On June 28, 2015, was a day I will never forget. There was another very significant event going on this day and I had to make a choice which one I would attend. I was invited to honor and celebrate a leader often underappreciated as a tremendous intercessor and a Pastor to the Body of Christ, Juanita Clay.
I was running late and I accidently went into the wrong church and quickly found myself redirected and back on the right path. I found myself a sit and I decided I wouldn’t be there long but to give my flowers and my card to honor the vessel of God. God had other plans for me that day. I was about to have an encounter with his glory. A glimpse of his glory for the things I had suffered. I was about to find out, I made Heaven’s honor roll.
The first time I had been in that service, a few years ago, I remember weeping and weeping asking God to not allow my sufferings to be in vain. There was a time I honored God more than I had ever honored him before and it was in my previous marriage amid tremendous sorrow. If you have been honorable and you felt like no one honored you, God wants you to know he has not forgotten. He is about to bring you into a season of honor. God is not unrighteous to forget our labor of love. He knows everything we have ever gone through. If we suffer with him, he said we would reign with him. Mother Clay came in the room and right before she did, I began to weep and I said to the Lord, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you did everything you could? You fasted, you prayed, you sowed, you sowed your tears, you stood, and it still didn’t turn out the way you thought it would. She took the microphone and began to honor the leaders in the church, and she called my name. Wait… I wasn’t on the agenda, but I was on heavens. I came to honor her, and God surprised me and honored me among a people that absolutely did not know me. I had been weeping with a grateful heart, honoring God. She said today would have been Marie’s late ex-husband’s 41 birthday. She said I want you to know I honor the Christ in you. As she looked at me, I felt God’s glory penetrate my soul. She paused and said it again. The glory of God hit me so hard. It was so thick; you could have cut it with a knife.
I broke on the inside; the compassion of God and heart of father was released to me. I didn’t feel this when he was buried. Although, we had been divorced 9 years and many spats later, what I did in my marriage to honor God was bigger than my marriage. That was a day of God’s validation and a glimpse of his glory to come which was completely indescribable. It was his seal of his approval to say, I remember what you did for me. Only the angels and the Godhead knew what that moment meant to me. I had an encounter with his glory like I had never had before. I knew I had made Heavens honor roll.
The Prophetess, Makeba Buford, who I had never met, went on to ministered to me before her and her husband ministered the word of the Lord. God still stepped down from heaven to yet again honor me before they gave the word. She said this prophetic message is so important to this young lady, just as if the president would interpret your TV show. She went on to say so gracefully, how God had highlighted me. She said saw me when I went into the wrong church, and I found my way back to where I was supposed to be. She said I had made a mistake a few years ago but the Lord was putting me back on the right path. She said I was going to have encounters with the Lord like I had never had before. That day was one of them. She told me how the father was going to make me lay down in green pastures. God knows exactly where you are. Be faithful and be honorable before the Lord.
I shared this moment to say that God is dealing with our root systems in this hour. This is why I love him so much. He addresses the pain, the losses, and the traumas of our life so he can heal the manifestations that result in sin. He knows exactly why that murderer became a murderer, a rapist, an adulterer, even a homosexual. He came for the sick not for the righteous. He came to save the world not to condemn it. If we allow him to heal the broken places, he will make the crooked place straight and the rough places smooth. Allow his love and glory to cleanse you so you can experience him in new ways, like you never have before.
Jabez prayed and because he was more honorable than his brothers, God honored him. Get ready God is going to do this for you too!
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, oh that thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!
And God granted him his request and God is about to grant your request because you were honorable. I believe there are more that are about to make heaven’s honor roll.