Waiting is No Longer an Option |Showers’ Blessing PicSpire | Jacqui Showers

Several years ago, my church, House of Prayer & Praise Ministries, released a CD project entitled, Expectancy. One of the tracks bellows out, “We cannot wait.” As I reflected on those words, it took me back to a book written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. entitled, “Why We Can’t Wait.”

The book outlines the plight of the Negro since arriving in America. Because of the injustices and inhumanity endured from the shores of Africa to the horrible middle passage, to slavery itself and to Jim-Crow, it meticulously outlined why the Negro could no longer wait to experience the same rights and privileges afforded their Caucasian counterparts. The literary work emphatically illustrates that the Negro was no longer going to wait but was ready to act and embrace all the promises as a citizen of the United States.

We still stand on the threshold of full equality in a nation that continues to want to relegate us to a subpar existence. As I think about the impending Voting Rights Act authored by the late Congressman John Lewis and civil rights leader and how there are those who still do not want us to exercise our full rights as citizens of this country, I unequivocally know that we cannot wait. The same things that were happening when Dr. King authored this book, are still prevalent today. In recent years, it has become even more overt.

We can no longer sit idly by while people who do not have our best interest, make decisions about our destiny. Last year, we frightened them to resort back to their “Jim Crow” antics and enact laws to create obstacles and barriers to prevent us from exercising our right to vote. Just like we voted and made a difference, we must have that same tenacity and crowd-power in every election. It is our crowd-power as African Americans that made a difference. It is our crowd-power as African Americans, who caused them to enact laws directly following that election. It is our crowd-power as African Americans where we will overcome any obstacles or barriers and exercise our rights and privileges. No, we cannot wait and are not waiting any more.

Each of us must be committed and dedicated to ensuring that every African American vote. It is our crowd-power that will make the difference. We have an obligation not to wait because of those who gave their lives for us. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others who paid the ultimate price for us to be free. We must honor Dr. King’s legacy by ensuring that we take advantage of our God-given rights and privileges.

We all reach a threshold where we can no longer wait as well. Many have not exercised their privileges and rights. The ugly face of racism prevented African Americans from experiencing the fullness of citizenship in a country they helped to build through their sweat, blood, and tears.

Oftentimes we find ourselves existing below our privilege because we have not tapped into the reservoir of resources that God has given us. No, it was never God’s intention for us to fret over the uncertainty of this world, but to walk in complete victory as we become all He created us to be. For centuries, African Americans were not allowed to experience the privileges inherent in citizenship because of the label of inferiority placed on them. In many instances, we are not experiencing all our rights and privileges, because of inferior labels inflicted on us by either ourselves or others.

There comes a time when you have to say I can no longer wait for change to take place, because I am going to be an active participant in making change happen. There comes a time when you can no longer idly watch life passing you by without developing and exercising your God-given gifts and talents. There comes a time when you no longer allow outside stimulus to prohibit you from tapping into an infinite reservoir of overflowing opportunities. There comes a time when you no longer live as a second-class citizen, and you begin to expect more because you know you are a first-class citizen. There comes a time when you say enough is enough. I am taking back everything that has been withheld from me.

This is the time for you to move from idleness to expectancy. You see expectancy involves action. Expectancy involves forward deliberate motion. When you expect something more, you no longer are immobilized by fear; and “no” and “I can’t” no longer has a place in the lexicon of your life. Your mindset has elevated to expect “yes” and “I can.”

Even when all around you is a raging storm of uncertainty, you realize that you dwell in the heart of the storm where there is abundant life. You come to realize that outward circumstances have no dominion over your inner peace. It is this inner peace and joy that propels you to steadfastly move with an expectation unimaginable. You move from limitation, to the unlimited potential inherent in you from the day you were born. What begins to happen is that the fragments of famine and negativity no longer can skew your vision, because your vision causes them to become a micro dot on the landscape of your life and they no longer control your destiny. Nothing and no one can prevent you from living out everything God envisioned for you.

Change your mindset! Expect more! Take action! Because you cannot afford to wait anymore!

Are you ready to take action? Are you ready to stop waiting, and be the change that makes things happen?

#MartinLutherKingDay #excellenceinservice #showersblessing

15 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Excellence in Service Quotes|Showers’ Blessing Picspire | Jacqui Showers

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a man committed to serving others with excellence. As you kick-off your week in celebration of Dr. King’s life and legacy, be committed to having a dream to serve others with excellence in everything you do.

1. “Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
2. If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’
3. “the time is always right to do the right thing”
4. “On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.”
5. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
6. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
7. “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But…the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
8. “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
9. “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”
10. “If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”
11. “Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.”
12. “You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid…. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer…. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand. Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.”
13. “The question is not if we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”
14. “Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.”
15. “The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.”

#MartinLutherKingDay #excellenceinservice #showersblessing

Don’t Be So Quick to Give Up | Showers’ Blessing Picspire | Jacqui Showers

Even when I tried to give up, I couldn’t. I tried, but I kept pushing forward and encouraging myself. Sometimes it appeared as though I was so exhausted I was going to drop. But I knew I had to keep forging ahead. If you have ever had to do anything, you know what I’m talking about. You know that it is not by your might or power, but by God’s spirit that propels you forward against all odds.

That’s why giving up can never be an option. You will do whatever it takes to persevere. You must recognize those things that will cause you to want to give up. There has to be something that loosens you from the grips of mediocrity, complacency and passiveness to become diligent, assertive and passionate in your pursuit to go all the way.

I push myself hard. I recognize that I can be consumed with perfectionism and never accomplish what I need to accomplish. I recognize it. There was a time when I didn’t want to recognize that it was a limitation that prevented me from being successful. Now, I confront it head on by calling it out and proactively operating with a spirit of excellence. How? I don’t have to have everything perfect—even if there was such a thing as perfection.

Excellence provides me with an understanding that everything is a work in progress and along the way I can always go back and perfect it. I cannot give up on it. Howbeit, when excellence is at the forefront of my game, I push myself hard. I know that I am not operating within the finiteness of my own strength. That means, if I pull all-nighters and only get a few hours of sleep within a 48-72 hour period, so be it. It’s all worth it!

You must be relentless in your assignment. Recognize those familiar foes that try to creep back into your life and cause you to stumble, fall and never get back up. Recognize new ones that try to blind sight you to give up. When you embrace the reality that every assignment given you has its own set of destiny busters, you will also be alert to their antics and thwart their assignment against your assignment. You won’t be so quick to give up.

Do you easily cave in when the going gets tough? What is causing you to give up? What are you going to do not to give up?

#donotgiveup #showersblessing

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Commitment to Humanity | Showers’ Blessing Picspire | Jacqui Showers

As you celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday remember that we have a responsibility to humankind that extends beyond the boundaries of our existence to the greater good of society. As you walk out this day, remember the legacy of King and his commitment to love humanity, even sacrificing his own life. In today’s climate of divisiveness, know that each of us have been created to serve humankind with compassion and love. Hate against hate breeds hate. Love against hate breeds love. It is the strongest force in the world Love is more powerful than death. We must show love, even to those who do not show love. It is the legacy Martin Luther King Jr. left with us.

1. “There are divisions that continue to exist, but when it is symbolized with an actual wall it becomes very depressing.”

1. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

3. “We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice.” Not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.”
4. “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”
5. “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”
6. “It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people.”
7. “We’ve learned to fly the air like birds, we’ve learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we haven’t learned to walk the earth as brothers and sisters.”
8. “We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love in the veins of our civilization.””
9. “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.” We have guided missiles and misguided men.””
10. “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
11. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
12. “Love is the most durable power in the world.”
13. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
14. “We must learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish together as fools.”
15. “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.”
16. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
17. “Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.” You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.”
18. “I have decided to stick with love.” Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
19. “Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.””
20. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

#MartinLutherKingJrDay #dotherightthing #showersblessing #humanity #wall

Celebrate the Work of Our Hands | Showers’ Blessing Picspire | Jacqui Showers

Today we celebrate the labor of the American worker and the works of our hands in making this country great. This country was not just built by free men, but by those who were enslaved as well. It is a day of remembering the labors of those who have gone before us, as much as it is a day to celebrate the differences that make us one with those who labor amongst us.

America would never have become the world’s super power without the contribution of each worker throughout its rich history. One thing for sure, America definitely would not have become a super power without God.

Everything that we do we must recognize God’s contribution to its success. He alone has given us the ability to excel. When we put Him at the center, you will always be successful. It doesn’t matter who else may or may not be watching you, but God is always there. Coming to that realization you no longer work to please men, but all you do you do to glorify and please God.

We need God to lead, guide and to watch over the laborious efforts of America. In our labor, we cannot forget Him and we must invite Him in not just today, but every day. When we do, it ensures our success and America’s success as well. With every success, individually, collectively or as a nation, God is at the helm of it all. Celebrate the works of your hands.

#showersblessing #jacquishowers #IDECIDED #themeplace #ohbreakout

 

 

 

Mr Fox, Mr. Fox! What Time Is It? | Showers’ Blessing PicSpire | Jacqui Showers

Recently, I saw these two young girls playing a childhood game that brought back memories for me. I thought to myself how I didn’t know kids still played Mr. Fox. I was flooded with memories of how one person would stand about 3-5 yards away from everyone else with their back turned away from them. In unison we would bellow out, “Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox, What Time Is It?”

The person playing Mr. Fox would holler back a time, “3 o’clock.” Once Mr. Fox gave us the time you would take that number of steps forward. This would go on until at some point Mr. Fox would holler, “It’s Midnight.”

All the players would run scurrying away because if Mr. Fox got you, you were out of the game. However, if a person made it to Mr. Fox before he turned around, that person won.

Many of us live our lives that same way. We wait idly for the right time to move. Oftentimes we are waiting on someone to tell us when to move. We proceed through life with no set agenda, but allow the vicissitudes of life to lead and guide us. Before we know it, most of our time on this earth is almost over.

Yet we still don’t feel as though we have come even close to achieving all God created us to be. We pray and ask God to order our steps and teach us to number our days that we can apply our hearts to wisdom; yet we find ourselves moving towards the dusk of our lives not quite knowing what we are to do and who were created to be.

Like those who got close to Mr. Fox, once he turned around and bellowed out, “It’s midnight,” they were devoured. That is what happens. The enemy is devouring you from reaching your destiny and fulfilling your purpose. When he turns around you run away, or you get caught up in his web of deception whispering what you can and cannot do. Unfortunately you believe it.

Those who did manage to reach Mr. Fox had to be strategic. They made sure that Mr. Fox did not hear their footsteps. They took giant steps forward to get closer to him before the game was over. When they got near Mr. Fox, they were able to assume his position. You have to be strategic as you meander through life. There are traps of deception set along the way with the primary objective to keep you from achieving your purpose.

You can do something to prevent that from happening. You can beat Mr. Fox (the enemy) at his own game. You must walk circumspectly with a determination that no matter what, you plan to win. You have to be relentless and strategic. You have to be determined to reach Mr. Fox before he turns on you, but you have to be strategic in thinking one step ahead of him to anticipate his turn.

One thing for sure, Mr. Fox is only going to be turned away from you for a little while. You have to anticipate the moment when he decides to turn around with the intent of capturing and devouring you. At that moment, if you have not reached him first, you have to high tail it out of his way.

The enemy plays games with us as well. He makes us feel as though we don’t have much time left, but believe me you have a lot of time to do what you were created to do. Maximizing every day as if it were your last determines how you will finish.

You may not have had a lot of control over how you started, but you do have control over how you finish. “It’s Midnight!” Will you finish as a winner, someone who runs away or someone who is captured in the enemy’s snare?

Are you waiting to move? How will you finish? Are you making the right moves to finish as a winner?

#showersblessing #ohbreakout #themeplace #trophies #prayersforsuccess

Trophies Along the Pathway of Life | Showers’ Blessing PicSpire | Jacqui Showers

In a conversation with a close friend of mine about her son, she stated that all her son’s life all he wanted was to play football. Over time he accumulated many trophies for his outstanding performance. She shared that he didn’t care about the trophies as much as she did, because when she looks at the trophies what she sees is a methodical approach to achieving his goal. Every trophy represented him becoming more discipline and determined as he got closer to fulfilling his ultimate goal to be a professional football player.

We may not have trophies we set on top of a mantle. What we do have are the trials and triumphs in life that has gotten us to the place where we are right now. Every step in the journey is a trophy we should envision as an outstanding performance on the path to fulfilling our dreams.

My friend’s son has learned as much from games lost as from games won. So, do we. It is the failures of life that fortifies and, if allowed, forges you forward. If you give up because you may have failed at the first attempt, you will never experience true victory.

Keep in mind, the space between each trophy on your victory mantle are the games lost, not the games that caused you to lose. There is a difference in the games lost; they help to build you up for the next play. However, the games that caused you to give up (those that caused you to lose out) are the ones that prevent you from moving forward in anticipation of the next play. It is all right to have lost a game, the problem comes when that lost consumes you. In the consumption of the lost, you lose yourself and you lose sight of your goal. When you lose sight of your goal, you will find yourself meandering down a path clueless about your destiny and your purpose.

Stay on the path in your methodical approach to achieve your goal. Appreciate the defining moments that propels you to your destiny and purpose. Remember just because you may have lost one game, doesn’t mean you have to give up on the season.

Are you ashamed of your life’s trophies? Have you hidden them away? Will you bring them out and begin to celebrate the victory each one has brought you? Do you celebrate your loses just as much as you do your victories?

#showersblessing #ohbreakout #themeplace #trophies #prayersforsuccess

Favor: The Priceless Blessing | Showers’ Blessing PicSpire | Jacqui Showers

In a conversation with a close friend she told me that she held on to the words I spoke. According to her, the words were fascinating causing her to think about them ever since. I told her, “I am a woman of favor.”

So many people do just like I did, they state that they are highly favored. When I was young and we were getting ready to play a game, whoever was the captain selected who they wanted on their team. Those who were considered to be the highly-favored players, because of their ability, almost always got picked first. Now when it came to baseball I was not a good player. In most instances, I was one of the worst players. Naturally, I wasn’t highly-favored to be on someone’s team.

God’s favor, on the other hand, is one of those inexplicable things of life. The blessing of God’s favor enables you to be selected even when there is someone more proficient. Although someone else has been earmarked for a position, God’s favor will automatically cause you to be promoted regardless of their credentials.

His favor is one of those things you should covet. One thing for sure, God’s blessing is inherent in His favor. The blessing of God’s favor is priceless and more valuable than silver, gold and all the money in the world.

All that you may have felt you lost in the past, the favor of God has the ability to instantly restore it. It causes people to give to you without your ever asking. It catapults you from a prison, as it did Joseph, to the palace. Like Joseph, regardless if you are enslaved, in prison or the CFO of the palace, God’s blessing of favor and increase will be with you.

This blessing of favor places you in the hearts of those of influence. They will naturally be drawn to you and seek you out, as well as cause them to protect you even against them. Favor is one of those things that can’t be adequately communicated, because you have to experience it.

The experience of God’s favor even causes you to be in awe. You know that it has nothing to do with You as much as it has to do with God bestowing his blessing of favor on you, just because He wants to do it.

God’s favor exemplifies His compassion and abundant love. The children of Israel were favored by God, yet they weren’t always obedient and didn’t always reciprocate that same compassion and love. God never wavered in His favor. Even God’s chastening is favor. He chastens for you to be able to reap the abundance of His blessings.

I am a woman of favor. I walk in the blessing of God’s favor. The beauty of God’s blessing of favor is that it is as much for me as it is for you. Just begin to proclaim decree and declare God’s blessing of favor on your life and experience the abundant life every day. Expect to walk in God’s favor and blessing. Now get to steppin!

#showersblessing #ohbreakout #themeplace #beyou #prayersforsuccess

He Is Risen! As He Said | Showers’ Blessing PicSpire | Jacqui Showers

Find hope in Resurrection Sunday when Jesus rose with all power in His hand and redeemed us from a life of limitation and eternal damnation.

#showersblessing #ohbreakout #themeplace #beyou #prayersforsuccess

Intimacy of Communion: Remember Him | Showers’ Blessing PicSpire | Jacqui Showers

When I was young girl I remember thinking that the table with the inscribed words, “This Do In Remembrance Of Me,” was associated with death. What I remember most is that every time someone died their body would be at the front of the church on that table. Or, so I thought it was. The wording was appropriate for the occasion seeing how someone had died and we were at a funeral remembering them.

To the mind of a young child it made perfect sense. People were wailing and crying, remembrances of their lives were being spoken and everyone was bidding their final farewells. This had to be the table where dead people were placed for their families to remember them. You have to remember that I grew up in a church where many things were not clearly explained. It was assumed that everyone knew what that table represented.

Interestingly enough, I knew about the true meaning of the table, but I didn’t associate the true meaning with the table because my perceived application of the table was more prominent than its actual purpose. I was operating on misinformation of my own pre-conceived thoughts. As we celebrate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday in observance of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, it brought me back to that memory of the inscription on the table.

Not until years later, if I wasn’t grown I was almost grown, that I made the connection about what the inscription on the table truly meant. In this maturation process, I also realized that they didn’t place the deceased bodies on that table at all. You see, my mind connected the wording and the height of the table with the riser where the coffin was set on. Oh the beauty of getting wisdom and understanding!

Now that inscription on the table has become the center of my life. “This Do In Remembrance Of Me” speaks volumes as to our walk with Christ. You see, Communion was and has always been sacred to me. We were taught that you need to have your heart right and your life in order to receive Communion. I knew that if I ever took it unworthily I would meet with some unexpected calamity. True, that is a bit extreme, but it reinforced the sacredness of the experience that resulted in increased reverence.

I refer to it as an experience because that is what it is all about. It is all about experiencing Christ in His fullness. It is all about embracing a lifestyle that catapults you into a realm of commitment that completely transforms your life. It brings into focus a relationship that is unparalleled and unprecedented by any other.

Fourteen years ago, I began receiving daily Communion; twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. No, I don’t have a Communion Table erected in my house, but I do have one erected in my heart. You see, it is at the Communion Table where you begin to embrace Christ and it is also there where you make the decision to follow him closely; not a far off nor will you completely turn your back on Him. Everyone who takes Communion heart may not be prepared to receive it.

It is the ultimate remembrance that symbolizes His life, crucifixion, resurrection and triumphant return. It connects to us a force where that no limitations in this world can prevent us from becoming all God envisioned. I am consumed with the limitless love that was demonstrated on the Cross, so I could be completely free in a world full of oppression.

The beauty of it all is that it wasn’t just for me, but everyone. This Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday remember Him and in remembering Him you will come to know who God created you to be. This is the intimacy of communion.

#showersblessing #ohbreakout #themeplace #beyou #prayersforsuccess