<![CDATA[Doors Of H.O.P.E. Ministries - Cup Of JO]]>Sat, 08 Feb 2025 15:06:10 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Life Defying Fear]]>Sun, 09 Jul 2017 23:06:03 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/life-defying-fearI read a portion of scripture yesterday that I’ve read probably 100 times before. It’s found in Luke 8 where Jesus is being surrounded by the crowds and a man named Jairus approached Him. This man had a daughter that was dying, and he had come to Jesus to see if he would come to the house to heal his daughter. In the meantime, someone else needed a miracle. You see there was a woman, who had been bleeding for quite a few years and she was waiting for her Miracle as well. The Bible says that Jairus fell on his knees before Jesus and the woman (who is unnamed) came behind him and touched the hem of His cloth. 
Here is what intrigued me the most of both these stories. The Bible tells us that Jesus turned to the crowd and asked: “Who touched me.” Now being faced with having to stand out from the crowd, the Bible tells us that she began to tremble in fear. 
Fast forward a few verses more, around verse 50, and see what Jesus says to the man. Jesus immediately tells him, “Do not fear.”
Two miracles, two different stories, same God, and yet there was something oddly similar in both stories. Fear was the only thing that stood between them and their miracle. 
In verse 46 Jesus tells the crowd that He knows that someone touched him because He felt the power leave from Him. Her faith was so powerful that when she touched Jesus, she pulled power from his soul. WOW!
I can only hope to have faith like that one day. 
So if she had the faith to pull power from God, and the man had faith enough to get Jesus to go on His way to the house, why then would they both be confronted by Jesus regarding fear. 
Here is what I want to say to you. Fear can get in the way life and death for you. Fear can defy your ability to live a productive life with God. The word defies means to opening refuse or resist. Fear can openly refuse or resist your desire to live a life full of purpose. Fear can see Jesus on the road and make you tremble rather than run to him. Fear can have Jesus make His way to your house and still have you doubt if the miracle is going to happen. Fear will suck the life right out of you, and it will openly resist your ability to take your next breath. 
FEAR IS LIFE DEFYING
I encourage you to look at the miracle you have been waiting for and then look at what is keeping you back from believing. I guarantee you, fear is creeping into your mind. 
Don’t defy what God wants to do, Jesus said it best…..”Do not fear.”
]]><![CDATA[Your Shoes]]>Mon, 15 May 2017 02:08:12 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/your-shoesPicture
If I had to count how many times I've asked you to pick up your shoes, I may run out of time before I die. Every where I'd walk, your shoes were there. I've tripped over them, I'm pretty sure I have thrown a few pairs away in anger after almost breaking a leg because of them. 

Today the thought of your shoes came to me. Mainly because i didn't see them in the foyer. I didn't trip over them, nor did I yell up for you to come and get them. They have gotten much bigger then they once were. What could once fit in the palm of my hand and bring me so much joy, now sits in a foreign land.  

I looked at my phone a few times wishing you'd call. There were no missed calls. No text messages came through, there was  no sign that you were thinking of me.   I looked out the front window every time a car drove by, hoping that you we're going to decide to surprise me. Each time was met with disappointment, because the shoes never showed up in the foyer. 

While the rest of the world  celebrated the joy of being a mother, I was painfully reminded that there was brokenness in the midst of our home. The absence of shoes in the foyer was a reminder that we are broken. It doesn't matter why, or even how we've reach this level of brokenness, all that matters is that you're not here, and your absence is louder that any noise you've ever made.
Truth is, I thought I did all the right things. I raised you in church  and taught you how to love God. Our home was always a refuge to those in need, and therefore I thought you'd always know that it would be a refuge for you. Love abides in our home, and yet your absence makes me wonder if enough of it still abides. 

As I pray I ask God to lead me on what to say, for the pain of your absence often silences the words that want to come out. What does a mother do when her child is gone? How does she hold on to the hope that once lived so vividly in her midst?

Dear Child, tonight I pray for your shoes to show up in my foyer again. I pray for God to fill you with His Holy Spirit and renew your right mind with Him. I pray to trip over your shoes while walking in the door. I pray that God would allow your foot steps in our home again. 

You see my hope is not dead, for if God is for me that who can be against me. This battle that we are fighting is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities of darkness. I am not defeated in your absence, yet I am reminded of the plans that God has over your life. I am reminded of the promise that once live with in my womb and I speak life into every thing that comes your way.  I speak life into your thoughts and your path. You may not be in my foyer, but God has you in His sights and knows exactly where you are. 

So while I'm waiting for God to bring you home, I will lift my hands and  worship Him in advance. You see, God knows how much the absence of those shoes hurt, and therefore I know that He has already begun to devise His plan for how they will get home. 

I don't know if I mentioned it, but today is Mother's Day, and I declare that shall be the only mother's day, that your shoes are gone from our home. 

Love, 

A mama who's waiting.........            

  



]]><![CDATA[Are you still in love]]>Wed, 26 Apr 2017 19:00:56 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/are-you-still-in-love​Well you all know that this is not a love blog. Hopefully by now you know the Doors Of H.O.P.E. team and our passion for Christ.
I am feeling a little under the weather this week which always makes me sad over all. During this quiet time, I kept asking God if it was just my time to rest or should I be using this time to do something. Well over and over again I kept feeling like it was time to rest, except that this blog idea kept coming to my mind over and over again.
How do you stay in Love with God, and how do you know if you are stagnant?
I wish I could tell you that this blog was completely out of the blue, but honestly this kept coming to me because I kept asking god the same thing. I kept asking “God, why do I feel a lack of completeness with you?” “Why am I feeling like there might be doubt sneaking into my heart?” “How do I know if I am still in love with you?”
I hope that you are nothing like me and that these question have never come into your heart, but I have to guess that at least one other person has ever felt like this.
As I spent some time on prayer today I just cried out to God for my children, brothers, mother, ministry, and just life. God take every selfish thing that remains within me and remove it for your glory. God take away those things in me that try to have me exalt myself in places that you should be exalted. Take away the spirit of doubt where you meant there to be a spirit of faith. God where are you and why am I feeling this way.
Tears streamed down my face. My heart filled with sadness. My voice wanted to burst in yelps of surrender. All of the sudden I felt the Lord speak quietly to me and say. “Why do you forget where I have brought you from? Do you forget the seat I gave you at work? Do you forget that I strategically placed you in certain places so that opportunity knocked at your door? If I restored the seed of your mother’s womb, why wouldn’t I restore yours? Your doubt comes because you tend to look onto what’s next, and never stop to examine that I must have it all in control, because when you look back you can tell the places that only I could have been in control of.”
I cried and cried in God’s presence during that time, and suddenly I realized that in order to stay in love with God I need to always be ready to hear what he says to me, but I also need to examine where I truly am with God and trust him to take me to the next level.
Life in ministry can be tough. It’s not like a job, where you know you will get your evaluation and that your boss will give you an acceptable or unacceptable grade. Ministry is different. You have to surrender. You have to wait and listen. You have to understand that the answer may not be what you wanted it to me. Your life is your ministry so I am talking to you.
This morning I was reading the book of 1 Samuel chapter 15 where God gave King Saul a commandment to kill everyone and everything when he attacked Amalek. Everything. God told him not to leave nothing living. God was specific in his command and there was no misinterpretation to what he meant he wanted done. Well Saul didn’t listen. He left the finest of the flock alive and didn’t kill the King.
His excuse was that he was going to sacrifice what was left over to God. Well clearly God wasn’t trying to hear that. God didn’t need their sacrifice. In fact, God says in Chapter 15 verse 23 that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
So what does all this have to do with being in love with god. Well you see, when I knelt down and the Lord spoke to me I could have easily said, “But God.”
I could have told him that my heart was torn, that I hadn’t received a word of confirmation in a while or that I needed more than that.
Here is what happened though. God spoke, and my heart submitted to him. I know that God has always been good to me. I know that he has power over all, but the difference between Saul and I, is that I chose to take God at his word, Saul chose to try to be greater than God.
I wish I could say it’s always this easy, or that I always get it right, well I don’t.
But for today I know that I love God more than my uncertainty, more than I want the answer that I want. More than I want anything in my life. I want to trust God.
In order for me to test my love factor for God, I need to evaluate how often I am willing to submit to his voice. Don’t fool yourself. You know what I am talking about. You know if the Godly folks around you are giving you advice and you chose to ignore them, you’re not submitting to God. You know if you have an annoying concern about how you are walking in the sight if the Lord, you are not submitting to God.
Choose to stay in love with him. Choose to put him first in your life. Make the willful choice to say, God I trust you. Being in love means you submit.
Maybe we all need to check our submission factor today?
Are you still in love?
 
 
]]><![CDATA[Are you a hero?]]>Wed, 10 Aug 2016 00:49:38 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/are-you-a-heroWhat do you think about when you hear the word hero? Maybe you immediately begin to think about a cape. Maybe you think about a man or women flying through the air saving the day. For some of you, your hero may be a parent, or a grandparent. No matter what your definition of a hero, would you be surprised if I told you that the world is not in need of any hero.

I recently read a book regarding leading through health care change. In the book the author writes about healthcare being made of heroes who think there is great value in being able to come in and save the day. We have all been in the room with that one person who everyone turns to every time there is a problem. When something goes wrong we call Susie to fix it. Susie always has the answer. The problem with Susie is that she enjoys being called on for the fix, therefore she never equips her team to deal with the problem at hand.

Of course this got me thinking about our spiritual lives. I immediately began to ask God if that is what's happening to the Christian faith. We go to church on Sunday mornings and we are depending on our pastors to be the heroes. We call the pastor to pray for the sick, we call the pastor when someone needs to get picked up for church and we depend on the pastor to be the hero because we refuse to prepare ourselves to be the men and women God called us to be. (Believe me I love our pastors)

Of course that's not where my thinking stopped. I began to think of the times the doors of hope women have gone out to feed the homeless. We go, we feed, we pray and we leave. (Please know that I fully condone this, and I believe it is the duty of all men and women to call themselves children of God.) Once we come home we wait until the next time to go out and feed more people. Essentially we are practicing heroism.

The greatest example I can think of is the story in the bible that took place in the garden of Gethsemane. The men came to take Jesus Christ after he was betrayed by Judas. As they approached to apprehend Jesus, Peter reaches for his sword and cuts the mans ear off.  Jesus immediately reaches down and heals the mans ear.

Jesus didn't need a hero! Right there Jesus was showing us that heroics wasn't his plan for unto salvation. Jesus spent the last several years being consistent in his love for the people. He got up early, walked to new lands, healed the sick and gave sight to the blind, and he did it all by being consistent with love.

So today I challenge you to think about your walk with God. Are you forcing ministry leaders to take the place of a hero because you refuse to do what God is calling you to do. Are you acting as a hero and feeling good about it because that's easier then consistently walking in love and every day seeking to love someone like Jesus did.
Can you imagine what  our world would like look if every Christian man and women decided that they were going to wake up and be committed to bringing people to Christ through the unrelenting giving of love. CAN YOU IMAGINE?

I can! I think it would be a taste of what Jesus meant when he said, "greater things then these you will do."

Today I challenge you to be a consistent love giver and move away from trying to be a hero. Leave the capes for the men and women in the movies.

I will leave you with this thought.....

What would the world look like if all your prayers were answered? Would others be better off, or would you just be better off.

J
]]><![CDATA[Are you deicing your wings]]>Fri, 26 Feb 2016 22:23:20 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/are-you-deicing-your-wingsRecently I had to fly to Iowa to see my son wrestle.  This required that I have an overlay in a state where the temperature was 30 degrees and it was snowing. While the plane was still able to fly, it required that once the passengers were on the plane they stay inside the plane while the technicians outside sprayed some chemicals on the plane to deiced the plane. The technicians handled their job with care. They were very careful to make sure they fully covered all the wing span and you could see that if one person missed a spot the other would come behind him and ensure that the wings were covered with this chemical. 

As I sat there, I remember thinking how grateful I was for them being so careful, and of course my brain started thinking about our Christian walk. Repeatedly the bible tells us to be aware of the snares of the enemy. God pleads with us to stay rooted in him. He reaches out to us when he sees us going astray, yet repeatedly we fail to prepare for the storms of life. 

What if those plane attendants slacked off on their jobs and refused to follow the instructions of the airlines safety commission. What if when one missed a spot the other was not careful to cover behind him. I could poossibly not be here writing this post. 

Why then do we as Christians wait till the storm hits to begin to prepare for it. God didn't call us to run from the storms because He already has a plan to walk us rough he storm,however that plan needed to be developed before the storm hit.

Do you know that nothing takes God by surprise? Do you know that God knew that the storm was coming? He desires the intimate moments with us before the storm hits. Those are the moments when He speaks into our hearts and says "I am with you." Those are the times when He builds our strength and we aren't even sure what He's building it for. God desires storm prepping prayer from us. 

The bible says we will soar on wings like eagle. In order for our wings to soar like Eagles wings, we need to make sure that we are prepping them for the ice storm. We need to make sure that the deicing is happening in preparation for the storms. God's love for us says," spends time with me, for I desire to prepare you for everything that comes your way." 

God desires his peace to reign in our hearts. He not a get panicked God. He's a "I got this God." He's given you all you need to make it through any storm, are you spending your time in preparation to hear his voice. 

HES THE STORM PREPPING GOD. 

Seek him him today, so that when the storm hits, you've already learned to recognize His voice. 
]]><![CDATA[The miracle of winter ]]>Sun, 24 Jan 2016 03:15:52 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/the-miracle-of-winterThe snow is falling here in the northeast. Many are stuck  and completely incapable of getting out of their homes. While this may be stressful for many, I have to wonder how many have taken the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the quiet that God gives during these times.

The streets are painted in white. The kiddies are outside playing, and all the while God is breathing new life on his land. The snow will melt and saturate the land. This saturation will give way to new tulips in the spring time, and new life to creation.

In the same way God pours out the weight of his miracles on man kind. Those miracles lead to new life. Those miracles lead to new opportunity. Those miracles lead to abundance through Jesus Christ. There are miracles in the weight of Gods glory. Sit, just sit and listen. While the snow is falling and all is calm, listen to what God is trying to tell you. There's a miracle in the message. Don't miss out!!!!

]]><![CDATA[Do You believe in miracles]]>Wed, 28 Oct 2015 01:38:30 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/do-you-believe-in-miraclesWhile we are living in a day and age when the thought of miracles may seem like a foreign concept for many. As I thought about this this week, I thought about what it must have been for Mary to receive the miracle of Jesus Christ.
Often the story of the birth of Jesus is looked at as this blessed event (which it was) and never do we stop to think that Mary actually was given the promise, yet she had to wait eight months for her miracle to become a reality that was actually held in her hands.
Maybe you are saying that you've waited for more that nine months, so Mary has nothing on you.
Think about this!
 
Where was the true miracle in the story of Jesus. Was it in his birth, his life, his death, or his resurrection?
 
If Jesus had lived and died and not resurrected, would there still be a miracle worth talking about more then 2000 years later? If he had just died then we would all be in the same predicament we were in before he was born.
So Jesus died and was laid to rest in the grave. The signs of her miracle were fading quickly. Her promise. Her Son. Her Savior. All gone in one day and it all layed in a pile of death.

Please tell me if you 've ever felt that way. All you ever hoped for, laid in a pile of death. There was nothing more you could do because the hopes for a miracle have disappeared with the last trajedy.

Wait! Don't give up. On the third day the women went down to the grave. They went down to check on the body. This was the third day. What did they hope to find? Why were they so persistent? They knew the guards were there. GUESS WHAT?

Their miracle came on the third day! So maybe you felt like you gave birth to what seemed like a miracle. You thought you had groomed it to be what God intended it to be, however before you knew it, all of it was laying in a pile of death.

Dont give up. Your miracle can still be delivered. You see the miracle wasn't in the life and death of Jesus Christ. The truest miracle was in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Your miracle can be found in the pile of death. Keep going, keep seeking, keep asking God for the desires of your heart. Don't be anxious for anything but in everything let your request be known to God. Believe that God still delivers miracles to the righteaous.

Our God is still in the miracle making business!!!

]]><![CDATA[There's an accursed thing in your midst]]>Wed, 23 Sep 2015 00:18:26 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/theres-an-accursed-thingin-your-midst
Picture
Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because
thus says the LordGod of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” Joshua 7:13

In the book of Joshua there is a great story that shows us the ramifications of having
hidden things in our lives. Joshua and the people had just come off of the high
of defeating Jericho. They marched around that city and followed Gods commands.
On the seventh time around they let out a shout of praise and the wall fell
down. The only had one command. They were specifically told not to take anything
from that city and mix it among their stuff. Joshua 6 The walls came
down and they defeated the armies of Jericho, but one person decided to hide
something that he wasn’t supposed to take with him One thing, one moment, one
decision to not let everything go, just as the Lord had commanded. 
 

As the story goes on you know that they were shortly defeated by the army
of Ai. The defeat came as a surprise to Joshua and immediately he reverted back
to fear and wondering why God called him to be the leader. At one point he
wondered what the surrounding people would think of him. I love how God responds
to Joshua, He basically tells him to stop whining. (Joshua 7:10-12) Maybe not in
those words. God tells Joshua, there is an accursed thing among you. There is
something in your midst that doesn’t belong there and I want you to sanctify the
people and find who is hiding something. He was telling Joshua, you have to get
that thing that doesn’t belong out of your camp. 
 

This is the same thing that God would say to anyone who is trying to find
true hope in God. Have you struggled to reach the point of freedom that God is
calling you to? Maybe you attend a church service and you feel temporary relief
from what is haunting you. Maybe for a day or so, you are not tempted to lash
out in anger at your family. Maybe you go a couple days without being tempted to
return to your old ways. Then you turn to God and ask, “God why have you called
me to change, I can’t do it?” At times you may turn to God and ask him what the
people will think of you since you continue to fail at the same thing. God’s
answer, “Stop Whining!” Again, maybe not in those words. 

I believe God would tell us today to look at what’s hiding within us. He would ask us to
sanctify ourselves until we find what is hidden. You have to find that thing
that is hidden among you and remove it. For me it might have been forgiveness. I
know I needed to forgive the person who hurt me, because God already knew what
happened to me. Justice was for the Lord, it was not in my hands. 
Maybe your hidden thing is forgiveness, maybe its abandonment, maybe it’s
ineffective grieving, maybe its unconfessed sin, whatever it is, its hidden and
its causing you to lose your battles. 

Joshua was at the point of despair. The bible says that he fell to his face and poured dirt over his head as a sign that his grief had overtaken him. He couldn’t believe that what God had called him to do was not coming to pass. Many of us know that God is calling us to a higher calling. We know that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, and yet we have spent many of nights on our face, asking God why we can’t see his plans come to life in our lives. We wonder when the struggle is going to be over. Search out your camp. Look at whats hidden. Tell God to show you those hidden things that even you can't see. Tell him to lead you to complete a true cleanse of your soul. Allow him to lead you to a higher calling. Search your camp, get rid of the junk God never intended for you to carry around, then get ready for your next victory. Joshua did!
]]><![CDATA[When jesus stoops down ]]>Fri, 28 Aug 2015 02:56:28 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/when-jesus-stoops-downJesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was
back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught
them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “This woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman,“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”11 “No, Lord,” she said.And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” John 8:1-11

At this weekends retreat we spoke about when Jesus stoops down. In this weeks blog, I wanted to remind you that Jesus stoops down for you and I. When our accusuers are stadning by, or the world is watching, waiting for you to fail, Jesus is in the stooped down position, writing your success in the sand.

I love verse ten when it says that Jesus stood back up and the accusers were gone. Can you see Jesus doing that for you and I? I can see the Messiah, coming down from heaven, sticking around until all our accusers are gone, then stadning up to say, " Im sorry, what were you saying about my girl?"

Thats right, Jesus thinks you're his girl, boy, woman, man. Jesus loves you so intimately that he stoops down from heaven when others are coming against you, He stays in the stooped down position, and looks up only to remind you that he paid the price, and that no matter who is coming against you, He is God and when he looks up the world pays attention.

You see the bible tells us that he stooped back down and began to write. He only looked back up when everyone was gone. Do you think he didn't know when there were 2 or 3 left in the crowd. He knew! He was just waiting for all the accusers to be gone, because the heart of that women was redeemed before she even got to the pit that day. You and I have been redeemed. When Jesus calls you to do his work, and there are people around you that mock and ridcule your efforts, remembers He stooped down for you. When people doubt your potential in Jesus Christ, remember he stooped down. God is there in the stooped down position until it becomes your time to walk. He stays there until you gain the strength to walk on your own. Then he sends you off to your destiny with the tiny reminder that he stooped down for you.

OUR GOD STOOPS DOWN

BE ENCOURAGED!




]]><![CDATA[Warning ]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2015 01:31:25 GMThttp://doorsofhopeministries.com/cup-of-jo/warningJeremiah 33:3 states: Call to me and I will answer you, and I show you great and might things, which you do not know. 

Have you ever gone through a difficult situation and ask God, "God, why didn't you want me this was coming?" I know I have. Yet in his word he says, call to me and I will show you. Do you believe that to be true. I sure do. 

Our prayer lives are sometimes packed with so many things, that we spend most of it telling God what we need, as if he wasn't God and he didn't know. Recently I have been in utterly amazed by a song called "You don't miss a thing." If you have time you should stop and listen to the lyric. There is a verse in the song that says, "In a crowd of 10,000 you don't miss a thing." Well thats our God. He never misses a thing. He always knows what we need, before we need it and He is very much aware of how our heart feels as we are waiting in expectation. 

If we could simply allow that to sink in for a minute, the next concept will be so much easier to grasp. Since God already knows all your needs, and knows how your heart feels, it only reasons to think that he doesn't need you telling him for an hour all the things you have need of. Believe me I am not advocating for prayers that never bring our request to God because God actually tells us to bring out request to Him, however I am saying that your focus can't be limited to only what you need from God, it has to also want to hear from God. Receive from God what he has for you for any given season in your life. 

Here is where Jeremiah 33:3 comes in. He actually wants to use your prayer time to reveal to you things that are coming ahead. To set upon your heart the needs of other people and to share with you intimacy that he desires to have between you and him. God wants to show you things that are headed your way, so that before they even hit your door step you can be ready with the armor of the Holy Spirit to protect you. He wants to touch your heart to meet the needs of your neighbor who may be struggling financially or physically. He wants to show you the places he wants to take to in order to gain greater intimacy with you. He wants to prepare your heart for a deeper relationship with Him. God wants to take care of you. Isn't that amazing!!!

Before any of that is possible, you have to believe that He doesn't miss a thing. He knows you. He knows your needs, and He wants to meet all your needs. He needs you to trust that He is enough for you. The God in heaven wants to show you things that are unknown to you, don't limit His ability. Spend some of your prayer time waiting on God to reveal Himself to you, you might be surprised at what you hear. He always sends His warning signs!]]>