WHO Has the Access?

How's it going OUTM Community? On my end, it has been filled with some ups and downs emotionally. September has always been that high and low month for me, filled with celebration of life and remembrance of life; so, although I embrace the fall season as it comes in, I know I also have to embrace all the other attributes that come along with it.

I will say, this go round has been different, the reason being, the positive feedback from Embrace or Erase really blessed and encouraged me! THANK YOU OUTM Community!! All I can say is TO GOD BE THE GLORY!! This is no doing of mine, I'm just here being a vessel of God, getting to you, what he wants you to know, grow and share, so keep it coming!

So, I mentioned to you all, I always seek God in what he wants me to write about and immediately after dropping Embrace or Erase, the word PASSPORT kept coming to mind.

Some of you may know, that one of the areas I manage is the International Travel Office where we process Passports and Visa's to our employees that literally travel all over the world for one reason or another.

To better understand where God wanted me to go with this, I needed to first start off with identifying What is a Passport?

A passport is one of those privileged documents that serves multiple purposes, including but not limited to: 

• Identification: A passport is a way to identify a person as a citizen of a particular country. 

• Travel: A passport allows a person to travel to foreign countries. 

• Protection: A passport authenticates the bearer's right to protection while abroad. 

• Reentry: A passport allows a person to reenter their native country. 

• Consular services: A passport allows a person to access U.S. consular services and assistance while abroad. 

• Vaccination status: Some passports can show that a person has been vaccinated against a particular disease. 

  
  

Yes, this sounds about right, because the reality of it is, not one employee can travel internationally, without making an appointment with my office to either retrieve or apply for a Passport which serves as their ticket to travel before they can access to the world. Since this is not a blog about travel but a blog about my book, "Opening Up the Mail a Devotional in Building your Relationship with God through Worship and Prayer" I began to be amazed of what I saw God doing; or what he needed me to do. See, God uses and speaks to us based on how he made us. Psalms 139:14 says "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" which means, that every unique aspect of you and me has been intricately created and designed by God for a specific reason and purpose. Thats right! that's why it is so important to note, how God operates in your life. Building our own relationship with God is imperative. We can't look at the relationship that God has with our friend across the street, or our homegirl that we grew up with. A relationship with God is personal, it's individual, it's not a cookie cutter kind of thing and we should never expect that. So, with that being said, I'm about business, I'm technical, I'm analytical, I'm a strategist, a streamliner and I'm visual, so for me, I had to create "IF/THEN" Statements for this Passport analogy. Honestly, Passports can be linked to many IF/ THEN statements, but in order to keep in the relevance of this track, I will use this one below and expand on it.

IF a Passport = Access to the world THEN Prayer = Access to GOD

I'm sure most people reading this loves to travel. We love getting that passport stamped, and say things like " work hard, play hard, or we sing songs like Mical Teja and say... " I need a lil runaway", or we post on the socials our favorite airplane window pic, with the caption "Wheels Up! BRB!" We do and say all these things to have access to experiences that we either never had before, or enjoyed so much the first time, that we wanted to experience it again. Well, have you ever thought about gaining that type of access to God through an act of prayer?

How can prayer serve as our passport, giving us all access to GOD? For as far back as I can remember, the one thing that my mother would say was PRAY, "Talk to God" she said (in her Trini accent). I was always intimidated by prayer because hearing my mother, and my grandparents and their crew (the mothers, shepherds and leaders of the church) pray, it was always so melodic (like a song) and always filled with power. In my mind, I was way too shy to stand in front of others and do that; plus, I couldn't possibly do it like them, so my prayers were relegated to my mind and not my mouth. What I didn't understand back then is that Philippians 4:6 says Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. What I didn't understand was the access that prayer gave me. What are those accesses you ask? Well, here is my very short list:

• Prayer gives us access and allow us to have a closer relationship with God.

  Because prayer is an act of communicating with God, it helps us build our relationship with him.  James 4:8, NKJV reads Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

  
  

• Prayer provides us the access to redirect our focus. 

  I don't know about you, but it’s easy to get caught up in the circumstances going on around us, good or bad, and please don't let me get stuck on scrolling the socials. Praying directs our focus away from here on earth to God in heaven.

  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth (Colossians 3:2, NLT).

  
  

• Prayer gives access to a level of intimacy with God. 

  Prayer opens the way for us to talk to God ourselves. It gives us that intimacy, which involves experiencing Him, talking to Him, and listening to Him. It’s a connection that is built on love, faith, and trust, that brings way to a deep respect for our Creator. Meditate on this verse and think about how intimate a vine is to a branch in order for it to grow. John 15:5 NKJV says “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

  
  

• Prayer gives us access in another way to help others. 

  We can help others in many ways, physically, emotionally or financially. However, praying with someone or for someone provides a level of connection with God because it demonstrates an act of love and faith in someone else's life. Here I go with my transparency, so I will pray for people all the time; they can tell me a story about what is going in their lives, and I will pray for that situation. However, praying with them, is where I think I faulter and will be challenging myself in going forward. Guess what, we are not to only pray for our friends, but we must pray for our enemies as well. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16) Matthew 5:44 says But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Yeah, I know, what a difficult command, but once that relationship is built with God, it becomes easier along the way.

  
  

• Prayer gives us the access to self soothe and bring calmness in an otherwise unsettled situation.

  The world is full of things that bring anxiety into our lives and prayer can restore our peace. Driving in bad weather used to be a nightmare for me. My anxiety would reach such high levels that I would feel paralyzed if it started raining while I was on the road. I would hold onto the steering wheel so tight, my heart racing, palms sweaty, and needing complete silence in the car just to focus. It was so severe that once, on my way home from work (a 25-minute drive), I had to pull over under a bridge on the highway and wait for my husband to come and help me get home. Being anxious is not a good feeling. After being transparent about the situation, with my women's group, I learned how to pray about it and give that fear to God. It's so funny, now when it rains and I have to drive, I don't even give it a second thought. To God be the glory! Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you (1 Peter 5:7, NLT).

  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7)

The advantages of prayer are boundless! God desires us to prioritize prayer in everything we do. We should not withhold any aspect of our lives from God; he wants us to grant him unrestricted access to every part of our lives, and this can only be achieved through nurturing the relationship through prayer. Will you grant him that Access today? Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

OUTM Community, I trust you find this post enjoyable. Despite facing distractions, I persevered in creating it. I wish you a blessed reading experience and look forward to receiving your feedback. Stay encouraged and blessed!

WORSHIP SELECTION