At Some Point...

You have to face reality in the face and embrace the truth.

You have to step away emotionally to see what's really going on.

You must embrace the steps God had ordered for you.

You must realize that letting go is the beginning of healing.

You must let go of the past to be free and embrace His will to fulfill your destiny.

You must believe on Jesus and stop believing for things.

At Some Point...

You have to realize most people will do what they always do whether they complain, preach or campaign for change.

Those who change with action and lifestyle will be belittled, scrutinized, ridiculed and written off…until they are successful and then they will be geniuses and pioneers.

Just saying.™

Stay Focused On God

The thing about when God tells you something is going to happen it never happens the way you envision it. Why? Because Go know the beginning from the end and you are going through the journey. The perspectives are totally different. I really am not one to doubt anything God tells me but now I have gone another step to not question the process and obey at every step. The temptation to explain why something is happening or do something because "I know what God told me" is gone ever since in WV I let God work it out. I knew it was coming but when things happened I had not even considered the ways God did. We must trust and follow him. We need to be in His presence not to just get what we need but to honor and worship Him. To be instructed by Him just for this day. The solution never comes from from an outer source, just the confirmation.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many different ways through the prophets.
2 In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe.(GWT)

Christianease has made a falsehood that we must guide others a certain way. The truth is when dealing outside ourselves (Especially in leadership) we must be sensitive to God's spirit on how to correct and handle people. We are not guiding them but Holy Spirit is the one leading them to the place He created them to be. Christianease has made it acceptable to impose what Go has placed in our hearts for us on others. This does not anger me anymore. It grieves me now. Assumption is a tool of the devil. You cannot go by what you know in the things of God. You must be led by His spirit and guided by His Word. Not who said it and that this person endorses it. The selfish approach to Christianity is for many years has sustained many things God didn't instruct us to do. It's not always what is said and done, it is in the spirit of what things are said and done. God had to show me myself in the mirror of the Word. The perspective and motive you pick up the Word in will be reflected spiritually. We can deceive ourselves believing we are just helping others. After the Lord showed me this I'm so careful in my day to day even what I say to friends as far as advice. Most times if God tells me to not say anything I just pray God's will for them and the Word for their situation. Subtlety is a weapon the adversary uses and we can get off on a tangent so easy. We need to stay focused on what the Lord told us to do.

Regaining Focus

I'm really starting to realize that my frustration my whole life has been that the Christianity that I read and studied about in the Bible I have not seen with my eyes on a consistent basis (including myself). What I'm really upset about is that it seems the majority of Christians are not even trying to reach for the Biblical standard of Christianity. The Holy Spirit empowers us to walk this walk but it takes yielding to Him and spending time in the Word and in prayer to become sensitive to His voice and learn what God's standards for living are. Ministry wise what I've run into my whole life is pride and unteachable spirits. Point blank everybody has to prove what they know and not be outdone by you. It's copied from people instead of seeking God and finding out what his Word means from the source. To some people it's a hustle to make a living. What I've learned and began to exercise is an investment into people to see them transformed into God's image. The core of Christianity is the giving of Christ to bridge a relationship to man when sin was separating us from Him. For us it's the giving of ourselves to the Word and to others so they can see Christ in our lives and be transformed seeing his love and compassion and way of doing things. They should see our relationship with God because it is so effecting our lives making such a difference that we stand out to them. It is causing us to love and forgive those who they would cut off. Our reactions and love are not conditional but like God's because we are letting His agape love flow through us. Not the power struggle and the accusing of the brethren we have. Not the disrespect of authority and thinking we will be blessed and justified we have today. Our preachers are not our standard but the Word of God is. We stand for God. God hates sin not people. He sent His Son to separate sin from the people through the free gift of Eternal Life. Instead of seeing a person as an obstacle you need to see them as a person Jesus died for. What have you shown Jesus to be today in their lives? Christianity is not supposed to be caught up in itself but concerned for others even those growing in the faith. People care about services and entity but forget that the church is not an institution. It may be legally , but Biblically it is a people. The selfish nature of sin in our society has been influencing us to make a self centered gospel that is not found in the Bible. Our distorted perceptions has helped twist the Word of God to something He never meant it to be. May we start to take up our crosses daily again and see the big picture. I know what God expects and wants in His church "but I still haven't found what I'm looking for." All creation groans for it.

The Day It Becomes A Part of You

When learning an instrument the beginning is a struggle. You are not sure what is what. You have to learn the language and your body has to learn the mechanics. You work and work. Many people settle for lower levels of skill or if the ability serves what they need to do but there is more. If you continue to press and challenge yourself there comes the day when it clicks. What you have practiced and labored through finally becomes natural. The place where others around you take notice. You have honored the God given gift placed on your life and not just dabbled with it. When I play an instrument today there is natural flow like it's always been apart of me but that's something I never take for granted. I still challenge and refine what I have and teach others to do the same. It's the same with your Christian walk. You stumble and learn. You go through and grow then comes "when the Word becomes flesh and dwells among you." When Christ has been formed in a area and you can walk it out naturally. The scripture comes alive and it's no longer cliche or words uttered toward you. Logos has become Rhema. That is where others who are happy to settle for lower levels say that's too much. No it's just the beginning. The Word has shaped and formed you into the image of Christ. Others let the world around them frame them or religious rhetoric, even Christianese but you let the Word of God be your foundation and standard and have waited for the day it becomes a part of you not only something you do."Walk it out" my brother and sisters. God bless.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Last year I missed my high school reunion. I initially wanted to go but made no effort once circumstances beyond my control came into play. Basically I couldn't go and I made no effort to try to. High school is one of those times I think of and just wonder about. There were fun times but overall it was just something I'd rather forget for the most part except some really good people and some good memories. I prayed about it and thought and no I'm not angry but since most of me beginning to go in the spiritual direction in the vision I saw at ten didn't happen to after that I feel it was just a passing through faze. I was running from what God had for me to do but my conscience would not let me do what others did. My senior year I began to look for God beyond my experience and what I had read in the Bible. Not movements, opinions or debates but what God says Biblical Christianity is. This set off a chain of events that went into Audio School, Bible School and some experiences until now. The drastic need to prove myself then has not been in my life for years. I've been quite brash at times too. My strongest ties to that life weakened with my decision to go to Bible College where I was changed completely from a spiritual perspective. Bible College made me face myself for the first time. A lot of weeping and breaking went on as well a pivotal meetings and divine appointments. It's where I learned not to preach but live what you preach. Afterward I found out people can say one thing but when the rubber meets the road they do what they want. People want to play a "spiritual game" but I no longer participate in that. I want God. It's has not been easy and I've learned that my pride can be my worst enemy but it's far from the boy who grew up on Staten Island. The walk with Christ is unpredictable, great, tough, humbling, exciting and many other things. Finding out things and having God remove them from your life is another experience all together. There's still more that must be done but the first step has been completed. Why don't I want to look back? This scripture just explained in a nutshell.

Phillipians 3
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The Quest For Transparency

There are very few people in my life I am completely defenseless myself around. This even goes for those really close to me. I don't know about you I have always been my biggest critic. I have spent more than half of my life striving for acceptance. Then can that day where I lost care and plummeted to the other extreme. When you live in situations where people see something that you have material or talent wise it really cheapens the majority of your relationships. Some people want to knock that drive out of you to control you and others want to use that drive to benefit themselves others just want to be entourage and can live "off the crumbs" so to speak. When this view controls us we can just shut out of the world. This is what I did. Many times I falsely portrayed what people expected to keep them off my back. I always knew they would never know or value the real me so why waste my time. The problem came when God wanted me to walk in what He called me to be. The facade had to be slowly chipped away. Many people believed I've changed but I had just put a "wall" up since my early days in church from age eleven. Yeah there has been the inner circles and close friends through seasons but that's pretty much it. I looked to people to define me instead of knowing what God has proclaimed and spoke before I entered my mother womb is who I am. The labor to prove something has been removed. The pressure people put on you to do this or that is gone. God orders my steps. I wrote this to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and obey and do what God says and break free from the fear of man. If people can't accept what you're doing you weren't sent to them. Move on and effect change in the lives God has ordained you to touch. Be honest and accountable for your walk. Pray and fellowship with God and get to know Him in a way your Pastor, favorite preacher or youth minister can't show Him. Let's walk it so we can say like Jesus, "Follow me."