My friends, below is a precious letter from Rosheeda's parents. They have reached out to Lynn and I and have expressed their desire to be a part of this community. Even in their grief, God's love shines so profoundly through them. Such beauty rising up from ashes...
If you scroll down in the side bar, you'll now see "Rosheeda Lee Legacy Page." This is in memory of Rosheeda and all she gave to our community, including our name, Sumites. Our desire and prayer is to honor her and share her legacy with others who come to this site down the road.
Now it's my pleasure to introduct Sheila and Roderick Lee:
Hello. I sat a while ago and re-visited the comments from the SUM community and cried and smiled at the many statements from so many people God allowed to be loving, encouraging and inspirational to my daughter. Somehow in this life we become focused on what we receive and don't realize what we give in return when we acknowledge our recognition of God's personal attentiveness to us through whomever it might be at the time.
My wife and I were privileged to have 2 children—1 daughter and 1 son. Rosheeda was oldest. Over the years we chose to teach them what we believed to be Godly principles regarding your service to Lord. One of the most important things revolved around the personal relationship between you and The Living God and how your service to Him is private. No accolades unless He chooses to expose your submission to the gifts provided through His Spirit. In saying this I am saying that neither my wife nor myself knew of her choice to be involved in the SUM Ministry. We are however so humbled that she chose to submit to God's leading in such a necessary ministry.
I cannot claim to understand the grief and anguish Our God must have felt when Jesus prayed so fervently to Him in the garden. But I do know the scriptures said "an Angel from Heaven appeared to him and STRENGTHENED Him, and being in ANGUISH HE PRAYED MORE FERVENTLY AND HIS SWEAT BECAME LIKE DROPS OF BLOOD FALLING TO THE GROUND. Our God provided MORE for His own Son to fulfill His plan for our salvation. My wife and I daily seek him to provide for us the same strength to Glorify Him in our lives as our daughter did.
Rosheeda had such a commitment in everything she chose to do... She understood that ministry isn't an act it's what we live everyday. As necessary as breathing.
My daughter shared a bond with us as unique as men are from women. However, the bond between she and I can only be compared to the Love of Our Heavenly Father and the Son he gave for us. Rosheeda lived in a way that was a likeness to her mother and a jewel in the Crown of her grandmother's. As she did for the "SUMites" she also coined a phrase for her Niece regarding the conduct of a "Lee Woman".
I won't tell you Sheila and I are good, I will tell you that we LOVE the God we serve and we are prepared to wake up everyday and Glorify Him because he is WORTHY.
We are humbled to be recognized as the parents of such a wonderful, dignified young woman. As often as we think of her we will think of each of you by name or need because she loved you all so.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee included their contact information for you, my friends. Reach out them as you feel led either here in the comments or with the information they provided or both.
Happy weekend, my precious friends! This song by Matt Maher is getting a lot of play time on the airwaves and on my playlist. The words Maher croons out, "Lord, I need you" is the common cry and song of our hearts, isn't it?
What's so profound is what happens when we tell Jesus, "I need You." He swoops in like the hero that He is and saves us. We are forever transformed and changed. And He doesn't stop there. He continually responds to our needs, doesn't He? He is our friend and comforter.
He is our very righteousness and right-ness with God. Amen?
Lord Jesus, we need you. We need you every hour of every day. Every moment of our lives. And we are so very, very grateful that You hear and answer our cry—each and every one of them. Every time. In Your precious and awe-inspiring name, amen!
Have an amazing and love-filled weekend, my friends! I love you! Dineen
As I prayed and asked God what He wanted me to share with you today He kept bringing me back to His goodness. And not just His goodness but BELEIVING He is truly good and desires only good for our lives.
As I listened to His heart and I listen to the hearts of so many others (even my own at times), I sense it is an area that needs more exploration and explanation.
Because if you don’t truly BELIEVE God is good and that He is ALWAYS good, you can’t trust Him.
I mentioned in my last post about God’s motivation being pure—that one thing that God is not capable of is having an impure, selfish, or ulterior motive in anything and everything He does. It’s completely out of His character!
I’ve shared in the past that Romans 8:28 is my life verse. I’ve lived and breathed this verse since I was a young child—before I ever read it. For whatever reason God deemed it GOOD, to placethis truth deep within my heart.
And yet I still am learning the full truth of this amazing piece of Scripture!
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
The phrase “all things” caught my eye this time. As I looked up the Greek words, I discovered something breathtakingly all-encompassing. Though the NASB translation uses two words, the original Greek translation uses just one—something that’s fairly common actually.
The Greek for this phrase, all things, is pas and means all, every, all the things, all kinds, all men, all people, all respects, always, any, anyone, anything, continually, entire, every kind, every respect, everyone and the list goes on and on. I’m just highlighting a few here.
We tend to think of “things” only in the tangible sense, but the Greek word alludes to far more. God works in every area of our lives for our good. In the people we love, all the situations we’re in and in us. Continually. The scope is huge!
My friends, I so want to impart this truth to you because the more we embrace that God is truly working for our good, totally and completely in all ways and always, and that He is completely and totally trustworthy, we walk through life a mere fraction of who God intends us to be. We don’t embrace the power and authority we have through our salvation in Christ (Luke 9:1-2, Eph. 1:19-20) because we think we can’t, we shouldn’t, we’re afraid, or we don’t even realize what’s available to us.
Now let’s take a look at one more word in this priceless biblical gem. That word is “purpose.” The Greek word is prothesis and means a setting forth, sacred, consecrated, purpose and resolute. It’s derived from the Greek word protithemi, which means to set before, displayed publicly, planned and purposed.
Now put that together with what comes before this word, purpose: “to those who are called...”
We are not just saved by grace, my precious friends, we are called to join our Lord in His good works, in His sacred and consecrated plans and purposes! And not just for ourselves but for others too, like our pre-believers! God just doesn’t give us the necessary, He gives us His very best. And He entrusts it to us. You better believe He has a special plan and purpose for you in your marriage, as a mother, at your job. Even at the grocery store! (Don’t forget those divine appointments.)
God trusts us enough to entrust His love and purposes in us. Can you trust Him?
My precious Sumites, I love this song by Chris Tomlin because it's about the surrendered life and the JOY of living like we belong to Jesus. Because we do! We are His and He is ours. This is also what Scripture means when it says, "the joy of the Lord is our strength" (Neh. 8:10.)
When we walk in this place of surrender and obedience, we know freedom, joy and peace. To the world it makes no sense, but we know better, don't we? And oh, my spirit longs to share this with everyone! We want everyone to know our amazing healer and comforter, Jesus. Especially in light of the horrible events this past week.
We have the Holy Spirit and God is calling us to share Him! Have an amazing weekend, my dear sisters and brothers in Jesus. May His presence fill and rest upon you, may His blessings rain down over you and your family and may His strength, courage, love, power and authority reign supreme in your life!
My precious friends, I'm still pondering the meaning of surrendering our lives to Jesus. I've always been struck by how Jesus stood before His accusors and said nothing to defend Himself. That speaks to me of a holy dignity that rises above the opinions of men and sits squarely and humbly with God.
The Bible tells us to be holy. I beginning to think surrendering is part of being holy—a place where nothing matters at much as our Lord and Savior. Nothing compares to Him either. And we literally can't outgive God! The more we give ourselves to Him, the more He gives Himself to us! It's an amazing and beautiful exchange.
We let go of our self-righteousness and receive the righteousness of Jesus.
We give Him our man made dignity and step into royalty as co-heirs with Jesus.
We hand over our self and world-made identities and receive our true identity in Jesus as children of God who are accepted, adopted, blessed, chosen, cherished, forgiven, loved, lavished and redeemed.
God's economy is so much better than what the world has to offer. Don't let the enemy tell you diffently either, because he will try to convince you that you're making a huge sacrifice when in reality you're letting go of lies and walking in truth.
The TRUTH—Jesus, who is our way, our TRUTH, and our life. So keep Him belted firmly around your waist, my friends. Yep, that word—TRUTH—in John 14:6 is the same Greek word in Ephesians 6. Jesus is our belt of truth and the piece of our armor that keeps the rest in place.
Now let's worship Him together, sing our hearts out to Him in surrender and tell our Lord and Savior that we want more and more of Him.
This is the day before Good Friday. And as I sit and think
of what this time must have been like, I have to believe that the Messiah
would've wanted to spend his last hours in fellowship with the ones he loved
most. I would imagine that they broke bread and fellowshipped as never
before... I bet Jesus savored what had to be bittersweet - if not outright
painful - moments with his disciples.
It was about being together. Being together and
understanding that what Christ was going to endure was all for them - for US
all - so that we would never have to know separation from him. He told them
that his body would be broken and his blood shed. He told them to remember - to
remember and to testify. 1Corinthians 11: 23-26.
Gang, it's all about remembering him. Remembering that we
are under grace now and no longer the law because he was wounded for us. He
paid our price so that we could live without fear of the penalty that really is
our due. And all that he asks of us is that we not forget - that we go out and tell
somebody else about it until he comes again - because by telling his story, we
have to always call him back to our minds and our hearts.
Ladies - and gents- let's spend today in intimate, personal
communion with our Lord. Remember him today. Be with him. Lavish him with your
love as you recall the great love he carries for you personally. And then find
an opportunity to share that beauty with another. Find the opportunity to
proclaim him!
Lord, We thank you. Draw us into Holy Communion with you today.
Remind us as you did your disciples, so that we can go out and remind others.
We love you Lord. In your sweet name. Amen.
All that Christ did, He did so that we would be slaves no more to the law—and more than that, to our own sinful nature. Freedom guys.
FREEDOM.
Christ redeemed us so that we could enjoy freedom in this life and the next.
Oh Lord, thank you for Your Son. Thank you that our redeemer chose to love us with a fierce, all consuming, never-be-the-same-again kind of love. Thank You, Messiah, for Your gift to us. We come to You today just to worship You. We come to lavish on You. To adore You. To bask in the beauty of Your presence. Thank You for the gift of freedom—freedom to experience this life on Your terms and ours alone. Freedom to believe in someone greater than ourselves, freedom from ourselves, freedom to discover Your great grace, Your mighty power, Your all consuming passion and fire. Freedom to live, to move, to be! Hallelujah Lord! Hallelujah! Hallelujah that we are free in Christ! Hallelujah! I praise You, Oh God. Hallelujah. OH JESUS! Glory to Your name, Your holy name! You are righteous, blameless, pure. Everything that I could never be, You ARE! And You gave up Your right-hand seat for me—for my mess, my foolishness, my garbage. Even as You knew that I would reject You with my actions, even as You knew that I would choose myself over You for many, many years, even as you knew that I didn't love You yet, even as You knew that I would never be able to fully comprehend or repay your sacrifice and my great debt to You—even in the face of all that, in the face of ALL THAT, You chose me. You. Chose. Me. Just so that I would be free. Oh God, I am unworthy. I praise You, Lord. Oh, how I praise You. How I worship You. How I adore You. Oh God, Abba Father, I cry out to You right now for more of You. More of You. More and more and more and more of You. Diminish me that You might increase. Live out Your passions in me. Give me new freedoms, new graces, new mercies every day. Be my passion, as I am Yours. Be my passion, Abba. Oh please, be my passion. Oh God there is a fire shut up in my bones and my very marrow cries out to be near You. Don't elude me. Don't hide from me. Fill me up. Fill me up again and again and again until I don't know where I end and You begin. Consume me. Use my freedom in You, for Your glory. Use my freedom in You for Your good pleasure. Take me God and make me free. In Christ's precious, holy, life-changing name, Amen.
Let’s hold up our spouse for a salvation, a transformation,
experience this year on Easter morning.
Almighty God,
You are the Creator of all things. We are your chosen, your
children. We worship you. We are your vessel to be used for your purposes and
passions. Lord, fill us up with your love so that we shine in a dark world.
Lord, Let your love overwhelm me that I may spill it out like a beautiful aroma
on those around me. Especially, my spouse.
Papa, Daddy, I ask for you to reveal yourself and your
purposes to my husband/wife ________________ today, this hour. Father, I ask
that you open their spiritual eyes and ears that they can see the lies and hear
the truth.
Now Lord, through the authority given to me through King
Jesus, your son, and through your living and breathing Word, Luke 9:1&2, I take
authority of any spirits that are speaking lies to my spouse. I bind the spirit
of deafness and dumbness that is not allowing your penetrating words into his
heart. Break my spouse’s heart for people. Let him see that there is more to
this world than science and explanations. Lord, birth in him a reality that
there is another realm that is real, powerful and that IT IS GOOD.
Father, this hour I declare that the name
_______________________ (Mike Donovan) is sealed as a name written in the Book
of Life. Lord, do everything in your perfect planning and purposes to bring my
spouse to the truth and salvation of Jesus Christ. And when that hour dawns may
the entire heaven and earth rejoice.
Father, let my spouse’s life bring you glory. Let the
salvation of my spouse shouts to thousands of others that God is Great, powerful
and above all things.
Mostly, I ask only to live in your Presence as it is Your
Presence that sanctifies my spouse and my children. I love you. I love your
son. I love the Holy Spirit that rest upon my shoulder like a Dove.
To You O God, be all glory, honor, power, praise, forever,
and ever. Hallelujah…. In King Jesus name. Amen.
I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle—victorious. — Vince Lombardi
My friends, today I want to speak to those of you who are in the thick of battle and are tired. I've received several emails to this effect and I'm carrying each of you close to my heart right now, like a friend cheering you on from the sidelines.
You're tired—tired of the battle, the fight—tired of praying and seeing nothing change. Are you in this place, my precious friend?
What if I told you the battle is always fiercest right before the end? What if I told you your victory is just around that last corner that you can't quite see yet?
Would you keep fighting? Would you keep praying? Would you stand firm?
This weekend I took a walk with my husband and at one point, I broke into a light jog to cross a wide street. I don't normally jog but I've always wanted to, imagining how free I'd feel. Past attempts have left me too winded or with a hurt foot or knee, but I've been walking much more than I have in the past and as I reached the other side of the street, I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep going because I caught a glimpse of what I'd imagined. My husband, who was born athletic, joined me and encouraged me to keep going. He pointed out a stop sign at the end of the street and told me to make that my goal.
So I did. I kept my eye on that red sign. My knees started to protest so I adjusted my stance. My hips began to “whine” ever so slightly and reminded me that the word on that sign was stop. I kept pushing through the burn because I wanted the victory. I knew if I stopped before that marker I would wonder if I could have made it had I pushed just a little farther, hung on just a little longer.
I prayed for strength. Just a few more steps and I was there! Victory was mine! I don't know if this means I’m now a jogger but in this one moment, I was. Even though my body felt tired, I felt strengthened in my heart and spirit.
We've talked about many of the enemy's tactics, but there's one that hardest to see at times. He's a master plotter and knows when all else fails, he still has one area that he can attack.
That, my friends, is at the end of the battle when the fight is fiercest and our prayers take more strength than we think we have. Evil makes its assault when we are on the verge of a breakthrough or on the precipice of taking new territory.
The enemy turns up the heat just enough to make us think we are losing when we are about to have our victory. When you reach that point when you think you can't win, that's the enemy whispering defeat into your heart. When you think your spouse, your loved one, your life, even your very self is a lost cause, that is the enemy's panicked attempt to make you back off because he's about to lose.
Sometimes I imagine Jesus and the heavenly realms cheering us to that finish line only to watch us stop a mere few feet away, because we think we've lost. We buy into what we see and not what we know to be true.
Our victories come in moments that reveal a change not only in the person or situation we are praying over but also in ourselves. We too are changed as we step into new freedom and territory, stronger that just a few steps before and closer to God. Each and every step is a victory!
But it's not easy. The question is, will we struggle, fight, stand and persevere through those last few steps when the enemy is bent on convincing us to give up?
Victory never looks like what we expect and seems to always exceed our expectations when it does come. Sometimes it arrives through times of staying put right where we are or in the moments when God says let go so He can take complete control. What we may perceive to be failure may simply be the final set-up for a breakthrough.
My friends, please understand I am not tell you what to do. I'm telling you to do what God has told you to do. What did He speak to your heart when the battle began? What are the promises He gave you along the way? What is He telling you right now?
As I wrote this post, God put it upon my heart to share a battle I’m in right now. It may seem trivial, but even the smallest battles have a purpose, a desired result to add to the big picture of God’s Kingdom.
For the last year or so our financial picture has become more and more difficult. In January when I prayed for my husband, God gave me the word, “Prosperity.” I confess I struggled with it, wondering how God could prosper us when my husband is still walking his own path. Before I could even speak this doubt to God, He spoke so clearly, “I bless him through you.”
This week we will have to sell my car—my 2010 Honda CRV. I waited at least fifteen years to own one of these. I love my car, but it’s just a car. The enemy, however, wants to make me resentful, which I could easily indulge in because I’m bearing the brunt of the situation at the moment, and he’s trying to make me doubt what I heard from God. But I wrote it in my journal. I reread it anytime the enemy tries his tactics, because I KNOW what my God said and I BELIEVE HIM!
I know it seems strange that selling my car would be part of God’s plan of prosperity for us, but I trust God and I know Him well enough by now to understand two things: One, I know whatever happens with this will be part of what brings my husband to faith. Every part of our lives can be opportunities to have Kingdom impact on a life and my guy’s soul is more important than a car.
And two, my limited thinking of what all this means only succeeds in putting God in a box. Just because selling my car seems counter to what God has spoken doesn’t mean it is. Remember, His ways are not ours. He sees the big picture, I don’t. Therefore I trust God for the outcome, because I know it will be better than what I would have if I held onto that car.
Whatever God calls us to do, we are guaranteed the victory. Wherever God leads us, we will succeed, overcome, or accomplish whatever that is. Our victory is guaranteed because we are in Christ and we belong to God. That is what we can hold onto and will never have to let go of or give up. The enemy can’t take it away from us either.
Trust God. Believe Him. This is our greatest form of worship.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. — 1 John 5:4
Praying for earthshaking, life-changing faith for each of you!
Dineen
Before we dive into the deeper waters of spiritual warfare, I feel led (and have for weeks for this series) to help you have a better understanding of what spiritual warfare is and what place is has in our lives.
For years I lived in a place of fear in regards to the enemy. I’d dabbled with some of the occult as a teen without a Christian upbringing or someone to explain to me that God is bigger and more powerful and always will be.
As I stepped into faith I began to learn and understand this truth, to understand that God is in complete control, even of satan and the extent of his evil plans (i.e. what he’s allowed to do. The book of Job is a good example), but I still worked and prayed from a place of fear in dealing with the enemy.
One of the biggest lessons I took away from Kris Valloton’s book, Spirit Wars, and his sermon by the same title (you can buy the video at iBethel.com) is that the enemy is only a threat if we let him. We give him way too much credit and influence in our lives. So here’s the understanding that God has given me.
Growing old is a part of life, right? We can either pretend we will never grow old and live like there’s no tomorrow, or we do things proactively to age well. Like exercise, eating healthy foods, going to the doctor to keep tabs on how our body is functioning, taking vitamins, etc. Without these measures we can wind up feeling sluggish, sick and out of shape. Especially the older we get. You get the picture.
Much like aging, spiritual warfare is a fact of our spiritual life. It’s inevitable—a part of our faith just like aging is part of our bodily progression. We can either walk through our faith, pretending the enemy won’t try to threaten our spiritual wellness (much like pretending that Big Mac habit isn’t going to mess with your cholesterol level) or we can be prepared, alert and proactive so that we walk in victory, no matter what stage we are at. Victories come in all shapes and sizes, my friends. Don’t forget that.
We don’t need to fear aging though we might not like it. Nor do we need to fear spiritual warfare. In fact, when we come at if from a place of fear, we are ineffective. Jesus didn’t not give us a spirit of fear, dear ones. He gave us a spirit of power, love and a sound mind. Second Timothy 1:7 tells us that very clearly in Paul’s instructions for Timothy to live faithfully and boldly in his gifts and calling.
And now I’m reminding you of this truth. We are the ones with power AND authority. The enemy holds no important place in your life and is more like an annoying fly on your wall. Smack him away and give him no purchase, place, or hold in your life!
There’s one other thought I want to pass on to you, something I took away from Bethel that freed me to try things and not be so concerned about doing things “right” every time. We aren’t teaching you to look for a demon in every corner nor are we saying every situation or trial involves an evil spirit. Sometimes it’s clear but other times it’s not. The thing is, it never hurts to pray. If you think an evil spirit might be involved, pray against it. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, then ask God for wisdom and guidance on to approach the issue differently. Nothing wrong with covering your bases.
Now, let’s take a walk into the wilderness—as observers, not participants. Go to Matthew 4:1-2 with me and let’s look at the testing of Jesus. If you look at the sequence of events, you will discover some key details here.
Jesus knew the tempter would come. He was not surprised by His enemy. Jesus expected this time of testing and knew it was part of His preparation for what was to come. We needed a Savior who understood us completely, even to our temptations.
Jesus fasted before he was tempted. Again, Jesus is aware of what He would face so He prepared himself for the confrontation. I love what Kris Vallotton says about fasting—that he fasts to bring God near, not to fight the enemy. He even refers to Psalm 23 where it says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” We fast for God, we feast before our enemy. That is the victory that comes from the battle!
Jesus expected His enemy to come in His time of weakness. Here again, Jesus prepared for this because He knew the enemy would attack at His weakest time—when He was hungry, tired and weak. Sound familiar? My friends, the enemy is a coward and will attack you in your weak spots. It’s important to know your weaknesses, identify them and prepare ahead of time (read and memorize Scripture, pray, ask for prayers, etc.) so that you can recognize when you’re just having a bad day or if the enemy has decided you are his target practice. Then you can recognize the enemy’s hand and win the battles when they come. Or even better, avoid them! Remember 1 Cor. 10:13.
In the next part of this series, I will show you three areas that the enemy tempted Jesus and how these are critical “hot spots” for us to understand how the enemy tempts us. There’s more to these stories than just the testimony of Jesus’ temptation and perseverance. They reveal the deepest areas that the enemy targets in us to take away our authority and victory in Jesus by making us think we are ineffective and powerless.
My friends, many of you are in this place already. I was for a long time too, but God has brought me from that place, and now I get to share that with you. We are on this journey together to gain ground, regain ground and step into the full inheritance we have in Jesus. With that, I leave you with this powerful piece of truth:
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. — Philippians 2:9-11 (emphasis mine)
Even our enemy knows his limitations and Who he is answerable to—to Jesus. Even he has to bow down to Jesus and fear the name of our Lord and Savior. And you are a coheir with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Now think about that for a while.
I can’t wait until next time to share more of these truths right from God’s precious Word! You will be empowered and equipped!
Love you so very much, my precious friends! I am praying for you—for your victory!
Dineen
