Is It Me?

It just seems this year has just been one of those years that everything has seemingly fallen apart. It's like being a child on a amusement ride screaming make it stop but the ride has just begun. But when I look around it seems EVERYONE I know has had a hard cross to bear. Whether the lost of a business, things, a loved one or a combination of all the above it seems the foundations of our faith are being tested. Fire for a believer is a purifying agent where for those who are against God it is a consuming force. People mistake purification for punishment. What I mean by that is people determine who you are based on what you go through and that is not fair or accurate. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust which means when it pours down (situations and circumstances) we all are gonna get wet. We all are going to go through things we don't understand. We all will go through seasons of loss, but in those times we need to draw closer to our Father and rely on His word. It is important to remember that your testimony is what you say while being tested. You words of faith or unbelief determine the outcome. Is what you saying helping you through or hurting you more. Are you giving in to doubt and unbelief and speaking failure into your life. Determine no matter what I will not fall into the trap of speaking something God has not said into my life.

-Shamik

The "So-called" Disapointments of Life

In this world the sad truth is that your peers never truly accept you as a authority on anything even if your track record shows they should. I find it takes an extraordinary person or your "soul-mate" to see value in you at the peer level. Me and a bunch of friends went out after a Christian event with now a "former" close friend. Every time I saw this dude after high school he would try to choke down my throat what he was doing. I was with a new friend then and they wondered why the person acted like they didn't know me. (Which was the subject between a few of us when he didn't come the next time.) It was hilarious to me because until it was brought up I really didn't think or care about it until I was asked and replied there is nothing I can do about another's actions. The sad part of life (and I've been guilty of this) is that we try to change or control (manipulate) people. We try to change people's habits to fit how we approach them. We want them to be influenced by our influences. We want them to reflect our vision for them. I'll give an example. I never check my phone messages unless it's a call with no texting capabilities. People just leave messages as if I will change for them when my message warns them of this and instructs them to leave a text. (I'm usually in a session, church or somewhere I can't use my phone.) The funny thing is they get upset when I have no clue about what they're telling me because I didn't check my messages. We demand from peers but never listen. We force friends to do stuff and find they really don't respect us. We do them big favors and get pissed on (excuse me but I need to make a point with that). The sad thing is these mindsets and peer conflicts are because we connect our identity to what we do. My first "friend" disrespected me when I stopped rapping in 1999 and started calling me rap deficient no not because of his concern, but because he felt he was losing a free engineer and free beats (which he never got or was getting I might add). This attitude comes from the very root of sin. Let me ask. What sin was there in the garden of eden? No fornication, murder, stealing or etc. It was selfishness and pride the same thing that got Satan kicked out of heaven. ("You will be as gods..." when they were made in the image of God.) I is in the center of sIn. The other sins are because of that. Fornication is selfish because you don't want the responsibility of a covenant but you want sexual gratification. Lust is selfish because it's about how another person turns you on. I can go down the list and prove the root of sin is selfishness and pride. This is why as true Christians God calls us to die to ourselves so He can work through us. When you die to yourself you could care less what people do to you. You feel sorry because God is your defender and has put the law of seedtime and harvest in effect as the earth remains. We can let God make our lives or make our own lives. The sad part is when we make ourselves we don't have the power to maintain it. "When it all falls down" we know God didn't make it because He didn't maintain it. When God makes us the "so-called" disappointments of life won't touch us because we know we are not what we do but rather we are who God says we are, we have what He says we have and we can do what He says we can do.

Later.
-Shamik

Put Away The Pacifiers

We all have experiences in life that we feel aren't fair. I thought the absence of a father and the many "circumstances" were excuses for my bad habits and people blaming. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I tell you as I watched my mother follow God when it was hard, give when we had nothing and start a business basically on nothing but faith and saw God move it taught me something. It taught me either I was going to do what God said in every area of my life to the best of my knowledge at the time or I would just make excuses and blame others for my short falls. We as humans let each other down on a regular basis and no matter what life will come with hard times. The choice is will we do what God says. Is Jesus enough? Are we trying to label our own ambitions as God? Are we willing to forgive? Mercy is shown to the merciful. God says to forgive to be forgiven. I watched so many people over the years try to make it and blame everybody else when difficulties come. The Bible says it will rain on the just and unjust so everybody is going through something. Life with Jesus is not the absence of problems but the ability, mindset and spiritual fortitude to overcome them. I fail people as much as people fail me. "Cursed is anyone who trusts in man." We need to look to God as the only source and put away our pacifiers. I had to realize the past is gone and when my dad and mom remarried after 23 years that I can't recapture my childhood but have to have a relationship with my father from this point on. I can't blame the ignorance of my life and lack of teaching when truth comes in to correct. Many people love to try to correct but never receive correction. God chastens (corrects) the ones he loves. We need to not be babes when it's time for us to be eating strong meat. We control our lives. Make a change and get the beam out of the way before we reach for our brother's spec.

Later.

No Excuses

Well it seems like that when you think you have an excuse God is very quick to take them away. While in a very challenging year all I ended up with people straight disrespecting me for whatever reasons. This year has probably given me more reasons to give up and leave the N.Y.C. tri-state area than any before. But God never tells you to look at them but yourself. The responsibility of your joy, happiness and your destiny is you. If you are with God nothing can stop you. we usually try to make something work while God is saying slow down get into my plan. It's so funny while people are disrespecting and gossiping on one side God has been opening doors of blessing on the other side. Though some trials have weighed me down they have help get rid of things that would have hindered me. Ronnie Joe Harrison taught me the only place between you and failure is an altar. That has where I have been humbling myself taking things I would walk away from. Some seasons in my life are about to permanently close not because I want them to but because it's time. When you use and abuse people God only let it happen for a season. I hold no grudges and have moved on with life. But seeds sowed and reaped I have nothing to do with. Cursed is anyone who puts their trust in man. I trust God and I will do what he will have me to do period. Judas has taken me to my cross a place of dying to myself. The sad part is he'll hang himself before the day of the resurrection.

-Shamik