The Key That Unlocks
WHAT DID MY LORD GOD SAY TO ME THIS MORNING?
My Daily Conversations With God
BLOG & PODCAST SHIFT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
The release time for the blog is shifting. As the Holy Spirit shifts me in my prayer, I shift. The blog and podcast will now be coming out between 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. central standard time. Thank you for adjusting and thank you for your continued support.
Please Note: If the play button is not working, it most likely means I am still recording the audio. Please come back shortly to listen.
Welcome to this Friday’s blog and another amazing episode of My Conversation With God!
I got up earlier this morning! Yup, I got up in the 6 a.m. hour and it felt good to rise early. Lately I have been sleeping a bit later, but still seeking God as soon as I wake up. Remember earlier this week though that Holy Spirit instructed me to document my day because He wanted to show me something. Well, one of the first things that He showed me was that my sleeping later was having an effect on my entire day, and not in a wise way. He told me last night during my nightly prayer time to use my time wisely. I knew exactly what that meant. Go to bed on time so that I can get up on time. I got up on time today y’all. One thing about this new me is that I don’t hesitate to be obedient to God’s instructions.
And speaking of obedience, that’s exactly the conversation Holy Spirit and I had this morning. He said:
Your obedience is the KEY that unlocks everything you desire. It’s the master KEY. It opens doors of opportunity to you. There is no other way these doors can open to you.
Don’t measure what you’re doing now in this new season, to an old season of your life. Just listen to me and follow My voice. That’s what you’re doing…listening to My voice and being obedient.
You’re not behind, because I AM time. I can speed it up or slow it down. That’s why listening to My voice is your business and personal goal. That’s your daily goal. No other metrics will compare to the daily hearing of My Voice and My instructions for your life.
You are exactly where I want you to be. Just keep listening and be obedient to My instructions.
Now that last bit of conversation was after I asked Holy Spirit if I was where I was supposed to be. I love that He answers me. And guess what happened next? I opened my Bible for the Scriptural Surprise and landed in Matthew 28! In my Bible there was a feature story entitled, Who’s In Charge and then a breakout on Kingdom Living (see this is why I love my Tony Evans Study Bible, because God uses ALL OF IT to speak to me). The first thing I saw when I opened the page was the Kingdom Living break out, and the very first line said this: The phrase “KEYS of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt 16:19) refers to our access to God’s heavenly authority.
Now y’all already know that blew my mind! I love when God does that! And I realized today that He loves that I love it! Also as I was reading Matthew 28, verse 17 says: When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted . Just to bring this scripture into context, this is after Jesus had rose from the dead and had traveled to Galilee to meet up with the disciples. The “they” in this scripture is the disciples. When the disciples saw Jesus, they worshipped him, but some doubted. I love the study notes for this verse because we all have been there before. You know…having doubts. Dr. Evans said even while they fell at the feet of the Son of God, they had lingering questions: Is this for real? Can I bank on this? The good news is that their doubts didn’t keep them from Him. God is not afraid of your questions either. So don’t let them keep you away from Him.
Remember yesterday’s conversation with God? He told me don’t be shy about asking him questions!!!! I just love how God will keep the conversation going to ensure that I GET IT (and you too)!
As I kept reading through Matthew 28, I got to verses 19-20, which is called the Great Commission. These instructions are the church’s marching orders. P.S. We are the church, not a building. You can’t give marching orders to a building anyway.
Jesus told the disciples: Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20 CSB
Discipleship is the KEY element of God’s Kingdom agenda. We are to be disciples of Jesus and we are to make disciples. So what is a disciple? A disciple is a learner who seeks to become like the one whom He is following. The goal of discipleship then is to help people become PROGRESSIVELY like Christ in character, conduct, attitude, and actions. Now notice the word PROGRESSIVELY. I mean I made it all caps because I wanted you to notice it. Progressively means steadily; in stages; GRADUALLY!
Did you read yesterday’s blog and listen to yesterday’s podcast? Once again, Holy Spirit continued the conversation. He told me yesterday that I was evolving, which means to DEVELOP GRADUALLY!!!! Then he also told me not to be impatient with others because they are EVOLVING! That means I can’t be getting an attitude because they aren’t at the stage I am at!!! I am to be patient as they develop gradually, which is exactly what discipleship IS!!
If we are to make disciples, we can’t be getting mad at the stage they are at right now. You nor I was born at this stage we are at right now, so we are to first of all BECOME progressively like Christ and then we are to help others become progressively like Christ.
Now you know as I was writing down becoming progressively like Christ, I looked at how we are to become like Him. We are to become like Christ in character, conduct, attitude, and actions. Now the Bible is full of scripture that shows WHO Jesus is, but I decided to do a Google search to find out the character of Jesus. Just as a reminder, whatever you Google, make sure it’s biblically-backed. That means some scriptures should correspond with it.
So I found these lists and decided to write them down. And yes they were scripturally backed. But I wanted to capture the character traits for the purpose of the blog/podcast today. I really wanted to see if I was progressively becoming like Christ in my character.
These are some the characteristics of Jesus:
Compassionate
Servant
Loving
Forgiving
Committed
Prayerful
Gentleness
Patience
Self-Control
Humble
Generous Giving
Submissive to God
Righteous
Purity
These are just some that I found, but it definitely made me want to SEEK MORE ABOUT JESUS character to see MY PROGRESSION in becoming more like Him. I want to see if my life aligns with the life He lived on earth. I hope you are encouraged too.
P.S. Be sure to press play above & listen to each episode as I always go deeper on the audio version.
YOUR ASSIGNMENTS
What did the Lord God say to you in your conversation with Him this morning?
What characteristics of Jesus do you already align with? Which ones do you need to align with?
How have you recently invested your time, money or energy in making disciples?
REMINDER: Don’t forget to read the Scriptural Surprise below and see what the Lord says to you about it.
SALVATION PRAYER
If you’re not a believer and have a desire to be, openly confess and declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you pray that prayer out loud, you are saved. Get connected with a good, bible-based church in your community and start having a conversation through prayer with God every day. And let me be the first to welcome you to your new life with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. YAAAAY!!!!! You made the best decision you could ever make! Feel free to email me at info@onassignmentbyGod.com and let me know about your newfound life or if you need prayer for anything.
Check out today’s Scriptural Surprise!
Want more from On Assignment by God?
Pray about joining the Patreon OABG Membership to get more content starting at only $5 a month!
If you love hearing my conversation with My Lord God on with this blog and podcast, pray about being a supporter through the Patreon Membership. You’ll get more of my conversation with God on book writing, publishing, entrepreneurship, plus whatever else God gives me to share! I'd love for us to connect to see how God uses us, as we are ON ASSIGNMENT for Him.
ON SALE!!!! GET THE E-BOOK NOW for only $2!!
My Conversations With God - Volume One is an e-book compilation of blogs written by Fon Strong James. This e-book allows you to have a collection of 24 blogs from the early days all in one place. It is the hope that you as the reader will be encouraged, inspired, and even prompted by the Holy Spirit. Dive into the this e-book to see the very beginning of this writing assignment given to the author by God, when He told her one morning during her prayer time to… “share our conversations.”