Power of Influence

Hello Friends, I hope you have gained some inspiration from the I've Got Power series of posts.  It is my prayer that we use these insights to enhance and generate a greater display of the Powers we have, not only for ourselves but to enhance and 'light up' the lives around us.

As we conclude this series,  I couldn't think of a more Powerful way to end than to talk about Influential Power. 

Influence is the power to cause changes without directly forcing them to happen.

Can you think of anyone that has been influential, affecting change in your life?

Would you like to exercise influential power?


Here are some key areas we can work on enhance our influence:

Openness:  Share personal experiences; be authentic; show empathy; genuinely care about others and seek out ways to be a blessing (check out link for inspiring article written on Blogs by Christian Women).  Openness in so many ways lead to relationship building as well as strengthening the ones we currently have.

Being influential is like adding salt to a meal you are cooking. Salt enhances and gives flavor, it awakens, preserves, it serves it's purpose. 

As Christians let us operate in our purpose as influencers for the Kingdom.

Matthew 5:13-16 (ICB)

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its salty taste, it cannot be made salty again. It is good for nothing. It must be thrown out for people to walk on.

¹⁴ “You are the light that gives light to the world. A city that is built on a hill cannot be hidden. 

 

¹⁵ And people don’t hide a light under a bowl. They put the light on a lampstand. Then the light shines for all the people in the house. 

 

¹⁶ In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do. Live so that they will praise your Father in heaven.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!  This will be my last post for a while.


God Bless, Love you All.
~Highly Favored

Power In Obedience

In the last I've Got Power post, we revealed the fact that our words have Power.

Today we want to focus on the Power of Obedience.

What emotions do you feel when you hear the word Obedience?

I confess that for me, being obedient (compliance with an order, request; or, submission to another's authority) is easy when:

I perceive the expected outcome to be pleasant or in my likeness,
There are no apparent risks involved,
I agree,
It makes sense to me,
Obedience will not compromise my own plans/agenda. 

1 Samuel 15:22-23(ICB)

But Samuel answered, “What pleases the Lord more:
burnt offerings and sacrifices or obedience?

It is better to obey God than to offer a sacrifice.
It is better to listen to God than to offer the fat of male sheep.

Refusing to obey is as bad as the sin of sorcery.Being stubborn is as bad as the sin of worshiping idols.

You have rejected the Lord’s command.
For this reason, he now rejects you as king.”

 

 

The first step in learning/training ourselves in Obedience starts with Obeying our parents irrespective of age.

 

 

Ephesians 6:1-3 (ICB)

 

Children, obey your parents the way the Lord wants.

This is the right thing to do. 

 

The command says, “Honor your father and mother.”

This is the first command that has a promise with it. 

 

The promise is:

“Then everything will be well with you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

 

The truth of the matter is, if we are unable to obey or Parents (compliance with an order/request; or, submission to another's authority) we cannot obey Christ. 

Note: *We are not required to obey orders/requests or submit to authority that are immoral and/or will conflict with our allegiance to our God.

The bible also advises us to obey our "Masters".  Since none of us reading this are slaves in the true meaning of the word. Let's interpret the term Slave used in the text below in terms of employee/employer relationship......

Ephesians 6:5-8 (ICB)

Slaves, obey your masters here on earth with fear and respect. And do that with a heart that is true, just as you obey Christ.  

 

 You must do more than obey your masters to please them only while they are watching you. You must obey them as you are obeying Christ. With all your heart you must do what God wants. 

 

Do your work, and be happy to do it.

Work as if you were serving the Lord, not as if you were serving only men.   Remember that the Lord will give a reward to everyone, slave or free, for doing good.

 

Note: *We are not required to obey orders/requests or submit to authority that are immoral and/or will conflict with our allegiance to our God.

Fnally, how can we truly submit and Obey the unseen God we believe in? What is the Power in our Obedience to God?

 

The answer is Faith. Faith requires believing and complying with God's order/request and Authority.

 

 

The accounts of great men in the bible that we read about like Moses, Noah, Abraham, Joseph amongst others activated their obedience through faith by doing exactly what God told them to do.  The Powerful rewards from God were evidenced as a result of their obedience.

 

 

"Obey God and Leave All the Consequences to Him" -Charles Stanley

 

Thank You

Thank you friends for your heartfelt condolences, prayers and hugs from my last post.  I felt the sincerity in your words of hope, encouragement and empathy.

I will be traveling to Jamaica week after next. I have mixed emotions that include excitement and expectation.  It's been about 10 years since the last time I went home. This would be the first time all of my Father's 5 daughters are together, we've met and or spent time together separately but never all together.  I wonder if he has any other children that the rest of us don't know about?  I guess we will find out.

I look forward to sharing my experience when I return.  I hope to capture some highlights for a future post on the 'Jamaican Funeral' as a topic for the Cultural Expressions feature; By the way, did you check out the most recent post in that category about Jamaican Mother's?

I'm not done with the I've Got POWER series.  I will not be distracted, I endeavor to stay on course and complete this empowering series as I believe God is taking us to greater heights.

Again, Heartfelt Thanks to All of You. Stay tuned....


Much Love,

Highly Favored

Daddy

Dear Daddy,

I've never spoken about you on my blog but circumstances has changed this.  I got  a call that you died yesterday afternoon.  It really didn't hit me till this morning, wondering if it is true so I called your number and it was confirmed.  I call my sister and she was crying, confirmed again.

Daddy, though our relationship has been strained these past several years, I'm so glad we had a heart to heart in the beginning of this year.  You cried and I reassured you the best I could. We didn't have a tight bond like I hear others talk about their fathers, However I am so honored to have known you and had the chance to inter act with you severally.

Daddy, I will never forget when I visited home several years ago. It was about 2003,  I was afraid to travel because of the terrible plane insidence of 9/11/2001. I remember my good friend Mr Milton praying with me and reciting the 23rd Psalm to me over the phone leading up to my trip.  I remember Mommy tellimg me when I get to the airport not to talk to anyone, don't allow anyone to assist me with my baggage etc for general safety reasons. So when I exited the Airport I helped myself and stood outside in the crowd looking out for you.  While standing there, a tall dark man in a bright blue shirt with flowers inprinted on it came directly towards me out of the crowd; he approached me and pointed in a direction and said " Si yuh fada there" I looked in the direction he was pointing to and lo and behold there you were in your vehicle just turning the corner.  I was amazed and said to the man " How do you know that's MY Father?"  He said "Don't worry man, I know him VERY well"

By the time my father parked, the man dissapeared.  My mother came rushing over asking me who was that man and what did he want?  I told her what the man said and we didn't talk about it after that as we were busy getting my luggage and working our way through the crowd.  We couldn't help but surmize it had to be an Angel standing with me. How else could and ordinary person picked me out of a crowd that I never met him before and be able to identify my my connection to my father and declare He knows him very well and he disapeared?

Daddy, I commit your soul in the hads of Jesus, who declared to Know you VERY well. It is well with your soul. 

You have left your seeds on the earth.
Jesus be my peace, our peace.
Let your good and Perfect will be done.
May your son be laid to rest with all honor and dignity.
May his seed be united and a greater genuine bond be had between us.
May we meet agian and be reuinited in the promise of the resurrection and inherit your promise of eternal life.

IT is well with your soul Daddy a quiet, unasuming, easy going, hansome man.
God be with you till we meet again

Love you Daddy, wish I had told you more often.

 

Singing Songs of EmPOWERment

Hello Friends, It feels like It's been a while since we had my favorite time on the blog...... Song Service time!!  Keeping in theme with the topics of the I've Got Power series, this week we are singing songs of emPOWERment.

 

Let us sing along and be inspired by these empowering lyrics and songs...

What if God is Unhappy

 

What if God is unhappy with our praise?
What if He is not pleased with the words we say?
What if He takes away His love and His Spirit from above

What if God is unhappy with our praise?
 

What if God is unhappy with the way we live?

What if He is not pleased with the way we give?
What if he takes away His love and His Spirit from above?

What if God is unhappy with the way we live?
 

We must change the way we walk;
We must change the way we talk.
We must live a life that's pleasing to our King.
We must read God's holy word;
Let His praises be heard.

 

Lord, just be pleased with our praise.

Pleased with our praise!!!

 

Christopher Brinson & The Ensemble

 

 

Fear Not My Child
 

In myself I've failed the Lord
Then was afraid to try once more
That fire in my soul had fled
That's when Jesus came and said

My spirit will give you the strength you need
to raise you up and to succeed
and for vision in the night
 I'll give these words of live

fear not my child
I'm with you always
I feel every pain
and every tear I see

Fear not my child
I am with you always
I know how to care
for what belongs to me

He said my child don't look behind
Discouragement is all you'll find
And don't watch the waves that roll the sea
just focus your eyes on me

And I will make you strong and then
your shattered courage I will mend
and if you fall and should get hurt
remember these eternal words

fear not my child
I'm with you always...

 Helen Baylor

 

 

 

 

Encourage Yourself 

 

 Sometimes you have to encourage yourself
Sometimes you have to speak victory during the test
and no matter how you feel
Speak the word you will be healed
Speak over yourself
Encourage yourself in the lordoooohhh oohh

Sometimes you have to speak the word over yourself
The pressure is all around but God is present help
Oh the enemy created walls but remember giants
they do fall

Speak over your self encourage your self in the lord
Oh as I minister to you
Oh I minister to myself
Life can hurt you sooo
Till you feel there's nothing left
 

No matter how you feel
Speak the word and you will be healed...

 Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers

 

 

 

 

He's Able

 

Exceedingly, Abundantly Above all

All you could ask or think
According to the power
That worketh in you

God is able to do just what he said he would do
He's gonna fulfill every promise to you
Don't give up on god, cause he won't give up on you
He's able

God is able to do just what he said he would do

He's gonna fulfill every promise to you

 

Don't give up on God,

Cause he won't give up on you...

 Detrick Haddon

 

 

 

 

In the Name of the Lord 

 Crowds have lined the narrow street
To see this man from Galilee
Just a carpenter some say, leading fools astray
Yet many kneel to give Him praise

And in His eyes, they glimpse the power
That sees the heart of all men
And He knows His Father's mind
He speaks His Father's words
For He comes in the name of the Lord
There is strength in the name of the Lord
There is power in the name of the Lord
There is hope in the name of the Lord

Blessed is He who comes

In the name of the Lord...

Sandi Patty

About JAMAICAN Mothers

For anyone who has been following/reading my blog over the years, you would know that my Mommy and I have a very close relationship. I have paid many tributes to her in several posts over the years.

This year however, as Mother's Day approaches, I wanted to share with you from a drama perspective of what the typical Jamaican Mother is like  most especially when raising teenaged children.

Jamaican Mothers are typically loving and protective of their children. HOWEVER when our Mothers get Mad Vex ANGRY with you as a child it's a different story all together. The experiences and relationships are different when we get older though.

Can you identify and or relate to any of the common themes in the video from your experience growing up?

 

 

Things Jamaican Mothers Say

 Bella Blair 

 

 

 

 

 

Jamaican Mothers

Yaad Boys

Diary of a Mad Jamaican Mom

Jamaican Sinting

Raising children is no easy task; May God strengthen and bless all Mother's around the World doing their best and beyond to love and train thier children.

Have a Happy Mothers Day!! 

Power in Words

Hello Friends!  I'm excited about the topic of today's I've got Power post on Words.

We use words to communicate or thoughts and feelings; We use words to give direction, we use words to compliment, we use words to scold, we use words to express love, we use words to curse; in essence, we use words as our primary means of communication.   The question is, how often do we use words to create?

To create means to bring into existence; cause to happen. A few words with similar meaning to create are produce, generate, build. 

Let us take time to meditate on the fact that Words have Power. This is evident from the account of the Creation of the World as recorded in:

Genesis Chapter 1

 New Living Translation

 

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

 

Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.”  And that is what happened.

 

Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened.

 

Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened.

 

Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.  Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened

 

Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind.
 

The earth was created by God's word.  Do you know that our Words have creative Power too? Really they do!

The bible tells us in Genesis 1:26 that God decided to make us, humans, in His Image and Likeness. This means we were created to share in the attributes and characteristics God including His Power.

As stated earlier, to create means to bring into existence; cause to happen. One of the ways we use the creative, building Power of Words is through prayer.

 

Psalm 51:10-12(NIV)

 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

 

Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Another way to use the creative, building Power of Words is through our declarations/affirmations.  What we say (good or bad) is what we build/create.

 

Proverbs 18:20-21(MSG)

 Words satisfy the mind as much as fruit does the stomach;
good talk is as gratifying as a good harvest.

 

Words kill, words give life;
they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.

What do you pray about? What do you say often?  Are your words building and creating what you desire?  Now is the time to create, re-create and/or repair through the Power of our Words.

 

 

Psalm 19:14(NKJV)

 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.