The Unlikely Missionary

  So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises!     -Hebrews 10:23, Passion Translation   I was taught that expecting God to give me things or do things for me was bad. We’re told to ask God for things but, in the same breath, not expect Him to give them to us. It was in the name of piety but how backward is that? Especially because it contradicts God’s Word. Then on the flip side, now we tell people to "Name it and claim it" but that leads to disillusioned Christians disappointed that God hasn't granted their wishes. God isn't a genie. That contradicts God's Word too. How many of us know the scripture, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you? ( Matthew 7:7-8) If this is true, which it is, doesn’t that create expectancy? Doesn’t that mean I should expect to receive something? Of cour...

You are blessed. That is a fact. Whether you believe that or not. While doing the 100 days of Believing Bigger pillars of Stillness and Blessing + Obedience, my whole outlook on blessing was changed. We are taught that we need to ask God to bless us. As if our life is not blessed unless we ask and even then God still has to do the blessing. In this context, even as a believer, you question whether you even deserve to be blessed. And if you feel like you aren’t blessed you can develop a woe is me or even hardened heart. However, when you take God view that you are already blessed, that blessing is internal and not external; that it is not something God gives to you but it is already in you; it creates a whole new paradigm. Instead of thinking you are not worthy of being blessed because you know you are you begin to look for the blessings in your life. You walk with a different posture because blessing is happening, your not waiting for it. And because you are blessed, you can pou...

 No elected leader in the US or otherwise was handpicked by God. Especially not Donald Trump. Truth be told God never wanted us to have a King or President or Prime Minister or Emperor or any other Ruler to begin with. So the very idea that God is picking presidents for a nation (the US) that is not the children or Israel, a nation that didn't exist when the convenent God made with the children of Israel was enacted is a level of mental gymnastics that quite honestly is equal parts impressive and sad.  The fact of the matter is: The children of Israel looked around and saw that their other counterparts had Kings and so they asked God for one. He didn't want them to have one but He loved them and He obliged them. That doesn't mean that God is still picking kings. The last King God chose was Jesus. Jesus is the King of ALL Kings. The Lord of ALL Lords. There is no need for another because...  NEWSFLASH : Our King is still ALIVE! Thi...

I'll say it one more time for those in the back, God is Not a Man. God is God.  I saw someone on Twitter say, I wish they would refer to God in she/her pronouns.  This instantly didn't sit right with me. I get that we want to see ourselves in God but we are made in the image of God. Both man and woman. Who are we as the created to place this finite construct of male and female on the God that created the world by speaking? When we talk of God the Father we say he and him but He is not a man in the sense that we comprehend. God had a very clear role for men that this world has taken and perverted. Men were to be our protection, trustworthy, loving, a mirror of Christ's love for His church. The problem is that the church has made Ephesian 5 about women submitting to their husbands although God only spends 2 verses on that and spend 9 verses on telling men how they are supposed to love their wives . Because this World and man's creation of patriachy has so perverted the o...

When the scripture said there is nothing new under the sun its true. When I look out at the current moment the American Evangelical Church sits in, 1 Timothy 6 speaks so deeply to this moment. Where truth is lacking, the focus is protecting offering collections, Pastors viewing themselves as gods and refusing godly instruction. In this moment we are trading God's purpose for Money and Likes. I have a fondness for the Message translation of the Bible since my time as a Youth Leader at my father's church because of how it interprets the Word. So that is the verison you will see here. 1 Timothy 6:2-10 goes as follows: 2-5  These are the things I want you to teach and preach. If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually th...

Biblical Feminism This is a LOADED title and maybe it will become a series. We'll see. But today's post will touch on two things. Patriarchy and women in the Bible. People say that the Bible stresses a patriarchal society. I agree and disagree. In today's society men use their power to crush and abuse women and children in their care. When you look at patriarchy biblically what you find is that yes, God did put men over women and children. Not to abuse them but to protect them. Abraham , I'll be talking about Abraham a bunch today because he was one of the clearest examples of what the man's role in his household was. Abraham was in charge of his whole household from his wife on down to the child of his maids and servants. They were all from the House of Abraham. He was responsible for their shelter, their food, their well-being and their safety. That's a huge deal. Unfortunately a lot of that responsibility has now been put on women when they nev...

God does NOT have a covenant with the United States I'll repeat for the Christians in the back. God does NOT have a covenant with the United States . The Church in America is really quite pompous I have discovered as I have gotten older. It bothers me to watch some of these folks talk about the covenant of God and America as if God needs us. He doesn't need us. The only nation God has a covenant with is the nation of Israel and yet we in the US believe that godly morality resides in the West. As if God changed His mind over the years and moved it to us. How crazy is that when our country didn't even exist when the Bible was written? When I was a kid it never quite made sense to me how Israel was across the Atlantic but we were the nation of God. It didn't make sense because it's not true. We as believers have individual covenants with God. The more believers in one area, the higher the God concentration. Like mass immunization creates group immunity. Peopl...

It's still incredible to me that evangelicals are saying that God chose Trump. It's incredible for the obvious reasons: He clearly has broken every commandment there is but especially the two most important ones, Love the Lord your God with all you heart, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself. But the least obvious is that God never wanted us to have a king (president, ruler, dictator, tyrant, etc) in the first place. When the Bible says there is nothing new under the sun there really isn't. I'm reminded when the children of Israel asked Samuel for a king. Samuel was distressed and asked, "What for?" Their response back was "because everyone else has one". Not the greatest of reasons huh? So he went to God with all this and God said, let them have it, they have rejected me anyway. They asked and He ALLOWED them to get what they asked for . They wanted a king, they chose Saul. I put allowed in all CAPS because the one thing w...

Side Chick culture is rampant out here nowadays. It's not only glorified but celebrated. No women should ever be ok with being on the side. We are all worthy to be the one and only as God intended. In God's Economy men are one woman men. If you were supposed to have more than one God would have took more than one rib and made more than one Eve. So even though side chicks are fashionable these days the consequences can be devastating. Take it from the original side chick: Hagar. Now if you don't know the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar read up on it here . But in a nutshell, God told Abraham who was a very old man that he would have a child and the nation of Israel would come through that child. His very old wife Sarah didn't see how that was possible with her so she concocted a plan to make God's plan happen. Note : God doesn't need help btw. So she sent Hagar to have sex with her husband and get pregnant. Which she did. Now this isn't a tradit...

Color is such a big deal in America. It's sickening really. Color is really an American construction that came about because of slavery. During Jesus day and in most of the world today, except for America, people are classified by where they come from and who they belong to. For example if you are from France, regardless of if you are black or white, you are French. They, your ancestors, may belong to Cameroon or the Ivory Coast but you are a French citizen and therefore French. It's not that easy in America where the whole point of slavery was to purposely steal, conceal and rob people of that very thing. Taking children from there mother's and selling them away so they never truly know where they come from and to whom 'they belong. ]Histories lost. Identify destroyed. It was purposeful. Doesn't that sounds familiar? History is now repeating itself as this administration steals children from their parents. The purpose is to strip them of where they come fro...

There are a lot of King Sauls in the church today. They look good, they sound good and they even smell good. Cuz that’s what matters to us nowadays, right? Folks who are InstaReady, right? But their life, their walk with God is foul. And we make excuses for it because they look the "part". Folks out here running around without the fear of God forgetting how the story of King Saul turned out; defeated, chased and at a witch's door step . Have we learned nothing from when God called David? 1 Samuel 16 But the  Lord  said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The  Lord  does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance,  but the  Lord  looks at the heart.” When Samuel went to Jesse’s house looking for the next king he made the same mistake that we church folks make now. We are looking at what a person has and looks like and not the Jesus that exists inside of them. Tha...

This has to be one of the saddest stories in the Bible. Living in America we have bought the idea that money will solve all of life’s problems. This story however shows how wrong that thinking is. If you have never read the story of the rich young ruler read it here . In a nutshell this young man had all that life could offer. He had it ALL and yet.. something was missing. So he went to Jesus and he asked him what must he do to be fulfilled and Jesus said give it all up and follow me. How many of us are not willing to let go of what we have in order to gain what we actually want? A preacher once said, God cannot bless a closed fist. We want peace but aren’t willing to follow the source of peace. We want joy but are unwilling to let go of that which steals it away. We want happiness and love but we aren’t will to do what is necessary to have those things. The deepest part of this story is when it says that this young man left sorrowful. He left sorrowful because he knew that he was cho...

When my husband called me to tell me that we were evicted from our apartment it crushed me. I was at work, 6 months pregnant and stressed out. The sheriff was there and all he allowed my husband to take was his phone and the clothes on his back. This wasn’t sudden. We had known for months we could be evicted but I thought that God would by some miracle save me from my bad decisions. But when it actually happened it crushed me. I was homeless. I was the good Christian girl with two degrees and a job and I was homeless. I was ashamed. I was devastated. And my faith was shaken. And those close to me made me feel even worse. I was at a crossroads in my faith because we are often taught that if we do all the right things God is gonna bless you. Which many interpret as nothing bad ever happening to you. As I have learned that’s a bunch of hogwash. Pick a disciple, John the Baptist, Jesus. Jesus especially. Goodness does not equal easy street. I asked, why me Lord? I’ve done everyth...

God says to tithe. God says to tithe 10% of what you make. If 10% of what you make is $15 and you give $15 to further the work of God, You and God are straight. I hate that some churches have turned tithing into an auction. Can I get another $100. C'mon we need $100 for the building fund. Take those checkbooks out. I know we have another $100, $100 here. Going once, give to the Lord twice. Sold to the deacon with the puffed up chest. This has always bothered me. Didn't Jesus shake the tables in the temple for the same reason? Now I will say this. It makes no sense for people to ask why the church needs money. Churches pay bills just like everyone else and they also do charitable work. However, asking the church to fund a plane purchase is ludicrous. Here's looking at you Creflo Dollar. Churches are supposed to be good stewards of the Lord's money. Jesus, Peter, Paul all depended on the kindness of others on their ministry journeys because you have to pay C...

As I was writing the Myth Busters post it occurred to me how much the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus mirrored our current society. Even the man that currently sits in the White House. If you missed the Myth Busters post check it out below. Read: Myth Busters: You Can Go to Heaven and Come Back The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is found in Luke 16:18-31 In a nutshell the Rich Man lived a life of excess to the point of being obnoxious and Lazarus was a beggar who lived his days with dogs licking the sores on his body and hoping to get some scraps from the Rich Man's table. In today's society we see many - our current president and many congress members included - who live their days, as Eugene Patterson put it, in  conspicuous consumption. The dictionary defines it as expenditure on or consumption of luxuries on a lavish scale in an attempt to enhance one's prestige. Did you just get goosebumps like I did, because doesn't that describe them to a t...

NO YOU CAN'T We seem to be fascinated with death and wanting to know what it is and where we go and can we barter with God to get into heaven. We even have movies and books of people claiming that they went to heaven. But that's really impossible. The Bible tells us why in the parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus. (Not that Lazarus, another one. It was a popular name back in the day) You can read the story in Luke 16:19-31 . In this story we have a beggar, Lazarus and this Rich Man. As is true even today this Rich Man treated the beggar incredibly poorly. Meanwhile Lazarus just wanted the scraps from the man's table while dogs licked his sore covered body. Then both men died. The beggar ended up in heaven at Abraham's side and the Rich Man ended up in Hell. Side Note : Even as I type this a new post is coming to me so stay tuned. The Rich Man in hell looks up and sees Lazarus chilling in heaven and asks Abraham if he could send Lazarus to dip his finger in...

I don’t know about you but I live under the constant pressure to be great. To make something of myself. To make money. To have a good job. To own my own home. It stresses me out. On a good day I manage to get my kids ready, make my husband his lunch for work, all my blog posts done, get my podcast copy written, post to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram a couple of times, and reward myself with a latte. On bad days I sleep through my alarm cuz I was up with my sick kid all night. The latte is a necessity but I can only afford regular and forget podcasting. If I have dinner on the table before 9 I call that a win. In either case the needle doesn’t move. I still make the same amount of money. Live in the same place. And when I look up I wonder what do I do it all for? Celebrity life is an anomaly that we all aspire to. We want to be balling. We want all the money, the houses, the cars. And we work hard, looking at all the ways influencers do it and yet, I’m not living the life that I see t...

If you hadn't heard NYS passed a new abortion law . The response on both sides of the issue has been crazy. Read:  My Thoughts on the Abortion Debate As a Christian I have always had a problem with the way the Church has handled this debate. In Episode 8 of the Podcast I give my thoughts on how the Church should be addressing the situation. We should be part of the solution not adding fuel to the fire. But that requires us to do some introspection. No matter what one decides, or which side you sit on, the fact of the matter is we all are free to make our own choices, God still loves us because we all fall short and as a Christian we are to be the manifestation of God's love. You can listen to this podcast in the player above or in  Apple Podcasts ,  Stitcher  &  Spotify . Please rate and subscribe. For more Unlikely Missionary follow me on Facebook at  Facebook.com/UnlikelyMissionary . The Unlikely Missionary DHW

How often do we surrender our happiness to others? Every time we allow others to steal our joy or blame someone for why we are miserable we give them power over our lives. Life is a series of choices, life or death choices. It can be a literal life and death choice i.e. if you have diabetes and choose not to take your insulin or it can be figurative i.e. you allow someone to get under you skin and it changes your whole mood. Read:  God Gave Us the Gift of Choice In Episode 7 of the podcast I talk about the fact that the only person's actions we can control is our own and that we should choose happiness. I can't control what people do to me but I can control how it affects me and how I respond to it. I have chosen to be happy. You can listen to this podcast in the player above or in  Apple Podcasts ,  Stitcher  &  Spotify . Please rate and subscribe. For more Unlikely Missionary follow me on Facebook at  Facebook.com/UnlikelyMissionary . ...

Jesus never knocked on doors to spread the Gospel. I know I just got cut off from a lot of church folks but that's ok. The Bible does tell us to go tell the Gospel (Mark 16:15). I don't dispute that for a second. The thing is that Jesus effectively spread the Gospel and didn't knock on a single door.  Doing this always terrified me as a child because I didn't feel comfortable walking up to complete strangers and because I hated when people did it to me. 9 time out of 10 I always left those situations feeling harassed. Jesus didn't harass people with the Gospel. Instead He did these three things. His Reputation Preceded Him If you are a kind, loving person who is living right people will tell other people about you and the God you serve. Your life is your testimony. The way you live your life is a much greater witness then anything you say, He Had Organic Conversations that Led to Kingdom Conversations I never outright tell people about Christ. Mostly...