What Color Is Your Coat?

 

Genesis 37:3 Says, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other children, because he was the son of his old age and made him a coat of many colors.”

Awhile back,I bought myself a jacket. I liked the taupe color because it is neutral. I was leaving the house to go have lunch with a friend. I noticed that in the sunlight my coat looked more green than taupe. This made me think of a young man in the Bible by the name of Joseph. His father made him a coat of many colors. He did this because he loved his son very much. It is easy today to run to the mall and purchase a jacket for ourselves. We realize that wasn’t the case in Joseph’s time. I can picture the father working lovingly on the coat for his son. He must have worked for days, even weeks on it. I believe he took great thought into picking each color of fabric.

In my mind I  can see him choosing purple. Joseph would someday be a part of royalty. Maybe he chose a blue. He prayed his son would always walk in revelation knowledge. White could stand for a reminder to Joseph to remain pure until marriage. This story reminds me of how many times my Heavenly Father has covered me. I have walked in some hard places. I know I could not have made it without Gods love for me.

Later on in the story, Joseph’s brothers stripped him of his beloved coat. It didn’t matter. He still felt His Fathers love and presence in his life. Have there been times in your life when struggles have made you feel stripped of who you know  you are in Christ? The enemy has tried many times to convince me God wasn’t there for me in trials. Maybe at times it has seemed like God is far away. Those are the times we must remember how He has always prepared for us whatever we needed. Whatever we may face, He has us covered. There is nothing that gives us strength more than spending time with Him. The world may try to strip us. Nothing can take away the love our Father has for us. What color is your coat today? I can tell you. It is whatever you need from Him. All you have to do is ask of your Father. Remember, he has you covered.

~Connie Robinson

Image Credit @ Tammy Sanders

I Have a Right to Praise Him!

Have you ever wondered, “What right do I have to praise God?” Maybe you do not have to deal with thoughts like that. I know I have had to deal with this myself throughout my walk. How could I possibly praise Him when I mess up so often and do a good job when I do?

The other morning, about 3:00 am, I couldn’t sleep. I decided to pray in tongues and worship. During my time of worship, these words bubbled up into my head, “You have a right to praise Him.” Like many of you, I have sang that song over and over many times during worship. Like a lot of people, I was singing the song and not really letting the words register into my spirit. During this prayer time, IT REGISTERED!

My right to praise is not based on my being good enough. If so, I would never be able to praise Him because I will never be good enough. My right to praise Him comes from the fact that I am HIS CHILD because I have received HIS SON as my Lord and Savior.

Because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross and my believing in that and receiving Him as my Lord and Savior GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO PRAISE HIM! I have been adopted into the FAMILY OF GOD!

~Ronda Sullivan

Image Credit © Tammy Sanders

Tomatoes and the Anointing

It’s funny what we take for granted. For instance, if you live in Northeast Georgia like we do, you take for granted that you will be able to eat tomato sandwiches every day from June to August if you want to. Homegrown tomatoes are everywhere this time of year. They’re at roadside stands, farmers’ markets, grocery stores, and in friends’ gardens. I can’t grow tomatoes, myself, so I get blessed by the overflow from those friends who can. It’s so easy to get used to having fresh, juicy tomatoes any time you want… until you go somewhere that doesn’t have tomatoes.

I just got back from Seattle where food is in abundance. There are organic, farm fresh fruits and veggies everywhere. I ate fingerling potatoes dug fresh from the dirt and ate salads from lettuce growing right out in the garden. We ate an amazing and delicious variety of the freshest food you could imagine… but no tomatoes. I was so surprised by the number of fruitless tomato plants I saw everywhere. Why? Because tomatoes need lots of sun, and the sunny season in Seattle doesn’t really get started until July. I was shocked by that, and I realized how fortunate I am to live where tomatoes grow easily (except in my yard) and in abundance.

Okay, so you’re probably thinking I got the wrong blog site and what in the world do tomatoes have to do with church or spiritual issues? Well, I’ll tell you… not everyone has what we have. You can grow so accustomed to having something in abundance that you forget how valuable it really is. Maybe you stop being impressed by how much spiritual fruit is popping up in the lives of all the people around you. Healing and deliverence might become commonplace. A powerful sermon and an anointed prayer line could become yawners for you if you get so used to them that you stop celebrating them. Sometimes, one of the best things you can do is go away to a place where what you have does not exist. When you see that other people don’t have what you have, then… THEN…you realize just how priceless and precious what you have really is and you stop taking what you have for granted.

When I walked back into the sanctuary at Gateway on the Sunday morning after my trip, I realized how much I had missed the corporate anointing and the apostolic ministry we have here. I missed worshipping my God with my church family. I felt, in my spirit, revivied and refreshed in a powerful way just by walking through the doors. There isn’t a place like Gateway anywhere close to where my family lives in Seattle. Nothing. I forget sometimes that not everyone has the opportunity to sit under a powerful ministry like ours…. and I’m thankful. I’m very thankful for Gateway and the anointing that is unique to this house.

After my vacation, I’m determined more than ever NOT to take what I have for granted… not in the spirit and not  in the natural. Now for a tomato sandwich!!

~Linda

Image credit: TOMATOES
© Robert Lerich | Dreamstime.com

Then and Now

The CHOSEN Youth Conference has just ended, and I’ve been reflecting on how things were just a few years ago. When I was a thirteen year old girl, I attended Camp Destiny hosted by Gateway, but it was so much different. Back then, I thought it was all about what I looked like. My mom took me shopping for new outfits, and I was set to go. Of course I was changed by that camp in some ways. I definitely learned where I had more work to do in my faith, and let go of some unforgiveness. I think I was so insecure in myself that I had a hard time trusting God. I definitely didn’t know God like I know Him now.

This year’s CHOSEN Youth Conference was different in so many ways. For starters, all of the speakers came from Gateway. They brought the word and ministered in power during each session. Although I was unable to come during the day, God showed up in the night sessions as well. Even though I knew God was going to do something great during this time, I was still kind of in limbo. In other words, I’m not a teenager anymore and I wasn’t a worker. The enemy really hit me with condemnation saying, “You don’t fit in. What are you doing here? This isn’t for you!” I pressed past how I felt and worshipped in the night sessions anyway. You see, I’ve been in a dry place spiritually lately. Not where I want to be, but not where I’m going, so the devil tried to hit me while I was down.

I can’t write this post without mentioning my sister, Vickie Bowman. Without fail, she came and found me before service silently slipping away from the hustle and bustle for just a moment to give me a hug. She’ll never know how much that meant to me each time. She didn’t have to do it, but it was a powerful reminder that I’m still a part of the Gateway family, even though the past five years have been really hard requiring me to miss more church than I would’ve liked.

I’ve been at Gateway for eleven years, but I didn’t see the speakers as just Ann, Vickie, or Josh. I knew God had something to say, but it was up to me to listen. On the last night of the conference during praise and worship, I sobbed like a baby. I was definitely not concerned with what I looked like or what people thought! It was about experiencing God on a whole new level. The anointing was so powerful that you couldn’t deny it. I left that night feeling refreshed and renewed, knowing God’s not done with me yet. I can truly say there’s nowhere else I would’ve rather been this past weekend than watching those youth and workers lives be transformed. Minute by minute. Session by session. Anyone can get something from God at a youth conference! It just solidified everything that God is doing in and through the people at Gateway, and I’m honored to be a part of this family.

~Madison Sanders

Thank You for Being a Friend!

Everybody wants a friend. Everybody wants to belong somewhere…anywhere. I grew up on Air Force bases around the world. I was a quiet person and it took quite a while for me to make friends. I was very selective in who I chose. I wanted a friend who would always be there. I wanted someone that I could talk to about my deepest dreams, no matter how silly they were. I wanted someone I could entrust my deepest fears who would help me get through them. I used to envy the girls where I would go to school that had a best friend since kindergarten. I wanted that and badly! Military life was not bad but the changing stations and starting to a new school was hard on a quiet, shy little girl.

As I was driving home the other day from Atlanta, I got to thinking about friends…about my friends. I was thinking about the things that I share with them. Not one of my closest friends knows everything about me. It seems that I share some things with one friend, other things with another, and so on and so forth. If they were ever to combine forces and compile what they know then they would have almost a complete picture. I love them all dearly but I have not brought myself to trust one single person with everything about me.

Have you ever had the spiritual V-8 head smack? Well I experienced that while sitting in the wonderful Atlanta traffic (trying hard not to nut up and step out in the flesh at some of the drivers!). I could almost visualize God’s hand smacking me in the head!

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you] as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set  you apart, consecrating you; ]and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1: 5 (AMP) Even though God is speaking to Jeremiah in this verse, don’t you think it applies to you? He may not have called you to be a prophet. However, He knew you before He formed you in your mother’s womb. I think it does apply to me. He is no respecter of persons. He has given us a purpose in life. We are part of His Kingdom. He has approved of us and has appointed us to preach the gospel, His Word to set forth His Kingdom here on Earth.

The revelation that I received was that He WAS my best friend throughout my whole life, and He is STILL my best friend! He knows EVERYTHING about me. He also knows EVERYTHING about you! He wants and desires that BEST FRIEND Relationship. He will listen to you and give you the advice that you need. He will not lead you astray. It is okay to have your really, good friends. Just don’t forget to spend that time with your best friend.

~Ronda Sullivan

Celebrating Black History: Lucy Farrow

Let’s meet another one of God’s warriors as we continue to celebrate Black History Month…

Lucy F. Farrow

Lucy Farrow, niece of renowned black abolitionist Frederick Douglass, was serving as pastor of a holiness church in Houston in 1905 when Charles Parham engaged her to work as a governess in his home. She received the baptism of the Holy Spirit while working for his family. Farrow carried the Pentecostal embers back to Texas, on to Virginia, and later to Liberia. No evidence survives to tell us that she was a good preacher or a sound biblical expositor or even a caring pastor. But her aptitude for igniting the supernatural gifts among others was evident at a 1906 camp meeting near Houston when some 25 seekers stood lined up in a row in front of her. When Farrow “laid hands upon them…many began to speak in tongues at once.”

Celebrating Black History: Amanda Berry Smith

“The color line was washed away in the Blood.” – Frank Bartleman

Without a doubt, the United States has been the birthplace of the modern Pentecostal movement. As we continue our celebration of Black History month, it is important to note that our history, the history of the Church, has been shaped by the contributions of Black believers.

Amanda Berry Smith

Born a slave in Maryland in 1837, Amanda Berry was the daughter of a slave who was able to buy his freedom and that of his wife and five children. The Berry family moved to Pennsylvania where their home became a station on the Underground Railroad. After her first husband was killed while serving in the African Regiments in the Civil War, Amanda remarried and moved to Philadelphia. There, she was born again, joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and received her call to preach. In 1869, she began preaching in churches and at Holiness camp meetings in New York and New Jersey, becoming a popular speaker to both black and white audiences. By the end of the decade, she was known as far north as Maine and as far south as Tennessee. Although she was not ordained or financially supported by the AME Church or any other organization, she became the first black woman to work as an international evangelist in 1878. She served for twelve years in England, Ireland, Scotland, India, and various African countries. She emerged as one of the A.M.E. Church’s most effective missionaries and one of the most remarkable preachers of the age. In the process, she opened the way for more black women to preach in the A.M.E. church.

Lessons Learned by Fire

My house caught on fire a few months ago. I was running late one Friday morning. As usual, I woke up, fed the cat and two cockatiels, got dressed, grabbed my bag and headed out the door, not realizing that this would be my last time to ever do so. I don’t remember much about that day at work, but I assume it was pretty normal. When I got home that fateful evening, normality flew right out the window.

I came home only to find that my twenty-year-old electric blanket had caught on fire, consuming my bed and most of my bedroom. I spent the night with some friends only to return the next morning and find that a second fire had occurred, this time completely destroying the entire house along with everything I owned.

Needless to say, the past few months have been a novel experience for me in many ways. I have learned many lessons by fire, which I would like to share with you: lessons of preparation, crisis management, and the unexpected.

No one can ever truly prepare for disaster, but I quickly learned of ways how I had both adequately and inadequately prepared for the loss of my home. One of the things I did right was taking insurance out on my house which covered property loss, replacement costs, and additional costs of living expenses. The financial burden of rebuilding my life from scratch has been made simple because I had the foresight to purchase the appropriate insurance. However, I was not quite as prepared for the aftermath of the fire. In hindsight, I should have video inventoried every room, closet, wall, and drawer in my house. Trying to inventory everything that you’ve just lost in a fire from sheer memory is a daunting task which can easily be prevented.

While preparation for potential disaster is always prudent, learning to manage your life in the midst of such catastrophe is also quite valuable. I have discovered that developing strong relationships with family, friends, and your local community is an invaluable resource. Quite simply, the first two weeks after the fire, every matter was intrinsically overwhelming. Simple decision making became a challenge, but I was blessed to have my folks, my church, and my friends with me to help keep things simple. By delegating simple tasks, such as driving me to different places or writing things down for me, an immense burden was taken off my shoulders which allowed me to accomplish the important things in the midst of an overwhelming situation.

The most important lesson came quite unexpectedly: overwhelming love. Never before in all my life have I experienced such an outpouring of love and support from so many people. Within forty-eight hours of losing my home, my pets, and everything that I owned, my church had supplied me with a winter wardrobe which would last for a whole month without having to wash any clothes! The people of the graduate program I’m in generously gave hundreds of dollars and multiple household items to help me rebuild. People I didn’t even know were coming to me, wanting to help. The experience was quite surreal. In the midst of all the horror and pain of losing all that I had, I realized that I had something much more valuable and completely fireproof: a God, friends and family who love me.

You know the old adage, “You never truly know what you have til it’s gone?” I have found this proverb somewhat lacking upon reflection of my own life these past months. Yes, I did discover the true value of my insurance policies once I lost everything. And yes, I did actually learn that I didn’t know what earthly possessions I had till they were gone. But I have discovered a new adage: “You never truly know what you have til you have nothing left to give.” When you are humbled to the place where you have no choice but to rely on the generosity, compassion, and charity of others and God Almighty, that is where you discover the true riches of what you DO have.

The Princess Bride

The entire world is at pause today as HRH Prince William marries the lovely Catherine Middleton. There is nothing to compare to the  pageantry of this wedding. The streets of London swell with national pride as millions of Britons line the streets to catch even the smallest glimpse of the wedding party as they glide along in magnificent vehicles. Every moment, each tiny movement of both bride and groom, will be recorded for all the world to see. It is what one would expect from a Royal wedding. It is a day that will live on in the cultural life of England and the world for as long as this world exists.

On this day, I reflect upon the union of Christ and His Church. With what degree of anticipation do we await that day? Where is the excitement, the eager expectation for even one glimpse of the Bride? Do we spend time wondering about the Wedding garments, the guest list, the impact of that ceremony? Sadly, I think not.

I love weddings and the spiritual significance and representation of each movement, prayer, and recitation. There is something mysterious and wondrous about a wedding, which is meant to represent the union of our Lord and His Church. Although I rejoice with William and Kate in their glorious day, I long for the heart of God’s Church to be drawn in like manner to the preparation of our union with Him. Let this union become more important to us than this Royal wedding has become to England. Let our lives become more focused on fulfilling necessary duties to Him, to each other, and to ourselves in order that the Day may come. Each moment of our day, every person with whom we come in contact, every deed we do in service to our Lord becomes a thread in the fabric of our glorious Bridal gown. I pray today that we would be knitted together in love one with another as we anticipate our own Wedding day with Him.

Healing the Hurts

When you grow up riding and racing motorcycles, pain is something you learn to live with. I saw friends sustain major injuries or even lose their lives, but I loved to ride and nothing was going to stop me. I wasn’t looking to die young, but the truth is, once I accepted the possibility, I became a better racer. Over my 35 years of riding, I endured multiple concussions, broken bones, nerve and ligament damage and a major head injury, but I always bounced back. Believe me, I have experienced several healing miracles in my life – the kind that has the doctors at a loss – and I always knew it was God.

But the injuries catch up with you after time. For more then 10 years now, I have had chronic pain. The pain would start in my neck and back then radiate into my legs and arms. Even as someone well acquainted with pain, I would sometimes be overwhelmed by the intensity of it. My doctors all said the same thing: damage throughout my spine was pinching my spinal cord. Surgery was not a valid option because of the lack of good vertebrae remaining. Basically, there was no hope whatsoever.

When you’re in intense pain, everyday becomes a blur. I withdrew from people because it was hard to concentrate on conversations. Light and noise were unbearable. I could not form a clear thought let alone verbalize it. My communication with anyone was a struggle. My communication with God was non-existent. To say I had a short fuse would be an understatement.

Everyone makes mistakes, but during those years my judgment reached an all time low. When you are operating out of the feelings and emotions that I was, poor decisions became routine. I constantly struggled in my mind with thoughts of failure as a husband, father, friend, son and business owner. I was missing out on times with my boys I would never recover. How much longer would my wife stand by me? This ongoing battle combined with the unbearable level of pain produced thoughts of hopelessness, faithlessness, and suicide.

At the end of 2010, my life was at its lowest point. Something just had to change. I was scheduled to see a new surgeon, and I decided that I would give God just one more chance. I told Him that I knew He was not the author of my condition and that He wasn’t behind it. I reminded Him of the times He had spoken to me and performed miracles in my life. I repented for hiding from Him and then I asked Him to allow one of two things to happen: I wanted to either live medicine-free (through a miracle or a successful surgery) or I didn’t want to continue living at all. The truth is, at that particular moment, I really did not care which way it went; it just had to change.

I took the two weeks before my appointment to wean myself off the narcotic pain medication the doctors had me on, so I could go to the doctor’s appointment with a clear mind. After reviewing the MRI, my new doctor told me that he could definitely help. It was a major surgery and, even though there was more damage than he expected, he continued to offer me much needed hope.

The surgery turned out to be a great success. Recovery takes time, but I have stayed ahead of the “normal” healing process for my body. As I continue to restore my relationship with God, He is also repairing some of the other things that I thought were lost. It is good to know that my heavenly Father is not surprised at what He sees when He opens me up. I am being renewed day by day. It sure doesn’t feel like it all the time, but I remind myself that, because God said so, it is so. I know God loves me. He didn’t want Jesus to have to suffer on the cross, but there was a price in order for Him to save and heal me. Thank God He was willing to pay it!

~by guest contributor, Dave Frederick