As I was sitting here reflecting on some things that I have been facing, my mind points back to a conversation that I had with someone. I am currently at a place of transition in my spiritual walk. Where I can choose to believe God or don't believe in Him. A lot of times we can profess Christ with boldness in intercession for others, but then God literally has to put us to the test. When I was talking to the person, they stopped me and said... "Tony, I don't know where you are...." Because I had so much going on in my mind when I was trying to talk to them, I began to ramble about all of those things that came to thought... when they said it, it was like my mouth was moving before my mind could even think about what to say... or something like that....lol I told them that I had to get myself together with my thoughts... I decided to make some changes in my life. Now these changes were not only things that I was unaware of that needed change, but also things where I had the full understanding of what I was doing and how I was doing it... I sit here humble with a repented heart because the whole time I was asking God to deliver me from some things that hinders me from going forward, I was holding on to all of those things and more, that stopped me from going forward... Just like when my dear friend told me that they didn't know where I was... and my mouth was moving before I could get my thought together... so was I with the Lord when I asked Him to help me... I stand here in repentance and submission to what God has to say to me in this word because I had the nerve to get angry because I didn't think that God was moving... and I didn't think that God was listening, while all along He cleared the path for me to go forward. I am admitting that I was afraid to move forward because of the great storm that was ahead of me. and the troublesome past that was behind me... but God ministered to me through His word and took me back to the book of Exodus when the children of Israel had their enemies behind them (which represents my past) and the Red Sea in front of them (which represents the storms ahead) and He told me to just stand still... Read it for yourself....

To make a long story short... I was referred by my doctor to get an MRI because I had been suffering for some time with mild-severe headaches. I got the results about a week after I came from delivering an anointed message in Delaware, MD and it came back positive for something on my brain... I am saying something because I am not claiming anything. Well, before I got the MRI, I told God with boldness... that if HE can get the glory out of it, then let His will be done... but if He cannot get the glory out of it all, and then let it be... Well my doctor referred me to this specialist who suggested that I go on this medication to help me with the pain... the next week the meds had to be increased and in that same week I had to add an additional medication to the list. I sat there in my bed and cried about the whole thing... but the God brought back to my memory what was declared before the results and even before mankind... My faith was being challenged.... My faith was being stretched... Sometimes God has to stretch our faith so we can stretch out on Him. Moses did this when He lifted the rod so the children of Israel can cross the Red Sea. He knew about the army behind him and he knew about the waters before him, but He believed in the God that was above him and that not just compelled him to stretch out on faith but it also displayed the glory of God to Israel in a way that they had never seen, and also to Egyptians that were behind them. My faith had to be stretched and is being pulled in the right places. You see I can humbly admit that I could believe that God can do some things because they were little to me... if I need a miracle in my finances, or needed grace to intercede, I could believe. If I wanted God to bless you and I agreed with you in prayer and God does it. But when it came to this big thing in my mind about what was going to happen and what needed to be done, my faith had to be elevated to another level. God was letting me know that I had to "step outside of the box, of that little faith. You see, some of us settle for that mustard seed faith and we ask God for BIG things... Even though that mustard seed faith can move a mountain, it takes a greater faith to conquer that mountain.

So God is telling us to stretch out on faith "outside of the box". We have to get rid of our limited ways of thinking, only believing that God can only do things this way or that way... and know that God can go well beyond those ways and create a way out of no way. Right now, my mentality is that just as Moses. I am stretching out beyond my own finite abilities into a realm of faith where I have never touched... into areas of my spirit where the presence of God has yet to experienced... into the realm of the spirit where I can see God greater than these little temporary things here on earth... there are some examples of this out of the box faith that I can hold on to....

Moses was one of them... regardless of where his position was in Egypt God predestined him to lead His people from bondage and perform miracles in the eyes of all of them.

David was one of them... when all the men fled because of one giant, David conquered that mountain with one smooth stone.

Joshua was one of them... when he conquered the walls of Jericho with praise unto God that shook the earth.

Job was one of them... when he conquered that closed box of faith that he had and was willing to even die when he declared, "though He slay me, yet will I trust Him"

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednigo conquered the furnace when they declared that "surely God can deliver them from the fire, but if He doesn't then He is still able"

Jesus was one of them... not just when He conquered the grace but when He forgave those very same ones that whipped Him and abused Him...

Stephen was one of them... when he conquered the very stones that caused killed him because he believed in something that was so radical that it convicted those who heard of it....

I am one them... despite of everything that I have faced in the past and even those that I will face in the future... I know a God who can bless beyond paying the rent and paying my bills, giving me a new pair of shoes and a promotion on my job. I know of a God who already healed me when He was whipped for me. Hallelujah!! I am stepping out of the box... I am no longer going to worry about what might happen or what may happen, but I believe in a God that can make something happen.... I am stopping out of the box on faith to believe that whatever YOU need God to do for you... no matter how difficult it may appear and seem... that it's already done if it's in His will. I am stepping out of the box and grabbing hold of the hope that I have set before me... and that hope I will have as an anchor of my soul... I will stand still and see the salvation of God in my life... and in your life... and whoever else's life that I enter into... I choose to believe God... and not limit Him...

With a stubborn faith.... outside of the box...