WEDNESDAY's WORD - TRIBUTE - 05/30/18 - Sadell Bradley

"How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me? Things so undeserved yet you gave to prove your love for me. The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude. All that I am, and ever hope to be...I owe it all to Thee. To God be the glory! To God be the glory! To God be the glory! for the things He has done! With His blood, He has saved me. With His power, He has raised me. To God be the glory for the things He has done! Just let me live my life, let it be pleasing LORD to Thee. And should I gain any praise, let it go to Calvary!-Rev. Andrae Crouch -Songwriter - "My Tribute"  The words of Grammy Award winning songwriter Andrae Crouch's hymn "My Tribute" are in my spirit. I am so grateful to the LORD and to my dear mother, Marion Ernestine Moody, who entered Heaven on Thursday, May 24, 2018, at the age of 91. When Andrae Crouch was 18 and working at Teen Challenge, a young man named Larry Reed, a former atheist and inmate at San Quentin Prison, told him he'd had a dream that Andrae would write a song that would go around the world. Andrae asked, "What do I have to read?" Larry quoted John 17:1-4: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify You. 2 For you granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou Me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."  Andrae Crouch wrote "My Tribute" in ten minutes the following morning. A TRIBUTE is an act, statement or gift that is intended to show gratitude, respect or admiration. It is something resulting from something else and indicating it's worth. In worship we ascribe to God His worth as created beings. Scripture describes a TRIBUTE as a payment made periodically by one state or ruler to another, especially as a sign of dependence. Paul told the Romans, "Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." (Rom. 13:7)  "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you." (Exodus 20:12)  In Ephesians 6:2, Paul describes this as, "the first commandment with a promise."  God says we owe our parents honor. When your mom is as great as mine was, that's not hard to do! Marion E. Moody was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the late George Alexander and Sadell Moody on August 25, 1926. She graduated from West Philadelphia High School before receiving her B.S. in Mathematics with a Music Minor from Hampton University in 1950. My mom was the first in our family to graduate college, and was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She worked as an accountant for the City of Philadelphia, and then found her life's calling, as a teacher at Belmont Elementary School for 27 years. Her affection for children and standard of excellence were legendary. My mom's love language was giving. She would anonymously meet the needs of the children in her school. Some still treat her as family. She gave of her treasure and talents to countless organizations and individuals. I literally saw scores of thank you cards for her generosity. My mom's specialties were baking delicious homemade cakes for birthdays and sewing designer clothing for everyone's special occasions. My mom loved Jesus and her church, Mount Carmel Baptist Church, and was a member for 76 years! She served as a faithful and devoted leader in the Church School, coaching children as 'The Memory Lady,' in Vacation Bible School, and once received a teacher's award. She even joined the chime ministry in her 80's. My mother adored her family, especially her sister, Dorothy, her brother Emory and me, whom she adopted as a single parent. This was the ultimate Christ-like gift, for which I am eternally grateful. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for someone. (John 15:13) She gave her life so that I could have mine. It's one thing to have a child naturally, it's quite another to seek one out, then go to an orphanage and court to bring them into your heart and home for the rest of your life. James describes looking after orphans in their distress as 'true religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless." (James 1:27) My mother was extremely well read and offered matriarchal wisdom and insight. She was a witty, fun-loving, loyal and kind friend. Her friendships lasted for 50 years or more.  She loved to travel and enjoyed the arts. She had a great disposition and lived life to the fullest. Proverbs 31 so aptly describes my precious mother: A woman of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.  Reward and honor her for all that she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.     TO GOD BE THE GLORY! I LOVE YOU MOMMY!

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WEDNESDAY'S WORD - PERSEVERANCE- 05/23/18 - Sadell Bradley - New Life Covenant Cincinnati

"I learned patience, perseverance, and dedication. Now I really know myself, and I know my voice. It's a voice of pain and victory. - Anthony Hamilton, American Musician    PERSEVERANCE - means steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. The Latin perseverant means "abiding by strictly." When we persevere, it means that we continue in a course of action even when it's hard and there seems to be little prospect of a favorable outcome. Perseverance is an attribute of faith - which lives in the realm of what is hoped for, yet unseen. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said, "Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did."      American inventor Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents, and developed many devices including the phonograph (record player), the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Edison is a quintessential figure on the topic of perseverance, coming to his eureka light-bulb moment after 10,000 attempts. He emphatically stated, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." What if Edison had quit on his 9,999th attempt? Most of us wouldn't have made it past the 9th! What Edison called, 'sick-to-itiveness' was one of his 3 great essentials to achieve anything, along with hard work and common sense.  He said, "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember...you haven't." Someone said that the hardest decision in life is deciding whether to 'walk away,' 'try again' or 'try harder.'    James said PERSEVERANCE, or endurance under trial does something wonderful within us. It perfects our character and matures us, if we allow it to do so. James 1:2-4, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Too often we cut and run before perseverance has had the chance to complete her perfect work and we miss out not only on the success of accomplishment, but in producing the Spirit's fruit of faith and patience.     In Luke 21, Jesus told His disciples they would face serious trials for associating with Him as Messiah, including possible death and betrayal by their families and friends (vs. 16). Though natural disaster and personal difficulty lay ahead, he admonished, "By your patient endurance you will will gain your souls." (verse 19) Perseverance corrals our emotions and harnesses our will. Superbowl winning Coach Vince Lombardi had much to say about this, "There's only one way to succeed in anything, and that's to give it everything. The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's the essence of it. It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up. Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit. Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness, and respect for authority are the price each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile." I wish my teachers  had put more emphasis on the character quality of perseverance. It is said that, "Anything worth having is worth fighting for," and "Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations." So let perseverance finish it's work.           _________________________________________________________________________

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WEDNESDAY'S WORD - CAMOUFLAGED - 05/16/18 - Sadell Bradley - New Life Covenant Cincinnati

"Remember, God provides the best camouflage  several hours out of every 24."   -David M. Shoup   Can you spot the Snow Leopard in the photo above? Yeah, I couldn't either, because it's CAMOUFLAGED. In nature, CAMOUFLAGE is an animal's natural coloring or form that enables it to blend in with its surroundings.  It is also the disguising of military personnel, equipment, or installations by painting or covering them to make them blend in with their surroundings (left photo).  Figuratively, CAMOUFLAGE means the actions or devices used or intended to hide or disguise the presence of a person, animal or object; to conceal their existence. It's there, but someone doesn't want you to know it. Sometimes God allows things to be hidden in plain sight. When God camouflages someone, no one will find them until He wants them found.     God told Abraham his descendants would be slaves for 400 years to a people who would treat them harshly. After those years were accomplished, He would bring them out with great spoil. Joseph was used both to deliver the Jews from a famine, and into this prophetic reality. In Egypt, Israel's numbers grew so much that Pharaoh was afraid and decided to enslave and oppress them - but the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. He instructed the mid-wives to kill all of the male babies during childbirth, but they allowed them to live saying the Israeli mothers birthed them so fast they could not get to them in time. God blessed the midwives for this, but Pharaoh commanded that every male child be thrown into the Nile River. (Ex. 1:12-22)    Moses' mother hid him for three months in her home. When she could conceal him no longer she made a papyrus basket, coated it with tar and gave him to his sister to place in the River.  Pharaoh's daughter saw the baby in the basket and felt sorry for it. She took the child in to raise as her own. She asked his sister to find someone to nurse him and eventually paid his own mother to do it! The name Moses means, "because I drew him out of the water." (Exodus 2:1-10)  God's chosen deliverer for the Jews was CAMOUFLAGED undetected in the home and family of their oppressor. Masterful! If God has camouflaged you; nobody's going to see who you are until it's time! I'm a witness, He will make you undetectable. Moses' ill-fated attempt at delivering his people by killing an oppressive Egyptian didn't bring him out from under God's radar. In fact, it led him into 40 hidden years in the desert as a shepherd. Moses knew he was the deliverer, but God wasn't ready to reveal it.     You are going to be camouflaged until God is ready to unveil you. It's frustrating because there's really nothing you can do to accelerate that process. The LORD is working the proper character inside to prepare you for your next assignment. For years, people thought Joseph was just a slave, then an inmate. As a child, David's family believed he was a shepherd boy, not a king. Folks even assumed Jesus was just a good man with a prophetic mantle. The fact that He is the Son of God is still hidden from many. It was a revelation only the Father could give. (Matt. 16:15-16) Jesus told His disciples, "My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." (Matthew 11:27) Camouflage is sometimes necessary and always purposeful. I bet you can see the Snow Leopard now...

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WEDNESDAY'S WORD - REGRETS - Sadell Bradley - 05/09/18 New Life Covenant Cincinnati

"My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn't prevent you doing well, and don't regret the things it interferes with. Don't be disabled in spirit as well as physically."  Stephen Hawking    On Sunday, we were singing the David Crowder Band song, "How He Loves," and we got stuck on the lyric, "And I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us!"  It struck such a chord that we sang the phrase over and over again. You could literally feel the past washing off of people. It was a powerful moment. REGRET means to feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over something that has happened or been done before, especially a loss or missed opportunity. The Old French regreter means to 'bewail the dead,' so regret entails mourning. It is sorrow for the absence of something pleasant or someone loved. The LORD told the prophet Isaiah, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:18-19) We affirmed that many of us had wasted too many hours, days, months and even years in regret over things we wished for but never got, poor choices we'd made and their affects on our loved ones, and opportunities we didn't seize. REGRET is indeed a serious waste of energy. We are deceived into thinking that  by replaying the situation over and over again in our mind, we might get a different outcome, or at least have a taste of reliving a more pleasant time.  The more and longer we do that, the more it becomes false nostalgia.  There was a reason things didn't pan out the way we'd hoped they would. Ephesians 1:11-12 often gives me comfort when I think my life has spun even out of God's control (not possible), "In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. God has a reason for what He's allowed and what He's prevented in my life and though those reasons are sometimes unknown to me, His providential love and care for me is not unknown. He loves me even when I don't understand His ways. So don't waste your time looking back, you're not going that way. The one that got away should have gotten away.  The opportunity you thought would be perfect but didn't pan out was evidently not for you. The place you 'should' be by now is not the place you're in for a reason. I put the meme of the statement here again on purpose. When God gave Pharaoh his dreams about the coming famine in Egypt, Joseph said the LORD told him twice because the thing was established by God. (Genesis 41:32) You letting go of regret is something that God wants to establish. We are not to dwell on the past, nor be anxious about the future. "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." (Matthew 6:34) Paul, formerly Saul the Jewish Pharisee, killed and persecuted many Christ followers before his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road.  He said the one thing he learned was how to forget the things behind and reach forward to the things ahead, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:13-14) This man had more regret than most of us ever will, yet he did not let his past sins, failures or indiscretions disqualify him from the life and calling God had for him. Don't let regret steal another moment from your life.

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WEDNESDAY'S WORD - SPEECHLESS - Sadell Bradley - New Life Covenant Cincinnati

"Nature best teaches how to pray, and how to reverence all the gifts the Almighty has given us. She is like a vast outspread handkerchief, embroidered with God's eternal name, on which we may dry alike our tears of sorrow and joy; she turns weeping into ecstasy, and fills our hearts with speechless, quiet reverence and resignation."  Robert Schuman   W.A.I.T. - Why. Am. I. Talking.?  This is a great introspective question. My mom used to admonish her students, "Zip your lips!" Why DO we talk so much? Sometimes it's because we feel we've not been heard. Sometimes it's to prove a point. Are we talking because we can't stand the dead air of silence? Or is it because our feelings and nerves are causing us to chatter.  There are very few things that render most of us SPEECHLESS, but there certainly could be more. Speechless means something has occurred that can't be expressed in words. The event or person has left us unable to speak because of shock or some strong emotion. Speech, the faculty that we usually use to communicate our deepest thoughts and feelings, has been temporary suspended in awe over what we've just seen, heard, felt or experienced.  We can be rendered speechless when  shocked by someone's audacity, or by something stunningly beautiful.   When was the last time you were rendered speechless? Have you been too busy to even notice your surroundings, or your loved ones? Like Robert Schuman, King David marveled at God's creative genius, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor." (Psalm 8:3-5) Sometimes all it takes for us to be overcome by the LORD's Presence is to shut our mouths, open our eyes, and behold the splendor of His majesty. We see it in the heavens and the earth. Consider your life, your loves, and the time God allowed you. "The LORD is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him. Keep silence, keep silence, before Him." (Reference Hab. 2:20) The chancel choir sang this chant in my childhood church. Silence is a spiritual discipline. In Friends' schools we learned its value through hour-long Quaker Meetings. Every week K-12, we practiced the discipline of silence and were encouraged to reflect on God's glory, or meditate on our own thoughts and feelings. How quiet can you be? for how long? How about in tense meetings or stressful situations? Proverbs 17:28 says, "Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent."  I want to be rendered and choose to be speechless more often... for all the right reasons - don't you?

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