Be An Encourager: The Blessing of the Closed Door

Be An Encouager is a group that I contribute to on Facebook that was created by some friends of mine from college. It follows the instruction of Hebrews 3:13: "Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”.

Be An Encourager: The Blessing of the Closed Door

John 10:9-10 "I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."


Have you ever had a closed door experience? A closed door experience occurs when you are trying to go a certain direction; and suddenly you run into a permanent roadblock that stops you from achieving your desired goal. Your closed door may be a relationship that deteriorates and ends without warning. It could be a job position or promotion that you are qualified for, but cannot achieve. It might even be the loss of an object that you would like to obtain like a car or a house. In these situations, having a door close on you means that you cannot go any further on the path that you intended to travel. And when that does happen, it can be very painful. But you don’t have to worry about the doors that close in your life. You see, there is another door. And His name is Jesus.

It is through the door of Jesus that we have unlimited access to God the Father. Every blessing that God wants to give you is available for you to receive and enjoy. But you would have never had the chance to receive that blessing had you continued through the wrong door. That is why the door was shut. It was shut so that God could point you in the direction that you needed to go. And if God took time out to point you in a different direction; then that means that you are still within His will. So don’t dwell on the things that you may have missed out on. And don't dwell on the doors that were shut. Focus on how much God must love you to shut those doors and how He expressed that love through the gift of Jesus as the true door. Be encouraged in the blessings that you received and will continue to receive because of your new direction. And take comfort in the fact that you are in His perfect will.

Be Encouraged! Your Joy is in the Lord!





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Books You Have to Read: Captured Emotions

Phillip Joyner is a former co-worker of mine who has stepped out on faith to pursue his writing full time. I can personally tell you that his strong convictions and his gratefulness to God is what drives him and his writing. It is definitely worth the read. His website is located at the bottom of this post. The following was taken from his website:

Phillip was born in Baltimore, Maryland, July 16th, 1962. He was raised in Buffalo, New York, where he experienced the loss of his single parent mother at the age of four years old. Relatives raised him and his three siblings. They suffered from severe child neglect and as a result became part of the foster care system after being shuffled from one home to the next for a couple of years. He experienced separation of family once again after the break-up of his siblings. His two older siblings were sent to live with one family while he and his younger brother were sent to live with another family. “Captured Emotions” documents that incredible journey.


Captured Emotions was written to raise awareness about the number one form of child abuse, which is child neglect;and to encourage any reader who has experienced child abuse in the past, or who is currently living through it. This book is a testimony that God is an emotional healer and a mender of broken hearts. Captured Emotions in poetic expressions will bless and encourage you to continue life’s journey.

philjoyner.com





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Books You Have to Read: Once Broken Now Blessed

One of my good friends from college recently published her first book. Her name is Shaundale Hornes Johnson; and the title of her book is "Once Broken Now Blessed: A Testimony of Trials and Triumphs". Here is the synopsis as taken from her website.

In Once Broken, Now Blessed, Shaundale Hornes Johnson tells of a series of supernatural experiences she encounters in the presence of the Holy Spirit during her darkest hours. She takes the reader on a fleshly journey of highs and lows as she brilliantly writes, in specific detail, every step taken in the Spirit from the eyes of a wounded sheep, or shattered soul. Having come through this experience, few writers are more qualified than she to take you inside the real breaking and making of a heart sold out to Christ.



Shaundale's desire to help others can also be found outside of her writing. She helps to rebuild communities from the inside out under Project Turn Around; a subsidiary of her home church (Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship)in Dallas, Texas. Check out Shaundale's website for more information on her and her dynamic book. I know that you will be blessed by it. You can find purchase information at the link below. Congratulations Dale!
shaundalejohnson.com





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Find All These Things on Google!

Want to tell someone about All These Things? Is it difficult to do because of the spelling? I know, I've had the same problem. Here's a solution. Because this blog is supported by Google, you can easily access it through the google.com search engine. Just type "alltheezthingz" in the google search engine, and it will link you to the main page as well as to the titles that I have posted. It's an easy way to locate "All These Things" and an easy way to spread the news. Thank you for reading.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike

Changing Our Viewpoint

Sometimes when we look at life, we think that things are never going to get better. We feel like this is the way things are always going to be. We see our lives as a still picture; a permanent snapshot whose 4 X 6 dimensions are a life's sentence without the chance of parole. I have to admit that I have had more than one episode of the snapshot mentality in my life. You know the words: "Well, I guess that this is just my lot in life,". But my prayer is that my viewpoint changes as well as my situation. I can remember working at a job that paid very little money. I had been constantly looking for another job and not having any success at all when an amazing thing happened to me. My mentality changed. Instead of feeling sorry for myself like I had been doing, I decided that I was not going to be defined by my current situation. I decided to change my snapshot mentality to a panoramic mentality.


You know what a panoramic picture is, don't you? It is a different viewpoint from the snapshot point of view because you can see more of the entire scene. This is because the panoramic picture shows more. It's like God's viewpoint. We typically look at our lives from a snapshot point of view. It's kind of like the picture on the left. God always looks at our lives from the panoramic point of view (picture below). God is looking at the total picture of our lives: where we came from, where we are now, and where we are headed to. We need to do the same. Don't just focus on where you are right now. Look at where God has brought you through. Think about all of the things that you have survived and all of the things that you have accomplished. Then try to focus on the future. Think about what you are going to do. Even if you don't know exactly where you are going, understand that you are not confined to a snapshot life, but that you are destined to fulfill all of the things that God sees as your destiny. Focus on His panoramic view.


both pictures taken by David Bergman of the United States. Website credit is gigapan.org





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THANK YOU!!!

I just want to say thank-you to everyone that has looked at the blog, left a comment, or said an encouraging word to me about it over the past 6 months. I am blessed because of you.

Love ya

Rev. Mike

Christian Rapper of the Week: Sho Baraka

According to an article I found on Wikipedia, Sho Baraka was born in Canada,lived a few years in California, and now resides in Texas. Great lyrics and very easy to understand. Enjoy,


(video courtesy of Reach Records) Go to the link below for lyrics:
reachrecordss.com/lyrics

Album Credits:
Turn My Life Up (2007)
Barakaology- The Mixtape (2009)

Album Credits with 116 Clique:
116 Clique: The Compilation Album (2005)
116 Clique: The Compilation Album: Special Edition : Chopped & Screwed By DJ Primo (2006)
13 Letters (2007)
Amped (2007)





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Encouraging the Valley From Inside the Valley

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
(23rd Psalms, 4th verse)

Those words of the 23rd Psalms have been used by people to comfort others for years. But sometimes, we find ourselves in a peculiar position. Sometimes we are the ones in the middle of a valley experience. We are walking through the valley and trying to be strong in the Lord and life is kicking our butts. Then guess what happens? We run into someone that needs to be witnessed to. Or we run into someone who needs our help. How can you help someone when you need help yourself? By the grace of God, I have found myself in this position before. I was in a terrible spiritual state and I had someone tell me that I was a blessing to them. This totally took me by surprise. How can I be a blessing when I am weak? I have realized over time that my spiritual struggles place me in a position of vulnerability. And that vulnerability allows me to be available for God's use.

I don't know why yet, but when I am going through a rough patch in life, God still allows me to minister to people and help them to go through. I guess the reason why is because our valley moments make us focus on God. When we focus on God, then we are not looking at our situation. People have drawn inspiration from me simply watching me live my life through the good and bad moments. I'm not saying this to brag, my arrogance is only in the Lord. But I am saying that I am a better instrument for God in my weakened state because I am actively seeking Him for an answer. You know the old saying: Don't be afraid to ask a question in a classroom because someone else might have the same question. The same thing can be said of God. You could be seeking God's guidance about something and the answer you receive might be just the thing that someone else needed to hear. I have had people tell me that I was an inspiration to them on a couple of occasions. I notice that this often occurs during my darkest hours. I truly believe that there is a connection between my weakened spiritual state and my ability to be that vessel of encouragement. How does this help you? I hope that you will see that you always have the opportunity to help someone get through their valley situations. But the opportunity is greater when you are in the valley with them. This is because you are both walking together through the valley and you can gain strength from each other... and from God.

Peace and Love
and Happy Father's Day,

Rev Mike





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Secrets From God

Did you know that God gives us secrets? I don't mean secrets like "I have ten bodies buried under my house" kind of secrets. I mean secrets about His promises for our lives and for the lives of others. I mean secrets about our destinies. In the book of Genesis (Chapter 37:5-11), Joseph received a secret from God. God shared Joseph's destiny for him when Joseph was only seventeen years old. Joseph simply did not do a good job of keeping his secret. He bragged to his brothers and even his father Jacob that they would all bow down to him. Joseph was simply revealing the vision that God had given to him. And the vision was absolutely correct. His brothers and father did bow down to him later on in the book of Genesis. But Joseph was nearly forty years old when it happened! It took many years for Joseph's secret to come true. But it did come true.

I'll give you another example of God's secrets that hits a little closer to home. I had at least two different people receive the vision of me becoming a minister before I actually understood my calling. One of the people was my brother. The other person was an old friend from high school. My friend actually told me about their vision for me. My brother kept the secret to himself. My brother received the vision four years before I actually accepted my calling. This lets you know that God had my destiny planned for me before I even knew about it. Looking back on that moment in my life, I realize that God did give me clues about my destiny. I wasn't ready to receive all of the information, so God didn't reveal everything. But as I continued to grow in wisdom and experience in God, I could see my destiny take shape before my eyes. Why do you think God gives us a secret? Here's a couple of ideas:

1. God may give the secret about you to someone else because you are not ready to receive it. If we knew everything that God had planned for us, we would probably go running in the other direction! God has to prepare us to receive our destiny.

2. The people in our lives are not ready to receive the secret. This is the opposite of number one. This happens a lot with churches and Pastors. Sometimes God gives an individual a vision for another person or a group of people before he reveals it to the others. This is because He uses the individual to help prepare the person or persons before the vision comes true.

3. God may give us a secret to keep us going. You may be going through a rough patch in your preparation process. Sometimes the rough patch makes you want to give up. God will reveal a bit of your destiny or someone else's destiny to you in order to motivate you. The revelation of the secret encourages you to hang in there until the destiny is completely fulfilled.

The wonderful thing about receiving a secret from God is that it is never a horrible secret or a dirty little secret. It is always a blessing that will eventually come to pass. And when it does come to pass, everyone will be blessed by it. Has God given you a secret? Hold on to it. Let it mature inside of you. It will be a wonderful blessing when it comes into existence.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike





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Christian Rapper of The Week (Something New)

This is something new that I'm going to try. I have always been a rap music fan. But, I've got to tell you that it is getting difficult to be a effective minister and still listen to secular music. So it is with a great deal of pleasure that I present to you some of the best and brightest in Christian Rap. I will try to introduce a new Christian rapper to you every week. Bear in mind these artists have been out for quite some time. But I am just beginning to learn of the exceptional talent out there. The first one that I will present is LeCrea. The title of this song is "Don't Waste Your Life".


(video courtesy of Reach Records)

If you want to read the lyrics, just click here: lyrics


Album Credits:
Real Talk (2005)
After the Music Stops (2006)
Rebel (2008)

Album Credits with 116 Clique:
The Compilation Album (2005)
The Compilation Album: Chopped & Screwed (2006)
13 Letters (2007)
Amped (2007)






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I've Joined "Christian Bloggers" Group

I've just joined the Christian Bloggers Group! As stated on the main page: Christian Bloggers is a community of bloggers who have come together with their brothers and sisters in Christ. The group consists of Christians of varying doctrines but we all agree that Jesus was the Son of God, He died on the cross for our sins, He rose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven. I have not had a chance to view all of the blogs in the group yet. But the ones that I have viewed have some great content. Please take a moment to check out the other blogs. You can find them under the heading "Christian Bloggers" on the right side of the page.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike


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Feeding Your Spiritual Body

I walked up to a couple of my co-workers the other day as one of them was telling the other how he did not sleep well the night before. It appears that he watched the entire "Godfather" trilogy on TV, and spent the entire night dreaming that he was either killing someone or being killed by someone. I couldn't do anything but laugh at him. I laughed because I had a similar experience a few years ago. The only difference for me is that I watched both "Goodfellas" and "Casino" back to back and had nightmares about "whacking" people the entire night. For those of you that don't know, these are all extremely violent movies dealing with the mafia and organized crime. There is a lot of shooting, and lot of cursing, and a lot of bloody deaths. My co-worker and I suffered the exact same fate from watching too much of the same type of movie. Five hours of exposure to any stimuli can get into the subconscious mind and cause one to imagine or dream some really crazy things. Once they invade our dreams, the can seriously affect our ability to get a good nights sleep. This is the equivalent of eating piles of unhealthy food and drinking too many soft drinks and feeling sluggish the next day. If we consume too much of the wrong things in our physical body, we will experience physical discomfort. In the same way, we have a spiritual body that can be affected if it is not fed correctly.

How can we feed our spiritual body incorrectly? By exposing it to too many unhealthy things in this world. Now, just so you don't think I'm just talking about you, I will give you examples of things that I need to cut back on doing because they can mess up my spiritual body:

too much TV and Internet
too much secular music
engaging in gossip and slanderous conversations

All of these things can affect my spiritual body and cause me to lose focus on what I should really be doing. What I should be doing is focusing on those things that help to strengthen my spiritual body. Those things are:

praying and asking God for guidance
reading my Bible
being a servant to others

These things can help my spiritual body to grow stronger and be the weapon that God needs me to be. These are things that I constantly need to work on for myself. What do you need to work on? Let's look back on the day that we have just experienced. Have you fed your spiritual body healthy things today or have you fed it junk food? No matter what your answer, the good news is that you can spend the rest of today focusing on finding good things to feed it. This is not to say that you have to completely give up all your favorite shows on TV. It just means the you should be aware of how much you are taking in and how that can affect you. So lets all try to monitor what our spiritual man is taking in. And, let's both try to eat a little healthier from now on. I'll do better if you agree to do better as well. Promise? Me too.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike





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