what he needed and everything was already aligned. God told Moses that Aaron was already on his way to meet him and would help him prophecy (Ex 4:14).

Similar to Moses, some of us are walking around with spiritual pinkeye because we have been faced with some situations that stirred up thick winds and affected our thoughts, emotions, and actions drastically. Over the days, the months, and even the years the redness keeps getting darker, the swelling becomes thicker, and the pus builds up and we become immune to walking around with a set of infected eyes. We are walking around contagious and do not realize the resources that are in front of us. Some of us have heard a divine assignment that we are suppose to tap into but we feel worthless because of our past so we are settling. God has thrown every sign in front of us and yet we are ignoring the signs and staying in the box of self-defeat. Some of us are guilty of wanting things to go our way and will settle for less if it doesn’t.

​Today we have to choose not to settle for anything less than God’s best whether it is at home, at church, at work, in the community, over seas, in the garden, or on the football field. It’s time out for hiding who you are because of fear, self-doubt, and the naysayers. It’s time out for being lackadaisical or using circumstances as a means to stop you from your God given purpose. Open your mind, open your heart, open your eyes, recognize the "I AM" is in you and recognize the resources are already lined up for you. This week, I encourage you to release everything that has been stopping and hindering you to reach your full potential. Seek to recognize who you are and claim the resources that are surrounding you. 

​

By: Na-Jean S. Parker
NJSPARKER MINISTRIES

Are you Dreaming BIG Enough?
 
If you ask a small child what they want to be when they grow up, you will often get answers of high achievement such as “doctor, lawyer, firefighter, singer, actor, actress, model, President of the United States, dancer, teacher etc. You very rarely hear a child aim for low goals. I believe the way we dreamed as a child, is the way God intends for us to dream as adults, but somehow the trials, tribulations and adverse circumstances we face in life seem to dim our dreams and lower our goals and aspirations. When we sleep at night we cannot control what we dream. Why then do we try to control our dreams while we are awake? Just because we have experienced tough times in life does not give a sufficient  reason to cease your  dreams. Nor is it the time to become comfortable and complacent with dreaming small dreams. Your dreams should be LARGER than what you feel you can accomplish on your own. Your dreams should be so BIG they require Gods help and assistance in order to become reality.
 
Hardships will come but they come so that we will lean on God to pull us through. Whenever we go through we must believe that God has an intended plan and purpose for everything we face. According to Romans 8:28 we can be sure that everything that happens will work together for the good God has intended for our lives.
 
Are you dreaming BIG Enough?
 In order to find out, ask yourself these questions:
 
    What am I daring to believe God for in this season?
    Does my dream challenge me or make me comfortable.
     Has God shown me the great plans he has for my future?
     Have I embraced the BIG dreams he has placed in my heart?
     Am I afraid to speak out loud the desires of my heart?
     Am I willing to chase after large goals or enlarge my vision?
     What do I hope for and are my hopes lessened by my own limitations?
 
 
In order to reach an intended goal we have to first be able to envision ourselves achieving it. Our minds are so powerful but oftentimes they are our biggest hindrance. Whatever we believe we can do or have is what we will be able to do or receive. In order to dream BIG we must truly believe that God has great plans for our lives and that he wants the best for us.
 
 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.
 
Believe in God’s great plans for you! He desires to bless you far beyond your comprehension. He desires to bless you far beyond your comprehension. His extraordinary plans for your life is designed to bring him glory! Ephesians 3:20 (ESV) says it this way “ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”

God has greatness in store for you! Don't be afraid to dream BIG and live out your Destiny!!!
 
 
Say this prayer: Father, thank you so much for having great plans for me. I have faith in you and trust the plans you have for my life. Order my steps and direct my path towards the greatness you have for me. Allow me to embrace the BIG dreams you have laid in my heart. Help me to overcome any fears that I might have and allow me to dream BIG and  live out my Destiny according to your BIG PLANS. I thank you in advance for the manifestation. I embrace your desires for me as my own. Use me to make an impact on this world and for your kingdom. I pray my life will bring you glory. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen.

 
“ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)
 
 
Are YOU dreaming BIG enough?

By: Ebony Horton Davis

“Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (NLT)

I started a meeting a while back with a discussion about the importance of minding our own business. Many people gave me looks of concern as if I was specifically talking about them. I wasn’t expecting the response, but I understood why. The phrase, “Mind your own business,” often isn’t mentioned in good terms. Either someone is telling us to stay out of his or her life happenings, or we’re barking the statement out to someone else who doesn’t know how to keep our names out of his or her mouth. However, my reasoning for mentioning the statement on this particular discussion was quite different. While “mind your business” is usually an outward expression, minding our own business is actually an internal, intricate action that means something to God.
​
When God tells us to mind our own business and live a quiet life in 1Thessalonians 4:11, he promises in verse 12 that living this kind of life causes people to “respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.” This lets us know that minding our own business isn’t just about staying out of other people’s concerns. Instead, minding our own business is about taking care of all of which God has entrusted us. It’s about focusing on our relationship with Him, and taking care of our families, living life to the fullest with the gifts He has given us, and embracing every opportunity to be grateful for all things. He wants us to focus on all that is “pure” and “lovely” and “right” (Philippians 4:8).

Let me encourage you to look at what you’re “minding” today. What crosses your mind the most in a 24-hour period? What have you wasted valuable time talking about or trying to work through that could have better been served tending to something of your own? What time have you sacrificed (that you’ll never get back) for someone else, and was it worth it?
​
God loved us so much that He sent His son Jesus to die for our sins (John 3:16), and so that we might have the life that we’re blessed with having (John 10:10). Live life as if it is a blessing, and enjoy your own life with the right motives. Trust God to take care of the business of others, and to only allow you to become involved in others’ business when it is He Himself who has led you to do so.

 When I first answered my call to walk into the ministry as a minister of the gospel, there were various people who told me, “I was too young to minister the gospel along with other things. Those that I thought were supporters or my friends began to scale down. I became discouraged and began to believe the lie that I was too young to minister the gospel. Actually, I made it a secret and it was almost as if I was ashamed to be called a minister of the gospel because of people opinions. Not only that, I was ready to lay down my purpose to please others even though I knew without a doubt what I was called to do. The discouragement turned into anger and hurt because I was good enough to serve and lead in every other way, but I was not good enough to carry God’s word and minister his gospel.

 I really had to change my perception of what was going on because I have previously told many of my friends that they were not too young to be a minister of the gospel. Yet, I was afraid to walk into my calling and was willing to use other people’s opinion as an excuse to wait longer. I share this experience to encourage those who were told that they were too young to do something or feel that they are too young. I’m here to encourage those that have placed their lives on hold and have remained stagnant because of their age. I write this to tell someone that your age is not a determining factor for your potential or your ability to make a significant impact. Additionally, God’s does not discriminate, but he uses everyone and every age.

1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity”. This scripture shows that God expects the same thing out of the young that he does for the middle age and above believers. He expects the young to mature in him and strive to be an example by using self-control, acting in love, trusting in God, and striving to live a clean life.  God uses the young and the old, and expects all his believers to be an example for others.

​1 Timothy 4:14 reads, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you.  In this scripture, it does not exclude the young, but it gives direct directions not to neglect the spiritual gifts you have received.  A lot of you do not need anyone to lay hands on you because your purpose and destiny was already prophesied and shown to you through Jesus Christ himself, but age and the opinions of others are being used as a crutch. God wants you to have the courage despite your age to do what he has called you to do. God wants you to know that he has equipped you with every tool that is needed to fulfill your destiny. For Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. This scripture is for the young as well as the old in every area of life.
 
In this season, God is calling out the young to be kingdom trendsetters, who will not allow the opinions of others to detour you from your divine assignment.  This might be at church, in the community, or on a job, but this is the time to release all that is within you and live fully in your potential. 

By: Douglas Hippe

Recently,I was watching the Steven Spielberg produced mini series, Into the West, and the last episode had a section that described the Ghost Dance Cult of the late 1800’s. This was a religious movement that was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. By this time the Indians were broken in every way and were confined to reservations. Their territory and rights were continually changing for the worst. While fighting starvation and hopelessness, they had probably come to terms with the fact that, unless a miracle took place, their way of life and place in the world would never be the same. In one scene an older Indian is being asked about the Ghost Dance and he says, “Desperate people will find a way to hope.” This human need to place faith in external hope during hard times is universal and many examples exist.

This new religious idea started to spread based on Christian tenants and the ideology proclaimed the promises that Indians would one day rise up, life would be restored, and the white man would no longer be able to cause them pain. When I first heard these statements they didn’t sound much different from the message of Revelation.

The turn came as these teachings progressed and aspects such as the Ghost Shirts was emphasized. The Ghost Shirts were supposed to make the wearer invulnerable to bullets and emphasized getting revenge on the white man. What started as a message of hope became confused and compromised by individual and political agenda similar to the way some of Jesus’ followers may have interpreted his message of restoration to mean a reestablishment of Jewish political power and the end of Roman occupation.
 
In 1665 massacres in Poland and the treatment of European Jews left them feeling like it was the end times and the Messiah should come. Then a Turkish Jew named Sabbathai Sevi proclaimed he was the messiah. The people became intoxicated with hope. They believed they would leave for the Promised Land at any moment, so they did not attend to daily life and left their businesses closed. Because so many Jews were shop owners, the halt in commerce threatened the economy and the leaders of the Ottoman Empire arrested Sabbathai Sevi. He was given the choice of renouncing his claim as Messiah and converting to Islam or dying. He took a Muslim name and lived out his life on a government pension. To quote Abba Eban, “When the miracle that they were hoping in failed, there was nothing left but despair, which lead to spiritual desolation.
 
I write this because I feel that there are places in my own life where failed hopes have turned to despair and created areas of spiritual desolation. But the upside is I believe that God uses this process of destroying the things that we have added on to His promises, misinterpreted, or put false hope in like the "Ghost Shirts and Sabbathai Sevi’s". It’s a type of sifting that we need to go through because we are not even aware how deep our misconceptions of God and his ways are. 
If we have believed a misconception from the beginning, fully believed that the "Ghost Shirt" was part of God and his promises we will hold onto it in a passionately naive, blind faith. The only way for us to grow and learn the truth about God is to go through this process, and the spiritual desolation is actually just a transition period where the place that we held all of our spiritual beliefs is empty because a clearing out of the old religious system that we believed was the truth is taking place.
 
Its like the Jews and the Old Testament, they believed that this was God’s word to the point that they would kill to hold on to it. But they needed a period of spiritual desolation to lose faith in or let go of the old system to make way for the truth of what God is doing now, or what had always been and God is choosing to reveal now through Jesus and the new Covenant.
 
In the case of the European Jews the spiritual desolation created after the lost hope of Sabbathai Sevi, helped lead to a revival of Hassidism which included the beliefs that every man could approach God directly through prayer and worship, and through this communion with God, bring Him into the world. They didn’t completely arrive at the truth but the old religious system was replaced with one closer to the truth, because small amounts of change are all most people can handle at once.
 
So if you feel lost, hopeless, or in despair remember areas of spiritual desolation is just a part of growing. Don't be afraid to face the unfamiliar boldly and move closer to your destiny. As we go through life we are traveling to our destiny and the truth and we must remain hopeful. Corrie Ten Boom once said, “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off, you sit still and trust the engineer.” I come to tell someone to put hope in God, the engineer, stay on the train because you will get through the dark tunnels. In Romans 8:24-25 it reads, “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” We must believe that the engineer is working and the outcome will be greater than our past even when we can't see our way out.

By: Evangelist Aljenon Cooper
www.adlcministries.com


Some time ago, during my weekly prayer call the Lord spoke and told me to tell his people that this was a voice-activated season. He went on to say, "anything that we plan to acquire or obtain in this season, we would have to open our mouths, and decree and declare it. The bible supports this in Job 22:28: "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee". In Proverbs 18:21 it reads, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue". Jeremiah 1:12 tells us, "Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. Now, this does not include speaking things that are against the will of God. God is not going to give you somebody else's husband or wife (covetousness) and he is not going to kill your enemies because they have to stay alive to watch you be blessed (Psalm 23:5). It is God's word that he watches over to perform! 
 
Briefly, I want to use the feature, Siri that is utilized by Apple iPhone users. Siri is a built-in "intelligent assistant" that enables users to speak voice commands and help the user find things within the mobile device and its apps. However, in order for Siri to work properly a request has to be given! The user has to open his or her mouth and ask Siri for some type of help. Just like Siri, God is waiting for us to open up our mouths and give him the request to help us with our needs!
 
A prime example of this is in Mark 5, where a woman profusely discharged blood for 12 long years. This woman exhausted all of her resources going to doctors, who took the time to see her even though they knew they could not cure her. Due to the issues longevity, more issues occurred for this woman. I wasn't there, but from the story I can infer that this woman got tired of being sick, broken, and helpless. She finally decided to open her mouth and serve her issues an eviction notice. She declared, "If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be made whole." She opened her mouth and spoke it into existence.
 
Today, I come to encourage you to open your mouth and speak life into your situations. Regardless of the situation you may be in, you can talk your way out of it. Don't give birth to words of defeat. Your words are your thoughts, which becomes your actions and your reality. In this time you must speak the things that are aligned with God's perfect will for your life!  If you don't know what that is, say this prayer:
 
Father God, in the name of Jesus. I humbly approach your throne of grace, asking you to forgive me of all of my sins, wash and cleanse me in your precious blood. Give me clarity of thought. Help me, not to lean to my own understanding but to trust your will and plan for my life! Reveal to me and help me to understand your purpose and plan for my life. I totally submit my will and way to yours and ask that you would have your perfect way in my life. I thank you for hearing and answering me. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

IT’S IN THE TONGUE
Recently, two 16 year-old males shared an encounter they had with the school counselor regarding college. The guidance counselor told them that they should not try to attend a 4-year college, but should play it safe and attend a community college. The two boys left the office feeling down and defeated because they really wanted to attend a 4-year college. One wanted to give up on the track to college all together and the other was ready to settle for a community college even though that wasn’t their dream.
 
I stood there in silence for a moment witnessing two young males ready to give up on their dreams because of one individual. This one individual is an adult and her role is very important to students’ progression in life. Unfortunately, these two males are not the first who were ready to give up on their dreams because of something they were told.
 
Therefore, I want to focus on the scripture Proverbs 18:21, which reads, “the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit”.  Too many times, we say things to adolescents as well as others without thinking or placing our past experiences and unhealed pain on others. We don’t realize that we have the power to bring someone to life or cause death because of the things we speak to someone or against someone.
 
MAKE PRODUCTIVE AND EFFECTIVE DEPOSITS
 
After hearing this, I had to dig deeper into the boys’ grades. No they were not straight A students nor A/B honor roll, but their cumulative grade point average was above a 2.5. They were involved in sports as well as academic clubs at school and participated in a lot of different activates at church. They were well rounded and in my eyes still have the ability to get into a 4-year college if they wanted. I explained this to the young men and their hope was regained. They now had another motivation to work even harder than before.
 
It is imperative that we use our tongues to deposit productive and effective information that can uplift someone and change their life for the better. Today’s generation needs more people who will speak life into them. Positive, productive, and effective deposits are needed that will empower this generation to be all that they were born to be. I encourage you this week to speak with love and seek to make a productive and effective deposit to one adolescent you interact with. If this is the “lost” generation, it is our duty to speak life to them and help them find their way. Strive to be their navigation system.