The Cut Off

I feel like I haven't posted on here in 



It's really been like a month. Yall this move has been absolutely crazy. It's been so much going on since I got here, but it's all good. Well really all God. I'm so excited to be back (even though technically I never left lol).

Since I've been here, I've been in a season of seclusion, especially in these last couple weeks. I haven't had a lot of energy to talk to other people. I just want to be alone. But there are times when it's okay to be alone. It's okay to separate yourself from people from time to time. 

I know you're probably reading this and you're thinking this is starting to sound like Blessing of Loneliness. It's not. Calm down 😂😂

You have to remember that sometimes everybody can't go with you. I've never been one to always have a lot of people around me. I was the one who popped in and out of the group. I would spend a lot of time alone dealing with whatever I was dealing with because I knew that I didn't need an entire family of friends to get me through. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends. I love them with all my heart. But I also have a lot of pride sometimes, and I won't say I need help or say "hey, I'm going through." I cut them off for a season. 

It's in that cut off season that God deals with me. It's in that season where God begins to pour into me. It is in that season that you begin to develop, and you begin to transform. If you haven't read Transformation you should. Transformation happens in a lonely place. So when you want to or if you want something to transform, you have to be alone. You have to cut some things off. 

I used to think that I was crazy because I preferred to go through things alone. But then God took me to so many examples of voluntary solitude. 

Let's start with Jesus. I mean you should always start with Jesus. I'm just saying. 

Jesus

Matthew 26:36-41 New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

This is part of the reason why sometimes you have to cut people off. First of all, Peter, James, and John did what they were supposed to do. Some people can't go with you everywhere, but they can be with you for a season. Sometimes you have to go through alone. Sometimes people can't go with you, but they can cover you even when they don't understand what is going on. Jesus had already told Peter he was going to deny Jesus, but Peter still went with him. I know Peter was looking crazy. That's why everybody can't go because people change. 

You ever felt like a friendship was over? Like you just knew you and this person weren't going to be friends anymore? Friendships have seasons too. Even though you love them and they've been with you thusfar doesn't mean they are meant to be with you for a lifetime. 

So Jesus was entering a time where He was going to be fulfilling His purpose, and it wasn't easy. Sometimes, no matter how long you've been friends with someone, they won't understand your purpose when you first realize what it is. They won't understand your growing pains and so it makes it difficult to be vulnerable around them. But you can always be vulnerable with God. God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. 

2 Corinthians 12:9 New Living Translation (NLT)

9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Jesus didn't want to go to the cross, but nobody in the whoooooooole world would've known that Jesus struggled with that decision until He was alone with God. He had to cut off the people He had been traveling with all this time and let the real be real. 

As the passage continues in verse 40, you'll see another reason why sometimes you have to cut people off. They never know the depth of what you're going to so they may take covering you lightly when there is nothing light about your sufferings. It's not always intentional. Sometimes people mean well but they mess up. Peter, James, and John didn't mean to let Jesus down, but it happened. 

Matthew 26:42-44 New Living Translation (NLT)

42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away[a] unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

44 So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.

People will be people. They have moments where they slip. But you have to stay focused. Your purpose does not depend on whether or not your homegirl is with you the entire time. Your purpose depends on your obedience and your spirit being willing. Whether they are there or not, your purpose is still your purpose. What if Jesus waited on Peter, James, and John to be awake the entire time while He was praying? We wouldn't even be here because our sins would've taken us out a long time ago. You have to be willing even if nobody was there with you when you were preparing. 

Moses
Maybe you're like Moses. Moses was preparing for his purpose his entire life and didn't even know. My aunt has been on this vision series for a while now. She says that your vision is made up of your burden, your past, and your experience. Moses was a Hebrew even though he didn't know it. He was burdened down by the idea of the Hebrews being treated so poorly, and so he started protecting them. That's why he did what he did in Exodus 2. 

Exodus 2:11-15 New Living Translation (NLT)

Moses Escapes to Midian

11 Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. 12 After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.

13 The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had started the fight.

14 The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?”

Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” 15 And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.

When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.

Moses couldn't understand the vision even though he was becoming it anyway. The confusion will make you cut off everybody. Moses was raised Egyptian but was Hebrew by birth. It wasn't balanced. 

Have you ever been in a position where your past isn't equal to your present? Like I can't be the same girl that I was 10 years ago. When I was finishing high school and was starting college, I partied hard. Like...my life was a party. But I had to leave that behind because my purpose required more

Luke 12:48 New Living Translation (NLT)

48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

Moses couldn't stay in the company of the Egyptians. It didn't fit anymore. His purpose was to free what made the Egyptians feel superior. It didn't fit anymore. So he had to cut them off. That's when God began to deal with him. God couldn't effectively deal with him in the presence of the Egyptians. 

That's why the cut off is so important sometimes. Sometimes your thoughts and your surroundings go to war. Your mind says one thing, but your surroundings says something else. So you have to take a r&r. The world calls is rest and relaxation, but i'm calling it a rest and refilling. That's what Midian was for Moses. When Moses came out of the solitude, he fulfilled one of the greatest deliverances ever noted in the Bible. 

Jonah
Now Jonah is a little different. He's what happens when you're not aware of how toxic you can be to other people. Sometimes you gotta cut you you off so that you can get better. 

Jonah 1:1-13 New Living Translation (NLT)

Jonah Runs from the Lord

1 The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

4 But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. 5 Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.

But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. 6 So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”

7 Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. 8 “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?”

9 Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”

10 The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned. 11 And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?”

12 “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”

13 Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it.

Jonah's disobedience was causing everyone else around him to be in a storm. Sometimes you know what your assignment is, and you're like 


We get overwhelmed by the thought of it so instead of doing something we do nothing. We act like God can't make us do something. We play. You either gon do it willingly or kicking and screaming. I suggest you go willingly because I wouldn't want to experience whatever storm God can brew up for my assignment. That ain't what I want. Listen, I can do bad all by myself and I don't want God to add on to the bad because I said no. Then I get hooked up with these other people and bring my bad with me, and the Bible says

Amos 3:3 New Living Translation (NLT)

Witnesses against Guilty Israel

3 Can two people walk together
    without agreeing on the direction?

Jonah was doing more than walking with them. He was on a boat with them! The issue is that Jonah knew he had all these issues, but he still thought it was okay to bring that in the presence of others. Your disobedience will literally have other people going through. That is so dangerous. How many people's lives have you wrecked because you brought your mess along with you?

Jonah 1:17-Jonah 2

God had to isolate Jonah. Jonah had gotten too big for his britches as my granny would say. He thought that he could tell God no with no repercussions. Like he didn't need Him. God had to remind him. Sometimes we have to cut ourselves off before we self destruct.