“Available Balance…” (by Mel McGuire)

I was doing some online banking and noticed my checking account had a difference between my “current balance” and my “available balance”. You see the way my checking account is set up…no wait, that ain’t what I was trying to say…ignore that.

Point being, my current balance was significantly higher than my available balance. But just before I called the bank, I remembered I had deposited a check and apparently, there had been a “hold” placed on it.

I was able to access some of it immediately, but most of it, though counting towards my total or current balance, was not accessible, thus leading to my “available balance”.

It didn’t take me long to lament the fact that I had to wait before I could access (meaning spend) money that showed in my account. God interjected however, and reminded me that He too, will place a hold on things until the appointed time.

I remember when I first prayed about wanting to get married. God told me to wait. He gave me a time period that was more than a few business days. My desire was like my current balance. My readiness was my available balance. Marriage wasn’t happening until some things “cleared” the bank.

Often we want to do something, even something great and mighty for the Lord. We have a strong desire, a burden, even a gift and a calling to do it. But, we are not ready. And so we have to wait until our “can do” matches or exceeds our “want to”.

Too many lives have been negatively impacted because someone’s desire wrote a check their maturity, experience, and character could not cash. And in ministry especially, when those checks bounce…people get hurt.

Your available balance may place a limit on what you can do…until the rest of the currency becomes available. Growing in the Lord is not optional. If you stop growing, your available balance may not change…it certainly won’t increase.

While time is simply all that is needed for some money to become available in the banking industry, other things may require action or certain qualifications to be met first. Growing in the Lord is not a matter of the passage of time, rather the passing of tests.

In order for God to do all He wants to do in you and with you, there are some requirements that are non-negotiable. In order for us to get our available balance to match our current balance, we have to meet His standards.

It is easy to mistake grace and favor for being qualified. They are not the same. Grace and favor may provide opportunity. Character and competence allow you to remain, maintain, and obtain more as you are able.

Check your balances. When there is a gap between your total and your available, ask God what you need to do, who you need to become, in order to access the better promise He has laid up for you.

It is always good when the “hold” has been lifted, and all funds become available for use.

“Knead…” (by Mel McGuire)

 

I learned something recently about making bread. Specifically, about kneading the dough that makes the bread. I remember as a child watching my mother, the best cook I have ever known, making bread.

I can recall her working with her hands, and kneading the dough before she produced some of the best bread rolls known to man.

The process of kneading, done properly, allows the active ingredients in the dough to align themselves properly. This causes the dough to become stronger and when cooked, it makes it lighter and fluffier, and adds texture and flavor to the finished product.

The image I shared is the one I recall…the hands of the master, working the dough until it became smooth, soft, and pliable. You can tell when dough is properly kneaded when it is silky smooth, is no longer sticky, and will retain its shape when poked…bouncing back immediately.

Like the clay in the hands of a potter, we are like dough in the hands of our Master, and sometimes we need to be kneaded.

The kneading process includes folding, pushing, stretching, and turning…and then repeating that process until the dough is ready. How many times Lord, how many times, do I have to go through this same situation? You are being kneaded.

You are being folded, pushed, stretched, and turned. Uncomfortable, inconvenient, and powerless. You are shaped into what looks like a loaf of bread…only to be folded, stretched, and turned yet again…and again…and again.

God uses all types of things to knead us. People, circumstances, situations, and predicaments all serve to fold us, push us, stretch us and turn us. But like the ingredients in dough, the process makes us stronger, more pliable, and able to bounce back.

The kneading process allows what is inside of us to rise and cause us to be lighter, with better texture, and gives us flavor. We need to be kneaded. The chef knows how much kneading is needed to make the exact bread he is looking for. How much kneading did Jesus endure in order to be called the Bread of Life?

When you feel the light sprinkle of flour, and then the strong, gentle hands of the Master Chef…know you are about to be kneaded. Stay on the board until He is done. It will make you look better, feel better, and taste better. We need to be kneaded.

“Showtime!…” (by Mel McGuire)

My pastor preached a message entitled, “Something is happening when Nothing happens”. It has to do with the very real instances when God has promised something that does not occur when we think it would, or should.

He used the illustration of buying tickets for a show online, paying the ever increasing ticket price along with the always exorbitant “handling fees, convenience fee, facility fee, and whatever else they decide to charge you because you can’t get these tickets anywhere else fees”, and arriving at your seat.

He talked about the journey you had to endure, coordinating with your “boo”, getting dressed, maybe arranging for childcare, and fighting traffic, to get to your seat on time.

And at that moment, appointed and promised by the ticket you purchased, you expect that curtain to rise, part, or otherwise open…because it’s Showtime!…and… nothing happens.

How long do you wait? Before you get a little anxious. Before you start looking for an usher for an explanation. Before you decide whether to leave or stay. Before you plot your lawsuit for money spent and the cruel infliction of emotional distress?

How long before you decide that because the curtain did not open, the show did not go on, that you are going to abandon this plan?

Of course the show does go on. Maybe it was “late” because of that very traffic you endured. Maybe others also were caught up in the traffic and the show operators decided to “hold the curtain” for a few more minutes to allow others to get in their seats.

Your experience would not be optimal if you were constantly interrupted by the folks coming in late.

But the pastor correctly pointed out, that before you heard of the show, before you bought a ticket and made plans and bought that outfit, before you did anything at all…there was something happening behind that curtain.

Writing, auditioning, casting, memorizing lines, rehearsing, staging, set work, lighting, audio and technical preparations take months to put a show together. Over the course of months of preparation, what is a few minutes to make it right?

What has God promised you? If He said it, He will make it good. He has already made plans, chosen people, trained them, set the stage and the atmosphere to create the very experience you say you want…and sometimes He waits. Sometimes for you, other times for others. Because He knows what you need and when you need it.

He understands that a few extra moments of waiting will mean nothing when you experience His promise fulfilled. We have to know that sometimes, God will “hold the curtain”.

So, how long will you wait? The closed curtain is a sign that something is happening out of your sight and without your knowledge. Faith says, “I have my ticket. I have God’s promise. The show must go on. So I will wait. I will stay in my seat and wait for the promise that came from Him.” You can wonder, and you can question, just don’t get out of your seat!

It’s Showtime!

“Drought…”(by Mel McGuire)

I am currently experiencing a low water pressure situation with my lawn sprinkler system. As a result, my back yard has gone through a drought. Where there used to be a lawn is now pretty much dirt.

I did not address the issue right away, but am wondering why I am paying a gardener to “maintain” the back yard, which really is not much more than a dirt lot…with some thorny bushes that should be roses.

Apparently the gardener must have wondered the same thing, because the last time he was here, he turned on the sprinklers and watered the dirt…I mean lawn. Now I am confessing this not because I am proud, because I am not. I took his cue and decided to begin watering the lawn myself in order to restore it.

Now, my back yard is not easily seen. You pretty much have to be in it to see it, or at best, deep in my house. And while the front yard is well manicured and kept up to current standards of “curb appeal”, the back yard, the “hidden area”, has fallen into disrepair. The rose bushes in the front bloom spectacularly on a regular basis.

I was disappointed after a week of watering, not to see green grass and flowers blooming in my back yard. Perhaps my expectations were high, but I know there are seeds and nutrients buried in the lawn, (speaking by faith now) just needing water to spring forth. The roses are excused, because I know they have their own “season”.

Have you ever fed or watered something and then wondered why it wouldn’t grow? Some things, after suffering through a drought, need more than just water to grow again, most of all, they need time. I mean my lawn didn’t disappear overnight or even in a season, yet I expected it to bounce back right away.

I guess I have some other things that are in my spiritual back yard that have gone through a drought. I am watering, and feeding, and impatiently (being honest) waiting for them to grow back. It seems I am willing to give them everything they need but time. Some of my behaviors and attitudes, perspectives and wounds, are going to take time. I know godly seeds are in me, so when will I see some fruit?

How is your back yard looking these days? Are you keeping people away from your “house” because you don’t want them to discover you are going through a drought? Are you satisfied with having spiritual curb appeal, and a dirt lot that is hidden from view? Are you going to make the effort, pay the price, give the time, to allow the seeds of hope, the nutrients of love, the flowers of joy, to spring forth in full restoration in your life?

God our Father is our gardener. He may need to pull some weeds, dig up some dirt, plant new seeds, water, and nurture for a season…but He is ready to rain on our drought. Let Him rain! Let Him reign.

He is living water and can pour life back into our thirsty lawns (souls). Let Him rain!

“Crock Pot…” (Mel McGuire)

After eighteen years of marriage, I discovered the wonders of cooking with a crock pot.  I finally used one of our wedding gifts, which had been sitting dormant, waiting to be utilized. That is a message in and of itself, as the crock pot, while waiting to be called upon, never lost its purpose or ability.

It was ready to fulfill its design, even though I had ignored it until now. And since being called into service, it has performed faithfully, without fail. Do you have a dormant gift waiting to be used?

The beauty of the crock pot is slow cooking over (relatively) low heat, over an extended period of time. Because of the low heat, it does not require constant or even periodic monitoring. You simply add the ingredients, set the temperature, and LEAVE IT ALONE! While it is cooking, you can go do something else.

At the appointed time, you come back to it and your meal is ready to eat. It’s that simple. Crock pots are known for cooking up simple yet flavorful meals, with tender meats, juicy vegetables, and aromatic sauces. The quality of the outcome truly belies the quantity of the effort. That is what makes slow cooking so great…if you LEAVE IT ALONE!

I emphasize that because my early efforts took longer to get the desired results than the recipes called for. Upon further review, I learned my constant lifting of the lid, to check on the progress and the process, was adding more time to the situation. I had to wait longer, because I would not leave it alone.

There are things in our lives God has put in His crock pot. Years ago I asked God about getting married. I was still in college, and He told me not to ask for at least three years. I wasn’t ready yet.

Everything was in me, but I was in the slow cooker and my appointed time was still a ways off. That didn’t stop me from lifting the lid though, anytime (and every time?) I met, saw, or spent time with a sister, I lifted the lid.

Some of our dreams, callings, and ultimate purposes are in God’s crock pot. He is leaving them alone until the appointed time. He has placed all the ingredients in your life, He is allowing them to simmer, to cook slowly, mixing and merging, softening and flavoring.

He is sure what He placed in you, and He knows at the appointed time, when He takes the lid off of you, it will be perfect. A quality of outcome that belies the quantity of effort! Isn’t that what we want? Meanwhile, He is doing something else!

He uses our obedience, our faithfulness, our service, to serve as that slow cooker. These things give us a tender heart, add flavor to our ministry, and cause amazement at the simplicity and wonder of it all.

So don’t fret if He leaves the lid on for a little while longer. You may think you’re ready, you may want to be ready, but He wrote the recipe of your life and He knows when you are ready… and when the world is hungry for your gift.

So close the lid and leave it alone. He knows your appointed time, and when HE lifts the lid you will be tender, full of flavor, and the aroma of His anointing will fill the room!

“Layaway…” (by Mel McGuire)

I saw a sign recently advertising a store’s layaway plan. It brought back many memories from my childhood when my parents would routinely place items on layaway. This was before the widespread use of credit cards and the subsequent mountain of consumer debt we have all come to know as the new normal.

The way layaway works is that you make a down payment on an item and you leave it at the store. They set it aside for you and you make payments as you are able. Once you have paid for the item in full, it is yours to take home. There is usually little to no interest on the purchase and if you failed to pay in full, the item was returned to the stock and your money was refunded.

With a credit card, of course you take the item home right away and often it is used up or inoperable long before you finish overpaying for it, due to the interest on the credit card. This appeals to the instant gratification we are all susceptible to, and is a hard apple to leave on the tree. But I think God prefers the layaway plan.

You see, God has some things stored up for you. When you pray, He sets it aside and puts it on layaway. You continue to make payments by praying, believing, and making room in your budget and heart for the thing He has promised. This does two things; first, it makes you sacrifice less important things to pay the price of the promise. Secondly, it establishes and proves the value of the promise in your life, so you cherish the promise because of the process necessary to realize it in your life.

We think that God is charging crazy interest rates and that He never intends to give us the promise because we mess up or skip a payment. We then assume after a while the price has gone so far up we can no longer afford it, or it does not seem worth the price anymore. But God does not add interest in that sense, the price of the promise never changes, we just have to make all the payments to receive it. We think God has given our blessing to someone else, or put it back on the shelf for someone else to purchase.

What God sets aside for you, is for you and no one else. Your purpose, your destiny, your dream, your calling is on layaway for you. God wants you to be obedient, be in faith, be about realizing and fulfilling your purpose. But you have to make room for it. You have to cut out the frivolous activities and habits that are wasting your time and talent. Divest yourself of emotional interest charges that drain your soul and leave you morally bankrupt.

Make sound choices to follow after God and before you know it, your account will be paid in full, and you will be enjoying the fruits of obedience, sacrifice, and commitment.

What are those things you are waiting on God for? Are you still making payments? The price has not changed; God wants the best of you, even all of you. Do not settle for a discounted version of your blessing. Pay the full price, regardless of the time involved, and get all that God has placed on layaway for you.