Laying in the Dirt
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18, ESV
I was laying on a lounge chair in the back yard and had the scriptures playing in the background. Ever since God told me that the soil was just like the scriptures, I sometimes say I am laying in the dirt. It reminds me of being a kid and just loving getting dirty. The dirt would be under my fingernails, on my legs, and in my toes. As I sat listening, I thought, “Yes God, let's get the dirt all up under my nails and feet!”
As the scriptures played the verse above, Romans 1:18, leaped in my soul. I knew that I had written about this verse before but for some reason God laid it upon my heart again. My focus for the verse was on the second clause, “…who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth”. I looked up the verse in the King James version and it read, “…the unrighteous hold the truth in their unrighteousness.” I knew Apostle Paul was writing to Roman who belonged to Jesus Christ. He was speaking about God’s wrath upon the unrighteous, saying that God has revealed to every person the truth but they suppress it, or push it down. They understand their behavior is wrong, but they ignore the truth to do what they want to do.
I let that thought sit for a while and God begin to show me how I can do the same thing. He said “When you are upset with your husband and I tell you to hold your peace, you suppress the truth and say what you want to say. You know your behavior is not the avenue of peace but because you feel like you need to be heard, you shut down the truth and move! You know the truth, and you hold it in your unrighteousness.” I immediately repented and thanked God for His grace!
The scripture goes on to say in verse 19, “…for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” This is interesting, because in the midst of my behavior I did not understand I was holding on to the truth and moving into the realm of unrighteousness. But God had shown me that my response was not going to end the conversation well. He literally let me see how my husband was going to respond. So I could not say I did not know. I carried the truth of what God had shown me into my unrighteous behavior. Ouch!
You know when I started listening to the scripture that day, I said “Yes God, I want to get dirty”. However, I did not know it meant getting the scripture in every particle of my being. God wants us to know the truth about ourselves, so we do not think we are going to heaven and ended up right beside those whom we call unrighteous. God is after His people, wanting them to walk in truth and righteousness. For scripture says “…[in the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed…” (Romans 1:17). We need to stay in the dirt!
Father, thank you for this word. Thank you for breaking down every particle so we understand that our eyes must stay on you. We repent for our disobedience, and we ask for forgiveness of our sin. Thank you for your correction, this we pray in Jesus’ name, amen!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Harvesting: What are You Producing?
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Matthew 9:37, ESV
Just about the time you think you are finished with a subject, the Holy Spirit brings it up again. I heard the Holy Spirit ask me, “What are you harvesting?” At first, I thought “Well, people; those that are lost”. While pondering the question further, I got clarity, and I understood what He was asking. The Holy Spirit was asking what I was harvesting in my heart.
The scripture above says the harvest is plentiful. When I reflect on what is plentiful in my heart, I want it to be full of the Holy Spirit and love. In order to have those qualities harvested out of me I have to plant them in me first. When I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, He came to live on the inside of me. But to produce the fruit His spirit brings, I have to work the soil by spending time with Him daily.
If we can just think of how much time we spend nurturing the plants in our garden, we can begin to see how much time we need to spend with our Father to produce His fruits. We have to make sure our plants are watered every day, that they are placed in the right conditions and given the nutrients they need to thrive. We are providing care for our plants daily because we want them to produce a bountiful harvest of fruit.
This is so good. We cannot expect that accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Him living on the inside of us is all that is needed to bear fruit. Just like purchasing a fruit tree: we can purchase the tree and bring it home, but if that is all we do, we will never reap the desired results. The tree will dry up and die. WOW! Why do we expect anything different when it comes to our relationship with Christ?
God said that one of the greatest commandments is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37). When we love, we give our full attention – we make it our top priority. If God is not first in your life, then you are harvesting the wrong fruit.
Father, Thank you for revealing to us that we have to co-create with you to harvest the fruit that looks like you. We repent from not making you our priority. We ask that you help us to change our schedules so that everything else comes after you. In Jesus’ name, amen!
You are the source of my strength, You are the strength of my life! I lift my hands in total praise to you! This song keeps showing up in my spirit so I just felt led to pass it on to you!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Walking in Authority
I had the opportunity to take this empowerment class called “Walking in Authority.” I can tell you that it was not what I expected but so much more!
One particular portion of this class focused on relationships. In the beginning I would have never thought relationships would be a part of the study, but it was so good. The study focus was “How To Build Rich Relationships or Repair Broken Relationships”. In our materials, one of the writings said this: “Walking In Authority, leadership requires a commitment to work on yourself more than you work on others, along with intentionally practicing being better day by day.”
I left the class with these questions on my heart:
What are some of the most powerful deposits someone has made into my Relational Bank Account (RBA)?
What are some of the most powerful deposits I have made into someone else’s RBA?
What is it like to be in a relationship with you?
How would you score if you had to rate how well you’re doing in your relationships?
Later in the week I sat meditating on those questions and I realized that I could give a whole lot more into the ones I love and those I call friends’ bank accounts. I thought about Jesus being our example and how daily He makes sure through the Holy Spirit that our bank account is full. We just have to access Him because the Holy Spirit is always with us. I want to leave you with these quotes that were given to us in class:
Maya Angelou said it this way, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you have said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”—Sheryl Sandberg
In closing, these writings from the class spoke volumes to all of us in attendance and I pray you will always remember this “...personally and professionally, people’s greatest joy and greatest pain come from relationships. We are all involved in a multitude of relationships: family friends, associates, peers, supervisors, pastors, the community and the world”. How we treat every single person is so important!!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Desperate for God
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention, all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on earth, and He was grieved at heart.” (Genesis 6:5-6)
It’s about 4:00 a.m. I am up and my heart is desperate for God. The song Let It Rain is playing in the background. I started reading Genesis 6 about the story of Noah when my eyes landed on verse 5-6, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention, all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on earth, and He was grieved at heart.”
I read down through verse 8-9 where it says, “Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God.” Then for some reason the song in the background became louder and I heard these words: “What we have is not working and what we are doing is not changing anything.” I paused the song and meditated on those words, “What we have is not working. What we are doing is not changing anything.” What are we doing? In the USA we have greater access to the word of God than probably any other time in our history.
I remember a woman used to say to me, “You cannot continue to do the same thing and expect different results.” Noah was doing something that brought change. He was doing something that made God take notice of his heart. I wanted to dig further in the scripture when the Holy Spirit reminded me of Joshua 1:8. It says, “This book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success.”
Did you know that at the time Noah walked with God the Bible was not even written? Noah’s family was from Adam and Eve’s third son, Seth. Noah’s great-grandfather was Enoch who the Bible says “...walked with God [in habitual fellowship]: and he was not [found among men], for God took him [home with Him]” (Genesis 5:22-24). Even though generations had passed before Noah was born we know he heard about his great-grandfather because he did as Enoch did; he walked with God.
Father, My heart is so heavy for our nation…I don’t even know the words to pray. Many people are just like those in the days of Noah, so blinded by the cares of this world and missing You. You shut us in our homes and removed all the distractions and yet, many still cannot see or hear you. Praise you God that Your word says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27, ESV). In Jesus' name we pray and say thank you. Amen.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Expression of the Flesh
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Luke 6:46, ESV
I was sitting at my desk feeling a little nervous because I was behind on my writing. I don’t like to write a message the day before posting. I want to be ahead of schedule so that they are all lined up, preferably a month in advance. I was literally sitting at my keyboard waiting for God to speak into my heart what He wanted written.
Then, God just spoke to my spirit; it is going to be a lot of work! At that moment, my flesh did not want to dig that deep into the word. I was literally procrastinating while I typed this on the screen! I can’t believe how transparent God was having me be in this message! I had truly hope He did not have me post what I was writing in the moment because it is totally embarrassing…
Have you ever asked God for something and He gives you the answer, but you don’t want to do what He instructed you to do, so you put it off? If so, then you know exactly how I felt! But guess what? Putting off what He instructed is total disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Ugh! I’m going to do exactly what He says as soon as I finish writing this devotional. I was just hoping He would change his mind!
We serve an amazing God who is patient with us. He understands the behavior of our flesh but will not tolerate disobedience. Ouch! I think that last line was for me! Okay, I think you have got the message. Move when God says move, no matter what the flesh feels like!
I know that right now I am in a battle between my flesh and my spirit. In the previous paragraphs above my flesh was saying what it wanted. But now I am giving my flesh over to God and I will obey Him. I must go write another devotional!
The lesson here is to be obedient to whatever God tells you and move when He says move.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published book Life’s Journey is now available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VYJKJ9K/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_6Z95ANB487AMDF3VTDP9
Desperate
I heard this song “Desperate For You” and I began to say to God, “I want to be desperate for you”.
As I prayed I found that I am the most desperate for God when I am in the midst of all my pain, trials and temptations that come my way. I wanted to be desperate for God but I did not know I was asking for growth. Growth comes with difficulty, pain and hard times. I did not know that to have that starvation for you would cause you to bring challenges to me, challenges that help me know who you are. When you fulfilled my request, I complained. I complained about the pain, the hard times, and not having enough. I complained about the hard boss, about the sickness, about not understanding. I complained about the rude clerk, the brokenness of friendship, the job, the co-workers… it was all for my benefit and I complained. I did not understand when you spoke to me about mumbling, grumbling, constantly complaining and trying to plead my case, you were doing a work in me.
Thank you. Thank you for revelation light, for revealing yourself to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you for loving me anyway.
Truly I am completely lost without you.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCJCMinistriestv:
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My recently published book Life’s Journey is now available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VYJKJ9K/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_6Z95ANB487AMDF3VTDP9
Tissue Box
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24, ESV
I was in my prayer room praying with the lights off in the wee hours of the morning. I always keep a Kleenex box close to me because when I pray, I usually start crying. The Holy Spirit's presence brings me such awe and joy the only expression I have is to cry.
My box of tissue usually sits on my desk or somewhere in close proximity to where I am praying. This morning I grabbed the box and put it in arms reach. The first time I went to grab for a Kleenex I just moved my hand toward the box and it was an easy reach. The next time I went for the box, I could not find it. I kept feeling around in the dark while I was praying. I did not want to open my eyes or to stop praying to look for the box but I could not seem to locate it with my hands.
When I opened my eyes, I still could not locate it. I heard myself say, “The box was just here!” while I felt around trying to find it in the dark. The more I looked the more I could not see it. A bit frustrated, I said “Holy Spirit, where is the box?" and then it was revealed right in front of me. I reached out my hand and pulled the box close to my chest.
The Holy Spirit said, “That is exactly where all your answers are to your prayers; they are right in front of you.” He said, “When you ask, the answer is right there. I have said yes and given you what you have prayed for. You did not believe the Kleenex box was there, you knew it was there!” To believe is to consider to be true or honest to know: is to perceive directly: have direct cognition of: be convinced or certain of. I knew the Kleenex box was there because I had put it there. God said I have to know that when I pray, He puts the answer before me. While I believe, there can still be traces of doubt that hinder me from receiving what I have prayed for.
When we pray we have to know (be convinced or certain) that God’s promises are true and that He answers our prayers. There can be no doubt. God said just like reaching for that Kleenex box, looking for it until I found it and pulling it in close…that is exactly how we have to be with our prayers! When we pray according to His will, we have to look with expectation for the answer. We don’t look because we don’t know that the prayer is answered! Scripture says, “…without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, ESV).
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Timing
As she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God… 2 Kings 8:4, NLT
I remember listening to Joyce Meyer often and one of the things she would always say in her messages was “When God, when?” and “Why God, why?” She would be referring to how we ask God “When is this or that going to happen?” Timing is so important with God. He has everything designed for a certain time and we are called to trust Him. In Ecclesiastes 3 it says there is a time and a season for everything under the sun.
I was listening to the scriptures and it came upon the story of when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, was telling the king of Israel all the things the man of God had done. While he was telling the king a story about a woman whose son Elisha had healed, the woman with her son walks in to see the king. Talk about timing! Now, you have to know the backstory to truly understand this amazing scene.
Sometime earlier, Elisha went to the town of Shunem where this woman lived. Whenever he would come to her town she would prepare food for him and would encourage him to come to her home. She was a wealthy woman but at the time she did not know that Elisha was a man of God, though she felt in her spirit that he was. So she asked her husband about putting a room in their home for Elisha and they had a room built for him. Whenever he came to town he would have a place to stay. Elisha wanted to do something for her because of her kindness and had learned that she had no children. So he prayed for her to have a son and God gave her a son. Some time later the son dies, but the woman goes and finds Elisha and he comes to her home and heals her son.
Here is where things get really good. Elisha later tells the lady to leave her home because there is going to be a famine in all of Israel for seven years. So the lady leaves for seven years and lives in the land of the Philistines. When Gehazi is speaking with the king about this lady the famine is over and she has returned to ask the king for her home and land back! Scripture says “...the Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8, NIV). God had taken care of everything before she could even reach the King and resolved her issues.
It does not matter what we are going through or what we are experiencing in our lives, right this very moment God has a plan! We all know there is no way that her timing could have worked like that unless God’s hand was in it. The king could not believe what Elisha was telling him so he asked the women about the miracle himself and she told him the whole story. The king directed one of his officials to see to it that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence!
Be encouraged, God’s timing is perfect! If you would like to read more about this story, you can find it in 2 Kings 4-8.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
The Grind
Since I retired, I have been focusing on projects the Holy Spirit has placed in my heart. My husband retired before me and has been excitedly waiting for my retirement! He is an extravert - he’s very social and loves to do fun things. When he wakes up in the morning he is always excited about what we are going to do that day. He starts making plans and suggesting all these fun activities. For about a year I had been trying to balance my work projects and spending time with him enjoying our retirement. The main problem I encountered was not getting the results I wanted on my projects.
I was talking to God about how I can get these projects completed. Note to you: when asking God for direction, don’t think you’ll always like His answer. God always has a unique way of answering our questions, but He always makes sure we understand what He has said.
My husband and I were watching a Netflix documentary on retired record executive, producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer Berry Gordy, of which I knew very little about. There was an ongoing theme throughout the entire documentary about the number of hours he put into a project. His most productive time was in the wee hours of the morning.
In that moment I felt the Holy Spirit say, “The assignment I give requires sacrifice and grinding.” I knew that meant a change in my schedule. I started to think about ways to grind and what sacrifices I needed to make. The conclusion: sleep was the necessary sacrifice. I changed the time I started my morning to have time to work on projects. It is actually quite peaceful waking up earlier, when your mind is clear enough to hear the Holy Spirit lead you.
There was one other thing that caught my attention in the documentary. Berry said that he took one of his proposals to Quincy Jones. He wanted Quincy’s direction and advice. When he gave the project to him, he told him not to listen to track four and seven because they are not that good. Quincy looked at him and said, “Does this have your name on it? Is this how you want to represent yourself?” In that moment Berry said it forever changed the way he worked. Everything he did after that had to be excellent!
My girlfriend has this saying: excellent or nothing. Whatever she puts out has to be excellent or it is not delivered. God requires us to grind and to give our best. He gave us His best and what He has placed inside of us is excellent. He wants nothing less in return.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Struggle
I woke up early in the morning. I knew God had awakened me for the purpose of prayer, but I was really tired. To tell you the truth, I was irritated that my husband was lying next to me coughing horribly - he had been sick with the flu. I could feel my chest starting to take on his sickness and I was not in the right frame of mind to pray, but I did. Right there in my bed.
I was not happy with my attitude towards my husband and had started thinking about everything that was going on in my head. My mind was in a vicious cycle and I was becoming upset with myself. My feet had not yet touched the floor and Satan was already trying to get me off track! He did not want me to pray that morning.
There was nothing wrong with my body but it felt good to just lay there. I did not want to get out of bed and continued to pray in my heart. While praying, I remembered I had made a decision to acknowledge God in my laziness. I tried to reason with myself that I was not feeling that good, so it was okay to be lazy just this once. But I knew in my heart it was not the truth. At some point during that battle in my mind, I got up out of bed and went to my prayer room.
Before I could open the door to my prayer room I heard a song in my heart and began to worship God. At first it seemed that worship was a struggle but I heard myself say “Thank you God for the struggle in worship because you are working something out in me.” I began to thank God for every trouble - for laziness and for every thought that was taking me down. While in worship, I found myself being lifted up. I began praising God as I thanked Him for my sorrows and troubles because He reminded me that it was all for my good. Needless to say my prayer time went on much longer than I had planned but I was grateful to be in God’s presence. I felt so much better and uplifted when I finished.
Satan meets us first thing in the morning. Before we can even get our thoughts together he has already pounced! As a believer we have to push past everything that Satan throws at us. We must remember that what Jesus did for us did not feel good to Him at all. He was given thirty-nine lashes, ripping His skin from His body. He had a crown of thorns pressed down into His head and nails hammered in His hands and feet. He hung on the cross, and His side was pierced with a spear. All this and much more was done so our sins could be washed away. It took all of this so we could have everlasting life. Family, how dare we not move. How dare we try and serve God in our laziness. Salvation costs, and so does intimacy with God.
We cannot afford to let Satan lie to us that it is okay to not give God our best when God gave us His all. Satan’s goal is to take us down to destroy God’s kingdom. When we don’t give God our best we are living a lukewarm Christianity. We all know what happens when we become lukewarm: “So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelations 3:16, ESV). Let’s stay encouraged and faithful even in the midst of our struggles.
Father,
Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for us. Please forgive us for the areas in our lives where we have not given you our best. Our desire is to please you in every way. We pray for strength to beat back the enemy so we can walk in complete fullness of you. We never want to be in danger of getting lukewarm. Thank you for answering our prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMoEcr3koSqRbqVma5EGWgA/videos
My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Seeds
I don’t know if I was sleeping or just resting in my thoughts, but the Holy Spirit began to talk to me about seeds. He showed me that we have millions of seeds placed on the inside of us. They are all gifts that have been passed down from our forefathers to us. The Holy Spirit showed me that the unfulfilled gifts and callings He planted in the generations before us reside in us now. There are so many seeds inside of us that we have a plethora of ideas to choose from!
Think of an orange tree. It produces so much fruit that we usually cannot begin to count how many oranges it bears. Now think about how many seeds are inside of each orange. If you count the seeds of all the oranges from that one tree you will have an idea of how much fruit one tree can bear. My God! It is the same with us! I’m reminded of the scripture from Matthew 6:30, ESV: “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” God has put in us much more than He has put in the trees.
I find myself thinking of all kinds of wonderful things I would like to do, but many times in the past I let my ideas slip away because I wasn’t sure how to get started. Now I know with confidence that these are moments the Holy Spirit is speaking to me. He sends us ideas that we cannot even begin to fathom on our own, let alone start and complete. I have now learned to pray, thank God for ideas and seek His guidance on what to do next. I write those ideas down and put them on a sticky note behind the back of my office door and say, “Holy Spirit when you are ready, you will show me how to move on this idea (or seed)”.
Don’t miss what God has placed inside of you! Just ask Him for direction. It was His plan in the first place. He will show you what to do. Amen!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMoEcr3koSqRbqVma5EGWgA/videos
My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Peace in His Presence
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him… Psalm 37:7, ESV
While on our trip to Italy, we ran into so many different circumstances that brought us into complete reliance on God. I realized I kept getting the same message over and over, “Be patient and wait on the Lord.” Listen, we know God hears us: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15, ESV). While we know this to be true, in almost every situation where we had the opportunity to be patient, we reacted instead of waiting for God’s amazing answers to arrive.
My husband and I were in Italy during a taxi strike, which meant we had to find other means of transportation to get to the airport from the train station. I had read somewhere that there was a tram you could take to get there.
When we arrived in Florence, there was massive confusion. Travelers were left stranded, not knowing what to do. We asked several employees where we could find the train to the airport. I don’t think our Italian was good enough to get the information we needed because we kept hearing that there was no train to the airport. After much frustration we realized it was not called a train but a tram. When we finally did get the right information we headed to catch the tram and everyone was there. Due to the taxi strike, the tram was full. The line was extremely long and people were a bit impatient.
We waited for about thirty minutes and finally the tram came. There was a mad rush of people trying to get on. I headed toward the doors with two suitcases and my husband had the other two with him. When I looked back to check on him, he had stopped to look for our tickets. He couldn't remember where he had put them. While he was searching his pockets, the tram took off. I could feel my spirit saying “Stay calm, he does not need you to react right now!”
At least this time we were at the front of the line and knew exactly where to stand. Three different trams came by as we waited, but none of them were headed to the airport. While waiting it started to lightly rain but it was warm outside, so we were okay. Soon the rain became very heavy. The wind started blowing and we were getting soaked. We ran for shelter and bought a cheap umbrella from someone who was selling them on the street. At this point, we had waited over ninety minutes since the first tram that we missed. We started hearing that something had happened on the tracks and there would be no more trams to the airport that day. We prayed and asked God for direction.
My husband called the car rental place to see if they could pick us up, but they could not. He then spoke to a police officer who said that a tram to the airport was on its way. We waited another twenty minutes and a new tram came, but it was not going to the airport. We asked the driver if there was going to be another tram to the airport and she said no. She said her tram was the last one and that we should get on. She said we could take it to her last stop for the day and catch the bus to the airport from there, so we did. When we arrived at the bus stop there was a long line.
After waiting about ten minutes an officer came by and said that a tram to the airport was on its way. We all abandoned the line for the bus and moved quickly back to the tram stop to catch it. The tram finally came, just like the Officer said, but now it was full of all the people we left at the first stop! We pushed our luggage on and stood for most of the trip. Had we listened, we would have been sitting in a comfortable seat. We finally made it to the airport three hours after arriving in Florence.
In hindsight, God showed me that we had prayed for direction, and we were right where we needed to be the entire time. We had received the answer from an authority we could trust but we doubted when presented with another option. Had we just been patient and listened to the one with authority, we could have avoided so much headache.
Sometimes it is hard to know when to move and when to stay still when things are out of our immediate control. We prayed and asked God for direction but we were still trying to find an answer on our own. If we can take a deep breath and just wait for peace, the Holy Spirit will guide us in the way we should go. Satan is very good at prompting us to move in the direction of our feelings when things are chaotic. We often can’t tell through the fog of emotions if we are moving in ourselves or moving with God.
When we accepted Christ as our savior we received the gift of peace, the peace that passes all understanding. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to move us to that Jehovah Shalom peace. Then we will know the right path to take.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published book Life’s Journey is now available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VYJKJ9K/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_6Z95ANB487AMDF3VTDP9
Keep Moving
It is through many tribulations and hardships that we must enter the kingdom of God.
Acts 14:22, AMP
My husband is a history buff and enjoys watching history movies, especially those on war. One evening he asked if I would join him for one. Now I am not a fan of blood and gore but I sat next to him anyway and began to watch. It was about the battle of the Narvik in World War II that took place in the country of Norway. What I found interesting was that Norway had declared itself neutral during the battle. They did not want to be a part of this war.
Germany however, invaded Narvik, wanting to seize its port to guarantee the delivery of iron ore. Everyone knew that Norway was neutral but the war came to them anyway, and they had to protect themselves.
In this movie the young men of Narvik were deathly afraid! They did not want to go up against their German opposition. But they had a very strong leader who would not let them stop moving. He reminded them of their goal: get back home to see their families. At one point they were sailing towards a mountain that they needed to overtake. But their opponents were using guns and tanks to attack them from the other side. When they got off the boats they were running straight into the opposition. Some soldiers died but many were successful and were able to take out the tanks to secure the area.
Just like Norway, most of us desire to stay out of trouble. We like things in our lives to run ever so smoothly. We want to avoid the war and just enjoy life’s journey. But scripture teaches that “…through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22, ESV). We should not be surprised when hardships arise but keep moving, knowing that we already have the victory. This is how we enter the Kingdom of God.
We can take confidence in knowing that according to scripture, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8, NIV). At times it may feel like we are so far away from victory but know that Christ has already overcome the world. He gives us this confidence in His word: ”I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV).
As ambassadors and soldiers of Christ, there will be something coming against us every step of the way. Circumstances come to stop and distract us, moving us off course from the mountains God wants us to conquer. But be encouraged and don’t stop moving - for the battle is not ours, it is God’s. We have the victory in Him! Amen!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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Identification 2
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’” Jesus said unto him, “It is written again, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’” Matthew 4:5-7, KJV
Identity
noun
1. the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. “he knows the identity of the bomber”
the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is. synonyms: individuality, selfhood, ego, character, personality, originality, distinctiveness, distinction, singularity, peculiarity, uniqueness, differentness
I started this devotional with the definition of “identity” because I believe it is so important that we understand what this word means. So many people get caught up in chasing after titles, positions and things to gain the respect of others because they don’t know who they are. Our identification comes from God. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [a]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body. We were born into sin and because of that, a haze forms over our identity, giving us the illusion that we don’t know who we are.
You can see it all over the world - the insecurity about who we are has caused sin to flourish and trouble to reign for all mankind. Fear comes from not knowing our identity and the result of fear is sin. This breeds racism, hatred, jealousy, envy, selfishness… the list goes on. We must study the word of God so we are not deceived into believing that our identity comes from anything else but God. Our position at work, church or any other organization is what we do; it is not who we are. “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21, NLT).
We are God’s ambassadors put here to do His good works. When Satan goes to Jesus the second time, he is still after His identity. If Jesus does not know that He is the son of God sent to save the world, we are lost in sin and Satan wins. As you saw in the scripture, Jesus does not even address His identity with Satan. Satan comes at Jesus by trying to twist the word of God, but Jesus responds with the word in truth.
Father,
Thank you for revealing to us how important it is to know our identity. It does not matter the channel we came through or the last name we have - our identity comes from you. We ask that as you continue to reveal to us the path that we should walk, remind us how to fire back with the word of God. Let us do this in complete confidence and authority of what you have proclaimed. Our desire is to be just like our brother Jesus and never be fooled to believe we are anything other than the sons and daughters of the most high God. Amen!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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Identification
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:1-4, NKJV
I had prayed and asked God to help me move in His plan for the year and not my own. I opened my Bible I and was headed in another direction when the pages fell open to this chapter. The above scriptures were the readings that came to me. As I began to read, I knew this was God’s direction.
In this chapter, Mathew is writing about the account of Jesus during his forty day fast and Satan’s attempt at tempting Him. Jesus had been introduced to the world as God’s Son and He was moving into His earthly ministry. That is just how it happens with us - God drops in our spirit His vision for us and before we can even move in that direction, Satan has put all kinds of doubt in our heart as to why God’s vision cannot come to maturation. Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Notice scripture says the devil came to Jesus after He had completed his forty days and forty nights of fasting, expecting Him to be weak because His flesh was hungry.
In the first temptation recorded Satan questions Jesus’ identity. “If you be the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.” Jesus never answered Satan’s question about His identity, He responded with the Word of God. This is the same attack Satan uses with us. He is always after our identity. If we don’t know who we are in Christ, we can be misled and never accomplish the call on our lives.
Attacking identity is the same formula Satan used to deceive Adam and Eve. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-5, ESV).
Satan deceived Eve into believing that how God had made her was not enough. He put doubt in her mind about the wisdom, knowledge and understanding God had given her. Eve did not take a bite of the fruit because she was hungry for food but because she believed she needed more knowledge. Eve forgot that she was made in the perfect image of God. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NIV). We must remember that we are equipped with all that we need to do the work of Christ. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” (Jeremiah 1:5, NIV).
Satan is always roaming the earth going back and forth in it seeking an individual to devour. He has no authority to make us do anything, so instead he plants doubt and temptations in our heart to get us to move in a direction away from God. We must remember that we have a choice. Adam and Eve taught us what happens when we doubt our self-worth. Jesus taught us a valuable lesson about Satan’s tactics - He reminded us that we have all the authority and power in the Word of God and that we should never question our identity.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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Hidden Truths
Did you know that the enemy is consistently sending you messages? God will whisper something in your ear and immediately the enemy comes to steal what God has given you. I remember when I was in high school and I wanted to write poetry. I had a book that I would write in and was trying to figure it all out. I remember one day reading what I had written and I heard Satan say, “Your writings are no good and no one is going to buy them. You will never make a living off of your writings.”
God had given me a gift in my spirit that I loved doing. Satan came to crush what was inside of me. I allowed myself to listen to his lie and it got me off track. He put doubt in my mind and I believed the doubt!
As a freshman in high school my writings may not have been ready for publishing. But had I continued in that field and taken the necessary classes to learn more about writing I would have become better and I would have been successful. There was a hidden truth inside me, a gift for writing, that I suppressed because of the lie of the enemy.
Praise God for the Holy Spirit who brings to our remembrance the things long forgotten! Our amazing God has put gifts and talents in each one of us that are a part of our DNA and He will never take them away! I am so excited that even if we miss it a hundred times, God is still there to guide us back on track - if we listen. I have been writing devotionals for many years now and God has blessed me to publish two books! I absolutely love writing!
Our dreams, gifts, and callings are sitting like hidden treasures waiting for us to tap into them. Once we take that leap of faith, they will bring us the joy that we can hardly imagine. I encourage you, dig deep under all the lies that Satan has put in your head and ask God to reveal the hidden truths about who you are! It is never too late to move! When God brings revelation, run towards it!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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Hear
I’m not always fond of looking up words, especially when I think I know the meaning. So when the Holy Spirit prompted me to look up the word “hear”, I was a little irritated. I find it strange that we ask God for more wisdom and knowledge, He tries to give us what we ask for but we do not want to do the work to receive the blessing. Because truthfully, my irritation came from just not wanting to do the work. (Father, thank you for that revelation and I ask for forgiveness for my sin). My God, help us! When I looked up the word I gained more understanding to the meaning of the intransitive verb:
Hear
Intransitive verb
to have the capacity of perceiving sound: to be able to become aware of sound
: to gain information
: to receive communication
: to entertain the idea—used in the negative
This definition, of course, goes right along with what the Holy Spirit put in my heart to write about. When we hear from God we do not hear Him with our ears. He speaks to us deep down where our spirit resides. When we listen with our spirit we have the capacity to perceive the voice of God. We can hear Him speaking and we gain wisdom and knowledge from Him. We hear Him speaking through our spirit, especially when we sit and read the Bible. God is Spirit, so He communicates to us through our spirit. We use our flesh to communicate with everyone else but not with God.
Now Satan is a spirit and he also communicates to us through our spirit. As much as we don’t want to listen to him, he consistently agrees with our fleshy ways and pounds at the door of our spirit, wanting us to have a dialogue with him.
But praise God that He sent the Holy Spirit who helps us hear God’s voice and to fight off attacks from the enemy. It is so imperative that we listen to and move with the Holy Spirit! Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Spirit to come upon them before they moved into the calling God had for their lives.
I have heard many people say that God does not speak to them, but I know those words are so far from the truth. God speaks to us all the time (Job 33:14), we are just not listening. When we try to hear God with our flesh we will miss Him because He speaks to us in the spirit.
If you want to hear God speak to you, find a quiet place to sit and invite Him in. He will be right there with you and you will hear His voice. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelations 3:20, KJV
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss
Contagious - Are you contagious?
The dictionary defines contagious as (of a disease) spread from one person or organism to another by direct or indirect contact. (of an emotion, feeling or attitude) likely to spread to and affect others. This morning as I listened to Sunday service the minister who gave the message said, “Don’t get too close, I’m contagious!” I knew at that moment “contagious” would be the subject of this message.
Although the title of this writing asks a question, Are you contagious?, based on the definition I would say that we are all contagious. We affect people by our emotions, feelings or attitudes. If we take a moment to think about it, any social media is contagious. When we listen to the news, YouTube or read whatever pops up on our mobile phone we are contracting a disease. Based on what is said in the news or social media our emotions, feelings, or attitudes can run a muck. Many times we can be moved to behave in a certain way (good or bad) that we would not necessarily do if we had not experienced what was presented to us; we are reacting to the disease.
The other definition for contagious is a type of disease that can be spread from one person or organism to another by direct or indirect contact. When we hear of a disease that will impact our physical body and is contagious we make every effort to avoid the person that has the disease and we take whatever vaccine that is necessary to prevent us from contracting the ailment.
Scriptures teaches us that we are to…test everything; hold fast what is good.(1Thessalonians 5:21, ESV) However, we do not take the same precautions when it comes to what we put into our minds. The Bible says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.(Romans 12:2)
It is interesting that the Bible teaches us to guard our mind, but the world says to protect your body. Our mind is more at risk of contracting a deadly disease than our body ever will be. We should treat everything we hear, see or read as a contagious disease and be very cautious about what we let our spirits receive. We all should remember that we are contagious as well and we need to be very careful about what diseases we may be spreading.
Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as your self.’ Matthew 22:37-39, NIV We should all be spreading the disease of love!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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Blessed are The Forgiven
During my time of prayer with God I was seeking a word to feed my soul. As I was thinking about what to read, the Holy Spirit led me to a verse I had written in my journal…
How joyful is the person whose sins are forgiven, whose sin is covered (never seen). How joyful is the one who the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit. Psalm 32:1-2
As I thought about that scripture, I wanted to know the backstory of why David wrote this psalm. I found that as I read more of the psalm it explains David’s heart. He had not confessed the sins he had committed. He found that as long as he held on to it, it would eat away at him, and all of his strength would leave him. He says in v3-4…
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
When we continue in our sin and do not repent to God it will leave us heavy and broken. I remember when I was doing my own thing - sleeping around, running to parties, hanging out, trying to be cool. But when the next morning came there was this feeling of complete guilt. Though I knew right from wrong I wanted to live on my own terms. I can relate to David saying that day and night your hand was heavy on me. I would try and push away the promptings of conviction from God. He would not allow those convictions to go away (praise God!) which eventually led me to repentance. The hardest thing for me was asking for forgiveness, because I knew I was going against God’s word.
Satan tempts us into a life of sin, then lays a heavy guilt on us when we desire to turn to God for forgiveness. That is why David says pray to God immediately while He can be found. Because if we linger too long we will learn to ignore God’s promptings of convictions and will find ourselves washed away in the great flood of waters.
That is why David starts this psalms with how blessed are those whose sins are forgiven! There is no record of our sin when we ask for forgiveness. We are blameless. Satan can no longer eat at our hearts about our sin and cannot take it to God to condemn us! Hallelujah!!!
Father,
Thank you for just your unconditional love. Thank you for consistently moving our hearts toward change. We are ever grateful that you love us so much, and that even in our sin you work to draw us nearer to you. Hallelujah our King! To you be glory and praise!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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Seek and You Shall Find
…but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it Joshua 1:8, ESV
The statement “seek and you shall find” is so true. No matter what we are looking for when we seek it with all of our heart, we find it. I could not find my earrings but I kept searching for them. I looked under the bed, in my dresser drawers and all the places that I normally put them but they were not there. I kept looking and in desperation I said “God can you show me where I put those earrings?” It was a couple of months later when I was packing for a trip I came across those earrings. I had put them in a jewelry holder in my suitcase from another trip and forgot to take them out.
God says that if we seek Him we will find Him (Matthew 7:7-8). I thought about how long I searched for those earrings. Every time I went into my room or went to put on another pair of earrings I was on the lookout for those earrings. They were always in the back of my mind. This brought to my mind this scripture about meditating on the word of God day and night: …but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it (Joshua 1:8). When I first heard that scripture I wondered, how can I meditate on the word of God day and night? Meditating is constantly pondering, thinking deeply about something. I was meditating on those earrings because I wanted to find them. In the same like manner if we want to find God we have to seek Him out and meditate on his word.
In everything we do, we should be seeking God. He should always be in our heart and in our soul. You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes (Deuteronomy 11:18, ESV). I used to think that seeking God required me to have all my study material out and sit with Him all day long. This is true, we do need to always have time for study, but God is saying daily let the word be in your heart. Let your thoughts be on how God wants to use you throughout your day. Be on the lookout for an opportunity to serve. Purposefully focus on a scripture or a verse of a song throughout the day. The other day God gave me this simple line of a song “atmosphere to shift now, chains be broken, break out, Holy Spirit come down heaven open, heaven open”. Just that simple line kept ringing in my head over and over. I found myself humming it all day. Then it led me into prayer.
That simple line does not seem like much but it is very powerful and it kept my mind focused on God. I found myself seeing people in hard situations and I would say “Holy Spirit, shift the atmosphere, break the chains, let your presence rain down on them. Yes, all day I was seeking God and meditating on His word. Seek me and you will find me. God wants to be found. He puts the desire in us to seek him!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
You can also follow me at JCCMinistriestv:
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My recently published books are now available at:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Life%27s+Journey+volume+2+Jacqueline+Crooks&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_noss